Helens Flight

I hear via the Triple Johnson and CNN that NZ PM Helen Clark had a bit of a hair raising flight travelling from Rotorua to Wellington. It was said on CNN that the PM was badly bruised but is ok........ Wonder what JT will have to comment on about that........???????

Passionfruit

I managed to get in contact with the largest commercial grower of passionfruit in the USA. I like pssionfruit and they are hard to come by in USA unless you are keen to pay $2.99 each at Ralphs.
I am off to Santa Barbara tomorrow to purchase lots and lots of them for my own eating pleasure...... Can't wait.

Downtown LA

Went to the markets in downtown LA with the Triple Johnson and the Teddy Bear today. It is really exciting. We went to the fashon district and little Tokyo for lunch. I purchased some aftershave and had a good time.
Downtown LA is rather beautiful with character brick buildings and wide streets. Lots of older buildings are being converted to NY type loft apartments. It would be an interesting place to live.

Ventura

Went for a nice drive from Santa Monica north up the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), past Malibu and up to Ventura county. It is a truly beautiful drive and upon passing Oxnard I followed the road inland for about 20 miles. Realising that amongst the orange groves and strawberry fields I was getting further and further away from home, I turned around and brought some very nice strawberries from a road side stand. With all the rain that California has been having lately the PCH has a few areas where there had been some land slides. It closed part of the PCH south of Malibu, so I decided to drive on the historic Highway 101 back via the 405 to my place. It was trouble free, except for nearly running out of gas. I noticed a gentleman driving a Harley wearing a top hat for a helmet. I thought that that cant be legal so I pulled alongside this eccentric fellow only to see a cute Alaskian Malamute alive and well and stradling the fueltank happily riding along at 70mph. It was a unique sight and I guess it is something you'd only see in America.......

3 years today

3/27/05 It has been 3 years today since I moved to the USA. All is going well and I am glad to have made the move. Happy Easter.

Beautiful

It is a beautiful day here in Los Angeles. The sky is blue, there is a gentle breeze and the sun is shining. The temp is about 23 degrees C which isn't bad for the tail end of winter.

F1 Results Malaysia

Great race in Malaysia. I watched it live and was very impressed to see the Toyota of Jarno Trulli stick to the pace and complete the race in second place....the best result ever for Toyota. Disappointed with Jacques performance, I am wondering how long Sauber will retain his services. Fernando Alonso took the checkered flag, followed by Jarno, then a brilliant follow up for third spot by Nick Heidfeld form Williams BMW. A truly excellent race.

Malaysian Grand Prix

The 2005 Formula 1 season has already been more interesting this year than it was for most of the last 4 years. The qualifying has been split up into two days with the cumulative time calculated and the lowest time of the two days being the best time and pole position. The engine has to last for two races and only 1 tyre can be changed in a race without penalty unless it rains and rain tyres are allowed.
After the first of the two qualifying times were recorded yesterday, you can clearly see that the world champion Michael Schumacher is having a bit of a struggle to keep on top. He has qualified 12th so far and didn't even finish in Australia. He was forced to apologise to Nick Heidfeld of BMW Williams for a collision which took both of them out of the race without points. So far the srtongest team seems to be Ranault. The most disappointing performance so far for me is the lack of pace out of Jacques Villenueve in the Sauber. He is a favorite of mine, but seems to either have a bad car...( 4 years in a row ? ) or just not be focusing.... Hopefully he will pull one out today when the race is on. Below is the current qualifying times. The #1 time is currently about half a second quicker than last years pole of Michael Schumacher. Wow


1 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:32.582

2 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:32.672

3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:32.765

12 Michael Schumacher 1:34.072

Study

I have now left my position of employment as of last week. I am studying for the California Real Estate exam which I expect to sit sometime in April. I am having a bit of a time getting into the study mode, but all is well and I will be a professional student in a very short period of time.

F1 Results

The first F1 Grand Prix race of the year in Melbourne Australia would have to be one of the best F1 races that I have seen in years. It was all very exciting and I was particularly pleased to see Red Bull racing keep up with the big boys. It would have been nice for Juan Pablo Montoya and McLaren to do better in the race, but I can tell that this year in F1 is going to be great. Cant wait for the next race in 2 weeks.

Bag Pipes

Having learnt the bag pipes as a youngster at school in Auckland, New Zealand. I have always wanted to continue on with the tradition of being able to correctly play a tune or two on my set of Scottish pipes. I have fallen out of knowledge and tune, so upon browsing through a Guitar shop here in Santa Monica I noticed a 2 sets of bagpipes for sale. I found myself getting intersted in these pipes, as my set is still in NZ. I eneded up bying a practice chanter and some trainin books, as it has been a looooooong time. I have amazing grace down pretty well, I now have to re learn everything I did as a sprightly young 13year old from a very blunt training book. This is going to be an interesting one for the neighbours.....

Beverly Hills Hotel

I went out last night to attend a New Zealand pre oscar party. It was at the Beverly Hills Hotel and it was a great evening. I walked into the lobby and sat by Kirk Douglas while I was waiting for my friends to arrive. The function was great. Sam Neil, Rena Owen, Jay, Renee from Xena, and others were in attendance. Food was great and the wine was nice. Good luck to the Kiwi's nominated for an Oscar.

Real Estate

After a long period of procrastination. I finally sent off my papers for the California Real Estate exam today...... Time to study.

The new BMW M5

I viewed the new unreleased ( IN USA ) BMW M5 3 days ago. It has a 5.0 liter v10 with 507 HP, and a 7 speed SMG transmission. The gentleman driving the vehicle was lucky enough to have a contract with BMW USA to test all of the new models before release to the public. There were two cars in the convoy. One was an undercover car which has been floating around for a while, and the other that particularly interested me, was a Interlagos Blue USA spec finished vehicle. The interior was magnificent and the wood trim and dash was particularly nice. The engine sounded brilliant, somewhat like a muffled F1 engine, and the cross drilled brake disc's and spectacular wheels really make the car.
I asked the driver if he could do a wee launch for us up the street. He thought for a second and then agreed. To launch a BMW with an SMG transmission, you need to turn the DSC ( traction ) off and turn the shift points to position 6. When you do that the computer allows you to rev the engine up before dropping the clutch therefore creating a "Launch". Well it was a beautiful site to see this powerful unreleased vehicle take off sideways up the street for my viewing pleasure.
I truly beleive that the new M5 will be the benchmark in 4 door sedans for some time to come. I want one and I want one NOW. I cant wait to drive one. Roll on November.

Howard Dean

Howards Dean as DNC Chairman...... Hmmm. Interesting. I actually like the gentleman, he may have the ability to give the dead party some pizzazz.

F1 2005

Not long now to the first F1 race of the season in Melbourne Australia. I am a strong supporter of BMW Williams, although being a fan of Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi I may need to get a McLaren cap for this season. I am also looking forwards to seeing Jacques Villeneuve and David Coultard shine this year. May Michael get a good run for his money...

first full day

Well I have had my first full day as a blogger. I am going to have to get the ball rolling so as I can keep up with Pablo in the information field. Have a great day.

Hello Sunday

Hello Sunday.... How are you?

Very interesting

I seemed to have stumbled across this, and inadvertantly started my own blog site. All I was trying to do was sign up so I could critique other blog sites..... Well this will be interesting.

Puntiki

Pablo.......You remember me....