The origin of "ta"

Alright then I don't know about everyone else but "ta" as a short form of thank you is alive and well in my vocab. Language for me is practical, I don't know many big words and, while I can pull together a slick sentence when required, I am far from a mistress of the English language. Ironic given I am in communications. Every now and then I flip into kiwiana.....ta being one of those words that I flip off easily (well people are being helpful, what can you say?). The first time I got a quizical instant message back seeking to grasp what, exactly, I meant. A simple inquiry along the lines of, this is good, yes?
Today I flipped a "ta" (with an explanation that it was New Zealandish) to someone who works for me. She is new to the program so currently everything she is writing requires quite alot of back and forth while she learns both content and style/tone.....that sounds pompous, I don't mean it too......it's just part of what being in communications is all about!). So we are endlessly swapping emails and IMs all day (among the other endless emails and IMs I am getting; Kathy is away and I am learning what it is to have no immediate top cover) while she writes what is a relatively simple message - don't be fooled, these are the hardest. Finally I get to "ta" and explain it's kiwiana for thank you. Her flip back is the American version is "way to go dude". I am not sure is "ta" "way to go dude"?......made me laugh and at hour 10 in my day that was sufficient to make it all worthwhile! And to be honest, it was "way to go dude".......in the end we got there. At no point did I feel the need to just take over and do it myself (tempting but a. probably wouldn't have ended up reading as well as it did, b. not sustainable, I have 6 people who need do do their jobs so I can do mine, and c. there was a very lovely moment where I could tell she just felt proud of herself for hitting the mark.......). It was a long day in everyway but I think "ta" has become a benchmark; I am not sure I will ever get to "way to go dude" but I did get the sentiment. I am so back to being a corporate geek.

California fires and other things

I think the CA fires have been reported in the NZ news - they really are big and the air quality is pretty awful. There is a haze over San Jose and Santa Cruz and yesterday the smell of smoke was really strong. At least two of the people I work with had their homes threatened and firefighters are still trying to get them all under control. Worse yet on Friday I walked out the door to find three fire engines at the house across the road; smoke pouring out of the house and a terrible acrid smell..........at the time I thought it smelt familiar and, sure enough, 10mins later they pulled a car out of the garage. Damn thing was on fire (no one in it I might add), not quite sure how that happens but reminded me of when the peugeot went caught fire when I was driving it in Wellington during peak hour traffic! No real loss at the time, didn't like that car much but it was quite a dramatic way to get rid of it.
Come Monday I will have a car for a month as Michelle heads back to NZ before returning to move to LA in August. She's busy packing "my house", or at least the house I am moving into in August. Yesterday I sat around and watched TV at her house (a novelty for me) while she packed.......very generous don't you think! I did go buy us dinner so wasn't entirely unhelpful.
I forgot to mention this but a few weekends back I went with Michelle and her friend to Castroville (the home of the artichoke and where Marilyn Munroe was crowned Artichoke Queen at some point). We went to a dance bar, the novelty being Castroville is predominantly mexican so the bar played all mexican music. Their was also a drag show all done in Spanish (Barcelona revisited). Later in the evening I even got over my shyness about dancing - although why anyone thinks they can get me up onto a nearly empty dance floor is beyond me.....once it filled up and I could hide in the crush I felt much more relaxed. It was a fun night, we danced late and laughed alot.
Work is still busy and I finally got to meet my boss (Kathy) in person, which was very nice. Monday night I went to dinner with her boss and two others from the team then Wednesday stayed in San Jose later to have drinks and snacks with Kathy and some others from our team. Very social time and long days. Michelle gave me her car as well so at least I didn't have to catch the bus.
Things coming up: serious bike shopping. All going well come the end of July I will share a photo of my new purchase and be able to spend sunny, hot weekends touring the surrounding area and reacquainting myself with the joys of motorcycling! 4th of July next weekend so I am going to go down to the beach and watch all the fireworks. Michelle says it gets crazy and last year I was at the ranch so missed the beach part. Might see if I can get some pictures to share.

37 degrees and climbing

I kid you not, it's hot.......today was an "off site" day i.e. working from home so no air conditioning for me (truth is I freeze in the San Jose office and my hands often feel like icicles during the day)! Day started at 630am with a conference call to Europe.....fair enough - they come to late/early calls all the time. Working from home does not translate into "working less"........day ended at 6pm - that is a long day! Notwithstanding the heat; I do like my work and love my boss - it is nice to be able to influence things and work for someone who is smart and funny. My team continue to amaze me - deliver quality work in, often, unreasonable timelines! As the day finished I headed down to the beach; Ipod headphones glued to my head (day of talking to people does not prompt an evening of same) to watch the crazies convince themselves that the water was not straight off the polar ice cap. It was hot, really really hot........I still did not feel prompted to venture in!

The Price of Milk

I just watched this movie. If it's not obvious, it is an NZ movie, and came out in 2000 - clearly something I missed! It's .......quirky.....odd....very kiwi....funny in places, insightful and then just damned weird. I don't know if I would exactly recommend watching it. But it seems NZ makes so few movies these days (no Lord of the Rings doesn't count) that it's worth looking at just to know what people are (or have!) made. I found it on Netflicks (the DVD and online video store here). The Aussie movie industry is clearly doing much better than NZ - heaps of their movies are available for instant watching or to have sent to you.

Well geeze.........time flys

I am having a great time; really enjoying my new job and getting out and about a bit. Hours are proving to be long but interesting. I have definitely landed in the hot seat! Expectations are high (which freaks me out a little) and we are at a difficult time in the program. Still my boss is letting me change things and is very supportive. I will, for the first time, get to meet her when she comes to San Jose later in the month. We speak at least once a day by phone and instant message throughout the day. I have to say being able to IM people works well when you want instant answers but also generates a whole other layer of work! My team IM during the day as well and sometimes you can have three conversations going at once. The only time we all come together face-to-face is on Tuesday when I have my team meeting. Surprisingly I am really enjoying running a team again......for the first meeting I introduced them to "biscuits" as opposed to cookies - little cultural moment for everyone. Biscuits here are something entirely different.

Two weekends ago Michelle and I headed into San Jose on Sunday to see my roomates digital arts and media show. Maragretha's masters show,The birds, the bees the flowers and the seeds looks at war and nature, and the similarities between the way war functions and how nature operates. She had set up a garden (see the sketch right) that you walk through and included military objects and flowers. As you walk around you trigger commentary about nature and war........it was very complex and fascinating. You get to pick up objects and could toss poppy pods across a stylized wire fence - much like tossing a hand grenade. It was very clever and, compared to some of the other student work, was much more challenging in how it presented the ideas. It was my first real insight into her work. There were some other clever presentationts too. The Human Morality Index was a website where you get to invest based on "vice trading", click on lust and see the stocks associated with it etc. It was very clever and took a real shot at free markets and trade.

This weekend I am doing nothing but lounging around......I am tired and home alone with Goldfish as M and her boyfriend are camping. I am loving the Kindle, it is prompting me to read more widely. Best feature is being able to download a sample chapter before you decide to buy the book!

Girls...and boys in frocks

Went to the NCLR dance on Saturday night in San Fran. Several things of note. First, there were 100s of women......the place was packed, second, apart from the two women I went with (one I met on the night), I knew no one (so nice to be anonymous!), third I need to revise the idea that I don't dance, apparently I do and quite alot. It was a great night starting with a very fine Thai dinner at a very cool bar/restaurant called Koh Samui and the Monkey Bar - says it all really. I stayed in a hotel near Union Square and managed to get a ride back to Santa Cruz so didn't have to Bart (subway), Caltrain (train) and Highway 17 (bus) back.
Landed in Santa Cruz and headed to meet Michelle and her friend at Santa Cruz Gay Pride. A year ago Michelle and I had wandered around and watched the entertainment - what a difference a year makes. Most notably, nothing surprised me and there were some "interesting" outfits to see.
I am still loving the job - it's insanely busy during the day and I have learnt the art of sending emails, while sitting in on a meeting, while instant messaging. I'm not sure if it is more or less efficient to work this way but they sure know how to maximise time. Best of all I am now only physically in the office three days a week (although spend 80% of my day in meetings....so never feel lonely).
Because I could and because I no longer have to buy furniture I have been on a little shopping spree. Most notably and with all the geekiness that comes with it; I brought myself a Kindle. It is Amazon's electronic book.....so far I love it. You can download sample chapters of books and then buy the whole book and it arrives in seconds (it runs off its own wireless system so as long as I have coverage I can buy anytime and read offline). I can subscribe to newspapers/magazines and they have free newsites. Nice feature - it has a dictionary so when I come across a word I don't know I can look it up. It's fun and a nice size...I like it.
I still don't consider myself to be a techo girl but feel strangely drawn to electronic gadgets at the moment. I got myself a speaker for my Ipod too; no I don't care to have an Iphone. Mostly because you can only access service by AT&T and their coverage is not as good as Verizon. Except when you are on the Ranch!