Movember 2008, My friend Glen and other stuff

Before I begin for November, please cross your fingers and hope for the best for my good friend Glen (39) who was diagnosed with Lymphoma a couple of weeks ago (beginning of December). He is in the hospital getting treatment right now and has some challenges ahead. Glen is part of the great couple who took me in when I first got to Wellington even though they didn't know me at all. My motorcycle instructor Rachel (a Wellington girl living in Canada at the time) introduced me over email saying they were to people to talk to about motorbikes in NZ. Lynnda asked if I needed a place, I thought that was nice and they picked me up from the Airport when I got to town (Feb 2007). 8 days later I crashed a motorcycle and when I got out of the hospital they put me up again for another week until my mother came down to take care of me. It took Glen a week or so to start talking to me in the first person, but since then it's been a blast. Get well mate!!!

So, Movember. I raised $270 for Men's Health and Prostate Cancer. Thank you to all, especially the donations from Canada, which I didn't expect at all. Ah what the hell, thanks Bonny, Bill, Brian, Nicola, Emma, Terry, Tracy, Bruce, Mari and Michael. Here's the result...

Day 1
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Final Result, next year I have something special in mind.


Mid November there was Toast Martinborough. Once a year in a little town over the hills about an hour from Wellington they hold Toast. This is an excellent event that boasts great wine sampling, food and music. Shuttles take you around to 10 boutique type vinyards that mostly specialize in Pinot Noir. They could easily hold this twice in a summer as the 10,000 tickets sold out in 20 minutes. Good sun that day and good fun.

Claire, Tory, Emma and Nicola.

Nic and I

Drunken train ride home. Claire, Me, Nic, Rob.


A joyous moment of getting my finger prints. I will try to keep the story short. In order to get a Security Check from Canada while I am in NZ I have to send finger prints to Canada from a NZ police station. Canada then does a search on these and I get the result (nothing, as I have never had prints taken before) in 120 days or less. Then I will be a NZ resident! This process of prints from NZ to Canada and back cost me $100 NZ and will effect my plans in 2009 as I need to stay in NZ for 6 months 1 day once I am approved hopefully some time in Jan/Feb 2009.

More detail if you want it...
Why I need Prints. Initially I picked up a security letter from Calgary (with out prints) before I came back down to NZ. It was no good because all the applications here have finger print searches which is a product of proving to Canada from NZ that you are who you say you are. (My guess)When Canada started receiving prints to prove who you were some where along the way they started searching for prints purely because they had them in their hands. Now the system is backlogged 120 days. Brillant! Sad part is, if you apply in Canada to the NZ embassy or whatever it is, you do not need to provide finger prints. Yet another glich in an otherwise perfect system. Even sadder is I tried to explain this to my African immigration officer who of course didn't go for it even after I provided a second letter directly from the RCMP stating I was cleared, but a finger print search had not been done (the exact letter you would use if you applied in Canada). My immigration officer SUCKS and for more than just this. It amazes me that an immigrant like herself is so hard on other immigrants. Just had to get that off my chest.