99 Bottles of Sol in the Tub . . .
See photo album on the right
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Sunday, September 11, 2005
World Famous in New Zealand
The national elections are coming up this next week and it's quite comforting to see that democracies everywhere produce some pretty strange bedfellows. Prime Minister Helen Clark is standing against National Party leader Don Brash. They have the MMP System (Mixed Member Proportional) which I have just learned about by reading Wikipedia. Give it a go by following the link. I will also post one of the funnier billboards. (I have quite a collection of them now, and still must put Maggie up - wait till you see that one!)
I have posted a new photo album showing a bit of the town of Tauranga which JB and I visited this weekend on a scouting trip. Very nice! It's got about 100,000 people and a very lively downtown. We did call on the old Burger Wisconsin site, but it appears that a deal is 95% done on that, so we may have to regroup.
We are ramping up for a big shindig on Friday. Sol Beer is sponsoring a Mexican Independence Day celebration for the 16th of September. It will be similar to what we do on Cinco de Mayo. Mariachis, free beer, the whole nine yards. This is a first for them, and will put us on the national map.
Mexicali Fresh - world famous in New Zealand since quite recently.
I have posted a new photo album showing a bit of the town of Tauranga which JB and I visited this weekend on a scouting trip. Very nice! It's got about 100,000 people and a very lively downtown. We did call on the old Burger Wisconsin site, but it appears that a deal is 95% done on that, so we may have to regroup.
We are ramping up for a big shindig on Friday. Sol Beer is sponsoring a Mexican Independence Day celebration for the 16th of September. It will be similar to what we do on Cinco de Mayo. Mariachis, free beer, the whole nine yards. This is a first for them, and will put us on the national map.
Mexicali Fresh - world famous in New Zealand since quite recently.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Aliens Among Us
It's the first day of Spring, Tyler is finally legal and I have 3-ring binders in my hot little hands. The intensity of the past few weeks is behind us so we can relax a little bit. Conor got his work visa at the end of July, but Tyler's paperwork was still somewhere in the bowels of Immigration prompting a threatening letter from them saying he was an illegal alien and could not work. It's a long story, but we finally have some of our Brazillians back, and Tyler is now "legally" back as well. Whew! Just in time because we are really getting busy, and Fridays are off the charts.
JB and I have moved into a nice large Victorian in Freeman's Bay. The bathrooms and kitchen are newly remodeled with some very nice amenities such as heated marble floors and a Smeg gas range. I can cook again! We have a two car garage which is quite rare in this tidy little neighborhood of houses built before there were cars. The streets are so narrow with cars parked on both sides that there is barely room to drive. Our bedroom has large French doors which open up to an unobstructed view of the Sky Tower. We are three blocks from the big grocery store and three blocks up to Ponsonby Road, the center of all that is uber hip and cool in Auckland. And yes, we have two large bedrooms for guests.
Speaking of guests, we really enjoyed having ex-Mexicali manager Lisa Lee, her brother Karl and daughter Rachel visit us during August. They did an impressive "Lord of the Rings" itinerary throughout New Zealand and saw quite a few places and things I didn't even know existed. Rachel enjoyed hereself so much that she stayed behind and now is a barista at Mexicali Fresh and staying with us in Freeman's Bay. She's a newly minted graduate of Sisters High School, and needless to say this is quite an exciting experience for her. Her plans are to stay until December and soak up a variety of international experiences.
The 3-ring binders warranted mention because I have been searching since February and finally found them at the new Office Max on the North Shore. There were only four, but I bought them all, along with a 3-hole punch. I actually had to demonstrate to the sales clerk how it worked. She was quite impressed and thought there may be something to this novel concept. In New Zealand, everyone uses 2-ring binders. I have tried to be flexible with lots of different little things, but really, 2-ring binders suck. The paper never punches in the right place and the large A4 sheets get askew. Now that I have my 3-rings, everything is going to get repunched and put away properly. You also can't get fifth-cut file folders. All file folders have even sides with no tabs. I have been reduced to cutting tabs with an exacto knife.
We had a meeting with some major developers about sites for our second, third and fourth stores. We are penciled in now for some great locations, but the first one doesn't come online until March 06 to start building, and July 06 to open. Meanwhile, we still want to get another one up and running before Christmas. We have a couple of options and will have to make a decision in the next couple of weeks.
I will get another photo album posted in a day or so with shots of our new home and surrounds. Hope everyone had a great summer in the Northern Hemisphere . . . we are ready for summer down here!
JB and I have moved into a nice large Victorian in Freeman's Bay. The bathrooms and kitchen are newly remodeled with some very nice amenities such as heated marble floors and a Smeg gas range. I can cook again! We have a two car garage which is quite rare in this tidy little neighborhood of houses built before there were cars. The streets are so narrow with cars parked on both sides that there is barely room to drive. Our bedroom has large French doors which open up to an unobstructed view of the Sky Tower. We are three blocks from the big grocery store and three blocks up to Ponsonby Road, the center of all that is uber hip and cool in Auckland. And yes, we have two large bedrooms for guests.
Speaking of guests, we really enjoyed having ex-Mexicali manager Lisa Lee, her brother Karl and daughter Rachel visit us during August. They did an impressive "Lord of the Rings" itinerary throughout New Zealand and saw quite a few places and things I didn't even know existed. Rachel enjoyed hereself so much that she stayed behind and now is a barista at Mexicali Fresh and staying with us in Freeman's Bay. She's a newly minted graduate of Sisters High School, and needless to say this is quite an exciting experience for her. Her plans are to stay until December and soak up a variety of international experiences.
The 3-ring binders warranted mention because I have been searching since February and finally found them at the new Office Max on the North Shore. There were only four, but I bought them all, along with a 3-hole punch. I actually had to demonstrate to the sales clerk how it worked. She was quite impressed and thought there may be something to this novel concept. In New Zealand, everyone uses 2-ring binders. I have tried to be flexible with lots of different little things, but really, 2-ring binders suck. The paper never punches in the right place and the large A4 sheets get askew. Now that I have my 3-rings, everything is going to get repunched and put away properly. You also can't get fifth-cut file folders. All file folders have even sides with no tabs. I have been reduced to cutting tabs with an exacto knife.
We had a meeting with some major developers about sites for our second, third and fourth stores. We are penciled in now for some great locations, but the first one doesn't come online until March 06 to start building, and July 06 to open. Meanwhile, we still want to get another one up and running before Christmas. We have a couple of options and will have to make a decision in the next couple of weeks.
I will get another photo album posted in a day or so with shots of our new home and surrounds. Hope everyone had a great summer in the Northern Hemisphere . . . we are ready for summer down here!
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