Yesterday, I went up to Porters to do some snowboarding for the first time this season. Porters is the closest ski field to Christchurch that I’m aware of. Having never been to Porters before, I’m not quite sure what to expect. There has been lots of advice and comments from friends; and most suggested Mt Hutt is better. I decided to check out Porters anyway.

The drive was easy; taking approximately 90 minutes to get to the ski field car park. The access road is in good condition; it didn’t even require snow chain on this particular day, which saved me at least 20 minutes. Admittedly, the facilities are not as good as Mt Hutt. The rental gear looks old. They have T-bars instead of chair lifts. The cafe is smaller, and the car park looks like an organised mess. On a positive note, the crew are great; most of them anyway.

Last year, I did a beginners lesson at Mt Hutt and discovered that I’m goofy. As a refresher, I signed up for a half day beginners lesson. It was NZD 95 for the beginner lift pass, gear rental, and lesson. The lesson went rather well… that is until I have to learn to use the platter lift. There are no platter lifts at Mt Hutt. The platter lift looks easy but I just couldn’t get the hang of it the first few tries. I was not looking forward to keep walking up the slope. I did it once and it was a real workout. Luckily, perseverance and words of encouragement from the instructors and friend paid off. That and a few handy tips. Having the platter between my legs, and putting the bulk of my weight on the front foot with it slightly towards the heel side seemed to work really well for me. This allowed me to keep going up the platter lift and snowboard down the beginner slope almost non-stop for the whole afternoon. It was AWESOME. Other than getting used to the platter lift, I spent most of the time improving my control of the board. Being able to slow down and stop when you want to is surprisingly helpful. It is also great that the board goes where I want it to go; most of the time anyway. Due to where the lesson was conducted on the slope, I ended up having to ride fakie. On the upside, I can now go both directions quite comfortably. I can’t wait to get back up the slope.

I reckon this piece of art, which I acquired while in Australia, pretty much sums up where I am at in life.

I missed the delivery of my Nikon D90 today. This time tomorrow, I should be able to hold it in my hands. Photography seems to be the latest obsession. Last year, it was badminton; and to some extent it still is. I will probably be playing interclub badminton this year. Anyway, I really should be catching up on my assignments.

Evidently, quite a bit. We drove all the way to Kaikoura just to have crayfish. Anyway, the prices have gone up since the last time we had it. It’s now about NZD 40 for a small crayfish; or roughly NZD 80 per kilogram.

I took the opportunity to take a few photographs. It was high tide at the Seal Colony in Kaikoura so we didn’t go out.

I’m currently faced with a dilemma of choosing a lens to invest in. A 35mm or a 50mm fast prime for my Nikon D90 which has yet to arrive. I think I’ll go for the Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8D. Cheap and great.

For the past six weeks, I have been doing a part-time course on Identity and Access Management. I have also enrolled for a course on Secure Software for the second half of the year. Apart from completing a Postgraduate Diploma, I’m hoping this will provide the opportunity for me to transition into a more security focused career.

I’m currently also searching for a mid-range DSLR camera that will allow me to further my interest in photography. My Fujifilm FinePix S6500fd is just not cutting it for the macro and night photography that I really want to get into. Nikon D90 seems to be my best option at the moment. The camera body plus a couple of lenses are going to set me back at least NZD 2,000; not to mention the list of accessories that I want to get along with it. Now, when are they going to go on sale?

Today started off earlier than usual as I had an early presentation at 7 am. Presentations make me nervous but that wasn’t the worst part of the day.

At 9:45 am, I received an email calling for a company meeting at 10:00 am. If I’ve learnt anything from 3 years of studying history, it’s that history repeats itself. Unfortunately, 27 colleagues will lose their job. Late 2008, the company had axed over 20 staff members. The difference is, I didn’t expect this as the recession is over. The reason this time round? Cost-cutting by shifting development to India and China. Ultimately, all businesses are out to make a profit.

I consider myself incredibly lucky as I’m probably a borderline case. I think the reason I still have a job, for the time being at least, is that I was involved in a project that has been generating quite a fair bit of buzz amongst the clients. While I appreciate the fact that I haven’t been made redundant, I can’t help but think how similar this feels to my experience with the failed investment company, United Finance. I now have over 20,000 shares in Allied Farmers, which have a present value that is about half compared to the value when it was issued to me.

I have been at my current job for just over 4 years. During that time, I’ve shifted desk 4 times, twice of which involves moving to a different building, and one of which involves moving to a different suburb. Occasionally, I can feel the floor shaking under my current desk. I just hope the floor doesn’t collapse under me, both literally or figuratively, at least for the next year. Otherwise, it would really mess up my plans for the year.

The first time was ten weeks ago. I admit I was a bit nervous to start, not knowing what it’s like. I have only seen and heard stories about it. There was a group of us, but everyone else seems to have experienced it before.

Anyhow, ten sessions later, I’m fairly comfortable with it now. I even have a certificate to prove it. Actually, it took only about three sessions to get the basic hang of things. I logged some extra time on my own as well, in order to keep up with the rest of the group. Being the slowest in the group isn’t fun.

I’ve had the occasional falls but nothing too serious. I read somewhere that, if you don’t fall, then you’re probably not progressing as fast as you could. The worst was the time I ran into a little girl and ended up bruising my shin. She fell but was okay, I think. Don’t ask me who’s fault it was cause I rather not dwell on it.

The best advice that I could offer a fellow beginner is:

Make sure your skates fit properly.

I started off with skates one size too big and it made things more challenging than it had to be.

My goal was to be able to perform the backward crossover. However, I still have some way to go yet before I could do that. I still need to work on my backward skating, and balance on one skate before I would dare attempt a backward crossover. However, even though I have not reached my goal, I’m still stoked with the progress to date.

If you’re keen on joining the lessons that Alpine Ice Skate School has to offer, it’s not a bad idea. The ten sessions that I had costed me NZD 135 including skate hire. I appreciated having an instructor to explain how to execute the manoeuvres, and having plenty of space to practice. While you could get a friend to show you the manoeuvres, I find that space is hard to come by. The public sessions are generally quite busy. I might consider going back for more lessons if I can’t master backward crossover on my own. We’ll see.

Beginner’s luck at the Christchurch Casino. I spent NZD 40 and won NZD 70. One of my rule for gambling is stop after a big win, which I did. All the gold coins are perfect for my badminton fees. At NZD 2 a session, it is turning out to be an expensive addiction.

I actually went to the casino for the NZD 6 steak. My medium steak came out dry and well done. You get what you pay for I guess.

I was up at six this morning. The sun is not due for another hour. I refreshed the web page on my laptop to get the latest report on the ski field. It is open! Off to Mt Hutt we go. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now. Last Sunday, the uncertainty around the weather conditions meant that we had to postpone our plan. Today, according to the forecast, the sun will come out to play.

After last year’s experience, we’re better prepared this time. We arrived at Mt Hutt by 9:30. Putting on the snow chains took longer than expected. Nonetheless, we had enough time to sign up, and collect our rental gears before the lesson starts. As everyone said snowboarding is easier, we decided to give that a go this year. We signed up for the Starter Pack. If you have the Entertainment Book, there’s a 25% discount voucher in it.

Ten minutes before the lesson is due to begin, we got ourselves geared up. With only a snowboard to carry around, I’m already starting to like snowboarding more. The boots are much more comfortable too. We waited at the assembly area amongst the other eager beginners. We were soon greeted by our instructor, Greg.

We were given a brief introduction on our gear—the snowboard. It has a nose, a tail, curved edges, smooth bottom, and two boot bindings on top. Before we can strap our boots onto the snowboard, we had one question to answer. Are you regular or goofy? I’m goofy. Funnily, so are most of the group. We soon found ourselves skiing around on the snowboard with one foot strapped in. This proofed to be quite punishing on my legs. However, I’m no quitter. I persisted on despite the discomfort.

On to the fundamentals. We were shown:

• the basic stance;
• how to move in a straight line;
• how to do a toe-side turn;
• how to do a heel-side turn;
• how to start off balanced on the heel edge;
• how to start off balanced on the toe edge; and
• how to link turns.

After two hours of learning the basics, and a lunch break, we were ready to move on to the beginner slope to perfect what we’ve learnt. For the first time, both our feet are strapped on. We were given a preview of more advance techniques, such as jumping. I managed a 45 on flat ground. You’re probably more familiar with the 360.

The instructor was great. Greg was able to point out what I was doing wrong. His advice, and positive encouragement really helped to boost my confidence. Can’t quite say the same for the ski instructor last year; who shall remain nameless.

I started off the day feeling more comfortable with toe-side turns. However, as the day goes on, I found myself more confident doing heel-side turns. No beginner lesson is complete without a spectacular high-speed fall, which I dutifully performed. I also learn why skiers hate snowboarders so much. I, for one, like to sit like a rock on the slope when recovering from a fall; turning it into an obstacle course.

By the end of the day, I can’t say I’m ready to head up Highway 72. I’m not confident enough that I won’t slide off the edge of the slopes, or run down other skiers in my path. However, it is definitely something I will do again.

The Challenge

Visit all the Coffee Culture stores around Christchurch within the month

The Prize

A Coffee Culture t-shirt to prove that you… have nothing better to do?

The Story

It all started when I mentioned the challenge to my sisters while we were in Lyttelton for the Festival of Lights street parade. Turns out I got the date wrong but that’s another story. To make the trip worthwhile, we dropped by Coffee Culture instead. We had to specifically request for a receipt. I suppose most people have better things to do than to collect receipts from each of the Coffee Cultures.

Anyway, we did some complex calculations and realised that we need to consume on average 2 to 3 coffees a week. We don’t normally go to Coffee Culture that often, that’s for sure. However, as it was only Week 1, we are right on track.

One by one, we visited them. Some days, I didn’t even feel like having coffee and yet I go. It is turning out to be quite a chore. By this morning, we had done:

• Lyttelton – Jun 5
• Lincoln – Jun 7
• Merivale – Jun 9
• Bush Inn – Jun 14
• The Roastery on Durham – Jun 20
• Main North Road – Jun 21
• Sumner – Jun 23
• Palms – Jun 26

That’s 8 out of 10. We decided this madness has gone on long enough and it’s time to end it. We headed to Riccarton for a quick takeaway. Turns out the quick takeaway wasn’t so quick. After losing another 10 minutes of my life to the challenge, we zoomed over to High Street to complete our tour.

I still have my takeaway Chai latte in my hand.