So... Long time no update huh???
This site has been neglected for such a long time, but today marks the first update since our return to oz.
Please bare with us as we work through the bugs and hassles of getting the new version up and running!
So I hope you like the (slightly) new look and take a few moments to check it out.
More to come soon!
Otto
Well after nearly two years of living it up in sunny San Diego, we have decided to pack up, ship up, sell up and head back to Sydney!
We've enjoyed living in San Diego and seeing the many sights and wonderful things the US of A has to offer - but nothing compares to missing all our family and friends :) As you can tell from our website, we've had a great two years experiencing a different culture, we’ve come across new cities and discovered some of the most amazing sights in the world. We’ve been fortunate enough to share some of those things with the dear friends that visited us here.
We will remember all our experiences with fond memories and look forward to boring you all with two years of pictures and video at the next bbq! :) For those of you not in Sydney (yet), we look forward to seeing you when you come and visit (or move) to Australia and get to show off the beautiful place we've been raving about for so long.
We’ve booked our flight home and will be arriving on the first of June (just in time for our second winter this year - doh!). But on the bright side, we’ll be back in time for the Manly Food and Wine Festival and expect all of you to join us there to celebrate our return to the Great Southern Land. So keep that weekend free and we’ll email you with more details soon(ish).
So on to other happenings, none the less important than our return to Sunny Sydney…
We were lucky enough to have Ben and Gina (for those of you who don’t know they are our friends from Vancouver). They arrived on Thursday for a relaxing 4 day weekend of San Diego sun. Friday we all went to SeaWorld and had a fun day of rides and seeing Shamu before finding the Anaheiser Busch (sp? But the makers of Bud, Bud Lite, Miller, Miller Lite, Coors, Coors Lite) pavilion and doing a ‘beer tasting’. The rest of the weekend was pretty much just relaxing and showing them the sights of San Diego. The best part was seeing them and getting to know Gina a bit better which was great.
Also a big CONGRATULATIONS to my cousin, Eric, who became a dad for the first time. Christina and little Aurora are dong well. Aurora was born on Thursday, 23 March 2006 weighing 3.64kg and 50cm long.
Check out new pictures in the Picture Gallery including a new friends gallery which pretty much only includes baby pictures - keep 'em coming! :)
Hey Everyone, Otto here with a real quick blog before I head to the airport to pickup Ben and Gina.
I am still stoked with my marathon. After 5months of working on my speed I took twenty minutes off my previous best time.
The marathon is so huge that most of you probably can't imagine what it's like, so here's a few ways to put it into perspective.
Take a step forward with your left foot then with your right. Now repeat that 18,720 times during the next 3.5hours.
In Sydney the distance is about the same as running from Palm beach to Darling Harbour. If you use whereis.com.au to get directions for that route, it will tell you it's too far to walk!
Other Stats:
Heart beats during the race: 33,292
Out of 20,116 runners I came in 476th.
Out of 1,510 runners in my division I came 83rd.
My average pace was 7minutes 44 seconds per mile (1.62km)
Benson Cherono was the men's winner in 2:08:40 - maybe I can catch him next year ;)
Gotta run (pun not intended) take care,
Otto
Heidi's February Blog 2006
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Australia Day and skiing to our little hearts content… We celebrated Australia Day BBQ this year at Mission Bay Park (near home) on Saturday 28th Jan with about 10 other Aussies and a Pom rounded up from Nokia. We had a great day chatting, swapping stories and laughing ourselves silly at good old Australian humour. Cricket was played, vegemite sambo's, lamingtons and pavlova was enjoyed by all. The following weekend Otto & I drove for two days to Utah which is about 1,500kms north and inland a bit. The first day we drove through 4 states in one single day. California, Nevada (Las Vegas), Arizona and then Utah where we stopped in Zion National Park. We weren't expecting much from the National Parks but were both awestruck by the scale and beauty of the snowcapped red rock towering cliffs - truly an amazing natural wonder. The photo's do not do it any justice at all, but we both highly recommend it to anyone who gets a chance to travel in the region (I'd go as far as to say that it's better than the Grand Canyon which is about 3 hours drive south). From Zion National Park we drove to Zion Mountain Resort where we were staying that night. It is also a buffalo ranch and the photo's on their website showed hundreds of them roaming the ranch. We didn't see any until the next morning (0 degrees celsius - brrrr) when one came slowly down the range for a feed. He was moving so slowly and I thought that maybe it was a mechanical buffalo and we had fallen into a tourist trap!). Then his friend turned up :) The next day we drove for about an hour to Bryce Canyon which also amazed us with its unique landscape and snow-capped red rocks. Unfortunately we were limited with time and didn't do any hikes through the canyon (it was also still 0 degrees celsius and windy). Travelers tip - go in winter when there are NO other tourists around! So peaceful and you get the best access to all viewpoints. You can drive yourself around instead of taking the mandatory shuttle bus which runs during the summer months. We continued our travelers for another 4 hours to the ski resort Snowbird/Alta. Arriving a bit after sunset, the drive up through the mountains was spectacular. It had started snowing which made the mountain trip all the more spectacular and we were both excited knowing that our first day of skiing would also be on fresh powder snow in one of the best places in the country. Staying on snow has it's benefits - great view, easy access to the slopes and it was exciting to be up and about and clicking into the skis again. I mostly stayed on the green runs (more fun for me gidgetting down the mountain) while Otto was tucking down all runs he could find. The best part about it was that it was a Monday and there was hardly anybody around - the mountain was ours! :) The second day we headed over to Alta ski resort which was fun and my wonderful German ski instructor gave me a couple of lessons which lead me to easily tackle any blue runs that came my way - no tantrums :) Although I did the biggest stack and after realising that my twisted knee would survive I just couldn't stop laughing :) The third day we traveled to the next canyon to Solitude ski resort - more blue runs for me until I got afternoon tired legs and hit the green runs again :) Day four we were in Park City (home of the Sundance Film Festival which was on a couple of weeks ago) where we spent the day at Deer Valley ski resort which was quite swanky (the food was the best of all the resorts) and we both had a fun day skiing. Otto pretty much had a terrain park to himself and while sitting in the sunny beach chairs at the bottom I filmed him jumping and spinning) This resort was massive with expensive lodges all over and gold trim and marble in the public bathrooms. There is also valet parking where the valets will carry your skis for you!!! The last day of skiing was a bit tougher (well we'd been spoilt all week with no crowds, great snow and sunny weather). The Friday crowds had arrived and it was the coldest day due to the wind picking up. We had a great day all the same :) We finished our ski trip on a high and watched the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics in the Wasatch Brew Pub on Main Street. After a few local beers (3.2% alcohol in Utah), a yummy dinner and a Pavarotti finale we headed back to our hotel. The next day we took our time getting up and getting ready for the first leg of our trip home. We loaded up the hotel trolley and I waited with all our stuff at the front while Otto went to get the car from the carpark. Fifteen minutes later I'm starting to wonder why he is still warming up the car when he only has to drive it 20 metres to where I stand freezing. Little did I know that the front tyre was stuck in ice! Overnight water had run to the lowest point of the car park which is also where the front tyre was. It took Otto more than half an hour of fiddling with tyre chains (without gloves) combined with a severe case of Terets syndrome and minus 8 degrees celcius to free the car. A bit traumatised from the experience we went to get some breakfast in Main Street in Park City :) Our next stop was the official Olympic site for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic games which is where the ski jumps (the big "Eddy-The-Eagle" ones and the freestyle aerial jumps - there was a competition was on too) and the luge track were. We didn't go into the museum - $7 each and once again with limited time we headed out of the mountains and down to Salt Lake City (SLC). SLC is a small city (700,000 people 1.3m greater metropolitan area) and the main attraction is Temple Square. This is a couple of blocks in the middle of the city that consist of huge Mormon Temples and the global Latter Day Saints headquarters which is a huge office building. All very nice compared to the rest of what we saw downtown. An hour later we started our drive home. We took two days to get home and the second day was nicely broken up by a quick stop at the Bellagio Buffet in Las Vegas and a quick $1 poker machine bet each (no … we didn't win). Oh well … back to work this week and back into routine again. Our next trip is in March to LA for the marathon and also right before Ben & Gina arrive!!!! Can't wait for that one!
Anyway, I hope you are all healthy, happy and
looking after yourselves.
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Heidi's January Blog 2006
First and foremost, a huge CONGRATULATIONS to Jody, Frank & Ella for the arrival of Lucy on the 9th January.
AND another congratulations to Jo & David who got engaged on New years Eve.
Happy 2006 everyone! I hope you all had a great new years eve and a nice relaxing break. Otto and I had a quiet
new years eve ... we actually went out for a big long lunch with our friends Paul and Linda to the "Best German
Restaurant in San Diego" (I think it's the only German restaurant in San Diego but the food is great!) and then
watched the rest of the world and the east coast on TV bring in 2006. It was a very low key occasion but just
what we felt like doing :) Stayed awake until midnight but only just...
I enjoyed my last week of being a kept woman before starting my new job at Nokia. I've been there for two weeks
now and it's great! Nice new offices, people from all over the world work here (especially Finnish) so it's nice to
hear all the different accents, everyone is really nice (especially my boss which is a huge bonus) and friendly. It's
a great place to work and not that much further from home. We are planning on moving apartments in the middle of
the year and will hopefully be living near work which will be great.
As well as starting a new job, Otto & I are about to take a week off and head to Utah (Mormon country) for a week
of skiing :) There hasn't been much snow in the local mountains so we haven't been skiing yet this season. We are both
really looking forward to going to Salt Lake City and staying on snow at Snowbird/Alta for the first three nights and
then moving to Park City (home of the Sundance Film Festival which is on now) for the rest of the week. We thought
we'd make the most of our trip and will be driving up via Las Vegas (Bellagio buffet lunch stop) and then driving around
Zion & Bryce National Parks (think of the beginning of Mission Impossible 1 or 2 when Tom Cruise is rock climbing -
those rock formations are in these national parks and are apparently stunning).
We had our first visitor this year ... Cath popped down to San Diego for a quick visit last weekend. It was great to
see her again and catch up on all the gossip. Otto ran the Carlsbad Half Marathon on Sunday morning but I'll let him
tell you about that.
This weekend Otto is out running again at the moment ... should be home in 3 hours! I'm thinking of what to eat for
breakfast before we head out and about... SnowJam is on again this weekend so hopefully Otto can pick up some
new ski boots.
That's pretty much us in a nutshell. Hope everyone is healthy and happy and we are thinking of you.
Bye for now
Heids
xx
Well it's been a while so I thought I would write a blog to you all. Things here are going well and we are being swept up with silly season as I'm sure everyone is :)
Last weekend was my 30th birthday which actually started back in October when I headed to Palm Springs with my friend Meg. Ever since we were in our teens we had agreed to meet somewhere in the world half between our 30th birthdays! Thinking this was only going to be a dream because (a) 30 seemed like a lifetime away and (b) who knows where you and your friends will be in 10 years time. I am happy to say that Meg and I ended up living in the same country and although Paris was the original destination we choose Le Parker Meridien Palm Springs!
We arrived on Friday and headed straight for the newly renovated day spa (aka Palm Springs Yacht Club - don't ask as there weren't any boats) and had a desert stone therapy massage (highly recommended!). The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing, catching up, eating, drinking, sitting by the pool, eating, jacuzziing, being pampered at the day spa, more eating and more drinking. We didn't actually leave the hotel and look around Palm Springs in three days but that was all we needed and we were happy and relaxed.
Our friend Stuart arrived on December 2nd and so I got to celebrate my real birthday with one of our mates. Stuart was en route to the UK for a while and it was great that he was able to stop off for a few days and enjoy the sunshine.
Even though we were planning on going out for my birthday dinner the following weekend Otto still got up early on Saturday morning and gave me 12 long stem roses, breakfast in bed (pancakes - yum!) and a foot rub! Then I opened my (first) present which was a sports watch with a heart rate monitor. No - I will not be running marathons with Otto but this little gadget may just help me get fit :)
A week after my birthday Otto took me out for dinner to a restaurant in La Jolla called Azul which was very nice :) During the day Otto surprised me with a few more presents ... Charlie & The Chocolate Factory DVD (the latest one with Johnny Depp) along with a block of chocolate and some champagne and then came the big box ... a foot spa with REMOTE CONTROL - the ultimate indulgence! Needless to say I happily sipped my champas, while soaking my feet and watching CATCF :)
I had a wonderful birthday and thank everyone for all your messages :)
Other good news is that I have accepted a job at Nokia and will be starting there next week. This is very exciting for me as the company seems like a great place to work and our friends Paul and Linda both work there also. I will let you all know how it goes :). I must admit though that I have enjoyed being a lady of leisure for the last month or so ... even got back into a fitness routine which I am really enjoying. Hopefully I can keep it up :) My time off work doesn't feel like as long as it has been since we've had visitors and Thanksgiving and Otto's birthday and then my birthday. Very busy and looking forward to a relaxing Christmas at home :)
We bought our first Christmas tree last weekend which we also decorated on Sunday night. Looks great in all it's 4 feet of stature and but I'm still unsure of the tinsel. I'm really bad at tinsel - don't ask me why but I just cannot get it to look they way it's supposed to! We've decorated the apartment with all our Christmas stuff and getting into the spirit of it :) Otto is doing his best to correct as many people as possible who say "Happy Holidays" (more politically correct and more commonly used in America) by replying "Merry Christmas".
We look forward to speaking to you very soon over Christmas and for those of you in Sydney - don't go to Cronulla Beach this weekend. Just checking ... not that I know anyone who would go to Cronulla beach but just to make sure.
Well I hope everyone keeps healthy and happy and remember don't drink and drive over the Christmas / New Year period and stay safe. Enjoy the summer :)
Miss you all very much and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Bye for now
Heids
xx
Another audio blog:
content\audio\Otto Audio Blog 26th Oct 2005.mp3
9th August 2005 - New Audio Blog from Otto:
Either RIGHT CLICK on the link below and you can SAVE TARGET AS... on your PC somewhere (recommended if you have a slow connection) or just click on it and it should open windows media player for your immediate listening gratification....
29th July 2005 - San Francisco
iHi All,
Thank god it’s Friday! Not only has this been a busy week but we’ve been off gallivanting for the last three weekends! That’s right we had the Gera’s in town (for those of you who don’t know them - very good friends from Oz now residing in UK).
First stop on their US tour was San Diego (see last blog). After their SD stint they took the week to track the California coastline to SF and then we flew up and met them on the following weekend.
San Francisco … what a place! We love it!!! It’s no wonder it’s Sydney’s sister city with great landmarks like Golden Gate Bridge, beautiful harbour, art deco architecture, beach & coast nearby, the biggest & best Chinatown, and of course the all-famous Alcatraz. Put an opera house there and we’ll call it home.
The Gera’s picked us up from San Fran airport first thing Saturday morning and we headed straight for the Golden Gate Bridge … Fogged in! Not only were we excited to bet here in SF but more so to be there with GK. The best view of the Golden Gate Bridge we saw over the weekend was walking along the span of the bridge. The fog was so thick we couldn’t see more than 50mt of the bridge at one time.
After giving up on a complete
view of the bridge in the hopes of the fog clearing later that day we headed
down to the Embaracadero (waterfront) to the Farmers' Market. This was a
great bizarre of fine foods, fresh produce and all culinary treats that your
heart stomach could desired.
Back into the mustang and off to Blue & Gold Ferries for our ride out to visit Alcatraz.
We got there early which was just as well as parking was running out, which also explains why we got gouged $20 for parking. Apparently SF is one of those cities where public transport is the way to go and the cable cars are a charming way to get around.
Alcatraz lived up to it’s reputation as one of the most notorious penitentiaries of it’s time. Walking around with our personal audio tour headsets was the best way to see Alcatraz and get a feel for the history. Most of you reading this probably think audio tours are LAME!!! But this one included a detailed tour of the prison including the experiences of the inmates as told by the inmates. We also saw we saw Al Capone’s cell, the recreation yard and the ever lasting effects of numerous escape attempts (5 inmates missing – no attempts confirmed as successful!). When you come to visit us you must add SF to your itinerary.
After experiencing the rich history of one of America’s most notorious prisons we decided to continue our cultural experience by visiting anther American icon ... HOOTERS!!!
So what is HOOTERS like? There are no topless waitresses. They wear short shorts … cleavage enhancing tops and make up that may seem out of place in Oz but is probably suitable for an American ponti. Fathers’ recommend their families dine here and it ain’t for the chicken breast… As this was our first time at this American icon, we had to get some souvenirs – one coldy holder for Otto and a snug fitting t-shirt for Heidi later we were back on our way.
We arrived at the hotel just in time for happy hour. Which in the case of our very cool hotel, meant not only free Californian wine, but massages and tarot card readings as well. A couple of wines, massages (and a tarot card reading for Kath later), we were on our way to a fabulous dinner in Union Square. Scala Bistro (one of San Francisco’s finest Restaurants) provided us with a sumptuous dinner beyond our expectations.
One of the night spots recommended to us by Kevin (Otto’s colleague/mate and San Francisco native) was Harry Denton’s Starlight Room in the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. It happened to be almost next door. So after our feast we ventured all the way up to the 21st floor, squeezed our way to the front of the cue only to find - the cover charge was more than we could amortise over our remaining alcohol capacity for night.
The next morning was a little rough…
So after acclimatizing with Starbucks we ventured into Chinatown in search of the Fortune Cookie Factory….
Fu Ling Yu Says: More soon…..
14th July 2005 - Otto's Gera and Kath Tourist Report
Hey everyone! I'm having an insomnia moment, so I thought I would do a real quick blog to tell you what we and our XPAT Aussie/English London tourists have been up to. Of course there's a boatload of photos so don't forget to check the gallery.
The kiddies arrived on Saturday evening and after having the Margarita reception at our place we went down to Rock Bottom to show them our local. After a few snacks, some beers Gera and Kath proceeded to trounce Heidi and I on the pool tables. It seems Kath has been putting her time in England to good use!
Sunday was spent thusly:
Went into Mexico to Tijuana - what a hole!! But ticked it off the list anyways!
Dropped by the Yardhouse in downtown San Diego - most beers on tap in the world (100+)
Stopped in Pacific Beech at the Cass St Bar and Grill for dinner and drinks.
The next morning (after taking Gera for a quick SLK spin) we helped the kiddies pickup their vehicle - they were like kids in a candy store as they got into their mustang convertible. They were soon riding of into the sunset "roofdown" style!
We will see them on again Saturday morning when we meet them in San Franciso...then the week after we do VEGAS!! Look out for more updates soon.
Got to run off to work now. Miss you all.
and don't forget - EMAIL US!
Otto & Heidi
Hello avid readers! Thought I would jump online and contribute to our wonderful website for the first time in a couple of months. No I haven’t been ignoring you but very busy with work and gathering stories to tell you all about :)
Going back a couple of months ago Otto & I experienced our first Californian earthquake (well my first big one since I didn’t really feel the earthquake in Newcastle all those years ago). Dreamily off in slumberland on a Monday night when it hit at about 4am. The earthquake measured just 4 on the ricta (sp?) scale and was centred only a few miles from where we live. It woke me up with a jolt and a loud rumbling noise and shook for about 30 seconds (Otto says 5 seconds tops but there was two of them – I might delirious from the trauma) which doesn’t sound like much but when you are fast asleep and wake up to that you would also wonder what was going on. As soon as it stopped I thought I didn’t really know what just happened and thought that I was dreaming so looked over at Otto expecting it all to be a dream and him still sleeping quietly but he was also sitting up looking as bewildered as I was. My second reaction was to look out the bedroom window to see all the mayhem and fireballs falling from the sky like in the movies but there was nothing … maybe a cricket noise. I didn’t sleep anymore after that … wondering if I should gather my doona and try and sleep in the doorway for safety in case there were aftershocks and just too excited that it was my first earthquake. It was all over the news the next day “EARTHQUAKE TUESDAY!” as only Americans can televise a ‘natural disaster’. Luckily there was no damage and no one injured. We were lucky that it wasn’t any bigger and it definitely gives you an insight into what people go through when the big ones hit – very scary!
Baseball season has started and we have had the opportunity to catch a couple of games (Padres v Colorado and Padres v Cleveland) which was a great experience and surprisingly fun. Not knowing many of the rules (except for my softball days in early high school) and hearing that baseball games have a reputation of going on, and on, and on we had a fun time. The first game we saw the Padres win which was exciting – the crowd went nuts and we just went along with it! The second game we went to on Tuesday no one had scored any runs so at the end of the 9th inning and what we thought was the end of the game (about 2.5hours later) we started getting ready to leave thinking that it was a draw and my friend from work who was sitting in front of us explained that there are now draws in baseball and they now had to keep playing until someone got a home run … even if it was until midnight! We managed to get out of there about 45 mins later :)
Otto and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary in May which was great (see photo gallery). This last year has just flown by because so much has happened in that year but then I think because we live in the states now it also seems like so long ago. To mark our first married year we drove to Temecula which is the closest wine region to San Diego and about 1.5 hours drive north. It’s a quaint little town with lots of nice wineries that we visited on Saturday after our hot air balloon ride in the morning. This was amazing! We are all standing in the basket with the balloon above us about to take off (it’s 7am of course) and then the fear surges through me and I’m gripping onto the edge like that is going to help me … “What if I get too scared and freak out?” “What if we fall out of the sky?” “Where’s the engine to keep us in the air?” “Why is the pilot making jokes?” – Can’t he see that I’m standing here white-knuckled and contemplating jumping out while we’re still only one foot from the ground! At 5 feet from the ground I realised that all was going to be OK and this was going to be the smoothest and most pleasant ride ever … and it was :) So quiet and smooth and the pilot was really really good. We went up as high as 1.6miles and then came back down to about 3 feet from the ground drifting through an orchard where we were picking fruit off the trees J The ride took an hour before we started our wine tour.
The wine tour guide, Mike, was a Canadian ice-hockey ref who was making the most of the ice-hockey league strike and was moonlighting as a tour-guide. He was trying to tell us all he knew about wines and the area and everyone just kept asking him ice-hockey questions which he was cool with. The wineries … well I won’t go into them too much because (a) that’s Otto’s job and (b) this particular wine region is not that big and too far south in the warmer climate to produce mentionable wines or (c) I drank too much and can’t really remember! (d) all of the above :) Saturday night we had a yummy dinner at the hotel we were staying in and then drove back home on Sunday afternoon. Since the first anniversary is traditionally paper I gave Otto tickets to see Moby in San Diego on the Sunday night. This was awesome and much better than expected. BTW The new CD (called “Hotel” I think) is pretty good. Moby was on stage for about 2.5 hours which is a great effort and not only did he play all his new stuff but all of the older and more popular songs and also all his old-school classics – Otto was in heaven! He was very good and if you ever get the chance then I recommend seeing him.
Work has been really busy lately … the build up of a couple of months for a tradeshow in Orlando, Florida a couple of weeks ago (same time that Otto was in Australia / New Zealand). I was there for three days and unfortunately not long enough to see any of the sights which included too many theme parks, Disney World and the one that I would’ve stayed and extra day for and was only 45 minutes away – Cape Canaveral (where all the space ships take off). This would’ve been way cool to see but didn’t have the time so I bought Otto some freeze dried ice-cream and a space pen you can write upside down with – it’s the little things :) Florida is hot like San Diego which was nice but also had humidity which sucked. It is also the state where Da Bolca Vista is from Seinfeld and you notice as you travel there the increased number of white/grey hair people of the older generation. It is also known as “God’s waiting room”.
We had a visitor since I last blogged … our friend Michael stopped by on his USA/UK tour and it was great to see him. Nothing like hearing an Aussie accent again. It just puts a smile on my face J Otto took a couple of days off and the boys ran amuck sightseeing in San Diego and a trip to Mexico / Tijuana.
Matt & Kath are only weeks away from their USA tour starting in San Diego then heading up the coast through LA and Big Sur to San Francisco (apparently it’s uncool to say “San Fran” – whatever!) where Otto and I will meet up with them for the weekend and then again in Vegas the following week before they head back to the UK. Can’t wait kiddly-winks!!! :) Roulette – Black 11 baby!!!! We are staying at the MGM Grand (hey Kath – now that it’s been published we have to stay there!)
That’s pretty much it in a nut-shell and I’m sure your coffee is going cold or finished by now so I will sign off after these messages:
Rennae – make the most of your time left in the UK. Let me know if you are swinging past the US on your way home.
Judes – Congratulations on graduating from your yoga course this weekend. Hope we get to catch up soon.
Meg – I will call you soon to arrange birthday shenanigans / massage / catchup / wine.
Mart – where are you? Send me an email or can someone forward this to her – I don’t have her email address anymore.
Sharls – not much longer and thanks for sending so many photo’s through email. It’s great to see you looking so healthy and wonderful. Hope you enjoyed your baby shower J
Al & Matt – when are you kids heading off on your next travels?
Miss you all and hope you are healthy and happy.
Bye for now
Heids
xx
3rd June 2005 - The First Brief Audioblog
As you will hear, the attached is just a very short blog that I spontaneously recorded (without telling Heidi I was going to do it!) on our walk back from VONS (it's our local "Woolies/Coles").
content\audio\H&O050603
LQVBR.mp3
So this is really just a very short file to test the concept of audioblogging to: 1. See how many of you can hear it. (Don't know how many of you have speakers on your PCs or how many of you have internet security policies that block this kind of content.)
2. How many of you like this form of communication.
For us it's so much more time efficient. Instead of having to spend oodles of time writing out a lengthy blog, we can just yak away.
INSTRUCTIONS:
You can access the file one of two ways. The most sure fire means of listening to it, is to right clisk and choose "SAVE FILE AS". Then just select somewhere to save it on your system. You can then play it back from your hard drive. This will ensure you get to hear it properly even if you have slow internet collection. The other method is just to click on it. Your Windows Media Player should just start up and begin playing.
If those to methods don't work... well then I don't think you'll be able to hear us... sorry.
Anyway, we hope you enjoy it!!! Take care and stay in touch!
Otto and Heidi
28th May - Otto's May 05 Oz Trip
Back in the US of A after a fleating visit of family and friends in Oz. It was fantastic to see everyone again, but a shame that Heidi could not be there with us!
Check out all the photys from my visit in the gallery.
A great time seems to have been had by all and the trip was too short. But Heidi and I are planning a more thorough extended visit in December. We'll of course keep you posted on our travel plans.
In the meantime we look forward to hearing from many of you, reading from all of you and seeing some of you!
Anyway, must dash, we are about to go see Star Wars - we've been saving ourselves for this movie. Neither of us saw it while we were travelling and we can't wait to see it.
Take care and stay in touch,
Otto
PS - I think the short blog could be the way to go.
PPS - I ment to write a blog about my half marathon - but I guess that can wait.
PPPS - I also wanted to blog about Youngy's visit, so that should be up soon.
PPPPS - I also didn't tell you about the Anniversary weekend Heidi and I had in the local wine region where we went hot air balloonig.
PPPPPS - No wonder I don't have time to blog - maybe I need to record audio blogs for you to listen to instead of having to type everything... watch out for that update.
April Fools - Otto's Las Vegas Trip
After no updates for around SIX WEEKS here it comes, I am about to unload and catch up on some serious blogging.
Where to begin??
How about where I left off six weeks ago… I had just run my first 10km race and started putting together my gruelling half marathon training schedule. As you can see, I was working out six days a week for six weeks. Between this, my job and household chores, there hasn’t really been any idle time to devote to blogging. So now that I have finished my training (for now), I am finally able to catch you guys up on all the interesting happenings here in the US of A.
Recently I had an exhibition and sales conference to attend in LAS VEGAS! When I originally organized my attendance, I tried to minimize my time away from Heidi. I really hate travelling now and can’t bare to be away from my Princess! Long gone are the days where I could spend about half my time in 747s and hotel rooms! As I organized my schedule for the trip and it looked as though I would have next to no time available to socialize and see Las Vegas. So Heidi and I decided it would be best for us to make the pilgrimage together at a later date (and possibly with some visitors!).
It was a mistake - I ended up with significantly more time on my hands than I had planned on. In hind sight we should have bought the extra $150 airplane ticket and gone to a show and dinner. Alas…
It was
interesting none the less. Vegas is just absolutely massive. I was staying
at the Luxor Hotel. This particular “Resort Destination” is loosely modelled
in an Egyptian style
.
The main building is a massive glass pyramid
.
Inside
the pyramid
and the adjoining two towers are all the hotel rooms, entertainment
facilities and of course the Casino
.
Among it’s major attractions are: an exclusive Spa, the world’s biggest
Sphinx
,
a food court, six resteraunts, five bars, every gambling activity
imaginable, an Imax theatre and The Blue Man Group (of Intel television
advertisement fame). The Blue Man group even have their very own and aptly
titled “The Blue Man Group Theatre” where they play every night for around
$100 a seat ($150 with a classy dinner included).
As you can
imagine by the sounds of the above, the place was huge. Everything in Vegas
seems to be on a grand scale (even the shower was high enough for me to
stand under – and that’s a first for me in the US!!). The Luxor is linked by
Monorail to both the Excalibur
and the Mandalay Bay
.
But you can also walk between the Luxor and the Mandalay Bay. So on the
first day, I moseyed over to the Mandalay Bay where the trade show was being
held. I must have walked for about twenty minutes, passing even more bars,
resteraunts and shops – and all that without even going outside!!
On the Sunday night after all the work activities had been completed, it was time to relax. I spoke to Heidi late that afternoon and convinced myself that having missed out on a weekend, I deserved to go to the black jack table (with my $80 of pokie winnings from the previous night) and to have a few drinks at the swanky wine bar I found during my walk!
The wine bar is called 55 degrees and it’s
absolutely awesome. It had one of the best wine lists that show
cased not just the usual suspects of Californian bottles, but had a
selection of international wines encompassing: Spain, Italy, France,
Germany, Austria, Israel, Thailand, Hungary, Australia and even New Zealand
(just kidding Sharlene!). All served in my favourite wine glass – the Riedel
“O” glass
.
Not only did
55 Degrees have a great bar, but it also had an awesome collection of wines
for sale and on display in it’s cleverly and stylishly designed shelves
.
I was in Heaven, I ordered a German Riesling for starters and began wandering
the 30 or so shelves and read almost every bottle. Of course a Riesling
doesn’t have a long enough finish to sustain this amount of browsing!! So I
had to help it along with a Burgundy Pinot Noir… and then a Barossa Valley
Grenache… I did get through every shelf (reading every shelf not drinking
them) and found my present for Heidi in the process.
You see people in the USA don’t believe in Semillon. Of course one of Heidi’s favourites is Peter Lehman Semillon. The only place I’ve managed to find Semi here (and I’ve looked!) is in a Chinese Resteraunt up the road from us. However, there’s a rub – one glass costs as much as a bottle in Oz!!
So I did
expect to find the beloved beverage at 55 Degrees, however no Peter Lehman
was to be found … BUT, they did have a bottle of Kaesler Old Vine
Semillon from the Barossa!! We bought exactly that bottle at Kaesler
during our first holiday together – the very holiday that got me irrevocably
hooked on wine (I was already hooked on Heidi by then). I had to get a
bottle for Heidi. I took it back to the bar and $60 later they had me all
wrapped up and ready to go. They also have the coolest packaging I have ever
seen. A clear bag that inflates around the wine bottle to cushion it
.
It was so cool that I wanted to preserve it so that Heidi could see but as
it was to big to fit in my luggage, that meant schlepping it all the way
back to San Diego as a separate item!
After
finishing up at the wine bar I stashed my freshly acquired precious bounty
in the hotel room and proceeded to scout dinner locations. I ended up at the
Burger Bar and had the low carb burger
– It comes without bread but with a killer salad and mushrooms. I don’t know
if it was the wine or the additional two beers
I
used to wash it down, but it was one of the best burgers I’ve ever eaten!
With my stomach filled, it was time to hit the black jack table. I found an empty table and told myself I was prepared to loose $100 and then walk away. With any luck I’d be back in my hotel room early enough to have another pre-sleep Heidi chat. Pretty soon after winning a couple of hands, others joined the table. A waitress came by and took our orders. When she came back with the Heineken, she didn’t ask to be paid. So after I didn’t pay for my second (nor did anyone else at the table) I figured out that the drinks are free while you play. So while my bank balance fluctuated throughout the night, my drink tally only went in one direction. When I finally won my way back to a respectable position (loosing $100) I called it a night. It’s really only once you stand up that you realize you’ve had more than a couple Heini’s!!
Drank lot’s of water and hit the sack about 1am!!
The next morning wasn’t too good, but I was coping. The only thing I had to achieve was to get myself to the airport and back to San Diego. The closer I got to the airport the worse I felt. Once I hit security I realized how bad my hangover was getting. Then of course I get additional security and every piece of baggage and clothing gets close attention. Perhaps it was the refusal to remove my sunglasses that caused them to pick on me?
At the gate I had two 700mL bottles of water… thank god I did, otherwise I surely would have had nothing to hurl. Sure enough at wheels up I filled my first baggy. Then on descent I filled my second baggy. If ever I was thankful for an empty seat next to me on a flight – it was that one.
I was glad to be back!
Now just imagine how dangerous that place could be with a bunch of Friend’s who have travelled half a world to get there!!! PARTY TIME!!! I’m looking forward to getting up and down the strip, hitting some hot clubs, gambling a little and spending the afternoons by the lavish swimming pools with Heidi and visitors.
Anyway, that's a big enough update for now... stay tuned for more REAL SOON! (I promise!)
Take care and stay in touch,
O&H
12th March 2005 - Two kinds of people
I always said that there are two kinds of people in America. Those that are fat and those that aren't. As you already know, the meals are huge, laden with lard, crammed with carbs, full of fat and bigger than Texas. So everyone seems to eat these big meals and the only way not to get fat is to exercise. California is probably one of the healthiest places in the states (evidenced by the fact that you can't leave your doorstep without seeing, joggers or cyclists everywhere you go).
So I'm happy to say, that I am beginning to embrace the meal portions and eating styles. Well, not entirely, but I am starting to feel hungry most of the time. But I suspect this is more to do with my recent fitness regime madness...
I have now been training for 6 weeks and haven't missed a single workout session.
Two
weeks ago I ran the Pardee Torrey Pines 5km race. With a time of 21:54, I came 107th out of about
2000 runners and 11th in my age bracket (30-34)
.
And today, I
ran in my first 10km race.
Well actually, my GPS running system, tells me
that the course was really 10.5km long. My aim today was to run a personal
best - which is always a good target when you've never run a ten kilometer
race before. That's not to say I haven't run that distance before. In the
week leading up to the race my longest run was 13.3km.
I achieved
my PB with a time of 45:39 and came in
155th overall
(out of 1100)
and 19th in my age bracket (30-34).
I was actually trying to get into the top ten percent of finishers, but this
is the the fastest time I have run a 10km distance ever so I'm very happy
with my result.
As you know, I am the gadget king, so not only was I was wearing my mp3 player, but my heart rate monitor and Global Satelite Positioning system. So now you can see how fast and far I went and what happened to my heart rate (i.e. how buggered I was ;-). So Click here for a biometric snapshot of the race.
So that's kind of the story of my day today. It also explains why I haven't blogged in so long. You see, when you do around 70 miles / 110km per week of running and cycling - you tend not to have a lot of time left for other stuff.
So, as usual, I am obsessed with something... this time it's my fitness. By now you a probably wondering why??? Why indeed???
Here's a few reasons:
1. The La Jolla Half Marathon is on in about 5 weeks and I am going to run it.
2. I wanted to be fitter at age thirty than I have ever been in my life - mission accomplished.
Anyway, Heidi has just prepared a wonderful rack of lamb and needs me to open our wine of the month. This month we are tasting our way through Italy - how about a nice Chianti <makes Hannibal noises "sffsf, sfsfs, sffff">?
Take care and STAY IN TOUCH,
Otto
9th March 2005 - How hot is your curry?
Just got home from work and sitting at the computer with a glass of wine, some plain corn chips (run out of salsa) should be cooking dinner but ah well…
No I’m not cooking a curry for dinner tonight since we went out last Friday night to an area in SD called HillCrest. It is basically the gay area of SD which also means that it has the lots of yummy restaurants and bars and night life. It was a treat for Otto since he is always taking me out and looking after me and I thought I would return the favour…
First stop was a bar called “The Wine Encounter” which was a quaint dimly lit wine bar which was really nice and great find (beats TGIF any day!), then it was on to an Indian restaurant around the corner called Bombay which has had excellent reviews and looked really nice. The good news was that there were quite a few Indian people eating in the restaurant (confirmed the authenticity of the place for me) but the bad news was that although I had booked a table online and received a confirmation they had decided that on this day they weren’t really going to honour online bookings for 8 people or less (go figure! – it’s just one of those weird American things that we are now becoming immune to!). Contrary to my former self I kept calm and simply asked if we could get a table that wasn’t right at the front door and my coolness paid off as we ended up with a nice table for two about twenty minutes later :)
The food was fantastic although very spicy!!!! I thought I was being conservative by ordering buttermilk chicken (American translation = Makhani) somewhere between mild and medium spicy while trying to convince Otto to get his in medium to really hot!! He settled for medium and lucky as well since he had steam coming out of his ears just from that. Anyway, the food was great, the company was wonderful and a good night was had by all or both :)
Saturday we did our chores/errands in preparation of heading to Big Bear Ski Resort on Sunday for a day of skiing. Woke up at 5.30am on Sunday morning (shudder shudder) and got ready for our friend, Breck, to arrive at 6am to pick us up. I fell asleep in the back of the car all the way to Starbucks - revived myself with a hot chocolate and yummy cinnamon swirl thing (which would all be burnt off later that day with speedy Gonzales skiing). The bad news was that about an hour (7.30am) out of SD there was engine trouble on the little red Jetta so we pulled off the freeway and found a petrol station with a service center. Problem: I don’t really know but there was a funny smell! All boys talk really <engine blah fan belt blah>. The short version is that the part they needed to fix the car wouldn’t arrive until the next day so skiing wasn’t looking like such a viable option for that day. The good news was that we had broken down in Temecula which is the biggest and closest wine region to SD and we hadn’t been there yet so we hired a car and set off for some sight-seeing and wine tasting :)
Lunch first at a quaint little restaurant / pub place in the “Old Town” of Temecula then a quick stroll down the main road … Antique shop …. Another antique shop … Another antique shop – oh well, it was nice :)
Then we drove about 5 minutes to Thornton Winery which was very nice. An older style building set overlooking some of the vines (they were tiny and not the best show pieces but it was a nice day anyway). We each ordered a “Flight” which is a set of three or four wines that they have put together for tasting. Otto and Breck tried the Champagne Flight and I sampled the New Releases Flight which was quite good – the reds were way better than the whites :)
We walked around the winery for a while before heading home in the afternoon. A very relaxing day all in all and we are hoping to get to Big Bear in a fortnight’s time (there should still be snow) as Otto has another running race on this weekend :)
He is doing so well but I will let him tell you all about that ;)
OK kids … other bits & pieces…
WORK – is going well, very busy at the moment and still trying to get my head around how everything works but it’s good.
HEALTH – skipped the gym tonight (not in the mood) and decided to write my blog instead. Have been good for ages though and will be starting Pilates again tomorrow night in La Jolla. The class is being led by someone named “Firmen” which I think is a good sign :)
LIFE – I can’t believe that Otto & I have been in the US for 8 months already and been married for 10 months!!! We are really happy and although we still miss everyone terribly we are both having fun together.
ENTERTAINMENT – Smiles all round as we start our decent into summer over here which also means good gigs coming up… Otto is still trying to convince me about seeing Crystal Method in a couple of weeks… Elton John is playing in SD but it’s on our anniversary weekend (I’m sure he’ll do Vegas soon – I even found friends to go with after Otto said he’d rather die than see Elton John) … there are heaps of gigs coming up and we’ll be sure to keep you posted :) Anyone for Motley Crue, Englebert Humperdink…
HOLIDAYS – Nothing booked at this stage but we are thinking about heading to Washington DC for 4th of July weekend, maybe a trip to LA to see our friend Jude’s who will be arriving there in a few short weeks to complete her Yoga course (very exciting but don’t make me do it), apart from that we are just going to play it by ear and see who comes to visit this year and where we can hook up. Meg – we are still on for spa weekend for our 30th’s in October?!!! Will call you soon. Watch this space for the possibility that your two favourite people in the whole wide world might be visiting Sydney in December. Send all encouraging fan emails to another_otto@hotmail.com
REPENT – I’ve not really been keeping up my side of the score sheet for our chinwaggers competition so I must apologise to you all as the current score card might not be 100% accurate.
QUICKIES –
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SIS! :)
Molly – a HUGE congratulations on the job – I know you will do extremely well :)
Ned & Tim – hope you guys are settling in OK in Sydney. Pls send repatriation manual to us for when the time comes :)
Where in the world is Bron?
Matt & Al – the skiing photo’s from France look amazing. You guys must’ve had a ball !!!!
Sharlene & John – how are you guys going?
Rennae – are you still heading to the Carribean??? When?
And to everyone else – we miss you heaps…
Last but definitely not least Rest In Peace Silky … our thoughts are with you and we miss you more than you’ll ever know.
Heids
xx
20th February 2005 - Oh it's been too long...
So what’s been happening since my last blog I see you all sitting on the edge of your seats … well it’s still winter here and everyone is saying that they haven’t seen this much rain in SD for about 30 years! But we’ve still been managing to get out and about …
A few weekends ago we drove 2.5hours north to Mountain High ski resort with our friend Breck. Mtn High is the closest ski area to LA so there were about 90% snowboarders of which 50% had no experience or control (very scary) and were basically there to look good! The mountain was packed but we managed to get a few runs in … there were mostly big runs (ie not for me) or bunny slopes (boring) but managed to use the ski gear one more time. Yesterday we were supposed to go to Big Bear ski resort for the day but went shopping instead - will explain later.
The day after our Mountain High trip was SUPERBOWL SUNDAYYYYYYYYYY <American announcer’s voice>. The two teams were from Philadelphia and New England (favourites who won). Unfortunately San Diego Chargers were knocked out in the lead up to Superbowl so we didn’t get to experience the ‘in-the-middle-of-it’ buzz but was still a great day. Otto & I headed down to a local bar called Rock Bottom Brewery at about 2pm, got a good table and settled in for the game and the best part … the commercials! Apparently the commercials were as funny as previous years but was still fun to watch all the same. Advertisers (mostly beer companies and insurance companies and soft drink companies like Pepsi) spend approx. $1million per ad during the superbowl game. The organiser’s went with Paul McCartney as the safe option for half time entertainment (burned by Janet’s wardrobe malfunction last year they couldn’t afford another episode). Paul was really good and I couldn’t believe how much goes into a sports event like this but then again … only in America!
Last weekend we explored an area of San Diego called Pacific Beach with our friend Kevin. PB is the equivalent of going out in Bondi or Coogee for the night – heaps of young people and the bars and clubs don’t kick off til late … I almost don’t want to tell you that we spent most of the night in a nightclub called “Tremors” but we had fun and great for people watching. Needless to say we both suffered with hangovers the next day so flounced on the lounge watching DVD’s all day – what a treat! I love having a DVD player again – so many movies to catch up on … so far we’ve seen Hero, Troy, Dodgeball, Collateral (v. good) and tonight we are watching Napoleon Dynamite.
Anyway … so we had planned to go to Big Bear Ski Resort for the day yesterday to make the most of ski season while it’s still here but were knackered from a busy week at work and Otto wanted an exercise rest day in preparation for his big race next weekend so we decided to skip it and go in a few weeks time instead.
We made the most of a free day and hit the shops and treated ourselves to way too many new things - Otto bought some pants for work and some running gear and a couple of t-shirts and I bought two pairs of shoes, a couple of skirts and tops and a new cap (well summer is just around the corner!). After denting Otto’s credit card we headed to our favourite wine shop and did a wine tasting of Italian wines which was great since we are exploring Italian wines in March anyway.
After wine-tasting we drove to La Jolla and sat at our favourite place, “George’s” and had a few drinks and a little bite to eat while watching the sunset which was lovely. Then we walked to the kiddy pool which is a small alcove/beach nearby that about 50 seals had taken over - they stank but were cute to watch. They are always there and we’d heard so much about them and have now seen them (sorry we didn’t take the camera last night so no photo’s this time). Then we came home and relaxed.
The best part about yesterday was spoiling and indulging ourselves on a whim and not having to think about ‘should we do it’ or having our weekends taken up with doing chores (yuck!).
Well that’s what we’ve been up to for the last few weeks… apart from that work is going well and I’m finding my feet more and more each day which is comes with a settling feeling. The days are going pretty quick as well are so busy at work (which is also the reason I haven’t given everyone my work email address as there is no chance I would ever reply – speaking of email I am sorry to everyone who has sent emails but haven’t heard anything back – I’m getting there slowly but surely so watch this space).
Otto is really getting into his fitness regime and working hard towards his first 10km run which is next weekend – he is doing so well and setting himself high goals and reaching them. I proudly beamed to him the other day that I ran for 5 minutes in the gym and he didn’t quite understand why I was so excited (this is a big achievement for me) since he is now running for almost an hour every second day!
He’s just made me a ‘mean snack’ while he is cooking dinner – it was a carrot with a mean looking face cut into it :) Funny!
OK well that’s all for now folks – have to wash something in the new washing machine … no I’m not obsessed at all :)
28th January 2008 - Otto's Home Alone Blog
Hey folks, seeing as though it's a Friday night and I am all by my lonesome, I thought I would drop all you heidiandotto.com fans a quick blog.
That's right, Heidi has forsaken me tonight in favour of a baby. One of her work friends/colleagues (to early to say which) has invited her over for a baby shower. I must say, I'm not at all sure whether the baby turns up or whether it's a celebration of impending morning sickness, uncomfortable sleepless nights followed by 18 years of expensive disappointment. (who's a jaded boy then!!??!).
Anyway, that means I have nothing but time on my hands to tell you what's been happening here of late. But to be honest there's not a great deal to tell. The thing that has been preoccupying me the most is how much I miss my family and friends back in Oz. Over Christmas it wasn't so bad, but hearing all the reports from you about what you did makes me wish we had been there to spend the time with you all. So just before I start getting too sobby I want to say that we both miss all of you terribly.
So you should all come and visit us as soon as you can!!! Better hurry up and make your booking at YodelBaer's Hottel Kalifornien. So far we have unconfirmed visits from:
Cath Hay - more work visits for sure?
Michael Young - April maybe on the way to UK?
Graham & Lillian - May I think?
Mum - don't know when but a stop over enroute to Germany.
Gera & Kath - June or June-ish
Judes - April for a day or two before heading for Canook land (Benji might have to help her find her feet in Vancouver?)
We on the other hand don't have travel plans until Christmas of this year. It's going to be hard to find time to do it, but it looks like we will make it. Heidi only gets two weeks of holidays a year!!
Speaking of work. Work sucks. I've decided that the whole work thing just isn't for me and I should be a lad-of-leisure. Somehow though I think I might have trouble paying off the Mercedes without a job! Oh well... But change is in the air once again... Kodak has just purchased a $1.7bn company and we will be merged into Kodak with this company. HUGE restructuring. I have no idea what this is going to mean for us. But it could be anything from "see you later time to get your arse back to Oz" to moving to Connecticut (48miles from Manhattan). No idea really. The only certainty is change itself.
In other news - I finally went
for a surf!!
It had been more than 6 months since I hit the water. It's good to know that
the board fits in the boot of the SLK, but unfortunately only with the roof
up! It was about 6 foot on sets (which is really something for around here),
but I get the feeling that the locals call that double overhead!! It was an
okay session but f#$@# me the water was cold!! After 20 minutes, just as the
sun was setting I had had enough. I couldn't feel my feet anymore so thought
it was best to get out before I caught cold. It was nice to catch a wave or
two - but again I am reminded of how much nicer it is when you can share a
surf with friends.
I've discovered that this is the route of my current state of discontent. I like it here. We are doing very well. We're having an adventure. We don't regret coming here. But we wish we could share all of this with you - to have you all here!
In other news we've been trying
to hit the slopes as much as possible with only mixed success. My first
effort was to get to "Mountain High" resort on January 3rd. It was the midst
of California's worst storm in 6 months. At first it bucketed down with
rain. But after three hours of driving the rain turned to big fat snow
flakes. Of course I was excited but I realised I better get my chains on. It
took me about twenty minutes to get the suckers on and have a look at how
much snow fell on my car durnig that time
!!
It was dumping big style - two foot of powder in the mountains!! I figured I
had it made. When I finally got back on the road traffic was at a
standstill. Not because of the Pickup (ute) that had run off the road
.
but because of a semi-trailer that ran out of grip in the middle of the road
and was now holding up traffic trying to get his chains on. When I finally
got within 10miles of the resort (4 hours after departure!!!) the police
were turning everyone away! Out of desperation I pulled up in at a nearby
cafe to wait out the storm. The cafe of course was closed due to the
storm!!!
At that point I gave up and decided to put on my gear and walk up the snow covered hill. There wasn't much of a trail, matter of fact the trail was so narrow I couldn't get my 176cm skis across it without the ends hitting scrub. But I gave it ago anyway. Couple of quick runs, few little jumps later and I totaled my skis.
Turns out the snow cover was a bit to thin and flaky and I was hitting a few
too many rocks. Lots of gouges in my skis!!
We had a little more success when
we went to Snow Valley
(Should
have taken us two hours to get to our desitination but ended up 6hours to
get past the closed roads due to mudslides and flooding!). But I did get my
skis tuned and got the gouges out!
So now that I have blogged out my mind. It's time to go. I'll be on the phone to you soon.
Take Care and stay in touch.
Otto
10th January 2005 - Weekend in L.A.
Had a great time in L.A. with our friend Cath last weekend. I've never actually been around LA only stopovers on my way to somewhere else so we decided to spend a couple of days exploring the sights and actually seeing all the things you always see on TV and in magazines.
By now you've probably guessed that we didn't see anyone famous or else the picture would be on the front page and it would also be the first thing I said! :) Saying that we did see someone who we think is famous but we don't know what his name is or what tv show he's from... we're thinking maybe Baywatch but more research will need to be done to confirm that one!
Let's start from the beginning... in has been bucketing down with rain all along the Californian coast lately so Otto and I left SD at about 6am on Saturday morning and just in time to meet Cath (who flew in from Sydney) at our hotel. It was great to see a friendly face and to catch up on everything :) First point of call - food! We headed down to the Farmers Market (in the hopes of seeing someone famous... maybe even Brad Pitt drowning his sorrows) for a yummy crepe and OJ and had a little walk around the stalls and shops before heading to Hollywood Walk of Fame & Mann's Chinese Theatre. As we got near we could see big white lights and it was the premier of a movie (Racing Strips I think it's called... the one with the zebra that is into horse-racing) so we couldn't go into Mann's. We also saw the Kodak Theatre next door - home of the Oscars! We stayed in the car and kept driving, making our way (actually getting lost in the rain without a proper map - only Otto's laptop and I was getting carsick!) to Mulholland Drive to see if we could see anyone famous (negative) and to look at the massive mansions and guess who lived where.
We also drove down Rodeo Drive (it's much shorter and smaller than you think but still oozes wealth) and the Sunset Strip (including the Viper Room) and Beverly Hills (really really nice area and super expensive). Then we headed to Santa Monica Beach and saw the famous Pier and had lunch (sausages and chips in a great little English Pub - drank a London Pride dad) before making our way up to Malibu which is about half an hours drive north along the coast.
Drooling over all the really nice beach front homes/mansions and once again guessing who lived where - tried to find Babs (aka Barbara Streisand) & Pam's house but no luck so we headed back towards LA. We stopped at cute bar/pub (it was actually a bar but the closest thing to a pub we've seen so far) that was called Duke's (named after Duke Kahanamoku who is an old surfing legend or the first man to surf or something but for those residing in Sydney's Northern Beaches also know him as the cast-iron statue on the point next to Harbord Diggers. We had some drinks and decided to settle in for the night and watch the Chargers (San Diego American Football team who were complete under-dogs at the beginning of the season and made it to the equivalent of the quarter-finals. We would have won except the kicker dude missed the goal in extra time ... oh the shame!). Anyway, we watched the game ... well Otto watched the game ... I drank my lemonade (sooths a sore throat - a bit poorly I was) and had one eye on the game and the other eye constantly star-spotting as was Cath.
Sunday we had a lazy morning before jumping on the Hollywood Homes Tour :) It was raining but we still had heaps of fun. The tour meet at Mann's Chinese Theatre (not enough time to visit inside though) so we mozzied around the conrete slabs out the front with everyone foot & hand prints - Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor & Natalie Wood have tiny feet! No match for my birkenstocks!!! There are pictures in the gallery...
We started the tour down Sunset Strip and saw Justin Timberlake's restaurant called Chi, Fabio's Cantina called Cabo Cantina! the very cool (apparently) SkyBar and heaps more before heading up into the hills to see and take pictures of people's hedges and letterboxes - I didn't care I still had the camera ready!
First was Courtney Cox's house, then Toby McGuire, then Halle Berry (we actually got very close to her front door and there was a photographer scoping out her place from his car across the street) and Keanu Reeves and a few more that I can't remember and the pictures of their letterboxes didn't turn out because of the rain. Then we made our way into Beverley Hills where there is actually a change in the road (ie LA = badly made roads and Beverly Hills = smooth ashphalt). In Beverley Hills and in Bel Air we saw Nicolas Cage's house, Donatella Versace, Madonna's, The Osbourne's, The Playboy Mansion, Shirley Temples old house, Frank Sinatra's, some oil tycoon's widow's house - she lives in Manhattan and is trying to sell the Bel Air home... the price has just been reduced for a quick sale from US$50million to US$48 million but down the street is when our jaws hit the ground and 'stupid amounts of money' went off the dial when we reached Aaron Spellings house. It is the biggest in the whole area... the wife's wardrobe (for lack of a better word) was about 1,500sq foot. When his daughter, Tori Spelling, moved out she was quoted as saying "I need my own space" - HELLO!!!! Now there are only three people living there apparently and it costs $100,000 per month to maintain. When they built it the neighbours protested saying that it was too big and looked like a hotel which they didn't want in their area! It is seriously just a whole other world. After that we went down to Rodeo Drive and past the clothes shop where Julia Roberts was kicked out of in Pretty Woman ("You work on commission? Big mistake, Huge!) :) and past the Beverly Hills Police Dept - aka Axel Foley's headquarters :) Da da da dada dada da da dada dada da da da dada da doooooooooooooooooooo (theme song but doesn't translate very well into text hmmm).
That was the end of the tour pretty much - saw a lot but not really much at the same time - ah well money well spent before heading to Sunset Strip for a late lunch and last minute star spotting (negative) and a final catch up with Cath before heading back to SD.
We dropped Cath back at the hotel on Santa Monica Boulevard and said our goodbyes before starting our journey home. I just followed our directions to LA but in reverse which I thought was smart until an hour later and we reached Santa Monica Boulevard again!!! Look kids, there's big ben!!!! Doh! Take two and we were on our way.
Had a wonderful weekend all in all and it was great catching up with Cath. No star spotting on this trip but there is plenty more to do in LA and definitely worth another trip up there again.
Bye for now
Heids
xx
We made it to 2005! Heidi and I
had a lovely time at our apartment - Heidi prepared a fantastic dinner
and we drank some special Australian wine with the yummy steaks. After much
more Champagne
and phone calls
to
Australia we walked up to the Hyatt to watch the "ball drop"
.
This is the west coasts version of the NYC Times Square ball drop (but much
much smaller crowd).
Anyway, the New Year has come and there's already so much to do... So I can't sit here all day to update the website!
Take care
Otto
25th December 2004 - Heidi's Trip Blog
It’s 12.40pm
on Christmas day and Otto is driving his favourite toy (Merc
) on our way
home from a great holiday in Lake Tahoe.
Lake Tahoe is about 9-10 hours drive north of San Diego and has some of the best skiing in USA.
Day one –
boot racks arrive by Fedex
at our place just in time to attach to the car (otherwise we would’ve taken
my little Hyundai and rattled the whole way up) and strap the ski’s on
before
heading north for about 6 hours to a little town called Bishop where we
stayed overnight. The drive up was great in Otto’s new car and by the time
the novelty wore off a bit we were driving through the Mojave desert
in the late afternoon and watching a fabulous
sunset.
Day two – we
set off for the last leg of our journey to Tahoe (about 3 hours aways). We
drove past Mammoth Mountain and through the Sierra’s
which was stunning
before crossing over into Nevada and eventually hitting Lake Tahoe
(elevation around 6000ft). The lake
is huge and beautiful and we took our time
driving around before reaching our hotel in South Lake Tahoe. The state line
that divides California and Nevada runs straight through the little town of
South Lake Tahoe and the lake as well. This made the town look a bit
overwhelming when you first arrived as there is great big casino’s on the
Nevada side (Caesars & Harrah’s) and then on the other side of the street is
‘normal town’ (gambling is illegal in California except for the Indian owned
land which has Indian-owned casino’s). We settled into our hotel and went
out for a walk to explore the surroundings… the gondola that takes you to
Heavenly ski resort was about 2 minutes walk from our hotel room
which was
great… we visited Harrah’s casino to see what it was all about – same as any
other casino but more ‘cowboy’ style clothing on the men and the drinks were
really expensive. After playing $10 through the
slots
(don’t
pay as well as in Australia) we headed out to find some food. We spotted an
Irish pub across the road and headed there for a beer (they actually had
Guinness on tap which was the only Irish bit about the pub) and burgers &
chips (which turned out to be like kettle chips and not fries).
Day
three – Our first day of skiing! The gondola ride up to Heavenly resort
takes about 10 minutes and has one of the most awesome views… on one side of the
mountain you can see the lake and all the surrounding mountains
/
other ski resorts of California and off to the right you can see the vast
desert plains of Nevada
. Very cool! Thanks to my gorgeous German ski instructor
I
can now parallel ski!!! And skiing life is much easier now that I don’t have
to snow plough the whole way down a mountain anymore (unless it’s too steep
or I’m too tired or had a beer at lunch!). I kept pushing myself and trying
to keep up with Otto (no where near him but still very fast for me) until I
had a big stack and bum-slid half way across the mountain and nearly hit a
tree! The weirdest thing was that my thumbs were really sore … I can only
think that in my desperate attempt to avoid the tree and slow myself down
I’ve even dug both thumbs into the ground. There weren’t any tears … I just
got back up and carried on … a little slower this time though.
Otto spent a bit of time in the terrain park
(first stack off the grind box) and he loved every minute of it. The
last run of the day was Skyline Trail which was a blue run from the very top
that swung around to the Nevada side of the summit
.
From there you could see an awesome view of Carson City (capital of Nevada)
in the valley down below.
The runs
were really good and the snow was awesome
… the best thing was that there
weren’t too many people around so you could ski down a run all by yourself
with some of the most stunning views in the US
. We did notice that there
were more skiers than boarders and it was good to see that nearly all the
kids wore helmets and a lot of the adults as well. Heavenly ski resort was
swamped with Aussies working the US ski season – it was nice to here a
familiar drawl and as one liftie said “we are taking over the country”.
Day four –
On the advice from our Chiropractor who is an ‘avid’ skier and self
proclaimed expert on the Tahoe region we drove to Kirkwood Ski Resort.
This was our favourite ski day… although it had pretty much the same as
Heavenly, Kirkwood is known to have the most and best snow out of the Tahoe
resorts. My lessons continued and there were great green and blue runs for
me to practice on and there was also the great big Olympic run
from
the top that Otto had fun
with. Anyone who knows Otto knows that he is the gadget king … hence he
strapped on his GPS timer clock/ heart rate monitor thingy and set a new
speed record before being told by the mountain staff that “there is no
tucking” and not do it again because he was going too fast! The new record
is 78.9km/per hour
(49.3miles per hour).
Day five –
We drove to the other side of the lake (about an hour) to the Winter Olympic
resort Squaw Valley
. Orginally we wanted to stay up near here but it was at
least twice the price of anywhere else and we are kinda glad that we didn’t
waste our money. This is were the wealthy go and was an eye-opening
experience listening to all the wankers talk about their investment
portfolio’s at an inappropriate decibel level and the unnecessary mobile
phone calls “Oh I’m just at Squaw Valley at the moment….” Apart from
the fact that the resort is quite big
and would’ve been a wonderful day of skiing if the snow coverage wasn’t so
icy
and
there weren’t little rocks on the ski runs (only 20 inches of snow and it
hadn’t snowed for about 2 weeks). I think this resort was still living off
it’s name and seemed to be a little bit run down apart from the village
below which apparently had some private lifts for some of the super
expensive hotel rooms. Being such a famous resort we couldn’t help ourselves
and headed for the tourist shop to buy our t-shirts.
Day six – A
50 minute drive (including Starbucks stop) got us to Sierra-at-Tahoe
. It was
so windy when we arrived we considered leaving and heading back to Kirkwood
again… but we thought we’d give it a go and if it got too windy we’d have a
short skiing day. Luckily the runs were on the other side of thte mountain
where it was less windy and tuned into a great day. The “Sugar and Spice”
run was 2 miles of freshly groomed green run from the top of the mountain
that we had all to ourselves for the first couple of runs which was
amazing..
18th December 2004 - Otto's Day 1 Desert Drive Blog
I had the best intentions of doing a blog a day - but skiing all day sure does wipe you out!
Well we finally made it onto the
road
!
It's been such an effort just to get the car packed and moving.
After having the company in Beverly Hills Guarantee me that the rack would arrive prior to our early a.m. departure on Saturday, my ski racks HYPERLINK arrived on Thursday night. But when I opened up the package, I found all the necessary parts except for every screw and washer - no way to put the sucker together. After many phone calls to the supplier and a Saturday delivery FedEx package we finally got the rack mounted on the car.
By this time it was already midday, we jammed are clothes, ski boots, Xmas presents and other supplies into the boot and strapped the skis and stocks to the rack. We were ready to rock and roll. The only shame was that with all of that load in the boot we couldn't put down the top to enjoy the balmy 82deg F (about 25C) day in San Diego. But once we got into the desert it was a lot colder.
We wound our way out of San
Diego, keeping LA to our west (traffic). We soon saw snow capped mountains
and crossed the pass into the Mojave desert
.
It's one of the driest places, which is why it's the site of the Aircraft
Graveyard. We didn't stop there but there was plenty parked gathering dust.
As we continued the terrain became more beautiful and mountainous. Temperatures started dropping rapidly on nightfall and by 6:15 we drove through our first sub zero temperatures. How do we know? With the clever little outside air temp gauge on the SLK of course! The temperature didn't bother us of course - we have climate control and heated seats to keep us warm. Thank god we got the ski racks sorted and didn't have to take the Hyundai.
It's not that there is something wrong with the Hyundai - it just doesn't have cruise control, power to overtake, a super smooth ride.... anyway... enough... you get the picture I love our new car!!!
IT was a shame about the timing
of our drive. Once darkness fell we could see tall spiky snow capped
mountains to the east. Apparently Mt Whitney
stands
amongst them. At around 14000ft it's the highest mountain in the contiguous
USA. I'm sure it would have been beautiful to see that range during the day,
but no doubt we will see plenty of awesome scenery tomorrow and in Tahoe.
At around 6:30pm we reached our stop for the night - the little town off Bishop is located just west of Death Valley. We jumped into our cheap and cheerful Holiday Express went for dinner, came home and crashed.
Tomorrow we make the rest of the trip to Tahoe.
Hello Again dear friends, family and loved ones and WELCOME to www.heidiandotto.com. That's right we now even have our own .com!! My how we've grown since the humble beginnings of the online garage sale!!
So, checkout the new features around the site and let us know what you think.
But anyway, that's enough about our on line life - in the physical world so much has happen lately. I'll start with the most important first: I have bought my car!! It's a Black Year 2000 Mercedes Benz SLK230 Kompressor. I can't believe I finally managed to buy a convertible sports car! Literally. I was driving it home from the dealership last night and I couldn't believe it was real. For 16 years I have been hanging out for a convertible!
Anyway, it all happened very quickly:
-
Applied for a loan on line, quick phone conversation - loan approved.
-
Went online checked out all the SLKs for sale within 100miles of us - all dud except for one.
-
Went to to the one drove it - fell in love.
-
Went home, did our finances (read homeloan redraw) and called back to say I'll take it.
-
Monday, signed the contract, picked up the car.
-
Tuesday organised the bank to pay the balance.
For those of you who know me well enough, you will know that I had wanted a Porsche for a VERY long time. But as per my previous blogs, my boss already has one of those - so I had to get something else.
It's funny actually in the team I work with there are now three black convertible sports cars. Kevin the marketing manager has a Honda S2000, My boss Mike has a Porsche Boxster and I have the SLK.
Now some of you might be thinking "wow they really must be paying you the big bucks". But just before you go to far tarring me with the rich man brush, remember that I have been working hard for a long time and saving money for a long time and taking a loan. Moreover, we don't have to finance any offspring so we can afford to spend our money elsewhere.
One spin off benefit of the big loan (the rate is only 5.25%) is the fact that I will now be able to build a credit record pretty quickly. Before we know it, they'll be throwing pre-approved credit cards at us!
So that's the car part covered.
The other Toy I bought recently is a personal trainer. Well not exactly but almost as good as one. It's a Timex watch with a GPS speed and distance sensor, Heart Monitor and Data logger. So what does it do? It tells me, how fast I'm going, whether I am hitting the right heart rate for a cardio, fat burn or peak conditioning workout. And... it let's me download all my data to the computer!! How much do I love the fact that I can play with yet another spreadsheet?!!! Have a look at the special Otto fitness feature page to see what it does.
My resting heart beat these days is 58.
Anyway, this is probably more blog than most of you can handle so I think I will call it a night at this point.
PLEASE email us - Christmas is feeling as lonely as it ever has for Heidi and I and we would love to hear from you!
Otto
28 November 2004 – Heidi
Oh how the tables have turned … it’s 7am on Sunday morning and so I wonder if I’ve now got insomnia or just excited / nervous about my new job that I am starting tomorrow.
Yeah! – I finished with my temp job on Wednesday (yippee!) and will start my new career as Associate Brand Manager for a toy company called Infantino. They own and sell baby toys which I don’t really know that much about but the experience will be great and the interview was one of the best that I had ever been to (you know how you get that feeling ie “it went really well and I’ll fit in like a glove” or “you couldn’t pay me enough to work there”, well I was thinking the first one.
The job is a newly created position and I’ll be working with the Marketing Manager as the company is still expanding. They currently turn over US$20mil per year and only have a staff of about 15 so I think it will either be really busy or the staff are extremely dynamic (or both). I will also be responsible for organising baby photo shoots once a quarter (watch out Anne Geddes – here I come!) … will let you know how it goes once I get my feet wet but at the moment I am so excited and can’t wait to start. Otto was wonderful this week and helping me do all the negotiation bizzo which definitely isn’t my forte and I got a bit more than they offered so that worked :-)
We’ve also been fortunate enough to have a four-day weekend this weekend for Thanksgiving which was on Thursday (always the last Thursday in Nov. and by default everyone gets the Friday off work as well). It is a manic time to travel anywhere as most people take the opportunity to fly home and see the family for the holidays and use the Christmas break for their vacation. We went to Rita’s (a lady who used to work with Otto) for a yummy roast turkey that her husband cooked (Rita is a prescetarian (sp?) so ate cat-fish) and then after stuffing ourselves silly we indulged in Otto’s apple pie (one was cinnamon and the other was raspberry – and they were both excellent – for those who know Otto’s cooking … these were in his top 5 ever!). We were aiming to visit Kevin & Simran’s as they had a few people over and were cooking the ‘deep fried turkey’ were you just stick the whole turkey in a vat of hot oil and deep fry the whole thing – apparently tastes great which I’m sure it would but the 4 billion calories that go with it would be the killer. All in all it is exactly the same as Christmas without the presents (and in some cases more time off work).
Friday was the first official shopping day of Christmas and most of the shops opened at 6am (some at 5.30am) with people lining up outside to get in. I heard storied about how the laid-back Californians actually got out of bed at the crack-of-dawn for a sale and realised that this would be a big day at Westfield’s so I asked Otto to drop me off and pick me up. The good thing about shopping in America is that the sales are definitely worthwhile… decent things are truly 50% off and because there are so many reduction markings on the tags the best bet is to go by the lowest one and then ususally when you get to the register it is reduced again because of some sign that you missed above the rack … Needless to say I was in heaven yesterday :-) FINALLY bought some jeans from GAP and got a few Christmas pressies and bought a few more clothes for myself (tried on the nicest pair of shoes that were not so cheap but unfortunately didn’t fit perfectly so I didn’t get them – I must admit that I love having my financial freedom back and have learnt how to use the eftpos thingy :-))
Yesterday we decorated the house with all our Christmas decorations so we are getting into the swing of things. Our ski holiday is now booked and we are heading to Lake Tahoe for 5 days skiing on the week leading up to Christmas! So exciting and can’t wait for another white Christmas and to give my new ski’s a real workout! I think the drive is about 10 hours so we may leave a day earlier and stay overnight somewhere halfway. We are staying at the base of the gondola at Heavenly ski resort but have a 5 day interchangeable lift ticket that we can use at Squaw Valley, Sierra-at-Tahoe, Heavenly, Northstar and a few others but can’t think (hey! It’s early on Sunday morning you know!). We are going to celebrate our Christmas on the 24th and will head back home on 25th which will mean either hardly any traffic at all or heaps and heaps! We’ll see…
I got my Californian driving licence in the mail the other day… the good news is that I don’t have any friends here so no one will be able to laugh at what looks like second degree burns! (very bad camera flash thing going on) … the bad news is that I think Otto is going to put in on the website! Fingers crossed for Photoshop!!!
Today is my last Sunday at a 28 year old! Yes … that’s right – forget Christmas people and send all fan mail to our home address :-) Just kidding! Not sure what the plan is for my birthday but Otto’s work Christmas party is on Saturday night which will be a fun night.
Nothing else really matters though after we beat England in the rugby over the weekend!!! :-) Unfortunately we couldn’t watch it anywhere so I sat at the computer watching the scores … 16-18 (Australia winning) …19-18 (England winning – having heart attack and flash backs to RWC) …19-21 FT (Australia won!) smug smug smug :-)
Anyway, enough banter … I’m off to wake up my husband and drag him to the gym! Bye for now everyone and hope to hear from you soon.
Lotsa love
Heids
xx
27 November - Otto
Hello Again Blog-fans,
Well it's the Saturday of the thanksgiving weekend and Heidi and I are well rested after already two days away from work. <Ahhhhh>.
But first let me get back to where I left off on Friday morning. As you will recall I was running my first race ever. The course was overall downhill, going from Balboa Park into the downtown are finishing at the Petco Park (home of the Padres) parking lot.
My previous PB for that distance was around 24 and a half minutes. I ran the 5km: in 21min 48 seconds. So a big time PB for me! Matter of fact, it was so fast that Heidi (who was driving down, only just managed to see me sprint for the finish line (hence all the shots in the gallery are from behind me). The last 400m I sprinted flat out, overtaking a few people who had gone past me half a km earlier. (Stu, I was considering making that "mahhhhhh!" noise you make, as I passed them, but thought better of it).
Although it was a bit of rigmarole to get down there, cue up along with 4000 other runners etc, it was definitely worth it. So I will be looking for extra events to compete in over the coming months. Who knows, a half marathon by midway next year, may even be possible.
Following our little run we went to a friends/colleagues' house in Carlsbad. There was about 12 adults and their children there at our first ever thanks giving feast. And what a feast it was, huge turkey with "all the trimmin's". Thanks giving really is Christmas without the presents: You get all the friends and family together and stuff yourself silly.
So now it's time to go for a ride to get rid of some of that turkey.
Take Care,
Otto
PS - Go wallabies!!! Spewing that there is absolutely no way for us to watch what must have been a killer game!
PPS - Don't forget, it's the start of Heidi's birthday week.
Well me little blog fans it’s the morning of THANKS GIVING and we are just about to head down to Balboa Park. It’s actually 6:47am! “What the hell are you doing up at 6:47am on a holiday?” I hear you ask.
While you might think I am suffering from another bout of stress induced insomnia, I can assure you that we have good reason to be up and about this early. For today is the first road running race I have ever competed in.
It’s a 5 km course from Balboa Park down to Downtown. I will be aiming to run it in under 27minutes. This should be doable as my PB for that distance is a shade under 25minutes. Mind you my training preparation for this has mainly been riding my bike to and from work. So slightly different muscles than what I should have been training. But at any rate my legs should carry me through on (or under) target.
As you would have seen from our front page, the other change I’ve made is to streamline my aerodynamics and increase the efficiency of my heat dissipation. Apart from that, I got sick of having to do a two hour round trip (includes driving, waiting, waiting and cutting) for a $22 dollar haircut (includes tip!). So last weekend we investd in a nice pair of Wahl clippers. They work great and are the same brand that Frank’s Barber in Gordon uses! At only $29 dollars, I only need to shave 1 third more of my head to break even!!
The other thing I love about this haircut is that it’s dry as soon as you step out of the shower. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I take a shower after every ride or run so I think I’m averaging like 13 a week!
After completing my little run this morning (which I am very excited about) we will head home to finish planning our Christmas ski holiday (aka “Vaccation”). Hopefully we can finalise all that in a few hours as we will be heading off to not one, but two Thanks Giving feasts!! (we were actually invited to three!).
Some colleagues/friends (Rita) from work have invited us up to their home in Oceanside for the traditional feeding frenzy that is Thanks Giving. This shindig starts at 3pm. Later in the evening we are going to be trying to get down to Kevin and Sims for our second frenzy. That is if we can withstand the feast induced narcolepsy.
In preparation for thanks giving, I spent three and a half hours last night cooking. I have learnt how to make apple pie! So I created one Cinnamon and Apple Pie and one Raspberry and Apple pie. All we need to do with those pies is take them with us and wack them into Rita’s oven as soon as the Turkey is out, let them bake and brown, then gobble ‘em down with the gourmet ice cream Heidi bought.
Anyway, time to run (get it??!!?).
Take care and stay in touch,
Otto
PS – That means drop us an email, give us a call, send a carrier pidgeon (what ever).
PPS – Boycott Qantas, the buggers just changed their frequent flyer program and screwed the value of my points – why did I spend hundreds of thousands of miles putting up with their crud service and shoddy food? Only for the points!!
PPPS - I actually just uploaded the Race pictures - stay tuned for a post race update soon - Did I run a PB? Did I make it to the finish?
Well it's been almost a month since my last blog. Wow how time flies!! And talk about busy.
My average weekday these days consist of getting up around 6am, getting dressed (in my new Addidas gear from Carlsbad Factory Outlets:-) and riding to work at the crack of dawn (I rode a total of 112km last week). At work I have a shower and then get started on my day.
The average work day has me doing email (about 20% of my time) meetings (about 50% of my time) and my various project work for the remainder of the day. I have been trying to get to the company gym at lunch but mostly I have meetings or work that I do during my lunch hour.
I usually try to leave work at a time that allows me to get home before dark (Sunset is now at 4:46pm!! and darkness around 5:30pm). But I have equipped my beloved bike with front and rear lights to warn California's wayward drivers of my presence.
Once home, it's time for a shower before getting to the daily chores! with Heidi being back at work, I now have a much greater stake in the chores. So by the time we finish dinner and stack the disho (ooh!! that little bit of slang felt good), it's getting on to 8pm or so. Granted that doesn't sound so late, but when you get up pre-6am, it's not far off my bed time these days. Besides...
I'm getting old now: 30years!
It doesn't really feel any different to be thirty and I think I spent at least a year and a half preparing myself for this little milestone. When I look at what I set out to do and what I have achieved, I can't think of any major regrets or goals I have missed:
aFind my soul mate
aQuit smoking
aGet a WW Job
aWork overseas
aBe fitter than I have ever been in my life
aaaBe happy with my life overall
One thing I would like to have achieved by thirty was to own a Porsche - but I've kind of gone off that now. Because my boss has a very nice one and I don't want to look like a sycophantic competitor. When you think about it, the car really is a status symbol - especially in California. But I'm perfectly happy to have the status of: "the fit guy who rides his pushy to work". Except, that the seps wouldn't know what a pushy is, eh? (oooooohh I miss throwing a bit of 'strain around!).
The question now is, what's the plan for my next 5, 10 and 15 years??? I have a rough idea, but more of that in another blog.
You see, the weekends are not much less hectic than the weekdays. Maybe it's due to my Type A personality. I always feel that I have stuff to do and don't feel right unless I am doing stuff. Take this weekend as a typical example:
Got up at 6:45am. Partly because my mind was racing through today's stuff, last weeks work (horrendous stress week) and partly because my body clock is set to 6am.
This weekend we need to:
-
Vacuum
-
Clean the oven
-
Wash, dry and iron our clothes
-
Get to the gym for a run
-
Sort out our finances (still trying to keep an eye on the cost of living hear)
-
Blog
-
Picture Gallery update
-
Dusting (Heidi)
-
Plan our ski holiday
-
Estimate loan and insurance cost for my car purchase
-
Go to the Del Mar Ski Show (get a deal for a holiday and maybe some more gear for Heidi)
-
Clean the dishwasher (yuck!)
-
Hang our pictures
-
Shopping for tonight's dinner guests (Kev and Sim from work).
It's all a bit daunting!!
Anyway, while I still have my caffeine buzz, I'm off to put the washing on while doing my gym session.
Take care and STAY IN TOUCH,
Otto
PS - Tried to call Dave and Lisa last night but no luck getting through. Something wrong with our phone card company.
9 November 2004
Talk about a jolt to the system… I definitely think this work thing is
highly over-rated and I’m only temping at the moment for a computer chip
kinda company (I’m not really sure what they do but there are lots of codes
and things I’m supposed to learn and there’s a picture of that un-manned
missile-ship-aircraft-thing). Anyway, I’m glad this is a temp assignment as
the work isn’t that thrilling or exciting (I won’t go into it). Still in the
process of looking for full-time work in the events industry … enjoying the
money coming in from this job in the meantime.
Otto & I went on a shopping spree at the Carlsbad factory outlets on
Saturday and bought heaps of new clothes (first in almost 6 months – and it
felt great to spend money again !). Saturday night we went to a restaurant
in La Jolla for Otto’s birthday called ‘Nine-Ten’ which was very nice – very
swank and nothing but the best for my hubby's birthday). Sunday we drove to
Big Bear Mountain, which is our closest ski fields at only 3 hours drive.
There were only a few of the chairlifts open but that was great considering
the season shouldn't even be open yet. Needless to say we both had a fun day
out.!
This week we’re taking it easy and might have a couple of Otto’s workmates
over for dinner on Saturday night but that’s about it. Going to Costco
tonight to buy a few things… will ring IKEA again and see if my bedside
table has arrived yet! And practice for my driving test, which is tomorrow
morning... Fingers crossed for that one everyone!
Will keep you posted with the job situation but in the meantime stay happy
and healthy.
Bye for now
Heids
xx
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27 October 2004
Last weekend...I regressed to feeling like I was 10 years old again as I hung on for dear life on Journey to Atlantis ride at SeaWorld last Saturday! It was so much fun and it was the first ride of the day… a good warm up since I haven’t been on a ride for about …oh 15 YEARS!!! I had my eyes shut for most of the ride, refused to sit in the front and screamed the whole way so my throat was sore for the rest of the day J We also saw the killer whale (called Shamu, not 'Free Willy' as I thought) & dolphin show and I saw a polar bear for the first time in my life! I want one!!! Got totally drenched on the Rapids ride – not just wet but I would’ve been better off jumping into a pool with my clothes on and was freezing so Otto went and bought me a Shamu towel to keep me warm because I refused to buy any of the over-priced touristy shirts – they were bad!
Sunday we went for a lazy drive up to Laguna Beach which is in Orange County. It’s very pretty and there are a lot of wealthy & beautiful people as well – not as bad a maybe Malibu or the likes but still an eye-opener.
Cath was here over the weekend which has been fun and great to catchup! I’ve also had a shopping buddy and a real person to banter with all day long!
We are having a quiet week this week since we spent so much last weekend. Then it’s Otto’s birthday the following weekend (5th Nov) so that will be fun!
Missing
everyone and wish you were all here.
Bye for now
Heids
xx
PS You'll have to wait for Otto to tell you about the blonde with a Porsche stuck on her foot!
18th October 2004
… and then it all happens in a week!
Well looks like my days of not working are seriously numbered now that my work permit has arrived. This comes with mixed feelings… on one hand I was a bit bored not working and was looking forward to getting a job (I know! I know!) but on the other hand I was really starting to get used to and enjoying not working :-). I can’t be lazy any more and I’ve been working on my CV, searching the internet for potential jobs and will start calling agencies and this week … keep your fingers and toes crossed for me.
Now that the work permit has arrived my “USA” ball can start rolling … I applied for a Social Security Number which means that I now have an identity in the US system which is also what I needed to apply for my Californian drivers licence.
I went to the DMV (Department Motor Vehicles or RTA equivalent) on Friday to apply for a licence and take the written component of my driving test… after waiting for 2 hours it took me 5 minutes to fail my first driving test ever! This was a bit of a shock and I was kicking myself because I failed one question too many (yes you can have up to and including 6 out of 20 wrong – stop laughing!) and one of the wrong questions I changed at the last minute before handing it over for marking (not a computerised test) which I should’ve left. Anyway, I had the last laugh because I walked out of the DMV got in my car and drove home – ha!!! Never fear I went back first thing this morning and passed the written test (only got 5 wrong this time :-)).
Friday night we went to George’s on the Cove in La Jolla which is a really nice bar right on the water overlooking the Pacific with a few of Otto’s work mates. These are the only people I know in San Diego so it was really good to catch up with them. It wasn’t a huge night since we had to be up and ready to go the Miramar Airshow at 8.30 the next morning.
This was a great day … I think I was more excited for Otto going to the airshow (like a kid going to the zoo or a fun park) ad I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would. When you first walk in there are about 50-70 planes, helicopters, tanks and other things all out for you to see and touch and even going in. It is amazing that these things can fly in the air … the big carrier (it’s a blah blah blah – no seriously it was a <brain-strain>… ohhh just click here) that was used mainly for transporting army tanks and they park these tanks in the plane in two rows – to give you and idea of the size.
The flying was very spectacular and the <brain-strain> V8 Harrier something plane (the one Arnold Schwarznegger used in True Lies) was the loudest and was very cool… it takes off straight up from the ground… we also saw the Blue Angels which are part of the US Navy but are also the best formation flying team in the world… they can fly four F18’s together in a diamond formation 18 inches apart at about 500 miles per hour – very impressive.
The other amazing thing was a truck called "Shock Wave" which is a semi-tariler type thing with a jet at the back of it. It travels on land and raced an Russian MiG plane flying overhead … to my surprise the truck won!
The non-aircraft highlight for me was posing (with my starbucks in hand) with about 10 marines who were monitoring/parading at the entrance of the airshow. This was a kinda freaky weird experience especially with their ghetto-blaster blaring Guns’n’Roses “Knocking on Heaven’s Doooooor”.
We also had tickets for the twilight show that night and stayed for about the first 1.5 hours before freezing and heading home. We had a great weekend!
Today it rained! Well it actually started early on Sunday morning and broke the 182 day drought in San Diego. In typical over-the-top American style it is pretty much the only thing on the news and I even heard this morning that they had a flash flood warning until 10.30amtoday. Kinda silly since it is normal rain and no major downpours or anything but it is enough to see stupid drivers slide around corners and do wheelies at the lights – not being used to wet weather and all but what would I know I failed my drivers test! :-)
I went shopping this morning and bought some new trainers as a reward for exercising again … and in true Heidi-style (aka yoga/lounge pants syndrome) I have only worn them around the house so I will sign off and head to the gym and let you guys get some work done.
Hope you are all looking after yourselves and
enjoying the warmer weather if you’re in the southern hemisphere and rugging
up if you’re in the northern hemisphere.
Big hugs to everyone… Heidi xx
Friday, October 15th, 2004 Otto
Well folks, I have to say that I have become quite a fan of blogging.
I never really thought of myself as the diary writing type. Even though some folks have mistaken me for “Doogie Houser MD” in the past. (For those of you in my demographic, this will stretch that part of you grey matter dedicated to television in the 80s and 90s!!) Doogie was the young, geeky, yet kind of cool doctor dude who wrote into his Diary on his computer every night.
Come to think of it, on a previous trip to LA a woman pulled me up and asked if I was famous. After several minutes of my insisting “No I’m not” and her saying “yes I think you are”. She figured out that it was Doogie Houser that I reminded her of!!
Anyway… the point I’m trying to make is, that it is proving very interesting for me to spill my thoughts into a computer and then out to the world via the web. So I am going to dedicate this blog not to what we have been doing of late, but to what I have been thinking about. For those of you that aren’t interested in self indulgent stuff like that… you have the power at your mouse click to avoid it.
In less than a month I turn thirty.
While that phrase is enough to strike fear into the hearts of any sensible biped capable of thought, I am not at all uneasy about the chronographic milestone I am about to hit. Not just because I have had almost thirty years to get used to the idea, but because when I look back at my life, and look at right now - I like what I see.
I look back and know that I am very fortunate and thankful for so many things:
The love of my wonderful wife
The support of my family
The people I am lucky enough to call my friends
The experiences I have had
The things I have set out to do and achieved
At age twenty I already had most of the things above. Those things that I already hard, I always tried to make sure I wouldn’t lose. The others I either had to work at, or just got extremely lucky. (You can figure out which is which).
So hopefully that was enough of a sobby blog for you.
Gotta run, leaving for work in 10 minutes.
Long live insomnia!
Otto
Saturday, September 18, 2004 Otto
BACK AGAIN!! {warning this blog is in excess of 1000 words – settle in and get a drink}
I’m feeling pretty happy at the moment owing to the half litre Bierstein of Bavarian beer I have almost finished. That’s right my little bloglodites, I am back in my home state of Bavaria partaking in the finest beer, sausage and pretzels Euros (the currency) can buy!!!
It didn’t really dawn on me how happy I was to be back in the fatherland until I was catching the train from München (Munich) Airport to my hotel. I looked at the countryside and saw the typical farmhouses and realized I was at home. It was strange… I feel like Germany is still home!
It’s strange because I have always felt like Sydney is home. Germany is part of my heritage, personality and will always evoke a sense of national identity and pride in me. But I am still utterly and completely convinced that SYDNEY IS THE BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD. No matter what happens we will end up living in Sydney.
I am also starting to feel an affinity for San Diego. Several times on this trip I have said, “I can’t wait to get home!” But by “home” I have always meant San Diego! The concept of “Home” is really starting to change for me. I have lived on three different continents and each of them feels at least a little like home.
To that extent, I guess home is a something that holds a special place in your heart:
Germany – my family, part of my identity
Australia – my friends, Australian sensibilities
San Diego - ??? too early to tell I guess!!
…. Excuse me for a moment while I get another Pretzel and a Weissbier (Wheatbeer).
Ahhhh…this wheatbeer rocks!!
It feels like a long trip, but with only one week of travel under my belt I am not even half way through my journey! Let me tell you where I and Heidi have been jetsettin off to!
Last Friday (10th September) we left San Diego. Heidi and I were on separate flights due to mine being booked through work and her being able to find a better rate elsewhere. At midday on the eleventh (that’s right 911 a la World Trade Centre) we arrived in London. Gera was kind enough to pick us up from the airport and after a quick shower we were on our way to lunch with Kath and Gera.
While it was strange to see them again, it felt like nothing had changed*. Then again, we saw Gera only three or so months ago and Kath only 8 months ago. We carried on with a few local pubs and too many ales, beers and chardys. After cruising most of the Chiswick high street pubs and aborting a nightclub due to the fiver cover charge, we made our way back home.
I don’t know how Gera managed to play the first soccer match of the season around 9am, but Heidi and I used the time wisely to recover from economy class induced sleep deprivation and jetlag. At 12:30, Kath came to rouse us off the blow up bed. Soon after we were showered, shaved, dressed and ready to meet the rest of team Aussie (maybe team St Ives!!) in London for a get together.
The contenders for the coveted Tube Barf Trophy were (in no particular order):
Matt Salmon
Alison Salmon
Sharlene Hensler
Johnny Hensler
Laura Young
Caroline
Aram
Gera
Kath
Heidi
Otto
Together, we made the trail up the Thames from Hammersmith stopping at three or four pubs for drinks and the incidental feed. We all had a blast and it was great to catch up with everyone and have drunken conversations with all. Eventually the crowd died down and Gera, Kath, Heidi and I headed back to the luxury blow up bed lodgings of Matt and Kath’s B&B.
It was midday again on the Monday by the time week awoke. While Gera had arranged a day off (to sleep off the planned hang over and spend the day with us), Kath had left for work several hours ago. We pitied her greatly as we headed for our pre-shopping anti-hangover grease-fix at the Chiswick McDonalds on the way to the train station. We made our way to Piccadilly to hit the clothes shops.
I HATE THE FASHION IN AMERICA!!!!
The only store I can handle is Banana Republic. Even that is only barely tolerable! Hence I wanted to use our European extravaganza to buy a few items of TASTE. After several hours of trawling Oxford street I was many pounds lighter and my catch included several T-shirts (one featuring a dictionary definition of the word hungover) two belts…
------- STOP PRESS ------
Woah!!! I just spotted a ten year old drinking a beer. He is with his parents and has a half stein of beer!! By it’s colour it looks like a “Radler” (bicyclist’s beer a.k.a. “Shandy”) but still…. I am appalled… Why didn’t my parents buy me those when I was a kid???? (just kidding Mum and Dad!!)
-------------------------------------
…and a business jumper (for those cold days in Rochester N.Y. – it should start snowing in about 6 weeks!!).
After a luscious multicultural Asian home delivery feast back at the M&G B&B Heidi and I were chauffeured to our Heathrow Hotel. That’s right campers, my company was putting us up in Cheapsville.
But just to add fatness to cheapness (injury to insult… whatever… hic!) the fitness centre that I had looked forward to was closed!! For Renovations!!! What was I to do with my fish & Chips / curry / McDonalds / Beer - gut??!?
Maybe I am turning Californian, but I was feeling fat and missing my work out big time!!
At least it meant that I could sleep in on my first day at work in London.
On Tuesday and Wednesday I had customer visits in London to get my self acquainted with that market. Thursday I spent half the day with a colleague putting together presentations before getting a lift back to Heathrow for my flight to Constantinople Istanbul.
… Refill time… you wouldn’t realize it by reading, but it is time for another beer by now. I just went to the bar and ordered a half Rub Bier. I thought Rub meant dark… but no it doesn’t… The bar man, went to the big wooden keg behind him and poured some extremely foamy liquid into the beer glass then filled it up with beer. I have no idea what’s in the wooden keg, but this beer is way $#%@ing sweet! Tastes like a wheat beer shandy, but it can’t be because that would be called a “Radler”. Maybe it’s got Riesling in it?? (Dad, can you help here?)
Anyway, back to the travel tales….
I arrived in Turkey and headed for the Taxi rank, after the usual jostling with the local “cheap rides” ¤. Turkey is a place of dodgy folks. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not racist and I try to hate all races equally, but these guys just look dodgy. Deep set eyes, thick eyebrows, moustaches, receding hairlines, bags under their eyes and beer bellies. They all look like “Gauner” (German) or gangsters. And some of them may have been mafia…
While we sat at dinner one night, a tall bulky man in a black suit and skivvy approached our host (the local distributor). They gave each other the traditional Turkish kissing greeting (one on each cheek) and headed off into the street.
Upon his return the distributor told us that the man in black was a high ranking police official who was complaining about a girl. Our distributor told him “She is under my protection”. He insinuated that the girl was one of his girlfriends at one time and that he would vouch for her and sort out the trouble she had gotten herself into. After that, he referred to the police official as part of the “Cocaine” Mafioso.
The city of Istanbul is massive and has a very long history. I would like to have spent more time there to see the sights. But we did get to drive past the Blue Mosque and the Eye of Sophia (in hindsight I realize that my distributor took a special detour for me). As we drove to our Restaurant, I could see a great wall stretching along the sea front. This was the old wall of the Istanbul Citadel (which is more than 1000 years old). Istanbul is the gateway to the Aegean/ Black Sea and is historically a very important route for trade to Ukraine, and Russia.
After a day and a half in the city of Istanbul I was ready to leave – enough of the dodgies!!
I did manage to get in a 20minute 4km run at the hotel before leaving. Ahhhhh 359 calories spent!!
Off to the airport and before you know it here I sit writing my blog for you.
Three things I love about Germany:
The beer
The Bavarian accent
The tradition
So before I leave you all, one last thing. Just because this is up on a website, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t reply – SEND ME EMAIL – I haven’t heard from you folks in a while now. And if email is too hard – call. Am I being harsh??
Till next time,
Otto
*Life long friends: I hope that this is will continue to be the case for all my dear friends, not matter how long we are apart. (click me to go back to text)
¤Cheap rides”: at any dodgy country’s airport there will be a bunch of men asking you “Wair yoo goeng?” These guys don’t have taxis, they just have cars but will act like a taxi. All the lonely planet guys tell you to avoid them as they may, kidnap, scam or rob you. (click me to go back to text)
17th September 2004 - Heidi
HOWZAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On my recent trip to London I was introduced to the game of cricket by my friend Matt. Obviously being an Australian I know what cricket is (it’s the green field that hosts about 14 players and everything goes really slowly!) Why anyone would want to pay money to watch this was beyond me but I took the plunge and went to see Australia beat New Zealand in the World Series at The Oval.
Once the rules were explained to me (yes there is strategy) on what was an unusually sunny and lovely day in London (yes I even put on sunscreen … twice even though I shouldn’t have to because I was still tanned then) I sat back and relaxed and watched my first game of cricket.
NZ batted first and did OK but only just managed to get 200 runs and then Australia came in to bat … Maintaining a good constant of runs coming in and nothing too exciting in the beginning of their turn to bat (whatever that’s called). We decided to go for a beer run while the action was at bay … well - three Australians got out and the “entertaining” Australian batsman was out for a duck (ie no runs and nothing to do with Indian food). This made things a bit more interesting since the “we’ll beat the New Zealanders below average 200 runs” confident attitude deflated a bit in the fear that we might be beaten – that’s just not the Australian way!
A few hours later we had won the match but it was only about 4pm and everyone was enjoying their beer in the sunshine and weren’t ready to go home yet…
… the players all walk off the pitch and out comes security in their fluoro vests to stand around the perimeter of the grounds in case any “funny business” was about to happen. I didn’t really think anything weird about the guy in front of us with no shirt (warm sunny day in London) and shorts until he took them off and made a beeline for the fence … OH MY GOD! IT’S MY FIRST STREAKER!!!! How funny and short lived as he tripped on the fence and half impaled himself – while naked – not a good look!
But … this was the beginning of the funniest part of the day… security pounced on him straight away and dragged him off which weakened the security barrier nearby and just encouraged another streaker to try and run across the grounds – he got taken down … 30 seconds later on the other side of the oval the first of the fully-dressed streaker (I guess they are just called “runners”) attempted the run then about 4 more tried it… so by this stage there are about 6 drunk, high-on-adrenalin, dared-by-their-mates Australian/New Zealanders being chased around the cricket ground by fluoro security guards and eventually crash tackled and dragged off. At one point there were so many that one guy had no one chasing him so he just kept running and calling out for security to come and get him … they were a bit busy however. This went on for about 45 minutes with about 30 people being dragged off and threatened with a 1,000 pound fine.
It might’ve been one of those things where
you had to be there but dead set it was:
(a) the funniest thing I’ve seen at a sporting game
(b) perfect end to Australia’s victory
(c) a great introduction to a day at the cricket for me J
Looking forward to many more one-day games in
the future.
Bye for now
Heids
xx
PS Excuse any typos or things that don’t make sense but I have a cold – yuck!
Welcome back dear Friend!!
As you can see from the many additions and improvements to the website, my insomnia continues. Work stress… anyway… that’s all the thinking about work that I will do for this entire weekend. And it is a looooooong weekend. The labour day weekend – three days off to get re-acquainted with or belongings!
Given the public holiday on Monday, the arrival of our belongings on Friday was most fortuitous. We have now:
-
Completed set up of our living/dining room
-
Stacked the kitchen full of our wedding presents
-
Built my office desk
-
Stowed our clothes in our walk in wardrobe
-
And lots of other mundane tasks…
At least they seem mundane to those of you that have never had to go through this “Life re-boot”. It’s amazing how much of your life is made up of material things. I sorely missed:
-
Our wine glasses
-
Our couch
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Our stereo!!
-
Our coffee table
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My desk!
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My Boardshorts
-
My Bike helmet.
All of a sudden our otherwise empty apartment feels more like home.
It’s Sunday afternoon and we have only one more box to unpack. So we’ve taken the opportunity to lay by the pool and work on our tans (got to love a laptop!!). This time next week we will both be showing off our tans in London!
We will be spending two and a half days with Gera and Kath before I take off for Turkey. Heidi will stay in London and catch up with plenty more friends that are currently there (about 10 people in total at the moment!!). After my turkey stint, it’s of to Munich for the Oktoberfest…. I mean… European Sales Conference! After a few presentations and customer visits, I will be using the opportunity to catch up with my family. All in all, I’ll be gone for about 3 days shy of 3 weeks.
It’s hard to believe we’ve been here two whole months now. It’s interesting to look back at the last two maddening months, it’s amazing to think how much we’ve learnt, overcome and struggled through. In hindsight, I think we were both under prepared for the cultural shocks, the isolation and the tolerance required of us. But considering we have made it through those months, I can’t imagine anything getting the best of us.
Don’t get me wrong
either, I think we are both INCREDIBLY fortunate to have such an
opportunity. An opportunity to grow, become more wealthy worldly and
have a wonderful adventure!
J
It’s starting to get a little too hot for me now… (it got all the way to 29degrees today!!) Time to hop in the pool and do a few laps.
Three things I like about our adventure:
-
Having our own personal gym within 50 metres of our front door.
-
Discovering new things every day.
-
Having the opportunity to travel the world – Europe, HERE WE COME!
Three things that annoy me:
-
Slow Seppos getting in your way in IKEA
-
The gym not opening early enough in the morning (only opens at 7am).
-
Not having a plasma TV yet
Three things I miss:
-
Seeing Ella grow up
-
Dinner with my folks
-
My Magna (seriously!)
Stay in touch,
Otto
I can’t contain my excitement and am too embarrassed to break out in my happy dance in front of the delivery guys but OUR STUFF HAS ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Instead I thought I would write a commentary for you as Otto sits opposite me at our ‘old’ dining / computer table (now been replaced by the real thing!)…
They arrived about 40 minutes ago and so far we have our lounge, skis, sports bag, paris picture, coffee table, ironing board (sad but I actually hugged it!) the frame for the computer table, our bookshelf and about 10 packing boxes.
The great thing is that we have a long weekend this weekend (Labour Day on Monday) so we can spend the next three days getting ourselves properly settled in.
The best things about our stuff arriving …
- The lounge – oh our backs and butts are thankful for that one!
- Can’t really remember what was packed so it’s almost like Christmas everytime a box is opened
- Getting our stereo system and being able to listen to music properly instead of our poxy AUD$30 mini-speakers.
- The arrival of our lovely dinner plates and cutlery
- And much more….It’s funny what you take for granted!
…later that same night…
After many hours of opening, unstuffing, unpacking, placing and assembling we now have all our stuff pretty much in place – except all the kitchen stuff which is another day in itself!
We found the ‘emergency kit’ and re-Australianised our selves… I sat on the lounge watching back-to-back episodes of Kath & Kim and had a good chuckle at Otto who was playing with his stubbie holders while wearing his Manly life-saver t-shirt!
Must go and finish unpacking!
Bye for now
H & O
xx
Hi everyone,
It’s been a while so I thought I would do a Heidi blog… Things here are going really well and enjoying the last days of summer – even though they are predicting a mini-heatwave this week (should get up to about 30 degrees celcius which just means more time in the pool for me!). I am proud to say that I am sporting a tan– love that! coupled with going to the gym 4 times a week … it’s amazing what you can do with a spare 8 hours a day!!!!
We are definitely having fun finding our own little groove… Fingers crossed that all our stuff arrives this week. I rang them this morning to find out if the holding company in SD had received it yet and when we would get it but all she told me was that the shipping company had called her to confirm she received our container this morning but she hadn’t so at this stage no one knows where it is!!!
Last weekend was great … I picked Otto up from the airport on Friday best part was that I managed to drive on the freeway by myself and even managed a judgemental “get in your lane you idiot” at a few other cars – ie big confidence booster for me and my little 4 cylinder mobile! Otto took the rest of the afternoon off since he’d been up since 3.30am so we sat in the park next door to our apartment complex and relaxed in the sun and played a bit of Frisbee. Saturday we drove into town and ended up in Balboa Park (equivalent of Centennial Park in Sydney). It’s got beautiful gardens, museums, art galleries, science center with an IMAX theatre and the San Diego Zoo is there also but we didn’t go to that because it’s too expensive (eg about US$50 each but also includes that Wild Life Animal Park which is up north and another day trip all together.
We were going to head to Little Italy for dinner but only made it as far as the local “Islands” restaurant up the road. I ate three “Baja” soft taco’s (yum!) and had to strawberry daiquiri’s. We sat at the bar and ate whilst watching the football – typical American style! The best thing about the food is that you can sit there and just order entrée after entrée and it’s all little greasy yummy things like the mozerella sticks, americanised gyoza, quesadillas (yummy soft taco thingys with lots of cheese and corn), buffalo wings and fries or onion rings or potato skins with cheese and bacon. All classified as a treat and not to be consumed on a regular basis!
Sunday we hung out by the pool for the afternoon and Otto cooked a yummy roast for dinner last night. Then I kept practicing with my hula hoop – purchased on Friday in an attempt to lose some weight from my waist but I’m not as good at it as I was when I was 10! But I am making the most of having an empty lounge room J Gets a bit tricky though when Otto gets out his hacky-sack ball thingy!
The other thing that I am fascinated by is the drive through ATMs that and I am dying to take a picture of one to put on the website but am scared to take the photo because I might get bailed up by security thinking I’m going to rob the place! Once I get some money (ie a job) then I am going to give it a go!
In a week and a half I am heading to London to see all the guys over there… Otto has to go over there for work and the thought of being stuck in SD by myself for two and a half weeks was not pleasant so I am going over – yippee! Otto is only there for 5 days before heading on to Turkey & Germany for work but I will be staying in London for another week. I can’t wait to see everyone!!! And just hang out in an old stomping ground (probably more familiar with London than I am with SD!).
Anyway, I hope you are all keeping healthy & happy and keep enjoying the sunshine and warm weather – become a tanorexic like me – it’s great!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bye for now
Heids
Hello Everyone,
Time for another blog from Otto. As I type, I am sitting in “Applebee’s” diner, who’s motto is "Eatin’ Good in the Neighborhood”. One of the staff just said that one family comes here EVERY NIGHT!! So I think the food will be good –not!!
I am so over American food, thank god for my baby’s cooking and the produce we can get too. Once we get a decent amount of spices and sauces together we will be able to cook up some healthy tasty feasts.
I have cast my eye over the menu as well as over some of the plates that have been served up to my fellow patrons at this fine establishment. Doesn’t sound too healthy. I was considering telling you about the menu options, but let me put it this way. You remember Austin Power, right?? And you rememeber “Fat Bastard” the Scottish agent who was as big as a house, right? Well, you know how he wanted to eat “Mini-me”, right. And he had this bit where he would kind of sing: “I want my baby back, baby back, baby back ribs”. This song is actually what Appelebee’s use to advertise themselves on TV.
Anyway, the reason I am sitting here by myself at the bar with nothing but a beer and a laptop to keep me company is because I am back up in Rochester NY talking with our head office and R&D folks. Work is pretty awesome at the moment. We spent a lot of time talking to our corporate acquisitions people and the stories they tell are pretty cool. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you any as they are all confidential. But suffice it to say that these guys sneeze at a million dollar law suit here or there!
Rochester has some pretty interesting places nearby;
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Niagara falls is 1hr45min drive away (just north of Buffalo)
-
There are about 50 wineries within 2 hours drive (all located on beautiful large lakes).
The thing I have discovered this week is that the East coast is a different world to the West Coast (take that with a grain of salt as I have only had serious experience of San Diego and Rochester, so the sample size may not have statistical significance)
|
On the West Coast (San Diego) |
On the East Coast |
|
People seem to be fitter |
People seem to be fatter |
|
Houses are built identically in homogenous communities. |
Houses have been around longer than pre-fabricated communities |
|
People have tans |
People have moon tans |
|
Everyone drives everywhere |
They have ads to encourage people to walk across the car park or take the stairs instead of the lift. |
|
The weather doesn’t change |
The weather always changes |
|
There are more mexicans |
There are more “Europeans” but they have been here so long there American – English, Irish, Germans mainly. |
|
They drive all car types (American, Japanese and German) |
They drive mostly American cars |
|
Having a moustache might mean you’re in the porn industry. |
Not having a moustache seems to make you less of a man. (way more acceptable than in Oz). |
Anyway my laptop battery is failing me and the keyboard is getting blurry.
Stay in touch,
Otto
Otto:
Well it's been a while since I did any updating of the website, so I thought it time for a quick blog.
It's 5pm here on a Saturday and we're about to head out for our "All American" Experience. We are going to mosey on up to TGIF for a few beers and a meal. Weather wise, today was another corker of a day- same as yesterday, the day before that and the day before that!! We've been here 41 days and it's been sunny every day and no rain. I read in the trusty Lonely Planet guide that the average annual rain fall is about 20inches - or 50.8cms!!
Today we went up to the factory outlets in Carlsbad.
Not quite as big as Sydney, but some pretty reasonably priced stuff. I realised today that I have started to think in US$s. That meant I was perfectly happy to spend $21 on Heidi's new Pink Adidas base ball cap! I got some pants, we ate pretzels, shopped for our lamb roast and rack at Costco before heading back home on the I-5 South.
The I-5 south is one of the many interstate freeways that criss-cross the USA. There's anywhere between 4 to 8 lanes (in one direction) on the freeways, depending on where you are. However, on a Saturday, most of these are more like car parks than roads. Traffic slows to a crawl for miles at a time. All californians drive!!
We eventually got home and stowed away our Costco purchases. (including the world's biggest bag of Pretzels - see the gallery soon!!). It was 2pm and time to hit the pool!
My work recently got me a wireless card for my laptop. This card allows me to dial into the mobile phone network for a fixed monthly charge. So today was the first time I wirelessly surfed the internet while sunbathing by the pool. Of course Heidi asked if I could now work from home in the afternoon's!! Sounds like she might be onto something there... I cruised the web investigating car insurance and I managed to find insurance that may yet get me a into a dream car. However, it won't be a Porsche - my boss has got one and that would just look waaaaaaay to brown nose! (and couldn't compete with his, I can't afford it!!).
Anyway, we're 'bout to head off. It's about a mile to walk up Thank God It's Friday.
Three things I love about San Diego:
Heidi - The weather - The money!
Three things I miss about Sydney:
Going out to Manly with friends on a Saturday afternoon - BBQs with my Family - Being 500m from the beach!
Keep the dream alive!!!
Otto
Update: Friday, July 23, 2004
Howdy Folks!!!
Almost three weeks into our USA adventure and we have moved into our new
apartment and enjoying the luxuries of new furniture, a walk-in wardrobe,
dishwasher and the most comfortable mattress in the world.
The apartment is great although there are lots of open areas (waiting for
Australia shipment to arrive in about 4 weeks) it is wonderful to have a
place to call home. We did our big furniture shop at IKEA last weekend which
was delivered in approximately 4 million pieces and after much coordination
with only one screw driver, a wrench & hammer (not just alan keys anymore)
we now have a king size bed with the world’s most comfy mattress (best
purchase yet), a dining table with 4 chairs, chest of 6 drawers, two bedside
lamps and two stand lamps!
Yesterday I ventured to my local mecca (aka Westfields Shopping Centre) to
(a) finally hunt down GAP and (b) explore the rest of the stores only to
find that most of them were the same as Australia for example, Wheel &
Barrow here is called Crate & Barrow with exactly the same layout etc. I
haven’t ventured into the big department stores yet as I believe that could
possibly take a whole day. “But Heidi doesn’t work and she’s free all day?”
I hear you asking yourselves well yes that’s right but my days are taken up
by chauffeuring (I can actually drive here now – have overcome my fear of
massive cars & pickups!) Otto to and from work and then working on my tan by
the pool J … Sorry but I had to rub it in a bit – I love not working!!!
The next pressing item for us is a Plasma / TV … I was
sitting in our loungeroom (on the floor due to lack of lounge) and thinking
about what I would do next week when Otto was away for work and then I
actually burst into tears when I faced the prospect of a week without Otto
AND NO TV … ARGH!!!!!! Oh the thought of the insanity! So I quickly jumped
on the internet and booked myself a flight to New York J to visit my dear
friend Meg and the family.
I can’t wait to see them all as it’s been ages (too long to work out) and I
get to meet little Luca! I love New York City and can’t wait to hang out …
will take lots of pictures for you all and post them on our website.
Otto is settling in really well with his new job (as we all knew he would)
and everyone he works with is really lovely. We’ve been invited to a few
people’s houses for dinner which has been great and everyone has been so
accommodating and encouraging us to ask as many questions as we want … no
matter how silly they are!).
This weekend
Tonight we will venture out to the movies to see “Fahrenheit
911” – not really telling any locals that though in case they are Bush
supporters and we are still trying to get our heads around the political
system / opinions in USA.
Tomorrow we are going car shopping for my car which will hopefully be a VW
Jetta (similar to a VW Bora) or a medium size car – probably not a USA car
because they guzzle too much petrol! Then there is a luau by the pool
tomorrow afternoon for everyone in our apartment complex which should be
fun. Sunday will be more car shopping or TV shopping!
Then the following weekend we get to relax a bit … after we get back from
the east coast we are heading to Otto’s bosses house for a bbq with everyone
which will be really nice and then a concert in the park next door to our
place on Sunday afternoon.
Will send our next update in a couple of weeks.
Missing everyone heaps and hope you are looking after yourselves.
Bye for now…
Heidi & Otto
xx
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Update: Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Well Hello there folks!
It’s been a busy week since we created the Heidi and Otto’s big adventure website.
So far we have managed to secure an apartment and are able to move in this week. The process of finding an apartment was quite difficult. Heidi did most of the searching, and I did most of the driving. Eventually we figured out that every apartment complex has a sales office, so we just found the area that we felt secure in, and could afford and just dropped in to every sales office. This is how we came across our soon to be new home: Las Flores (for those of you with some Spanish knowledge, that’s “The Flowers”). Our new address will be emailed to you all separately soon.
San Diego is even more expensive than I had budgeted on, so for the first 6 months (where we don’t have any visitors booked with us) we will be staying in a one bedroom apartment. Having said that, the apartment is slightly bigger than Dee Why, and is part of a complex that includes a spa, pool, fitness centre, club house, BBQ area and laundry facilities. So as long as you can handle the couch surfing / blow up bed riding, then you are still more than welcome to enjoy the “resort style” accommodation.
That was the good news, the bad news was that we also chose a bed on the weekend that we were hoping to get delieverd on move in day (this Saturday). As it turns out, our approval for the apartment to so long to process that they couldn’t deliver the bed until Tuesday. I didn’t fancy the idea of sleeping on the floor for three nights, so I quickly calculated what this would cost in extra hotel accommodation. The sales rep didn’t know that we aren’t paying for the accommodation so he dropped the price of our new King Size matttess significantly!
So on Tuesday, we will have our new home!!!
That just leaves: Furniture, television, arrival of all shipped stuff, car, car loan, social security number, find an accountant, organize health benefits, find doctors, find dentists, get my driving licence, get a credit card, get a new ISP, set up utilitiy accounts etc….
Some of these things should be fun, like buying furniture, a Plsama TV or a car. So far we made a start on the furniture by going to the biggest IKEA we have ever seen. Luckily the San Dieagans don’t seem to get out of bed prior to midday, so the maddening crowd only arrived as we left!
After eliminating the Honda S2000 and Toyota MR2 for lack of bodyboard/ski space the front runner for my car of choice, is either an MX5 or a Toyota Solara. I think the Solara could be in the lead due to comfort, extra two seat for friends and possibility of fitting skis/bodyboard.
Anyway, I will have to get my butt in to work shortly so I say Asta La Vista!
Otto
PS – drop me a line and let me know what’s new back home in Oz. another_otto@hotmail.com