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Posted: June 25th, 2008

June update

Hi guys; Summer is here in full force bringing very hot days with no clouds for shade, lately we have been getting 40deg Celsius days and have been keeping the Air Conditioning running all night long.

On Friday Jess got laid off again from her job which sucks but we will manage just like we did last time; she got laid off because there just isn’t enough construction work being done around reno lately and the next big jobs will not take off till April 2009 so we are weighing our options of what to do.

My job however is going good; I have been doing a lot of overtime recently which is good for the wallet; I have also been training a new guy who has been riding around in my truck for the last week; he is pretty good for someone who hasn’t worked with cable before which makes training him very easy.

I dont know if this made New Zealand news but there are a lot of forest fires in northern california; some near us and some far away; for the last few days Reno has been covered in a thick layer of smoke and there has been an ‘Air Quality Alert stage 2′ enforced upon the city which means we have to stay indoors as much as we can as the air is very polluted with the smoke from the fires.
Here is a photo of the sky that is supposed to be blue and a sun that is supposed the be yellow.

Orange Haze

Hope everyone is doing good at home and keeping warm.

Lots of Love.

Scott & Jess




Posted: May 26th, 2008

Almost half way through.
almost-half-way-through

Wow, the time has flown by; almost 6 months through 2008; it is scary how quickly time has flown by this year.
The first 4 months went some what slowly as I was not working but now I am working time is just whizzing by ever so fast.

Bush... bha

Hope everyone is good and well and surviving the outrageous prices at the pump and the grocery store; Jess says for me to tell everyone sorry for what Bush has done and wants me to assure you that she did not vote for that idiot; just hope the next president is not such a fool.

Things have been going great at work for both Jess and I, Jess is now back working at the university library in the new construction; she was actually requested on that job site which means one of the bosses must like the way she works and that she wont be one of the next to be laid off which is awesome.
I was given my work van 2 weeks ago which is nice; I dont have to buy petrol any more to get too and from work; all our service calls are given to us on a website which we can access with our work cellphones so the only time we need to go to the office is on thursdays for our 8am meetings.
All our service calls are also based around the area in which we live which means I dont have to leave my house at 7am to get to the office by 8am; I can leave my house now at 7:45am if my jobs are in the next suburb over or 7:55am if they are in my suburb which means I get to sleep in :-D

Home - Dinner

2 weeks ago we had a whole week of nothing buy blue sky and 32 degree weather which was nice but last week and all this weekend and even today (monday) has been muggy with rain; reminds me of New Zealand not like Reno Nevda at all.

During the nice weather 2 weeks ago we had plently of BBQ nights mixed with drunken Karaoke & Guitar hero at a work buddy’s house, I even managed to impress the 12 Americans at the BBQ with my BBQ TriTip roast cooking skills, and Jessica with her Pavlova which they all want the recipe for.

Jessica and I went to see Indiana Jones 4 at the cinema last night; we thought we would go early to get the tickets and then get something to drink accross the street but we were told by the ticket counter man that we need to get into the cinema and line up with all the other viewers because the movie has been sold out every single screening since it opened on Thursday.
So we waited an hour in line to see the movie which by the way was a great movie but not worth waiting an hour in line to see; the only good seats available were the seats in the 8th row from the front which meant we had to crick our necks the whole epic movie.
I feel bad for the people in the rows in front of us as they were almost having to lean all the way back in their seats almost ending up in the laps of those behind them just to see what part of the huge screen they could see.

I was asked by a friend in Spain to review a book that she had published called ‘Spiders & Wine’ which by the way is a great book and true story.

Spiders & Wine Written by Deborah Fletcher is a sort of diary documenting her, her husband and the many animals they have as they move from the UK to rural Spain and the many wonders and troubles that happen to them in their new Spanish life.

I really enjoyed reading this book; I am glad I have been asked to review this book as I don’t think I would have stumbled upon this little gem of a book any other way.

Karma Guen 2008 - 02

140 pages this book is a nice book that you can get stuck into in a rainy weekend and get sucked into the majestic Spanish way of life; this book has every thing from creepy critters, cookie the cockatoo, other birds, dogs, wine & dining, fiestas, house building and more.

I recommend each and everyone of you go to this website…. http://www.trafford.com/07-2425 and buy this book; you wont regret it.

Another project I have been working on is a DVD slide show consisting on around 250 photos for a clients daughters 18th Birthday/Graduation, the daughter has no idea what is going on which makes this project even more special; I have been given all the photos which I have painstakingly scanned into digital format and sorted them into categories ie, Baby photos, photos with little bother, dad, mum, prom, rodeo and more and have been putting them to music which the mother has given me.
Doing this project has made me realize that I am getting older; its quite scary, this girl was born in 1990 she is 6 years younger than me; ahhhh to be 18 again.
Also have realized the majority of the music that the kids are listening to is utter crap; i.e. lean like a Cholo aka dance like a Mexican wannabe gangster; does that mean the music we were listening to when we were kids is just as crap?

Have a great week.
Love Scott & Jess

P.S. If your Mcafee software is telling you that this website is a phishing site, don’t listen to it, Mcafee is crap; ditch it and get some decent software that actually has humans review the websites not their robot which constantly makes mistakes.




Posted: April 2nd, 2008

Hello again
hello-again

BBQing in the snow

Hello Friends, Hello Family.

Its been ages since I last wrote in this thing so let me try and catch you up on what we have been up to.

We had a good Christmas day with good food and conversation; we didn’t go anywhere for a holiday this year unfortunately but maybe next Christmas we will.

We had a decent sized snowfall with about 2 feet of snow on our yard and in some places 4foot snow drifts and that was just from one night of snow; you can see photos of this by going to http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottjess/sets/72157603642985813/

I was made redundant from my job 1st of January which sucked big time especially after having 2 weeks off non paid in december due to lack of work with the company I was with.
Jess was given a temporary redundancy 31st of January and started work again last week which is great.
I have had to quit the Apprenticeship due to lack of work within the construction sector in Reno but I received a job offer with the cable tv company I previously worked for last week so I took that offer and will be starting work in a week.

Nevada as a state has a pretty good unemployment compensation plan which is worked good for me and Jessica while we were not working BUT unfortunately the company is not liable to payout a bunch of weeks worth of wages balloon payment like they do in NZ.

A couple of weeks ago Jess and I went to San Fransisco to go to the San Fransisco kiwi club meeting which was held at the New Zealander Restaurant in Alameda; we had dinner with about 12 other kiwis and their spouses either American or kiwi, I had a Steak Pie and Jess had a Ham And Cheese toastie…. yummm

The Saturday morning after dinner on the Friday night in Alameda we parked our Jeep in the little suburb on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge and walked across the bride into San Fransisco with all the other tourists; we spent the day walking around window shopping and taking in the city life before catching a taxi back to our jeep and driving home. To see the photo please visit… http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottjess/sets/72157604362713886/

If you want to get a hold of me or Jess please give us a ring (or text us) at (03)9748012 it is a Dunedin number and wont cost you anything to ring us unless you live outside of Dunedin.

Amazingly enough that is all the updates I have for you for the last three months; maybe the next months will be a bit more noteworthy :-)

Have a great week.

Scott & Jessica




Posted: February 22nd, 2008

January/Febuary update
januaryfebuary-update

Been awhile since I last updated this thing; found some time today and so am sending out the updates.

I started my new job on the 2nd of Jan which I love; even more so than installing cable TV, I am now a Fire Protection System Technician installing and fixing firealarm systems in hotels/casinos, hospitals, schools, military bases ect ect.
This job doesnt have as much stress as my last job as it is more relaxed and the bosses are not breathing down our backs and cracking the whips.

Jess is still enjoying her job as a Apprenctice electrician and is still enjoying going to school 2 nights a week for her apprenticeship.

Weather was cold the 1st half of january with a little snow but mainly just cold with frost but the 2nd half was warm and febuary has been quite warm execpt for today when it snowed for a little bit; we didnt get as much snow as the skifields would like but there is still more snow on the way tonight.

Sparky and Emma are healthy and doing good; sparky has learned some new words.
‘Emma… Here kitty kitty kitty’
‘Hello’
‘I love you’
‘Sparkys a good boy’
‘Stepup’
‘Come ere and give me kisses’

He is still learning as you can see :-)

A couple of weeks ago we finally gave in and brought a new car; we brought a 2005 Jeep Liberty sport edition; 3.7L 4WD which we are having fun driving around in the trails around our suburbs; the other day a friend and I took the Jeep into the back country behind our house; we were gone all day exploring roads we didnt know were there.
If you think the Desert is ugly; you are correct BUT it is actually beautiful when you are in the middle of the desert with noone around you with no wind and no noises execpt the eagles in the sky and the coyotes calling; then and only then will you appreciate the
beauty of the desert.
jeepnitenormal_jeepday

Some time in March or April I will be going to a military base to work on the firesystem there; it is a 5 month project, I will be there 3 nights a week for 2 weeks a month with a 3 day weekend for 5 months or until the job is done.
Will be missing Jess but the money on this Job is way to good to turn down and it I will only be away for 6 nights out of a month which isnt too bad.

Hope you guys are enjoying your summer, please send some warmth this way please; Spring and Summer here isnt for about another 2 months which is unfortunate; cant wait to get back into fishing and camping.

Hope this letter finds you healthy and well, please feel free to send Jess and I an email letting us know how you are doing… our email is couple@scottjess.com

Ciao.

Scott & Jessica




Posted: December 30th, 2007

Snow Photos

You can enlarge the photos by clicking on them :-)


Generated by Flickr Album Maker




Posted: December 14th, 2007

Merry Christmas from Scott & Jess

Hello, things are getting colder here in Reno, 4 degrees below 0 celcius each day, the sun is shining as usual but it is just so cold; we had a 4″ snow fall last Friday and the snow is still just as thick on the driveway, the roof and everywhere else around here because if the sun melts the top of the snow it just freezes almost instantly.
I am sure summer is really great there in New Zealand; wish we were home for Christmas but maybe next year :-)

Jess got transfered to the universities new library building being constructed; she is still working for Reno’s most hated electrical company but hopefully will be laid off soon to rejoin the company she started the apprenticeship through.
The Peppermill job for me completed today at 11:30am, you can view the completed hotel photos in my photo album ‘click here for that‘.
I found out how much the basic room rate is for the new tower, $266 a night excluding tax; wonder how much the luxury palace suites will cost :-P.

Got my works xmas party tomorrow night at the Nugget hotel/casino; should be a good night; buffet meal, drinking and karaoke; it is a white elephant thing so we have to bring gag gifts under $10 so a trip to the joke store in the mall is in order for tommorow morning.

The greencard deal got sorted out, I have my biometrics meeting on Wednesday to get fingerprinted and whatnot

Hope you all have a great Christmas and a happy new year.

Scott & Jess




Posted: August 27th, 2007

Sorry for the delay

Dear all.

Been a busy couple of months with work and whatnot so have been unable to post an update so here is my attempt at letting you all know what we have been upto in the since June.

I started working at my new job doing the same sort of thing but with better conditions, better money and people that actually know what they are doing and how to teach me unlike the last place I was at.
I have been jumping around construction sites doing the fire alarm wiring and installing alarms, just finished a stint installing a new system in 2 old schools which wasn’t all that fun since the attic we were crawling around in got up to 60 degrees Celsius (140 F)
Last week I had 2 days working in the same site as Jess which is the hospital they are building and have yet to finish; the supposed finish date is October 2007 but I think they are way off that date, Jessica’s Electrical company ran out of hours for the job in march which means they are paying out of their pockets wages for about 100 electricians and extra materials they might be needing.
I had my birthday on the 21st July; the big 23, thank you for the well wishes for those that did and for those that didnt, I know you ment to and so thank you too :-)
I received a fly fishing package for my birthday which included rod and reel, flys and lessons when ever I want; I have been to several lessons so far and been on the lake and river, haven’t caught anything yet as the water levels are quite low and the fishing isnt that great this year in general.

Jess had her birthday last weekend, we had a nice dinner with her family on sunday night which was nice.
Jess wanted a new freezer for her birthday since the one we currently had was way too small, so we now have a new freezer in our kitchen which is nice.
I also treated her to a day where she could choose what we did all day; so we did that last saturday before we brought the freezer.

Jess starts back at school on the 6th oe f September, so we have to buy all her books next week some time, this year they are only costing $150 which is alot better than last years $400.
I am supposed to be starting school around the same time as her BUT the school director has not prioritized the sound and communications classes and so he has not scheduled a start date for us yet.

My green card expires on the 21st of October and so we have been busy filing out the forms to send into the immigration department, the forms are all filled out and we have all the evidence we need to extend the green card for 10 years but we hit a few problems with the paperwork and the American consulate in Auckland is trying to work out the problems for us so that the paperwork goes through smoothly and I don’t get deported back home.
Even if the paperwork goes through successfully we wont find out till mid next year as it is taking around 6-8 months to process them; so if there is a problem I wont be finding out till then either.
I have been finding out over the last couple of weeks that this country is based entirely on red tape and it takes forever to get things processed by the government here unlike back home where things are much more nicer and simplified.
My drivers licence expires at the same time my green card expires and so I am not sure at the moment how to get a new drivers licence with out a new greencard as I need to show evidence to the Department of Motor Vehicles that I am able to stay here which I wont have in October.
The weather here is still hot and has not rained in months, in fact I cant remember any cloudy days for about 2 months but the mornings are getting cooler and daylight savings is just around the corner which is lovely, we need alot of rain and snow this winter or the rivers and lakes are going to be even lower come summer than this summer.

The animals are doing good, Emma the cat is still getting her self in trouble and sparky the quaker parrot is learning more words and sentences every day which is good.

September 15th Jessica and I will be going to a a town in the Bay Area near San Fransisco called Half Moon Bay for a traditional Maori Hangi; it is with the San Fransisco Kiwi club who we met last time we were in the bay area; im not sure about Jess but I cant wait to have Hangi cooked Lamb, kumera, pork and other goodies cooked in the ground; as well as meeting with more Kiwis from around here.

Well I think that I have summed up almost 3 months pretty good and will leave you to the rest of your day; hope you have a good one.

Love Scott & Jessica




Posted: June 5th, 2007

Well hello there :-)

Just letting you know that we are doing fine; bit busy that is all.
I found out on Friday that I have been accepted into the official apprenticeship program and am starting work on the 11th of June (next Monday) with one of the union contracting companies.
I gave my oldĀ  boss my weeks notice but since they allegedly don’t have enough work they told me that I couldn’t work this week which is fine with me as I still get my weeks holiday pay and I can now do some gardening and other work around the house which I haven’t done at all since moving into this house and as you can imagine there are a lot of weeds in the garden.

Weather this week has been crappy; yesterday was ok in the morning with some sun but the rest of the day were thunder clouds; today was cold and dreary but didnt rain until tonight, it is raining cats and dogs outside for the first time in months which will be good for the bush fires that are raging around the state due to the lightning storms we have had.

Jess graduated her first year in the apprenticeship 3 weeks ago with a 92% average which is excellent; still working at the hospital but the hospital construction is almost finished so we don’t know where she will be going after that but it will most likely be in one of the new hotels being built that they are hurting for electrical workers in.

It has been a long time since I have updated this; we went to San Fransisco in April and had a great time meeting other kiwis, even found the New Zealander bar and restaurant, found out one of the bartenders use to live in Britan beach which is just over the hill from my home town in New Zealand and use to work at Fisher & Paykel; small world huh.

Photos of San Fran http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottjess/sets/72157600158834805

Hope this letter finds you all healthy and well; don’t be shy please write/type back.

Love Scott & Jess

P5161112
Snake in the road I found.

P5281125
Lake Tahoe last weekend

P4281021
New Zealander in Alameda California




Posted: April 17th, 2007

Happy april from Scott & Jess

Hello; it’s been a long time since I have updated this blog & so I will attempt to do so now.
I have been working in a little desert town called Hawthorne which is 3 hours from our house; I have been staying in Hawthorne 3 nights a week working 4 days and having 3 day weekends which is nice.
This week how ever I am working only an hour from home and am still earning the federal prevailing wage since where I am working is on Indian land and therefore federally funded as is the Hawthorne job; prevailing wage is nice as it is roughly twice as much as I normally make.

Jess is still working at the hospital doing the electrical apprentiship but the hospital is almost fully constructed and so she will be moving to another location to work on the electrical side of things; most likely she will be going to the Hotel that is being built and I will most likely be working there as well as soon as the other projects are complete which I hope take awhile since the hotel is not prevailing wage.

Weather has been odd lately; has snowed at least once a week for the last 3 or 4 weeks but has been nice and hot the rest of the time; since it is almost May, the weather should be getting hotter since the summer is coming.
Since the weather is getting warmer we have been been spending more time out doors geocaching (hunting objects with a gps device)

I broke my glasses a few weeks ago and needed to get some new ones so I could see; I managed to find a good Optometrist and got some Prescription Oakley glasses for about 50% off with my insurance; this pair wont scratch or have glare from smudges or lights as they have a special coating on them, quite happy with this pair.

Jess is still doing good at school; the school year is almost over so she gets a 3 month break from school which she is happy about, no homework for 3 months yay.

We are taking a weekend trip in 2 weeks to San Fransisco to visit the San Fran zoo and Monterey bay Aquarium; also to visit the New Zealander restaurant and bar which is owned and operated by New Zealand’s 1988’s chef of the year who was also Elton Johns personal chef for quite some time.
The Friday we go to San Fran we will be visiting another pub in san fran on the harbor where the San Fransisco kiwi club has their Friday pub night.

Last weekend we went to the top of Peavine peak near our house to take a look at the view, you can veiw the photos by going to http://flickr.com/photos/scottjess/sets/72157600077066178/

we also visited the Zoo which is 15mins drive from our house, you can see these photos by going to http://flickr.com/photos/scottjess/sets/72157600077016452/

I dont think anything else has happended since last time I posted a blog, I hope this blog finds you happy and well.




Posted: December 26th, 2006

Merry Christmas from Scott & Jessica

Been a busy 2006, first year back in the states; it doesn’t seem like it has been a year since we left New Zealand but looking back on this year on all the things that we have achieved and done, it doesn’t actually feel possible that we have only been here in the states 14 months.

The last couple of months have been hectic with work and personal lives, I have been working busy working 1-3 hours overtime a night for work since they changed the way work is dispatched, Jess has been busy with her apprenticeship & we have been busy fixing the plumbing problems at our house which are now all solved.
The main problem was the fact that one night the temperture got to 11 degrees F which is negative 11 degrees celcius & as you can imagine; our pipes froze; our pipes were frozen for 4 days before the plumber could come out and figure out where they were frozen and thaw them out.

I hope you have had a good Christmas; Jess and I had a wonderful Christmas; in our new house; we spent the day with each other; had a romantic dinner and watched movies.
Jess’s mum was sick so we postponed the family x-mas dinner till new years when her mum is better.

On the 2nd of January I will be starting a new job, better pay and better benefits have persuaded me to take up a job offer I had while on a call out with my current employer.
The job is in a nutshell a industrial communications wireman; I will be installing the wires for computer networks, security systems, fire alarms, closed circuit tv and other communication devices; I will be working monday through friday 8 to 5 which is better than now which is sunday through thursday 8 - 5 BUT we never finish at 5; there is always compulsary overtime which sucks; money is good BUT spending time with family is better.
Now all we have to do is buy another car since I wont be using a company truck any more.

Anyways, I hope this blog post finds you safe and well; Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night :-)




 

 



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