Thursday, April 23, 2009
yeesh
I just went out on a date with a girl who has been proposed to three times. I have to admit I found that intimidating. Great date though.
Monday, April 20, 2009
A lot beer goes into making wine
So I recently finished a stint working at the vineyard winery once again. Here is some snippets of my experience.
-I worked twelve straight days averaging 10 hours a day. That was kind of tough.
-The first day was the worst. I was going on 4.5 hours of sleep and sore as after playing nationals with a small squad and playing almost every point. That day was also the first of three involving mostly heavy lifting as the work.
-The first three days were very strange. We had 20-60 contract workers there doing hand grape picking. Despite my temporary status I was working for the vineyard directly so I was not picking but facilitating. That mostly involved taking the grapes they dropped into bins weighing 10-25 kilos (roughly 20-50 pounds) and picking them up and putting the fruit in larger bins being pulled by a four wheeler I would drive. It was hectic work because there were only so many small bins and we had to get them emptied and moved over so the pickers could keep going. There was also weird animosity between the contract workers and the regular staff.
-After that the vineyard work mainly involved nets. Reds are hand picked but white wine grapes are machine harvested. However to drive the harvester over them you have to take off these huge nets (the same ones I spent a week putting up a while back). So I was working to take off and tie up these huge nets. This was less grueling work but did get repetitive after seven straight days of it.
-While working in the vineyard I ate a shit ton of grapes. Wine grapes are amazingly delicious. I now see through the bullshit of table grapes and don’t know if I’ll ever be able to enjoy them again.
-I also got to spend some time working in the winery usually because Scooter and myself were willing to stay late and help. The winery would be going long after the vineyard workers had gone home. The work I did wasn’t super exciting stuff, but I did learn a lot about the wine making process. Also every once in a while I would get to do something that was pretty cool, at least at first. Getting to spray a huge hose of wine is pretty fun, it felt like something off Wild and Crazy Kids (much love Omar Gooding). Also rolling wine barrels end over end is pretty sweet. That and sticking your head into fermenting wine tanks in a neat experience. It’s all CO2 and Alcohol fumes and it’s pretty intense. It’s also why if you fall in you stand a solid chance of dying. Not joking.
-Like a surprising number of the jobs I have had there was a fair bit of drinking on the job. There was always beer in the fridge in the winery and owner was liberal with it, no one got drunk but most late nights in the winery involved a couple beers. Apparently there is a popular saying in the industry, “a lot of beer goes into making wine.”
-Not that I didn’t drink wine too. A couple of times when we stayed the owner , Paddy, or the wine makers girlfriend would bring in dinner and there was always wine around to drink with it. They trade free bottles with other wineries so there was plenty of variety. During one dinner Paddy decided to crack open seven different bottles of Sauvignon Blanc for five of us. We didn’t even approach drinking them all, we just tried them all and compared. Just from drinking with them I’ve learned enough phrases to con people into thinking that I have a refined palate.
-The people were very interesting. Paddy, the wine maker Braydon, and the vineyard manager Ollie were all very nice people with plenty to teach and the willingness to do so. Some of the people I worked with in the vineyard along with some of the people I stayed with (at a place where Scooter has been living) were not quite as sweet. Honestly they were very much country bumpkin stereotypes, but lacked any sort of charm that might have endeared me to them. There seemed to be a universal interest in the fact that I liked to read as it was clearly not a common activity. When the subject of careers came up one of the women I worked with suggested that I should, “get a job with books,” whatever that meant.
-All and all it was a good experience for me in a lot of ways. I made enough money to get me through the rest of my time here. I learned a good deal about an industry I knew little about before. I gained enough experience that it I worked at a vineyard/winery again I would be a better position then before (something I am definitely considering) as well as a contact/reference for such a job that could be very useful.
-I worked twelve straight days averaging 10 hours a day. That was kind of tough.
-The first day was the worst. I was going on 4.5 hours of sleep and sore as after playing nationals with a small squad and playing almost every point. That day was also the first of three involving mostly heavy lifting as the work.
-The first three days were very strange. We had 20-60 contract workers there doing hand grape picking. Despite my temporary status I was working for the vineyard directly so I was not picking but facilitating. That mostly involved taking the grapes they dropped into bins weighing 10-25 kilos (roughly 20-50 pounds) and picking them up and putting the fruit in larger bins being pulled by a four wheeler I would drive. It was hectic work because there were only so many small bins and we had to get them emptied and moved over so the pickers could keep going. There was also weird animosity between the contract workers and the regular staff.
-After that the vineyard work mainly involved nets. Reds are hand picked but white wine grapes are machine harvested. However to drive the harvester over them you have to take off these huge nets (the same ones I spent a week putting up a while back). So I was working to take off and tie up these huge nets. This was less grueling work but did get repetitive after seven straight days of it.
-While working in the vineyard I ate a shit ton of grapes. Wine grapes are amazingly delicious. I now see through the bullshit of table grapes and don’t know if I’ll ever be able to enjoy them again.
-I also got to spend some time working in the winery usually because Scooter and myself were willing to stay late and help. The winery would be going long after the vineyard workers had gone home. The work I did wasn’t super exciting stuff, but I did learn a lot about the wine making process. Also every once in a while I would get to do something that was pretty cool, at least at first. Getting to spray a huge hose of wine is pretty fun, it felt like something off Wild and Crazy Kids (much love Omar Gooding). Also rolling wine barrels end over end is pretty sweet. That and sticking your head into fermenting wine tanks in a neat experience. It’s all CO2 and Alcohol fumes and it’s pretty intense. It’s also why if you fall in you stand a solid chance of dying. Not joking.
-Like a surprising number of the jobs I have had there was a fair bit of drinking on the job. There was always beer in the fridge in the winery and owner was liberal with it, no one got drunk but most late nights in the winery involved a couple beers. Apparently there is a popular saying in the industry, “a lot of beer goes into making wine.”
-Not that I didn’t drink wine too. A couple of times when we stayed the owner , Paddy, or the wine makers girlfriend would bring in dinner and there was always wine around to drink with it. They trade free bottles with other wineries so there was plenty of variety. During one dinner Paddy decided to crack open seven different bottles of Sauvignon Blanc for five of us. We didn’t even approach drinking them all, we just tried them all and compared. Just from drinking with them I’ve learned enough phrases to con people into thinking that I have a refined palate.
-The people were very interesting. Paddy, the wine maker Braydon, and the vineyard manager Ollie were all very nice people with plenty to teach and the willingness to do so. Some of the people I worked with in the vineyard along with some of the people I stayed with (at a place where Scooter has been living) were not quite as sweet. Honestly they were very much country bumpkin stereotypes, but lacked any sort of charm that might have endeared me to them. There seemed to be a universal interest in the fact that I liked to read as it was clearly not a common activity. When the subject of careers came up one of the women I worked with suggested that I should, “get a job with books,” whatever that meant.
-All and all it was a good experience for me in a lot of ways. I made enough money to get me through the rest of my time here. I learned a good deal about an industry I knew little about before. I gained enough experience that it I worked at a vineyard/winery again I would be a better position then before (something I am definitely considering) as well as a contact/reference for such a job that could be very useful.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Kiwi Natties
So I recently participated in New Zealand Ultimate Nationals. This was my second foreign national championship and I thought I would compare it to my previous one.
Denmark/ New Zealand
Lame 2 day 3 game format/ Full Tournament
Played with Established Club/ Created my own team with friends
Team made up of myself, Shep and a bunch of Danes/ Myself, Shep, Pjay, Ben, Scooter, and six kiwis.
Practiced regularly for a couple months/ Pick up team with no practices
Dominated the tournament, won finals 17-5 / Good Competition, Close Games
Great Weather/ Okay but Windy
Amazing Dinner Saturday Night/ Average Party Saturday Night
A few people I knew/ Knew many people, many of my closest friends in the country
Had to borrow and give back my jersey/ Got sweet free jerseys due to plumbing company sponsorship (weird, I know)
Won the tournament in a blowout/ Won the tournament in a barn burner.
Cool, but mostly in that I got to say I was a Danish National Championship/ One of my best experiences in New Zealand.
Joey Shannon
2006 Danish National Champion
2009 New Zealand National Champion
Denmark/ New Zealand
Lame 2 day 3 game format/ Full Tournament
Played with Established Club/ Created my own team with friends
Team made up of myself, Shep and a bunch of Danes/ Myself, Shep, Pjay, Ben, Scooter, and six kiwis.
Practiced regularly for a couple months/ Pick up team with no practices
Dominated the tournament, won finals 17-5 / Good Competition, Close Games
Great Weather/ Okay but Windy
Amazing Dinner Saturday Night/ Average Party Saturday Night
A few people I knew/ Knew many people, many of my closest friends in the country
Had to borrow and give back my jersey/ Got sweet free jerseys due to plumbing company sponsorship (weird, I know)
Won the tournament in a blowout/ Won the tournament in a barn burner.
Cool, but mostly in that I got to say I was a Danish National Championship/ One of my best experiences in New Zealand.
Joey Shannon
2006 Danish National Champion
2009 New Zealand National Champion
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Wellington Whirlwind Weekend
So I am back in my old stomping grounds, Welly. It feels good to be back, there's a coming home vibe and it is nice to be in the one place in NZ that I really know. I am back in town for the NZ Ultimate National tournament but more on that in a second. For the weekend I am staying with the Milnes, the family Ben and I stayed with during out first two weeks in the city.
Tonight was great. It was awesome to see the Milnes again, I really enjoy the family. They have been so generous to us and for me are very representive of the Kiwi reputation for friendliness and good will. By chance they were having a little family dinner party. Chris' (the father) mother, sister and her nine and eleven year old girls were over. It was the nine year olds birthday tomorrow so it was a bit of celebration. The girls were great; the nine year old had an outgoing 'look at me, look at me, look at me' personality and the eleven year old was more understated and clever. We took to each other almost right away and spent most of the time leading up to dinner talking and playing 20 questions and 'I spy'. Both of the girls were also absolutely adorable. It's crap like this that is gonna get me stuck with kids of my own someday I'm afraid. Dinner was great with eleven of us crammed on a 6-8 person table. We shared some stories of our travels and the epic tale of our car breaking down and getting fixed had the crowd in stiches. After dinner the extended family went home and I resumed my previous post as resident math tutor helping Lucy, the fourteen year old, prepare for a test tomorrow.
Tomorrow should be a good day. I'm going bright and early into the city and will spend the day enjoying some of my favorite haunts. I'll get the Roti Chani from Satay Kingdom for lunch and stop in for a Flat White (NZ espresso drink similar to a Latte) at Astoria. Even better tomorrow is the first day of a test (5 Day) cricket match. It's the national team, the 'Black Caps' taking on India so it should be good. Were going to stop by for a few hours (they'll be playing for about six tomorrow) at the Basin Reserve, one of the best places to see cricket in the country. That Night I'll drop by the Baxi headquarters and surprise Tom, my old boss and friend and if I'm lucky his girlfriend and co-owner Vicki. They are two of the closest friends I've made here and it will be great to see them. After that I will be headed to the suburb of Brooklyn to a favorite bar, the Cornerstore, where I will be meeting our team for this weekend for drinks and will do my best to avoid getting pressured into taking multiple shots by the manager Joe.
I'm really looking forward to the weekend. The five of us out here managed to scrape together six more players (four of which are good, two of which are eh) to make our own team for the national tournament. It won't exactly be the level of play that I left back in that states but considering how out of shape and out of practice I am that is likely a good thing. Were just a pickup team, we haven't even all met yet, the five arizona guys and six kiwis. Our team name is the 'Coaltion of the Thrilling' a pun on Coalition of the Willing. I honestly don't know our chance because I don't have much of a concept of the competition we will be facing. There are ten teams and I'll be surprised it we aren't in the top four. We could also just win the damn thing. No matter what it will be the best disc I've played in ten months. This will be the fourth and last tournament I play in New Zealand. Ultimate in NZ has had it's ups and downs but most importantly it has once again put me in touch with great, high quality people who have become my friends. With the country being so small it's sometimes like one big ultimate community which is amazing. There are a number of people I will miss and will very likely never see again.
That is also what has hit me, saying goodbye. I don't leave the country for five weeks but after the end of the tournament on Sunday I head with Scooter immediately a couple hours north to spend a couple weeks working at the vineyard I worked at before to fund my last few weeks of travel. I won't be back in Wellington after that and other than a chance of catching a few Auckland Ultimate players on my way out of the country there is a lot of people to say goodbye to this weekend. The Milnes, my baxi friends, and ultimate friends comprise the strong majority of the people that have had an impact on me during my time here and after this weekend I will probobly never see them again. Its ... shitty. It's part of the deal when you live the transient lifestyle I guess, but it kind of sucks. For now though I am going to concentrate of having a great weekend. Besides the weather is supposed to be good tomorrow and like they say, "you can't be a good day Wellington".
Tonight was great. It was awesome to see the Milnes again, I really enjoy the family. They have been so generous to us and for me are very representive of the Kiwi reputation for friendliness and good will. By chance they were having a little family dinner party. Chris' (the father) mother, sister and her nine and eleven year old girls were over. It was the nine year olds birthday tomorrow so it was a bit of celebration. The girls were great; the nine year old had an outgoing 'look at me, look at me, look at me' personality and the eleven year old was more understated and clever. We took to each other almost right away and spent most of the time leading up to dinner talking and playing 20 questions and 'I spy'. Both of the girls were also absolutely adorable. It's crap like this that is gonna get me stuck with kids of my own someday I'm afraid. Dinner was great with eleven of us crammed on a 6-8 person table. We shared some stories of our travels and the epic tale of our car breaking down and getting fixed had the crowd in stiches. After dinner the extended family went home and I resumed my previous post as resident math tutor helping Lucy, the fourteen year old, prepare for a test tomorrow.
Tomorrow should be a good day. I'm going bright and early into the city and will spend the day enjoying some of my favorite haunts. I'll get the Roti Chani from Satay Kingdom for lunch and stop in for a Flat White (NZ espresso drink similar to a Latte) at Astoria. Even better tomorrow is the first day of a test (5 Day) cricket match. It's the national team, the 'Black Caps' taking on India so it should be good. Were going to stop by for a few hours (they'll be playing for about six tomorrow) at the Basin Reserve, one of the best places to see cricket in the country. That Night I'll drop by the Baxi headquarters and surprise Tom, my old boss and friend and if I'm lucky his girlfriend and co-owner Vicki. They are two of the closest friends I've made here and it will be great to see them. After that I will be headed to the suburb of Brooklyn to a favorite bar, the Cornerstore, where I will be meeting our team for this weekend for drinks and will do my best to avoid getting pressured into taking multiple shots by the manager Joe.
I'm really looking forward to the weekend. The five of us out here managed to scrape together six more players (four of which are good, two of which are eh) to make our own team for the national tournament. It won't exactly be the level of play that I left back in that states but considering how out of shape and out of practice I am that is likely a good thing. Were just a pickup team, we haven't even all met yet, the five arizona guys and six kiwis. Our team name is the 'Coaltion of the Thrilling' a pun on Coalition of the Willing. I honestly don't know our chance because I don't have much of a concept of the competition we will be facing. There are ten teams and I'll be surprised it we aren't in the top four. We could also just win the damn thing. No matter what it will be the best disc I've played in ten months. This will be the fourth and last tournament I play in New Zealand. Ultimate in NZ has had it's ups and downs but most importantly it has once again put me in touch with great, high quality people who have become my friends. With the country being so small it's sometimes like one big ultimate community which is amazing. There are a number of people I will miss and will very likely never see again.
That is also what has hit me, saying goodbye. I don't leave the country for five weeks but after the end of the tournament on Sunday I head with Scooter immediately a couple hours north to spend a couple weeks working at the vineyard I worked at before to fund my last few weeks of travel. I won't be back in Wellington after that and other than a chance of catching a few Auckland Ultimate players on my way out of the country there is a lot of people to say goodbye to this weekend. The Milnes, my baxi friends, and ultimate friends comprise the strong majority of the people that have had an impact on me during my time here and after this weekend I will probobly never see them again. Its ... shitty. It's part of the deal when you live the transient lifestyle I guess, but it kind of sucks. For now though I am going to concentrate of having a great weekend. Besides the weather is supposed to be good tomorrow and like they say, "you can't be a good day Wellington".
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