2005 Almost at an end

Well it's been a while since my last update so in order to cover what has happended since then I can only summarise.
Xmas day was spent in Hamilton with dad's side of the family catching up with all the cousins, aunt's and uncles and of course Grandad. We had people coming from all corners of the globe to attend this years xmas which was great.
Presents were basically done as follows, there were 22 so everyone put their $20 pressies in the middle. We all drew out numbers and the rules were simple, Starting at 1 thru 22 you could pick any present however if someone who picks a present after you can take their pick of any present before them. So to be last you have the pick of the bunch.
The afternoon, we picked Maks up and brought her back to my place to spend the eveing with my parents, her aunty kaz and cousin danika. The following day we just relaxed and chilled out before going out for dinner at my aunties place for mom's side of the family. A few of my cousins got to meet Maks for the first time which was exciting but could only stay for a short time before getting her back to Donne and then racing back for in hope the family hadn't eated all the food.
Yesturday I went out to play golf with Dad at Golf habour where is was a perfectly beautiful day and a great day for golf. Thank's goes to Simon showing me a new swing that gave me better ball control and the mistakes I made if bad weren't all that bad and recoverable. The problem is that while my game was on, my short game lacked the capacity where I dropped several birdy opportunities and several par saves.
I ended the day with 21 over par which is still about 5 under my normal play and I feel that with more work on my putting I could drop that score again by at least 10 strokes. Over confident? definately not as its a foreseable area to work on and as any addicted golfer will tell you, the game is made on &/or around the green.

Maks update Decemeber 19th

Home sweet home, Princess is back in kiwiland.
and oh she can most definatly crawl now so everything below your thigh needs to be checked if it can be picked, grabber, pulled or stuffed in a toddlers mouth.
Toddler, OMG she is more or less a toddler now than a baby which means she's definately growing up fast.
We picked her up at the airport yesturday where I almost broke into tears but fought them back bravely. She'd grown so much over a period of a month and to be crawling wow that's wicked.
Anyway, She stayed over with her dad lastnight where she played with her cousin and aunty Kaz til she got tired so I ended up singing her to sleep. She slept for about 20 mins at a time until I eventually picked her up and put her in bed with me where she slept solid until the sun popped up over the horizon. Unfortunately she kept slapping me in the face throughout the night keeping me up so It was a coffee and two red bulls for breakfast and then another coffee late afternoon So right now I'm pretty shattered.
We are having her Christening in a few weeks time at Aucklands Congress Hall and have asked My Grandad if he would perform the ceremony. Donne has brought her an adorable outfit for the christening which i'm yet to see but just know she'll look like a princess.

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS

To everyone family, friends and follow bloggers.
May you all have a very merry christmas and all the best come the brand new year.

BRING ON 2006

Just one day to go.... Maks Update December 17th

For the past month Princess Maks has travelled halfway around the world and tomorrow will be returning from her stay in South Africa after a brief interlude in Hong Kong. I have heard that she's now crawling properly now which I'll be excited to see it first hand. She was after all so close to crawling when I last saw her and figured she'd definately be crawling by the time she got home.
I spoke with Lorraine today which was great to hear her voice again and looking forward to seeing both her and Jeff again. She said that's Lil maddame has grown so much over the last month and again i can't wait to see just how much as this month has been a long one that I've missed her terribly.
They should be boadring their flight in a few hours time on-route to Auckland, Safe travels home.

A social gathering

Its funny when your out for a few drinks after work with people from your team at work that 90% of the discussions are about work. We went out to get away from it and still end up talking, discussing and entertaining each other with our exploits. But still its about work, sure we were able to discuss other items such as King Kong, and Um?...... Um?...... Oh well
Tonight the team had planned lastweek to have dinner and drinks at the mexican cafe on Victoria street. 3dollar beers kept the conversations flowing and many laughs over relationships, movies, bikes and cars, and naturally work. After several left the group to go home the remaining four decided to play a few rounds of pool for an hour before calling it quits and headed home.
Plan was not to over drink as have work early in the morning and also have to work saturday also and will need my energy prior to Sunday, the one day off this week before a grueling 4 day effort before my three day weekend where hopefully there will be some golf, but would prefer to spend the time with my daughter.
No I'm at home watching the discovery channel documentary, Deadliest Catch, a series I've been watching for the past month about the Alaskan Crab fishermen and the dangers of the job where they say its the deadlist job in the world. Oh well time to shut down now and get some rest, Nite ya'll.

King Kong Opens

Tonight was the release of King Kong in New Zealand directed Peter Jackson. Jackson's first attempt at a remake of Kong was when he was only 12 years old using his mothers fur coat to make the model, now that's kiwi ingenuity. He said his mother never wore it and figured she didn't want it anymore and still had it on hand to pass around his cast and crew to view. By all accounts jackson read the initial script and it was very hollywood meaning its light weight and of a very different tone as to how the movie eventuated. Actor Colin Hanks, Tom hank's son, who played the the character Preston said that the Wellington premiere was very special.
If your a fan of Peter Jackson's work, pleaes look at his earlier work such as Meet the Feebles, or his best movie of mine.... Bad Taste!!!!

Coastville Mammoth

If your a regular reader of my friend Rob Good (Puntiki's) website you'll have seen an article he posted about a development in Aucklands Coatsville area. It is estimated to cost about $30m and to be the future home of the Chrisco Christmas Hamper Club founder Richard Bradley. Dozens of tradesmen have been labouring away building the mansion, its high stone walls, tennis court, an arbour of mature palm trees, a maze, ponds and pool. The house is estimated to be the country's largest at 2323sq m. placed on a 2.7ha of land.

Morning Sunrise at Terrace Down

New Swing

Tonight Simon and i went to the Big Swing driving range out at botany where we worked thru a new swing. The new connection we make at contact with the ball now is fresh and crisp where we are now obtaining further distance and better ball flight all from a half-swing. A full swing just puts even further distance on the ball its scary now to think to the golf course and make a much definitive club selection.
But its all good, we set about our drills and keep them solid.
The new swing is one that can easily be recreated time and time again... but time will tell and result on the course will show the until true test to the swing.

Maks Update December 13th

My little girl is turning 8 months tomorrow :-)
Just 5 days to go till I can hold my daughter in my arms again, This month has been the hardest not seeing her. Been playing alot of golf as its the only thing that keeps my head clear. But with just 5 days to go now I can put that all behind and spend some quality time with my little princess.

Welcome to Narnia

Went to see this movie yesturday and the most memorable moment of the movie for me was the first time I saw the lamp post. This was and still is the hallmark of the entire movie as it was when I was a child reading the book as it marks the beginning and the end of the two children of Adam and the two daughters of Eve's adventure through Narnia. The second was seeing Aslan, and thirdly was the moment the stone table cracked. I have to admit that through my life I haven't read many novels but this to this day is the only book I've read more than three times. I was about 10 years old the last time I read the book and while its been almost 20 years since that day it was still crystal clear how the story affected my memory triggering old imgainative pictures of their adventures played out on the big screen and I have to admit I was impressed to its accuracy.
If you ever read this book as a child, I strongly recommend it, Like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it runs true.
Happy viewing

Team Cambo

Michael Campbell is currently leading the Tiger Woods hosted event the Target world Challenge at the Thousand Oaks course in California. His putter was running hot yesturday making one birdy after another to take the lead and hold it still after day two. There are 16 of the worlds top players all going head to head with no cuts over 72 holes. Good luck Cambo keep the putter running hot....

Nike 460cc Sasquatch driver

The new Nike driver is a distinctive big dog that has a built in stabilizer to ensure long straight drives. Jason has just purchased one and I can't wait to trial it before deciding to purchase one myself. I checked them out at the golf shop yesturday and was most impressed by the great feel the shaft gave and the smooth swing plane it created.
Stats...
Made with NexTI titanium, the Nike® SasQuatch 460cc Driver offers Nike® PowerBow Technology for more power and control applied to the ball without surpassing the 460cc limit. The center of gravity, placed in the heart of the SasQuatch, helps increase leverage, expands the sweet spot and resists twisting on off-center hits. The lightweight Diamana Shaft offers power and stability, and has an optimized profile for distance and accuracy.

South Island Golfing Expedition

Wasting no time leaving work at 5pm Thursday afternoon it was a mad mission to ensure we make our flight to christchurch on time. We arrived to the airport given traffic had been very forgiving and had plenty of time to test Simon's new titleist driver. On arriving into Christchurch we picked up the rental Ford Territory and checked into Charlie Brown's Backpackers before heading off into the town.
We met up with Warren and Jason after waiting in line for 45 mins and then the first taste of speights reached our belly's.
The following morning we had breakfast, gathered some groceries and then headed to Terrace Downs, where we must've arrived somewhere between 11am and 12noon.
Before tee-off we headed down to the driving range to work out the kinks before heading onto the course. The entire weekend we were plagued with wind that absolutely brutalised our game play where the long par 4's were each extended by at least 50 meters.
my Shots of the week are, Jason on the 9th hole driving 330+ meters then an amazing chip to miss an eagle by half an inch, gutted. My third shot on the 7th hole that hit a rock and checked short of the green, Simon with the two iron punch into about 29knot wind head on, and my moment of the week is Jason's amazing 100 meter sprint down the fairway chasing after his hat, classic moments.
It was a full weekend of golf that saw us in our down time watch the European PGA, the Aussie Open and the Challenge being played at Sun City South Africa.
Unfortunately we did take in New Zealands humiliating defeat in the cricket to Aussie but lets not go there.
All in all it was a great weekend, just needed the wind to die down so we could actually play true golf but such is the way of the golfing gods.
So where did we go? well take a look at this... This photo was taken from the 8th tee over looking the 7th fairway up towards the mountains.