The Peter Pan of Poodle Rock

I love the smell of grass with live music.

Well, the Bon Jovi concert last night was just amazing. The man has still got it. That was proper stadium rock.

It was a strange crowd there though, a real mix. There were people who would have been fans in the eighties, people who are too young to have been fans in the eighties, and people who should have known better in the eighties. But whatever the make-up of the crowd, 30,000 people singing and cheering and shouting and screaming certainly makes for an awesome atmosphere. He really knows how to work an audience too. And coming out for the encore in a Crusaders shirt was a sure way to endear himself to Cantabrians.

The whole thing was just mammoth, and they were on stage for a full two and a half hours. As the man himself said New Jersey is a long way from Christchurch, he doesn't fly out till today and he had nowhere else to go. They played some of the stuff off the new album but plenty of the old favourites too and even threw in a couple of covers. All in all it was 150 minutes of proper entertainment. Well worth the entry fee.

And the support band weren't too bad either.

Oh, and Jon Bon Jovi must have a portrait in his attic back in New Jersey or something because he looks exactly the same as he always did. Ritchie Sambora, on the other hand, looks how Jon should.

The concert was a great way to celebrate our six month NZ anniversary. Is it really half a year since we landed in Auckland ready to begin the next chapter of our lives? 27th July 2007 seems like a lifetime away now. So much has happened since then. Oh hang on, we landed in Nuzziland on 25th July. Our six month celebration should have been on Friday and we missed it. Oh well.

Let's get it on

Joanne and I went to a boxing fitness class at the gym tonight. I did some boxing-focussed circuits classes back in London and Joanne, of course, has her karate, so it was something we figured we'd both enjoy. And enjoy it we did. Although I'm not sure either of us will be able to move our arms tomorrow. It was kind of full on. The guy taking the class has both boxed and trained at international level it seems, but he does have a rather disconcerting way of persitently referring to himself in the third person.

I got my Christmas presents posted to the UK tonight. Finally. In theory the last cut-off date for pre-Christmas delivery is tomorrow so I just made it. Hopefully. Postage is expensive though, eh? Some of the postage cost more than the presents! Next year people get light pressies ;)

Ooh, and I forgot to mention, Jack Johnson is playing here at the end of March. Bon Jovi and Jack Johnson within two months. I'm not sure I can take the excitement.

Ruth and Keith and Zack arrive in NZ tomorrow evening. It'll be great to catch up with some friends from London. Sometimes it feels like that life was just a dream. The internet is a great way to remind myself it wasn't. I love email and Facebook. A great way to see what people are up to.

Suitably appraised

The appraisal happened on Monday. It was scheduled to last 45 minutes. We finished four and a half hours after we started. It was thorough, I can tell you. But, in the looking back bit, all the feedback was positive, which was nice to hear. It was so good to finally get some feedback too. I've kind of been flying blind for the last couple of months. My boss says I'm exceeding expectations, he's had great feedback from other people in the company, and he's excited about where things are going to go in the future. Monday was definitely one of my better days.

Speaking of work, my corporate uniform finally arrived. There is a sort of grey pin-striped everyday shirt and then a white dress shirt and green and black striped tie for best, for meeting the customers and the like. Joanne says I look like a salesman. It's good it arrived though. In a couple of weeks it's Show Week down here in Canterbury and as part of our learning experience Gabi and I have to go and press palms with the farmers at the Royal New Zealand Show, representing the company and getting out there meeting people. To be honest, I'm a bit nervous. I hope the farmers are understanding that we're not quite experienced enough to be able to give them a fertiliser recommendation plan or anything. I think we just have to be nice and friendly and welcoming, directing people to the people who will be able to help them. I'm looking forward to the show though. It looks like it might be fun. I hope we get to wander around a bit as well as manning the stand for a while.

It's a shame the show is so soon actually. A guy in our company, a soil scientist nicknamed Dr Dirt, gives a two-day 'Soils 101' course for the new field staff every so often. One thing I mentioned in my appraisal is that it would be useful for me and my background knowledge to attend, and the next running of the course is at the end of November, up in Pukekohe. Come December, ask me about soil. I promise I'll know more than I do now.

Gah, this internet is so slow. With Joanne still consulting for her old company this month (until today - hurray!) she's had to download quite a few files and hefty email attachments. This has meant that we've exceeded our monthly broadband limit of 3gb. So now we're having to run at a capped speed. It's dial-up speed. It's 2007 and we're restricted to dial-up speed internet connections! Roll on 11th when the next 'month' starts.

Better news, however, comes via the UK taxman. They've repaid me my tax I'd overpaid for this year, which was nice. It's just a shame they repaid it to my UK bank account.

Did I tell you we got our tickets for Bon Jovi? Me, Joanne and Gabi are going to relive the 80s. I wonder where I can find a poodle-rock wig to wear for the night...

In hot water

The definition of caution - driving your boss's car in a hurry with him sat in the passenger seat next to you on roads you've never driven in gale force gusty winds. The drive to Hanmer Springs for this work off-site conference was interesting, I can tell you.

Hanmer is a really nice little village tucked around in the foothills of the Southern Alps, famous for its thermal pools. It’s got a really Alpine feel to it. Maybe it was the chalets, or the pine trees and mountains, I don’t know, but it felt familiar somehow. The sunshine we had for the two days certainly added to its appeal. A strong wind blew for most of the time we were there but it wasn't a problem as we weren't there for recreation, I guess. And the one time we did have some spare time, before dinner last night, the wind dropped so I got to wander around and do the touristy thing with my camera. I didn't have time to visit the thermal pools though, which was a shame. Joanne and I will definitely head up there for a weekend at some point though, so we'll do all that then.

The conference was interesting. I think the main thing to come out of it, for me, was the chance to meet some of the people who work around me in head office and for them to meet me. In the course of the everyday work environment I don’t really have cause to interact with the finance or supply or admin teams so it was good to hang out with some of them a bit.

The theory behind the conference was mainly a thank you for the work the people there had put in over the past year. In addition there was a suggestion it was a strategic conference for us all to discuss company strategy. Given the people that were there it was perhaps inevitable that the outcome of the discussions took a more operational tone. It was probably more beneficial that it did really though. I'm not sure how much strategy, if we'd come up with any, would have been adopted by the management committee. I guess another thing to come out of the conference, for me, was a better understanding of how what each team does all fits together and how it interacts. I also learned that the marketing and sales teams, the two teams I am part of, are not particularly favoured by the rest of the company. Everything seems to be either the fault of the sales team for not selling or the marketing team for not communicating properly, either internally or externally.

The whole time away, as good as it was, could have been better. It was kind of spoiled by my having one of the worst night's sleep ever last night. It rivalled the night in Hull after 6 cans of Wild Brew or the night in southern Spain at Joanne's relatives' for lack of sleep, but this time wasn't self-inflicted. I not sure what caused it, but it wasn't the one and half glasses of wine or the Baileys. It really must have been something I ate, but I spent all night in alternating hot and cold sweats flitting between the bathroom and the bedroom. Not pleasant. And we're out to dinner tonight too. I hope we're not having anything heavy.

It was strange driving back today, arriving at the outskirts of Christchurch and thinking "I'm home." It's the first time I've felt that. It's good to be home though, and to see Joanne. Last night was the first night we've spent apart since we moved here.

Ooh, and changing tack just slightly, Bon Jovi is playing here in January! We are so going.