Scottjess

Hi I am just testing some stuff out with a new commenting system I have installed

Hello there; friends, family and strange people reading this on the interweb.

Sorry I have not updated this blog in aggggeeess, I havent forgotten you I promise; I have just been busy thats all.

Well we had a fun trip driving around America during October and November; went to places like Saint Louis, Atlanta, Huntsville, panama city, Dallas, some place in New Mexico and everywhere in between.

We started our journey back to New Zealand December 8th and landed December 10th; tearful goodbyes and happy reunions.

We had a great Christmas; went camping; caught a fish; went water skiing for the first time in 3 years, it is just like riding a bike except riding a bike hurts more when you fall off.

We picked up Emma the cat from quarantine on our way home from camping after she had been in isolation for 30 days, she has settled in well which is good.

We are living in a cute cottage in Mosgiel, moved in about 2 weeks ago; we are now job hunting.

Here are some photos of our trip around the states.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottjess/collections/72157608365512567/

Have a great weekend.

Scott & Jess

Our friend Scott came to stay with us for the month of September, we did a bit of traveling with him going to San Fransisco, las vegas, Hoover dam, grand canyon and Zion national park; we covered about 4 states with him seeing more of the USA in a month than we have done in the three years we have been here.

Jess and I will be taking a trip beginning  next Saturday for about a month and a half touring the south eastern United States of America starting with Illinois.

After our road trip around America we will be coming home to New Zealand to live the quiet life.

Today we went to the movies to watch a very interesting film by Bill Maher called Religulous, you should check it out.

Here are some photos of our recent trip; please click on the small image to enlarge

You can check out more photos from the trip by going to the following pages.
- Hoover Dam/Grand Canyon/Zion Nat Park
- San Fran/Monterey bay sept 2008
- Vegas september 2008

Thanks

Scott & Jess

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.

Hope everyone is doing good at home and keeping warm.

Lots of Love.

Scott & Jess

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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 .

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