North Island

I hopped from the South Island to the North Island on Saturday. I arrived in the port city of Wellington; while there I spent numerous hours in the city museums. At the Rialto, I caught the movie, Eagle vs. Shark. A review of the movie, details of my adventures, and pictures will be posted when I get back to Christchurch next week, as my internet access is limited. Over the next few days I will tour Lake Taupo and Rotorua.

My Early Days in Christchurch

Here are some pictures from my early days in Christchurch they date back to mid-July.

Below is my first residence: The Thistle Guest House

St. Peter's is the Anglican Church across the street from the Thistle Guest House on Church Corner.

St. Peter's Grave Yard

Tombstone at St. Peters
Notice at the center of the tombstone it reads "Good Bye."

Frosted Roses at St. Peter's

University of Canterbury

The Commerce Building: Home of the Political Science Department

My Office: Home Sweet Home

Random Campus Trees

Campus PathwayOutside the Forestry Department

Flower Along the Way to School

In Loving Memory of Dr. Steve Poe

I am very saddened to report that Prof. Steve Poe passed away suddenly on Thursday, August 16, 2007 while playing tennis. Poe is one of my favorite college professors (undergraduate and graduate). He had a tremendous impact on my research and teaching. His obituary can be found in Sunday's edition of the Denton Record Chronicle.

I am happy to count myself as one of Steve Poe’s students. I became interested in the empirical study of human rights after taking Steve Poe’s undergraduate human rights class at UNT. Poe encouraged me to follow my research interests in human rights through independent study and later through graduate school. Steve was a great mentor and provided inspiration and guidance throughout my academic journey. I will miss turning to him for advice.

Steve Poe is the best instructor I have ever known. Poe had an uncanny ability to steer classroom discussions and create an interactive learning environment. I will never forget the fictitious country Trombonia he used in his foreign policy decision-making exercise. When I prepare for classes I often think, “What would Poe do?” I will continue to use my memories of him to help me with my teaching and research.

Riccarton House & Bush

Here is the 2nd entry in my notable places around Christchurch series. This past Sunday on my way to school to do work, I stopped off at the Riccarton House & Bush. The Maori name for the site is Putaringamotu, the place of echo. It was home to Canterbury's Scottish pioneers the Deans. On the site is the Riccarton House, Deans Cottage (the oldest remaining building in the Canterbury plains), and an ancient forest of kahikatea trees. It is Canterbury's only remaining part of the kahikatea floodplain forest. Also present on the site are giant oak trees the Deans planted to remind them of their Scottish home.

Riccarton House

Deans Cottage

Kahikatea Loop Track

Downtown Christchurch

I took this picture on Saturday in City Centre Christchurch at the corner of Turam and High Streets. Don't let the trees fool you, it gets pretty frosty here during the winter.

The Hills

On Saturday I went up to the hills overlooking Christchurch and Lyttelton Harbor with Jeremy, Michelle, Harmonie, and Luka. On our way up we say many sheep and a few people on bicycles. Here are some pictures.

I just bought a book containing self-guided walks in the Canterbury area. I plan on going on a few excursions, or tramping as they say here, during my stay in Christchurch.

Abe Has a Posse

This picture of Abe, Jodi, and me was taken by the lovely Martha Anderson during March of this year at my birthday celebration. A great time was had by all who attended the evening of go-karts, mexican food, and various beverages. My friends bought me the alarm clock of all alarm clocks, Clocky.



Clocky was created by a graduate student at MIT. It is billed as the alarm clock that runs away from you. Clocky allows its owner to hit the snooze button once. After the allotted time has elapsed, Clocky jumps from the owner's nightstand and rolls about the room make noises reminiscent of R2D2. It can withstand a 2 foot (60.96 cm) drop.

Abe and Clocky accompanied me to New Zealand. Clocky has faithfully woken me up at the wee hours of the morning; thank you guys!

The Flu

I have been under the weather since Monday. I am growing impatient because I normally rebound rather quickly when I fall ill. I was told by a doctor here in NZ that I have the flu. While trying to will myself well, I thought about the phrase the flu. Why is it that when you have influenza it is said that you have "the flu?" Why is "the" attached to it? Why not I have influenza? I guess people say I have the measles or the mumps, but no one every says that they have the cold. Is it a sign of severity? Please attribute the last ramblings to the lack of effective flu medication.

By the way, more pictures are on their way soon!

Hagley Park

I got my camera to cooperate with me, here is my first edition of pictures of Christchurch landmarks. Hagley Park is a beautiful park (161 hectares) in the middle of Christchurch, replete with rugby fields, netball courts, frisbee areas, football fields, field hockey areas, botanic gardens, and a golf course. It is in between the University and City Centre. Even though it is cold and wintry the park is very pretty.

New House and Mona Vale

I have good news, I found a great place to live. My new place is in Merivale and is about a 10 minute bicycle ride from school and city centre. My flatmates are Steph and Madison. Steph is getting her master's in librarian science and has lived in Christchurch all her life. Madison is a chef in the Arts Centre; he is from North Carolina. Here are pics of the new place taken by my flatmates.





I decided on my new flat while hanging out at the gardens of Mona Vale feeding ducks. Here are some pictures I took.
Left: Drive to Main House Right: Pool House

The Search for New Headquarters

The last few days have consisted of finding my way about the city, various mundane tasks, and a little bit of work. Cell phones are oddly expensive here, so I settled for a tron-era phone without all the bells and whistles. Who needs a cell phone to cook them breakfast anyway?

I am in the midst of looking for a flat to share. I had a few promising appointments today; I hope to know the location of my new headquarters soon. That's why I haven't sent my mailing address to those of you who have requested it.

Tomorrow is a rather work intense day. However at the end of the day I get to go to the University of Canterbury Staff Club for beverages. For you murder history and movie buffs the Staff Club is in the Ilam Homestead, which was once the residence of the Hulme family. Juliet Hulme's family lived there when her father was the Rector of the university. Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker murdered Parker's mother (for more information:
http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Heritage/Digitised/ParkerHulme/). In 1994, Peter Jackson filmed a movie about the murder, Heavenly Creatures (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110005/). A large majority of the film was shot on location at the Ilam Homestead.

The Arrival

I forgot to mention the journey through Customs in New Zealand. Since my trip from Auckland to Christchurch was a domestic flight, I checked into customs in Auckland. After checking in with immigration and picking up my luggage from the luggage carousel, I went to the next point in line where they x-rayed all my baggage. After turning in my entry card, I was told to go to line 2 of biosecurity. I understand the New Zealand government is concerned, as they very well should be, of the introduction of invasive species into their environment. However, the term biosecurity scares me a bit. It reminds me of movies like 28 Days Later or other apocalyptic, zombie movies. Luckily, I passed biosecurity and was not placed in quarantine. I did not mention my penchant for zombie lawn games. New Zealand biosecurity website: http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/

The Flight

If you read my previous message, you know that I survived my flight to New Zealand and I am not stranded on some island in the South Pacific. An odd thing happened to me on the flight to LA, someone actually gave me flack for one of my carry on items, my guitar. There wasn't any room in the front cabinet, so one of the flight attendants told me to put my guitar in the overhead cabinet. As I was walking down the aisle. A man asked me where I was going to put that, in a rather nasty tone. I said not that it's your business, but in the overhead, it's a guitar. As I placed the guitar case in the overhead, he made some noise and another nasty look. The lady behind me also made some disgusted noise. What's up with people commenting on my carry on? It fit in the overhead and there was plenty of room for other people's over-size bags. Luckily, that was the only bad part of my trip.
The flight from LA to Auckland went very well for the hellish experience a 13 hour flight could possibly be. I sat in seat 73B. Before you start feeling sorry for me that I was stuck in a middle seats for 13 hours, you should know that the last few rows of the Boeing 747 only have two seats in the left hand row. I finished reading a book on economic sanctions and watched several movies (Clubland, Zodiac, and 300).
The flight from Auckland to Christchurch was brief. An episode of Mythbusters aired for the in-flight entertainment.The highlight of the trip was looking out the window to the snow-capped New Zealand Southern Alps. The mountains were breathtaking. I may actually take a trip to ski down them sometime in the next few weeks.

Land of Kiwis

I am in the land of the Kiwis (to the left is a stock image of the spotted Kiwi). I arrived in Christchurch after a twenty odd hour flight. I am all bleary eyed and trying to keep myself up so I won't be jet-lagged tomorrow. I will post more info on the journey then. I even have pictures to post. However, those must wait until my package of books and cables arrives. By the way, my room has a lovely view of the Anglican cemetery across the street.

To the right is a stock image of the more-often-seen New Zealand bird the tui for whom a a beer is named.

Oh Sandusky, Don't You Cry For Me

My camera did not survive my trip back from Ohio. After mourning the loss of my first digital camera, I set out to purchase a replacement. I found a great deal on an 8 megapixel camera with 5X optical zoom and manual setting options. I expect to take some great pictures in New Zealand with my new camera. I took it out for a test spin last night. Kristin and I attended the Panther City Bandits show at the Aardvark and then we hit Tiff and Andi's. Below is is a picture of Kristin and I at Tiff and Andi's.

Bye, Bye Tony

Yesterday's passing of the torch at 10 Downing Street from Tony Blair to Gordon Brown reminded me of a purchase I still regret passing up. It was the summer of 2000 and I was in London doing some research. On one of my breaks I wandered over to Politico's, a great political bookstore about a stone's throw from Westminster. After finding a book on the history of the Scottish National Party, I found the garden gnome of all garden gnomes - a Tony Blair garden gnome! Instantly I had grand plans of where to put Mr Garden Blair. Surely he should not be placed outside at the mercy of the elements. Instead I thought I would buy a square of fake grass and place him in a prominent place in my living room. All my plans were dashed when I picked up Mr. Garden Blair to check his price. He cost 50 pounds (a whopping 75 US dollars). That was far more cash than I could splash about on a lovely garden gnome, so I left to go back to work without Mr. Garden Blair.

Blitzen Baby

I am proud to announce, Blitzen is almost back to his pre-illness weight. He weighed in at 76 pounds this morning. He has gained back 19 pounds from his lowest weight ever of 57 pounds. I knew I should never let him read Cosmopolitan. Below is a picture of him from two days ago.

Below and to the right, are pictures of Blitzen at his skinniest. I briefly changed his name to Skeletor.