house proud

There are some days you just have to blog... even if it's getting a little late, and you only had 4.75 hours of sleep last night!

Well, we're totally excited. Today, we bought a house! We only saw it on Saturday in the flesh. We'd both seen it on the internet for some time, though hadn't been particularly interested partly because we weren't really looking in Karori at the time, and also because it was a brand new property that was still in the final stages of being finished.

It's a townhouse, semi-detached, three huge bedrooms though a underwhelmingly moderate living space. It's almost finished, with the upstairs done and basically just the downstairs floor coverings and skirting boards to finish. It's immediately obvious the work already done is a high standard (though we're getting a builder-relative to inspect it tomorrow). The similar front townhouse is totally completed and recently sold but vacant, so we could go through there to get an excellent idea about what ours would look like. And we were impressed. Enough that we bought the company. Or at least the townhouse. The picture above, taken from down the road, actually mostly shows the other townhouse, attached partly to the front of ours. The parts to the far left and back are a small part of our area... [Ed: Correction, to the far right and back.]

We knew buying in the city there would have to be compromises, and there were. If we tell you there is literally no grounds to the house whatsoever, you'll be pleasantly surprised when you see the postage stamp we'll have set up a bbq on. (There is a nice little park with grass, swings, slides and a playgym just 50m from the house, however.) We were concerned too that these steps up to the front door were only finished to a rough standard. However, we stipulated in the contract they should be levelled and plastered, and were pleased to have the developer accept this condition. We will also say that we were pleased to be the only current offer, with the outcome of an uncomplicated negotiation leading to a most satisfactory conclusion (though being the careful types we are, we're still getting a registered valuer to inspect it in the next couple of days). Overall, we're stoked.

Settlement date depends on the issue of the Code of Compliance Certificate for the building, which is basically our guarantee that the place is ship shape. The developer can't get that till the building is finished, obviously, and under a new law of just a month ago, it's illegal for the sale to be settled until that is issued. Beyond that, we've stipulated the earliest date of settlement will be 19 August 2005—not coincidentally Bronwyn's last day of work here on the Kapiti Coast.

At 7:50am each weekday morning, a bus from a stop within 10m of the end of our drive goes all the way through to the Basin Reserve, just two minutes from my office, the journey taking 40 minutes. If I miss that extended route bus, I have to change buses in the middle of my journey. But we're basically looking at a door-to-door, eco-friendly commuter lifestyle here. Meanwhile the house is so far up the northern hills of Karori it's practically at the summit. We were there when the sun set on Saturday, and rather than setting behind the hills, this house is so high we can see over the hills west of Karori and can watch the sun set on the distant horizon. We won't get morning sun till a little later than some places, but light-wise we're happy with it.

As any regular reader knows, I hate shopping. We only looked (in person) at seven houses in the end, but I'm pleased to have moved on to buying! And I'm confident this is the right house for us, and we're going to be more than happy there.

What a great day.

blog slog

Seems like it has been a slog to get entries up here lately, with a range of things finding their way onto my priority list before this. All things are looking good for having a bit more time from my current commitments come about, oh, say after the end of September? So providing no new demands enter our lives about then, we should be back on a even schedule by then.

Meantime, I've variously been dividing my time between editing a wedding video; starting a new job; getting our house, finances, and lives in order; shopping for our first home; being pregnant (more Bronwyn, directly); figuring out some after-the-pregnancy stuff; watching the entire Season 6 of Stargate: SG1 on DVD; and producing two new websites (neuromemes.org obviously being one, plus still working on a new site for our old church in London). Ha.

But I've taken hardly any photos, haven't travelled anywhere or even taken a single day of leave, and have hardly blogged. So in many ways it is quite a different lifestyle from London.

I still blame the commute, which remains a pain. There is no question now that we'll be looking for houses closer to the city, and in areas that are a single bus route to my work... Fortunately, my work is located ideally for this, with routes running in a number of directions. Karori seems the most likely option, a place I once lived for three years with my folks, which in my head remains an expensive suburb but by Wellington city standards is now comparatively affordable. Think green suburb in the hills, but famed also for swirling mists. Not quite Rivendell, but certainly not Moria either.

However, until then the erstwhile commute enables a lot of reading. I'm currently reading: The Penguin History of New Zealand (still), Chaos and Complexity: Implications for Psychological Theory and Practice, The lost message of Jesus, Gift duty: A guide for legal and tax practitioners, and The Choice Guide to Baby Products. Add to that, just finished today, Ender's Game (“At Battle School, fighting is compulsory”), and you can see I am at least actively managing my risk of being bored on the train.  : )

short nights

The nights feel short. Not usually as short as last night, however. I'm down to a precision-timed morning routine now, which for me means that by doing most everything that I can the night before, I can get out of the house in 45 minutes. (Yah. I move slow.) Anyway, somehow last night I managed to decide, while asleep, that in order to wash my hair this morning I would need to get up five minutes before my alarm went off at 5:55am. I therefore dutifully woke up at the apparently appointed time. As usual, I leaned over to kiss Bronwyn goodbye, as she prefers not to be woken again when I'm actually leaving. She jumped, audibly. Then I moved to get up. But paused. Hmm... this really doesn't feel like I've had a reasonable night's sleep.

We've still not found my clock radio. We're pretty sure it was in storage for the last couple of years we were overseas. We believe it is somewhere in one of the still-packed boxes in our study, waiting till our final home before being unpacked. With the light on my watch now toasted, the only way I can tell the time in the night is to turn on my mobile. Which I did. Complete with requisite Bronwyn's-sleep-disturbing beeping. Hmm.

2:46am.

Perhaps a little early?

I explain to Bronwyn why I'm not getting up, knowing that if I don't she will lie awake, worried I'm now missing my bus. She's too out of it to take it in, and lies awake anyway, a bit confused. Sleep glorious sleep.

And all of this, without the baby here to command attention. But at least we're easing into the disturbed nights.

love

I still love you. It's just we need some time apart. (Apparently.)

I will blog one day. I promise.

bubba

While we've been celebrating a long Queen's Birthday holiday weekend here in New Zealand, we're looking forward to a rather more important birthday for our family. Finally, thanks to technical support from the Fountsters with the video-to-DVD conversion, I'm pleased to bring you this initial image of Bubba Babbage. The baby's grown considerably since this scan was taken a month ago, of course, but you can already see the potential... (I can already tell I'm going to be one of those utterly biased parents!) On the left, you can see her or his little face, a hand just appearing top right, and four chambers of the heart visible in the torso. On the right, really just the usual incomprehensible scan stuff, actually showing two healthy eyes, seen from above...

What a cutie!  : )

infidelity

OK. The guilt is overwhelming. I'm going to come clean. All these weeks I've been working hard, getting home late after my “long commute”. The infrequent posts, the broken promises of updates. The truth is... I've been seeing another blog. More than that. I've been thinking about my commitments. I've been spending quite a bit of time with this one Clinic, you see, and we've got on really well, and you know, basically we've decided to make it permanent.

Err, ahem! Well, I am pleased to announce that I have accepted the position of Director of the Massey University Psychology Clinic at Wellington. I've inherited the role from the previous Director, also my once PhD supervisor, Prof. Janet Leathem. She remains on at the Clinic in her roles as the Professor of Neuropsychology and as Co-ordinator of Clinical Training in Wellington, and was pleased to pass on this role. I'm excited about the opportunities the position presents, as we grow the clinic with two new full time posts (including mine) and provide a greater focus for the service on clinical research, alongside its training and clinical functions.

In the past I have made efforts to avoid discussing my work on this blog, figuring that despite it being a publically-accessible archive, that would provide at least a modicum of privacy for me. In reality though, my new role will no doubt see me listed on a number of university webpages over time anyway. While there won't be any links to this blog, google blows “six degrees of separation” out of the water. So if you've ventured here from my professional life, you're welcome. (Just also realise you're in my personal space now, and use the manners you would if you were in my home. For some that will be being polite. For others, quite the opposite! You'll know.)

Marking my step into academia, I've launched a new website: neuromemes.org. I hope the site explains itself, really... It's another blog, but this time a work one. It's written for neuropsychologists, psychologists, academics, and clinicians working in neurorehabilitation and mental health. My hope is to map the bridge between theory, research and practice. Maybe it'll even contribute to strengthening the bridge a little. It'll mostly be written by me, but not exclusively, at least over time. I hope it has potential. Time will tell.

I hope I won't neglect you too much in the future. Just remember though, that I can write neuromemes on work time, but this one is personal! So no fair comparing. And we really do still love you.

Aww!