May 2005 Update

Why hello again - are you still reading ? very nice to have you with us...

Well, this month - dear reader (can I call you that ? thanks, so kind) we have had a very busy month.
We started off by having some lovely meals with friends - Manu's old boss, Mustafa, was in SF (from Melbourne) so we had brunch with him. We also had a very nice dinner with our Aussie friends and a couple of new American friends - actually the American friends outnumbered the Aussies....

Next we went to a Garbage concert, that was very cool and we met a lovely couple there who were concert junkies.
Manu wasn't too sure whether he knew who Garbage was when Anita booked the tickets, but he was a good sport and went along anyway and ended up recognising quite a few of their old songs and having a great time.

It wasn't long after the concert that Anita got called in for a job interview. She attended the interview and was offered a job the next day.
It was a 6 month temp contract as a Distribution Analyst working for a company called Tilia. The company took over the patented rights to
a vacuum sealing machine which helps keep your food fresh. Hooray some extra income !!

On Anita's final weekend of freedom we went to Napa Valley for an NZ wine tasting event. The kiwi club organised for a group of us to attend and it was very pleasant. Unfortunately Copia wine tasting is all indoors so our sun tan lotion and hats were made redundant.

It wasn't long after that when the 18th of April rolled around and Anita started her new job. It was also a very significant day for us as we celebrated our 1st year wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going out to dinner at an antipasti restaurant and stumbling home a little drunk. We saw a pohutukawa tree and were puzzled for some time until we put it in the too-hard-to-work-out basket given our state. It was the next day that we realised our stumble home was a decent walk of 13 or so blocks, however at the time it seemed like we floated home - how strange....

Our next adventure was a trip out to Berkeley (near the University campus) for an improv comedy show featuring Brad Sherwood and Colin Mochrie from 'Who's line is it anyway'. An absolutely brilliant show that had us laughing till our faces ached. Berkeley was cool and they had this awesome ice-cream shop called 'Coldstone Creamery' where they mixed up all manner of yummy things with ice-cream. Manu had a butternut finger combination and Anita had a caramel, fudge brownie combo - yum !

ANZAC day was celebrated on the 24th of April in San Francisco. Both the Aussie and Kiwi clubs met up at a church in Nob Hill (a very nice church it was too) where a few readings were made, flags were borne and the trumpet & bagpipes were played. It was a lovely ceremony and brought a tear to our eyes. We met a couple of kiwis that we hadn't seen before at the after function and were given a box of ANZAC biscuits to celebrate the day. We left as the Aussies were concluding their game of '2-up' and making their way to the pub.

In the meantime Anita's new job was going well, but she had a problem with the 401K (superannuation) that was offered to her when she signed her contract.
She made a wee stamping noise and pumped her arms up and down until an HR fairy godmother gave her a compromise which made her happy.
While all this stamping and pumping was going on, Anita's senior manager got an opportunity to review her CV and
exlaimed "golly gosh, she's a little overqualified for the job she's in, lets move her into this new Business Analyst role which has just come up". So that's what they did.
They waved their magic wands and two weeks into the job Anita was moved into a new role and given a $12K raise. And so it was that Anita didn't have to get up at 5:30am any longer - thank you fairy godmother !!

While Anita has been having fun waking up at 5:30am, Manu has been rising a little later but working till 11pm or 3am at night. He's been put onto another proposal which isn't much fun but should be finished in the next 2 weeks.

On a positive note the proposal Manu is doing requires him to go on training on a new software application which will give him skills that alot of other consultants don't have, so this may generate some more demand for him on projects. It's a week long course and he's looking forward to it.

American lessons learnt:
- At a concert, apparently 'no smoking' does not apply to hooch (although I think this is an international rule)
- In order to speak rapper style you must be lazy with your words - example 'know what I mean?' interprets to 'nah mean?'
- G'day mate is commonly thought to be a greeting used in New Zealand (??!!)
- 'Got pissed at the pub' is interpreted as 'got into a fight at the pub'
- Hens night is called a Bachelorette night - and you'll be laughed at if you say Hens night
- The hot pools is also unheard of and you'll be asked to explain yourself
- Never take up any free trials of anything - it's more hassle than it's worth to cancel the darned things
- You MUST call to cancel free trials otherwise they will start billing you
- Cable companies are quick to hook you up but when you want to cancel the service they stoop to new lows to make things difficult for you (again international rule, but hey we had this problem in the US)

That's all from us for now, till next time dear readers....

Love and big Manu hugs
Manu & Anita