Saturday, February 07, 2004

 
Today we brought Nietzsche to the vet again. Since last weekend he had some terrible battle scars again, and some lump on his paw started swelling up and he kept limping.

We went to the new vet care clinic, which is closer by than SPCA and has the doctor who ususally dealt with Nietzsche, and she kept expressing how happy she is that he has developed from scruffy stray cat to a pretty decent pet cat.

Turned out he had some high fever based on the infection in his paw, so she gave him painkiller and antibiotics and he behaved quite well. Have to go again on tuesday.

#posted by Peter 12:29 PM

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Friday, February 06, 2004

 
Long time no see ...

after quite some time I met for some happy hour beers with Vikash, Jamesh and Dilib (no idea how to spell that name) at the holiday inn ... 5:30 - 6:30 you get beers for 1.75FJD ... nice deal ... the pool area is not that great right now, they are redoing the tiles. The bar area also is a bit small since they are doing some renovations inside.



#posted by Peter 10:18 PM

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Thursday, February 05, 2004

 
Summer is back in full force

While those folks in Europe and the US talk about snowstorms and general being very cold, summer is here in the southern hemisphere. It took a bit longer than last year .. but now we are at 32C 90F and over 80% humidity .. and it rains a lot ...

I am very very happy that our landlord heard my plea and got me a nice AC for my home office ... the drawback is that everytime i leave the office ... I feel like someone is hitting me with a huge hot wet sponge ... repeatedely ...

When I get out of the AC'd car, my glasses fog. Just to give you guys an idea.

And as for the picture of the day ... can it get any more romantic than that ???



They actually offer with that free strawberry icecream if you buy 2 value meals ... WHO IS TAKING THEIR DATE TO MCD ????

#posted by Peter 5:56 PM

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Tuesday, February 03, 2004

 
Random Suva picture of the day:



They are building this new office/shopping structure next to the so-far tallest building ... the reserve bank building ... where Ritsu works ... It used to be a parking lot (since they started parking has become a pain in the butt) ... well .. they seem to progress ok .. curious what it will look lik e in the end.

#posted by Peter 9:56 PM

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Monday, February 02, 2004

 
Happy Super Bowl everyone ... seems this thing has become an international event as people all over the globe stop talking now when that is on ... most of them probably don't even know the teams or the rules ... but anyways ... it is the event which shows the best new movie TV spots .. and the occasional Janet Jackson Nipple ...

how something like that can become so big is beyond me ... ok .. US TV .. but i have seen stuff like that at the MTV awards ... and how about "moments after that the CBS switchboards were bombarded with calls" ... don't people have anything better to do after seeing a glimpse of a nipple on TV ?



#posted by Peter 11:30 PM

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Sunday, February 01, 2004

 
Trip #8 to Toberua Island

Always fun to get back to this place and this marks the eighth time within 12 months. Many pictures have been posted here already and many stories told, so I keep this one brief and will ad some pictures later.


Friday night we found the island to be pretty deserted: us, another local couple and a MD couple from Boston. The other surprise was that dive operator Sandra, who just started in June 03 I think, was leaving next day (we did not even get to see her.

Food again was great:

Dinner:
Crab Vakamiti / Pumpkin Ginger soup
Opaka Fillet in white whine cream sauce / Lamb Curry
Roasted Banana with Vanilla Ice / cream

After this we went to bed way too early ... I woke up in the middle of the night, totally awake. It was pretty hot, since no wind was blowing (which is fairly unusual). This also added to the soundscape. Ususally you only hear the wind go 'woooosssshhhhh' ... that night you could hear any coconut or palm leaf falling down, lots of geckos fighting and other nocturnal animals ...


Saturday:

Breakfast was a bit different than usual, instead of buffet we got a nice fruit platter and could order whatever we wanted.

10:40 snorkel trip to a nice shallow reef.

Lunch:
prawn/veggie springroll in filo dough,
Herb/Parmesan crusted Walu on Salad/ Beef Patie on roasted veggies. (extra lobster for Ritsu since she told the chef that she is expecting ... I ate most of it though)
minted fruit salad with icecream




Nice afternoon nap and walking along the beach.

Dinner:
some crab in egg and cheese thing. + cream of veggie soup (still few people, though 4 new ones)
BBQ: beef/pork/chicken/walu (caught by one of the guests) and sausage
Salad buffet
Apple pastry (using the same filo dough :) with icecream

The night was very similar, this time Ritsu woke up too and she was very scared about some of the noises and I looked all around that all doors are closed so that no wild parrot or banded sea snake may come in. Without the wind it is really hot.

Sunday:

Breakfast this time had the fruit buffet, by now we were 10 people total.

Some more beach walking, reading, trying the pool (which looked a bit funny .. and when one guy turned the pump on, it started to overflow ... seems one of the outgoing pipes is clogged)

Lunch:
Crab Risotto
Walu Salad Nicoise with Anchovy vinaigrette (and lots of salad bar left overs from the night before ... but very well done)
Banana/Passionfruit custard with Icecream

After that it was already time for packing, taking some more shots (they are about to rebuild the Bar and the Jetty .. so I want to have some nice before and after pics when we get back)



It was interesting to find 2 photo albums in the reception office, with pictures of what I think pretty much all guests dating back to 2002 ... and though we had been on the island 8 times, no one ever took a picture of us. We saw our friend Rob's picture (he was there just the week before). Well .. in the end we finally got our picture taken as well.

#posted by Peter 8:15 PM

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