Hot air ballon festival - University of Waikato

The hot air balloon festival went from 11 to 15th of April this year, and the finale was on last night at the university grounds. The finale was postponed from 14th due to the weather, and it only rained for about five minutes around five yesterday.
MQ came to our house in the morning to hang out with Fuzzy and me. I was trying to tidy up my room, taking the winter clothing out from my luggage. I didn't pack the summer shirts away yet, because the weather is still unpredictable. It's still warm in the afternoon, and very cold in the morning. It was about 10 degrees in the morning yesterday.
I gave MQ the opportunity to try on some of my dresses, and she put on her brown dress at our house in front of the long mirror. That dress really suits her. Fuzzy and my dresses suit our figures.
The three of us had lunch with mum, dad went to Mr. Young's house to have lunch with his university alumni. Mr. Ho came over from Taiwan to stay for good this time. He's a nice guy, and he should retire at this age and enjoy life in New Zealand. His daughters and wife are both here. He lives on a farm that has a garden that he had recently landscaped. We will certainly see a lot of him in the future.
I washed the dishes after lunch. The weekend would be the only time that I do any housework because normally I am too tired and lazy to help out much. I also got the chance to vacuum my room this weekend. Ya! The ground is much cleaner now.
MQ took us to her place in her fancy car. Gogo, MQ's boyfriend, was still playing soccer when we got to Hillcrest. We enjoyed the afternoon looking at her pictures in Europe and Fuzzy played with the Sudoku generator. We also played a bit of a Hangman using a plastic blue Sam hanging man device. That was fun.
We walked up to Gogo's place to catch him. He brought the plastic sheet that we can sit on to the ground. There were already a lot of people there, mostly family with kids. Hotdogs, donuts, and sweetcorn were all on my menu, and we checked out the fairyground rides. I felt a bit too old to get on any one of them, and Fuzzy took some photos of me standing in front of the blow-up castle and the sinking Titanic.
The balloons were fantastic. This year we had two chipmunks (a boy and a girl, presumably), and a beagle. The other balloons were very colourful and stripy as well. Max provided the info about the chipmunks, they were 140 feet tall! Wow! I also loved the fireworks at the end. The green fireworks were very beautiful, and the spectacular view just took my breath away. It would be so good to have watched this display with E, but I couldn't find him anywhere. He might still be in Whangarei, and he didn't want to go out with me...that's a shame.
Missing him today. He's sick. Should I text him? I will just wait for him to come tomorrow and ask him then. Hopefully he is not really sick, just hung over from too much drinking. However, there's this bug going around in our lab, he might have caught it. Oooohhh.....poor fish boy.
I miss fish boy!

Easter Saturday, happy birthday, Erik!

The flu has finally caught up with me in this autumn weather. I feel absolutely miserable, and feel the need to whine on this blog. It's my blog, afterall. I can just complain a little about my ailment this Easter because I should be healthy so I can relax after weeks of hard work and not feeling terrible like this.
However, something made me really happy on Thursday before work is out. I asked my workmate, Miel, to buy beer from his mates, who work in Lion Nathan brewery. He got me 8 cases, and sent these cases of beer to my dear Erik, who is turning 21 this weekend. In fact, his 21st party is tonight. I am hoping that it will only rain in Hamilton, not in Whangarei, so he can enjoy the balmy weather up north and be one year older. He smiled just before he rode away on his bike. So nice! He was staring at me in afternoon tea. I just couldn't bring the subject of sending him a birthday gift up in front of Kelly. I am just shy.
I am sure that he will be very drunk tonight, and can only hope that he will not be sleeping with other girls. If he is, then I will just have to not ask him on Tuesday at work and pretend it didn't happen. Although it will bug me from today till Monday. Why don't I have faith in him? Maybe, just maybe he likes me, too, and will not go sleeping with other girls...I am not sure about that. However, I am sure that his mother will cook him nice food and not let anything get out of hand. Then she will nurse him back to his health after tonight's heavy drinking. Why am I worried, anyway? Just have a good time. It's his birthday, and I have sent him beer to make him happy, and to make his family and friends happy. Who cares how they will feel afterwards? That's beyond my control, anyway. I doubt anyone will send him this kind of considerate gift, and if anyone does, then she will get it! I swear. In fact, I would be happy to hear the details of folly he will get up to today on Tuesday. Throwing up, falling down the stairs/pool, jumping up and down, singing loudly and out of tune, or simply lying down and not able to move at all will all be quite hilarious to me. I want to know about that kind of stuff and not worried about other things at the moment.
We have been watching Sex and the City episodes lately. They are really funny and witty, some give good relationship advices, and bad examples about what NOT to do. The rocking baby crib is a great idea, and have some fundation. There are two expectant mothers leaving to give birth at work this week. I told one of them about the rocking crib, and she seems to be happy about the advice. Of course, I have to work on getting a man first, then think about marriage or having a baby later.
Experiments are not going so well this week, but after discussing the results with my boss, he reckons that I need to go back to the beginning and check the RNA. If RNA is degraded, there will be no RNA to reverse transcribe, and PCR will fail, too. The result that I am getting is indicating this, and I will learn how to make a RNA gel next week from someone who is not too busy. There's something else to look forward to (maybe). I may be going to Medical School in University of Auckland to learn about Biacore X100 machines on 20 April. It's exciting! I have never been to a seminar there. It will be an adventure just to drive to Auckland and find a parking space. It will be impossible to find a parking space there, so I may have to take Intercity bus and change to a bus that goes to university or walk there. Good grief! Going into the big city is very troublesome, especially that city I hate. Is it worth it, though? I hope the seminar is helpful to people who wants to use the machine.
I have been walking around despite the illness. It's slowly going away now, thanks to my young immune system. I am resting up and drinking lots of fluid, but still have lots of phlem.
Have you noticed my doll? Of course, I don't look like that! It's just an artistic impression. It's beautiful, isn't it? I will kill for that kind of look.

Relaxing weekend

Summer is slowly leaving New Zealand right now, and the rain is creeping back into our lives. I should be used to it by now, but it still came as a shock. I tried to go walking this morning before the rain started, but it still managed to fall from the sky. I had no choice but to bring my umbrella with me, which doesn't bother me very much since I have a morbid fear of dogs in the neighbourhood. I don't know why I am afraid of dogs and spiders. They seem to be completely harmless creatures. However, I had the unpleasant experience of getting chased by dogs when I was young. Spiders are the only insect that I am afraid of. I believe that some dogs are truly vicious and I should be afraid of them.
This neighbourhood mongrel is not really that bad, though. He/she has its own territory, and never venture out to get me. It only appears in the weekend, too. After five o'clock on weekdays, it is either fed or in the backyard so I never sees him/her! Maybe I am not afraid of it anymore, I look for it when I go walking.
I have taken up walking in Waikato Hospital again. They are building a new car park, which is at least five stories high with 800 new spaces. It is still in the steel structure stage.
I called my friend about getting workmate some beer for his 21st birthday. It seems to be his favourite at the moment, and I decided against buying a scarf for this person. It is not the gift he is looking for. The beer is also cheaper than I expected. I hope he will have a great time up North. Rock on, boy! Grow up quickly. My birthday is coming up as well, had been planning it, but also decided not to make it too formal. It's not going to be fun if it is so uptight! I will just invite some friends over to my place/town to drink and eat. If they want to come to have a good time, then we will have lots of fun. Too much planning is just not the way to go. After all, I am not Charlotte York and it is not my style.
This weekend is so relaxing. We have not been house hunting or going to open homes because we haven't got the contract sorted out by the lawyers yet. It will come back next week, and I have to endure the thought of not having a new house to move in for another week. Also, I don't know whether I will be able to concentrate on working if I don't see this birthday person next week. I may be able to concentrate more on the job, though. I sure will miss him.
It is ok. I think I can handle it. The experiment is just not doing what I want it to do right now, which is very frustrating. I will know the result on Monday. I am almost sure that the problem happened in the beginning of the experiment, which is why I am getting an empty result last Friday. I will march on! I will not be defeated by one set back.
I have managed to tidy up my closet and packed up two more boxes of books. My vanity table looks much tidier now, with the bottles of beauty products standing up right again instead of lying in a heap. I have also put skirts that I am going to wear this season into a Portman bag, and shorts into a Stax bag. They can be accessed more easily in front of my drawers. Great. I won't have mouldy skirts anymore! They had to be washed, and the patches just don't look very attractive. Mum warned me about technician wearing good clothes may be discriminate against because women who wear nice clothing may be airheads. My boss said that I shouldn't strive to impress him because he knows that I am good... I will believe my boss, but will also be more careful about what I wear. I know that one of my top has a very low cut, and it does show quite a lot of cleavage. However, why can't I look good and be smart at the same time? I will leave this question right now and worry about something important like my experiment, and perhaps, this nice man.

House hunting update

House hunting, as many people would know, is a job that is both exciting and tedious. It is exciting because you can shop around, knowing that in the end you will find one that you fall in love with. It is tedious because you have to drive around town in a hot car, and the weather is not helping at all right now. At the height of summer, the real estate market is as hot as the sun, and we are suffering from high prices right now.
However, one good thing about selling our house is that we got a good deal. The bad thing is this deal is not finalised yet. The contract will be officially signed by both parties at the beginning of April, which is still a week away. We cannot negotiate with the people who are selling houses yet. It is getting me down.
We have already seen four properties that we like, but having no cards with us, we can't talk with any of them seriously.
The best house (I will be as secretive as possible, surely no one who is going to buy a house reads this blog, I hope) we have seen so far stands on top of a hill. It has a huge section (+3000 meter square), with 3 bedrooms and a garage. It has a wood fire, and huge trees in the garden. The garden has an estabilished walkway down the gully, and there's even a door down the back of the property. It is quiet and private. The house is old, but with dishwasher and oven, it is certainly more modern than our current home. I have not seen it, but my parents have told me this much: they will retire in this house and love it. By the sound of it, I also like it. Even the lampshades sound appealing: there are flowers on them! It is on the east side of the river, which is on the same side as my work place. It is closing to Chartwell shopping mall, and you can take Orbiter bus to town easily.
The second best one is also in a quiet suburb. I haven't been to this house, either. I don't know the detail about this house, but it is on the west side of the river. Quite far away from work.
The third best one is in the north. The house is old and dilapadated, but the price is right. We can spend money on renovating it, changing the carpets and painting walls. The garden is also huge. It is close to The Base and to the edge of town.
The last one, not the least, is also on the western skirt of town. It is a Lockwood home, new and easy to maintain. It has a huge garage, small rooms so it is not cold in winter. It has a good garden. The house is also furnished with modern appliances, new carpets and the toilet is clean and new.
We cannot afford to pay for the full price of of the first one, and it will be difficult to negotiate with the agent. I like the house, though. If it is not sold this week, all my family may go to the next open home.
The other options sound more feasible, and more likely to afford financially. However, before Apirl, everything is still up in the air. I am waiting for the good news next week.
I have also been given a new project today, and possibly another one coming up soon. Just hope I can successfully handle this one. It is completely new to me. I love a challenge.

Summer Olympics

I organised the summer olympics team at work the day before the game starts. If I didn't do it, then who else will? The boys weren't very organised. I ran up to see the organiser and paid her the required entry fee. Later, I went to see the receptionist to fill out the entry form. After all these running, Thursday ended with the low note of getting ditched by mate for Japanese movie. However, after one hour of misery in bed, I suddenly decided that it's not worth crying for and got out of bed. I ate my lamb chop dinner and slept through the night without waking up for a long time! Wow! The lifting feeling is so great! I can't believe how stressed I was.
A new job had been given to me on Friday. I am so happy that I have something else to do now. I had to make up extra buffers for regenerating the nickel agarose columns on Friday, even though I have made them up Thursday afternoon. By 3:30p.m. in the afternoon, I have packed them up and stored them in the fridge. I will have to carry out the last few steps next Monday. It takes very long for the buffers to run through using only gravitational pull from Earth. These columns don't work very well with added pressure, so I didn't connect them with the peristaltic pump.
The first event for Summer Olympics was rob the nest. Two of the team members had to jump in sacks and collect tennis balls (eggs) from the nest. It was not as easy as it looks! Me and Ai had to synchronise our jump by counting, and I got so tired! It was so much fun, though.
We then moved on to gumboot event. As a farming research facility, we can never get too far away from gumboots! The first part involved four team members walking in gumboots filled with jelly/dish washing liquid. Haha! It was so slippery. We managed to stand up and walk fine, though. Team work was the key. We had to pick up puzzle pieces from the other end and piece them together. Gumboot throwing after sliding through the wet plastic sheet was the second part of the event. It was so much fun! Even though I managed to lose my gumboots twice, and never got them across the goal, I got so wet.
We left the MIRINZ field and got across to Moonhop. Again, you don't have to be tall and strong for this event. I was a pretty good hopper, and the lady who was taller and stronger than me was falling over a lot!
Moving onto the Sensasketch and Genga event, this one is for the geeks and freaks! That's who we are! We managed to reach 30 levels for Genga, and had extra bonus points for using only 1 piece in four levels. Then, it got canceled out by not having two top full levels. I was pretty good at it as well, but Erik was even more daring. He made to 31 levels after the competition had ended.
I was good at guessing from the pictures that the team members drew for Sensasketch. I figured out the bride from the flower and the veil. It was quite funny. I also had two very difficult clues: satellite and Commonwealth Games. I had to draw a Sputnik and Eartch and star so Miel can figure out what it is. Oh, well, and I actually wrote "England" and draw the six rings of Olympics. I will read up what symbol the Commonwealth uses, but I don't think anyone knows!
The pool event proved to be the most strenuous. I couldn't get onto the Lilo at all. Erik and Miel were hogging it. Anyway, I will find out who pushed me into the pool on Monday. You are going to get it! Nah. I am just kidding.
All of us went to have sausage and meat BBQ in the club. Mike, Jeremy and I waited until the prize giving around 8:00p.m. It got really cold. We got the Wooden Spoon (last place), and had consolation prize of 60 dollars DeVice voucher in Innovation Park. It was actually better than nothing! I thought it would be difficult to come first, but easier to come last and achieve my objective. Cool. I am so happy.
I tried to look up something for work today (Saturday), and decided not to do much about it until Monday. There's really no point, I want to ask my boss whether to login to this company website or not.
I have been given this project to use Biacore machine. It is a new technology, and I have to read papers about this. I am going to do a Maxi prep as well. It's all going again! So exciting.