The Pinky and the Brain photo 269668 740 250 right The em original em Pinky and the Brain photo During my senior year in high school I had been given the unique opportunity to work on the school s first website I was amongst a very small group of students hand chosen for the task While almost all of us came from the AP computer science class there were a couple of artists and graphic designers too The program required each of us to give up our free periods and to forgo receiving any credit for the time slot In my case it also meant that I was in the computer science lab for almost three straight hours every morning something that was just fine by me One of the few non computer science individuals in the class was a good friend of mine named David Spencer His father was a technical whiz with digital media and video production and David was beginning to follow in his footsteps In fact he was directly responsible for me getting into non linear digital video editing well before Apple made it commonplace He and I would spend hours at his house working in the earliest versions of Adobe Premiere through a dedicated fiber line that ran to his father s office Much like myself David definitely sat on the fringes of our web class While we were both huge contributors to the project and genuinely did a lot of work in many cases working with new media in ways that nobody else could our social circles were a little different than many of our teammates To put it another way we occasionally would sneak a beer into the class and could frequently be found chewing tobacco as we worked on our projects This was not a particularly common attitude of the highly intelligent and gifted people we were working with I bring this point up only to illustrate that the two of us didn t worry about getting caught much less getting into trouble One particular week in the spring of 1997 just two months before graduation our computer science teacher Mr Cunningham had to leave town He was attending some sort of conference from Wednesday through the end of the week Since we had an entire computer science lab at our disposal and no real oversight David and I were inclined to infiltrate the school s computer system The only question was how and to what extent Just a few weeks earlier I had made a very interesting and accidental discovery All of the computers and printers at our high school had recently been networked together In fact it turned out that this was the case for all of the computers and printers in the entire school district While this sort of networking might sound trivial as the years tick on it was an incredibly amazing concept in 1997 The very idea that one could create a file and print it across the entire school district in a matter of seconds was astounding to most people it certainly astounded me It was also not something that most people outside of the computer realm could really conceptualize at the time Almost all of the printers in the school offices were Apple Imagewriters that had been upgraded with network cards When a user would send a file to be printed the computer had to first establish a connection with the printer often called a handshake Once it established the network handshake it would send the data along to be printed Modern printers will store the file in the printer s memory and immediately let the sending computer know that the print job is on its way The file then sits in the printer s print queue until it gets printed It s a simple enough concept But it s also not how our network functioned When a user would print a document on one of our school s networked printers the handshake would occur the file would be sent but the handshake wouldn t conclude until the printer had successfully printed the file On the upside of this methodology you always knew when your document had finished printing However on the downside the print process on the local machine became tied up so long as the file was still in the printer s queue But what would happen if the handshake occurred the file was sent to the queue but the network connection somehow dropped before the handshake was able to conclude We typed up a short non threatening document that read something to the effect of em Pinky and the Brain have seized control of this computer Be afraid Be very afraid em Since the entire district was networked we set the document to print on every printer across the entire Katy Independent School District We waited a few moments for the handshaking process to begin across the board and then pulled the network plug out of the wall The discovery I had accidentally stumbled upon was that when a file was placed in the printer queue but the printer was never able to close the handshake in this case due to the cable being unplugged the file would sit atop the printer queue indefinitely This meant that not only would the printer complete the original task but every time somebody sent another file to the printer whatever was atop the queue would print again So one fine day in March Pinky and the Brain became a cover sheet to every document printed across the school district And oh how the hilarity ensued David and I both had a number of friends that worked as office aides Although we didn t actually tell any of them what we had done all of them pointed fingers at us within an hour From what I was told printers all around the school were alleging they had been compromised by Pinky and the Brain Teachers and office workers were frantic that their computers had somehow been hacked As the day went on so did the printing It continued on each printer until it had been reset or until the print queue had been manually cleared Pinky and the Brain was everywhere When Mr Cunningham came back the next week he was quickly bombarded with teachers and office workers claiming their computers had been hacked they accused his department of somehow orchestrating the attack but had no idea what had happened or how it had happened He calmly asked each of them if anything appeared wrong with their computers other than the cover sheets Of course there was nothing else and so he quietly and easily diffused the harmless situation As I later learned it turns out that he had been aware of this network flaw for quite some time Although we never outright admitted to doing it he definitely knew it was us With a great smile on his face he told David and I about all of the commotion it had caused and said he knew it was just a matter of time before somebody stumbled upon that network flaw Needless to say he found the whole thing in good fun and remained my favorite teacher well beyond high school

The Monte Montgomery Guitar When Tisa and I had only been dating for about 2 or 3 months I wanted to get her a cool present for her upcoming birthday on the 16th of April She and I were frequently going to see a href http www montemontgomery com Monte Montgomery a play at the local bars in Austin and she had made some mention to me that she would like to learn to play the guitar My idea was then to buy her a relatively inexpensive acoustic guitar and have Monte sign it for her strong Getting the Guitar strong About a week earlier to this particular trip I went onto eBay and found a red Johnson 6 string acoustic for about 150 00 or so There was an available Buy it Now option and since I didn t have much time I went ahead and did it For whatever reason my eBay account was giving me trouble so I actually had a href http www guezuraga org Dave Guezuraga a my roommate at the time purchase the guitar for me I quickly reimbursed him for it and he got the star on his eBay account strong Contacting Monte strong I went on to a href http www montemontgomery com Monte s website a and found an email address that I figured I could use to contact his people regarding having the guitar signed A day or two went by and I still had not heard back from them Getting slightly anxious about this I decided that if I did not hear back from them I would just have to go to one of Monte s concerts and have him sign it I figured he couldn t turn me down The only problem was that his only upcoming concert was in Dallas on the 5th of April 2002 and that was going to be a bit of a drive on my part strong My Letter to Monte Montgomery strong div style border 1px solid c0c0c0 margin bottom 20px background color fafafa padding 20px From Kevin Ludlow lt ludlow mail utexas edu gt To lt monteray satx rr com gt Sent Monday April 01 2002 2 53 PM Subject upcoming show with a question Dear Sir or Madam I am hoping that this letter can find its way to Monte Montgomery as this was the only email address that I could find on the website So Monte My name is Kevin Ludlow and I live in Austin where I do get to see your shows from time to time I try to go whenever possible because while I m sure you can do without more flattering from people your music is incredible and your guitar method is something I ve never seen before To the point I have a small favor that I would like to ask of you I have been playing guitar for quite some time and my girlfriend has been wanting me to teach her For her upcoming birthday this April 16 I have bought her a pretty inexpensive but nice practice guitar so she has something to learn on Unfortuantly I couldnt afford anything too grand My favor to ask is if you could sign personalize the guitar I m sure that you have lots of number one fans but I would say that she is definately one of them and I think she would cherish the very thought of you signing it Also I would hope it would inspire her to learn to play as she admires your guitar playing a great deal If this is at all possible I would happily pay you for the trouble or do whatever necessary to make it possible I might not normally go through such a length do to something but she is definately worth that and much more to me anyways I understand that you have a show coming up in Dallas on the 5th and I happily would drive up to Dallas I d love to see the show and perhaps I could see you afterwards I am just hoping that the guitar gets here before then as I ordered it online So it would mean a great deal to me and I guarantee her too if you could do this I hope to hear from you and email is great but my cell is 512 xxx xxxx Thank you so much for your time Kevin Ludlow div strong style clear both Getting the Signature strong photo 1155 48 0 right The signed guitar sitting in my living room photo I asked my good friend Preston Graham if he would like to join me in going to a concert in Dallas and of course explained why I needed to go up there Being the great guy that he is he happily agreed to go with me So around 4pm on the 5th I picked him up in my truck and we drove the 3 or so hours up North to Dallas I guess we got there a bit too early for nightlife but it allowed me to get a spot directly in front of the club where Monte was playing that night The Gypsy Tea Room With some time to kill Preston and I walked across the street from the club and had a beer or two at another bar Afterwards we proceeded to walk back over to the club and wait in line We were there for about 10 minutes or so when Tisa called me on my cell There was clearly a loud ruckus from the people standing around and I had to make up some story about me being out with some friends or the like I didn t want her to know that I was in Dallas going to a concert I think it was a fair white lie When we finally got inside of the Gypsy Tea Room the opening band was just about to go on Preston and I had a few more beers and were just sitting around talking when I happened to notice Monte up at the bar I quickly ran up to him and explained to him that I had just bought my girlfriend an acoustic guitar and would appreciate it if he could sign it He told me no problem and that he would do it after the show This was a relief though now we had to sit through the entire show Not that I didn t want to see Monte play or anything like that but he wasn t going on until around 11pm or so and we still had to drive back to Austin Needless to say we watched the entire show drank some beers and all in all had a great time As soon as the show was over I asked Monte once more just to confirm and he told me to go and get the guitar from my car I brought it back to him and he was more than happy to sign it personally to Tisa He asked me what I wanted it to read and I told him just to write whatever he wanted so long as it was addressed to Tisa He didn t argue and signed it To Tisa Peace and Love Monte Montgomery Preston and I left the Tea Room sometime around 2 30 3 00am and of course still had a 3 hour drive ahead of us It was more than exhausting and I think Preston tried to stay awake with me as long as possible but eventually fell asleep in the car We got home some time around 6am strong style clear both My Response from Monte Montgomery strong Even though I managed to get the guitar signed it took awhile for that email that I originally wrote to get back to me The return letter actually came from Monte s manager Ray Rodriguez but apparently he actually spoke with Monte regarding the guitar Thankfully it wasn t of much concern by this time Here is the email that was sent back to me regarding the guitar being signed div style border 1px solid c0c0c0 margin bottom 20px background color fafafa padding 20px From Sun Apr 14 11 45 59 2002 From RayRod lt monteray satx rr com gt To Kevin Ludlow lt ludlow mail utexas edu gt Subject Re upcoming show with a question Date Sun 14 Apr 2002 10 45 35 0500 Kevin Sorry for the late reply I spoke to Monte about this and he d be glad to sign the guitar So bring it to any one of his shows and just ask him to sign it Best Regards Ray Rodriguez Manager Monte Montgomery Monte Ray Enterprises www montemontgomery com div strong style clear both Giving the Guitar to Tisa strong I had to hold onto the guitar for 10 solid days without letting her know anything about it much less that I had just been to Dallas the night before and gone to a Monte concert On her birthday she came over after going out with one of her friends and I was anxious to give her the guitar I presented it to her and of course she was incredibly excited that I had given her a guitar in the first place The funny thing was she thought that I had signed it I explained to her that it was personally signed by Monte Montgomery just for her I had to explain the entire story but I think she was more than amazed with the effort made div style border 1px solid c0c0c0 margin bottom 20px background color fafafa padding 20px strong ardoty yahoo com strong br Wow That is so cool I can t believe you went to all that trouble But I can see you had a good time doing it I am a huge M M fan and have driven between Dallas and Austin to see gigs myself Tisa a a lucky girl div div style border 1px solid c0c0c0 margin bottom 20px background color fafafa padding 20px strong zorgux caramail com strong br bonjour je cherche la tablature de romeo and juliet par monte montgomery Pourriez vous m eacute crire pour savoir si vous l aviez et si possible pourriez vous me l envoyer a mon adresse mail je vous remercie a bientot div

New Zealand Today Response photo 264397 740 300 right The cover of the magazine photo While taking a rather enjoyable and short flight from Christchurch to Dunedin I came across a seven page article in an NZ Today magazine written by editor Allan Dick With a bolded introduction proposing my thoughts in return for 100 and a supply of tea I could not refuse the offer I love tea My background in brief I am an American citizen twenty five years of age and have been traveling this fine country for the past seven months I hold an honors degree in Mathematics and have resided in the state of Texas most of my life I am generally employed as a computer programmer or web developer but I love to write especially when there is some degree of philosophy involved I am of the age where I still believe I can help the world and my future ambitions include working with NASA and even running for president of the United States Dear Mr Dick I found your views of the world fairly entertaining and certainly captivating enough for a travel through the sky There are a few things I disagree with and I would like to use this time to share them with you Firstly I would like to comment on your thoughts regarding toll roads and tax increases on petrol Allow me to note early on that I am much more in favor of toll roads over petrol taxing The reason is fairly simple toll roads ultimately create a simpler albeit more expensive passage from points a to b I doubt very sincerely that a toll road that whisks drivers to an uncharted area will be built or that an existing road will be tolled without the existence of alternate perhaps somewhat longer routes Because of this I see a toll road as a luxury a luxury affordable to those who are willing to pay its toll Petrol tax is amongst other things a highly regressive tax You can assume that as I have found my way to New Zealand such a tax increase would not ruin me and I will assume that since you are a published editor that it would not ruin you either but it seems somewhat unfair to simply include you and I in this mix The people that it hurts are those near the poverty line They pay the same 5 cent per liter increase as an example that you or I would only it is significantly more of their income with each liter pumped I have been asking myself why you make petrol cost comparisons to the UK Europe and Japan but fail to include the United States Not surprisingly these comparisons follow the same introduction that claims Petrol in this country is too cheap Petrol in New Zealand by any American standard is incredibly expensive Even with gas prices currently high in Texas I would expect to pay no more than 1 30 US gallon 0 51 NZ liter A Californian who would probably pay the most within the US might shell out around 2 40 US gallon 0 94 NZ liter Within that range prices can vary significantly around the United States but any way you dice it it is still considerably less expensive than anywhere in New Zealand That brings me to your claim that if petrol was not so inexpensive that New Zealanders would all be driving smaller cars Again using my homeland as an example the SUV Explorers Land Runners etc has been on the rise for years now Americans want their cars larger and the car companies will stop at nothing short of being able to transport your entire estate in the backseat I realize that this is the same idea that you describe occurring in New Zealand but what s wrong with it Your claims are not geared at being more efficient nor reducing gasses in the atmosphere but rather your argument is with respect to transport and traffic problems Not only that but specifically if people want to fix the aforementioned problems they will need to expect an increase in petrol tax I did not say I have a PhD in mathematics but lets see if I can get the algebra right If I drove a truck that only got 14 miles gallon and tax on gas is roughly 40 cents per gallon then I am giving the government roughly 2 8 cents per mile of travel On the other hand if I drove a mini that got 40 miles gallon with the same tax rate then I am paying the government only 1 cent per mile traveled The distance is the same but I am ultimately paying a higher tax rate to drive that gas guzzling vehicle Also as the truck s four wheels do not harm the roads any more than the mini s four wheels the road maintenance cost is the same for both Don t get me wrong I am not advocating further pollution of the Earth but you neglect to discuss green politics and thus I am simply arguing that driving smaller cars hurts the government s revenue rather than helps it This is especially true when we throw diesel into the equation Another point I would like to make is regarding your visit to a Challenge petrol station Perhaps you are much wealthier than I but the ability to save money is just that Your blurb about a man thinking he would save 20 on petrol at a Challenge station over a BP station is humorous but its connotation is also somewhat arrogant Years ago I would ask my mother why she spent the time to cut out market coupons in the Sunday paper even though I knew we could afford our groceries without them Her response was always you don t become wealthy by wasting your money It seemed silly to me when I was ten but it is perfectly logical now Consistently saving 2 cents per liter of gas adds up quite quickly and claiming the savings are not worth your thought is capitalistically incorrect It is incredible what amount of money a shrewd shopper is able to save in a year saving on petrol is just one of those savings Furthermore scoffing at the consumer for his or her desire to save a few pennies undermines the goal and ability of a free and competitive market to work for the consumer You point out in the same passage how even though only a few pennies could be saved via Challenge the BP station was still empty It is by that very example that the BP station would ultimately have been forced to lower its petrol prices by 2 cents in order to resume business If Challenge then wished to drop another cent or two it could do so thus regaining control of the local market and BP would have to match it and so on and so forth Eventually both stations would assume a financial level where they could no longer afford to drop their prices and the competitive market has been a success the consumer is now paying the most nominal price for his or her petrol In regards to your overall argument this does not adversely affect what the government collects as the tax rate on petrol remains constant If anything the government is able to collect slightly more from this local market as people may be more inclined to consume higher quantities of petrol finally available at a cheaper rate As for your concluding paragraphs in this section I tend to agree We could probably solve a lot of problems in the world if real solutions were provided and the powers that be ie politicians stuck to those solutions instead of finding ways to mend them for personal financial gain Since however we do not live in such an idealistic world we need to work with what we have Flat taxes can be great in certain areas specifically when some of the proceeds will help those that the tax hurts most Increasing petrol tax does not do this There is zero return a poor person will expect to gain over a wealthy person with reduced traffic or better roads Choosing between your two options the toll road only financially hurts those who choose to drive it You could argue that it s the same thing where higher petrol taxes only affect those who choose to purchase petrol Unfortunately for many that is similar to arguing that increasing food prices only affects those who eat definitely a true statement but immensely unfair given the necessity If you d like to use my math from above to help your government increase revenue get rid of those small engine anti gas gobbling three cars you have Instead buy a car that gets 1 kilometer to the liter You ll be paying the government the full tax rate for each kilometer traveled The ozone hole over Alexander may slightly increase but you ll get to work faster thanks to reduced traffic from increased government profits Another section of your article that I would like to comment on is regarding the assassination of John F Kennedy I certainly am not picking on you in this matter as there are literally millions of people that have written about the conspiracies that may or may not have existed The point that I would like to bring across especially when depicting American history in a New Zealand magazine is that Kennedy contrary to popular belief is not that unique Ask any American which presidents have been assassinated and you ll most definitely hear Kennedy A generous proportion will also tell you Lincoln I doubt very sincerely however that you will hear the likes of James Garfield or William McKinley both assassinated The fact is that 4 of 43 presidents have in fact been killed just over 9 of our complete presidential history Moreover 4 additional presidents have suffered assassination attempts the most famous probably being Ronald Regan yielding roughly an 18 chance that someone may try to kill you while president of the US Why then is Mr Kennedy so famously credited with being assassinated I have no idea whether or not there was a conspiracy to kill JFK but what I do know is that is that we as humans tend to make up better stories about the more popular or controversial figures There is nothing terribly surprising about that logic but it does put a nasty thorn in the side of conspiracy theorists because scientifically speaking the control group less popular figures has suffered just as many occurrences So what was the great conspiracy to kill McKinley or Jackson or even Truman Gerald Rudolph Ford had assassins after him twice why didn t Oliver Stone make a movie titled GRF The reason is simply that there just is not enough controversy and mystery to dig up Truman approved the incineration of tens of thousands of people in minutes you would think we could find good reason to discuss gunner Oscar Collazo at the same level as Oswald but the time was different WWII did not have the same controversy as the Vietnam war The media format of the time was different and there was not a tremendously sized hippie movement in the 40 s as there was in the 60 s Best of all Collazo was not Japanese and the assassination attempt had nothing to do with the atomic bombs at all but rather issues regarding Puerto Rico The elements just happen to line up for JFK That does not take away from the notion that there could have been a conspiracy but rather that it s easier for us to believe there must have been one instead of considering that perhaps we are over examining one moment in time It does seem that Oswald could not have acted alone but why is it so impossible to accept that perhaps his partner s in crime got lucky and ultimately got away Plain and simple Will we ever know Most likely we will not But quoting you in public life perception is often more important than reality I could not agree more with that statement and would like to use it for my own benefit We will always be more infatuated with the perception that the government set all of pieces moving rather than the possibility that one or two radicals didn t like Kennedy Either way given he was just one of eight presidents targeted for removal in American history his assassination is not quite as unique as we have made it out to be for 40 years I hope you will find my comments insightful and fully worth a supply of tea photo 264396 740 520 left My response in print Page 1 photo photo 264399 740 520 left My response in print Page 2 including Mr Dick s own commentary on the paper photo

New Zealand Today Response Edited The article that I wrote was published in the New Zealand Today magazine Unfortunately for my writing Allan Dick the editor chopped the article up I m not particularly upset that he chopped it up for its length but some of the cuts he made pretty significantly changed the meaning of what I was saying In any event the article that was published in the magazine is visible below The red areas are words that he added into the article the yellow areas are words that were excluded from the magazine strong Edited Article strong While taking a rather enjoyable and short span style background color ff6666 Origin Pacific span flight from Christchurch to Dunedin I came across span style background color ff6666 Allan Dick s Talkback in NZ TODAY span span style background color ffff99 a seven page article in an NZ Today magazine written by editor Allan Dick With a bolded introduction proposing my thoughts in return for 100 and a supply of tea I could not refuse the offer I love tea span My background in brief I am an American citizen twenty five years of age and have been traveling this fine country for the past seven months I hold an honors degree in Mathematics and have resided in the state of Texas most of my life I am generally employed as a computer programmer or web developer but I love to write especially when there is some degree of philosophy involved I am of the age where I still believe I can help the world and my future ambitions include working with NASA and even running for president of the United States span style background color ffff99 Dear Mr Dick span I found your views of the world fairly entertaining and certainly captivating enough for a travel through the sky There are a few things I disagree with and I would like to use this time to share them with you span style background color ffff99 Firstly span I would like to comment on your thoughts regarding toll roads and tax increases on petrol span style background color ffff99 Allow me to note early on that span I am much more in favor of toll roads over petrol taxing span style background color ffff99 The reason is fairly simple span toll roads ultimately create a simpler albeit more expensive passage from points a to b I doubt span style background color ffff99 very sincerely that span a toll road that whisks drivers to an uncharted area will be built or that an existing road will be tolled without the existence of alternate perhaps somewhat longer routes Because of this I see a toll road as a luxury a luxury affordable to those who are willing to pay its toll Petrol tax is amongst other things a highly regressive tax span style background color ffff99 You can assume that as I have found my way to New Zealand such a tax increase would not ruin me and I will assume that since you are a published editor that it would not ruin you either but it seems somewhat unfair to simply include you and I in this mix span The people that it hurts are those near the poverty line They pay the same 5 cent per liter increase as an example that you or I would only it is significantly more of their income with each liter pumped I have been asking myself why you make petrol cost comparisons to the UK Europe and Japan but fail to include the United States span style background color ffff99 Not surprisingly these comparisons follow the same introduction that claims Petrol in this country is too cheap span Petrol in New Zealand by any American standard is incredibly expensive Even with gas prices currently high in Texas I would expect to pay no more than 1 30 US gallon 0 51 NZ liter A Californian who would probably pay the most within the US might shell out around 2 40 US gallon 0 94 NZ liter Within that range prices can vary significantly around the United States span style background color ffff99 but any way you dice it it is still considerably less expensive than anywhere in New Zealand span That brings me to your claim that if petrol was not so inexpensive that New Zealanders would all be driving smaller cars span style background color ffff99 Again using my homeland as an example the SUV Explorers Land Runners etc has been on the rise for years now span Americans want their cars larger and the car companies will stop at nothing short of being able to transport your entire estate in the backseat I realize that this is the same idea that you describe occurring in New Zealand but what s wrong with it Your claims are not geared at being more efficient nor reducing gasses in the atmosphere but rather your argument is with respect to transport and traffic problems span style background color ffff99 Not only that but specifically if people want to fix the aforementioned problems they will need to expect an increase in petrol tax span I did not say I have a PhD in mathematics but lets see if I can get the algebra right If I drove a truck that only got 14 miles gallon and tax on gas is roughly 40 cents per gallon then I am giving the government roughly 2 8 cents per mile of travel On the other hand if I drove a mini that got 40 miles gallon with the same tax rate then I am paying the government only 1 cent per mile traveled The distance is the same but I am ultimately paying a higher tax rate to drive that gas guzzling vehicle Also as the truck s four wheels do not harm the roads any more than the mini s four wheels the road maintenance cost is the same for both Don t get me wrong I am not advocating further pollution of the Earth but you neglect to discuss green politics and thus I am simply arguing that driving smaller cars hurts the government s revenue rather than helps it This is especially true when we throw diesel into the equation span style background color ffff99 Another point I would like to make is regarding your visit to a Challenge petrol station Perhaps you are much wealthier than I but the ability to save money is just that Your blurb about a man thinking he would save 20 on petrol at a Challenge station over a BP station is humorous but its connotation is also somewhat arrogant Years ago I would ask my mother why she spent the time to cut out market coupons in the Sunday paper even though I knew we could afford our groceries without them Her response was always you don t become wealthy by wasting your money It seemed silly to me when I was ten but it is perfectly logical now Consistently saving 2 cents per liter of gas adds up quite quickly and claiming the savings are not worth your thought is capitalistically incorrect It is incredible what amount of money a shrewd shopper is able to save in a year saving on petrol is just one of those savings span span style background color ffff99 Furthermore scoffing at the consumer for his or her desire to save a few pennies undermines the goal and ability of a free and competitive market to work for the consumer You point out in the same passage how even though only a few pennies could be saved via Challenge the BP station was still empty It is by that very example that the BP station would ultimately have been forced to lower its petrol prices by 2 cents in order to resume business If Challenge then wished to drop another cent or two it could do so thus regaining control of the local market and BP would have to match it and so on and so forth Eventually both stations would assume a financial level where they could no longer afford to drop their prices and the competitive market has been a success the consumer is now paying the most nominal price for his or her petrol In regards to your overall argument this does not adversely affect what the government collects as the tax rate on petrol remains constant If anything the government is able to collect slightly more from this local market as people may be more inclined to consume higher quantities of petrol finally available at a cheaper rate span span style background color ffff99 As for your concluding paragraphs in this section I tend to agree We could probably solve a lot of problems in the world if real solutions were provided and the powers that be ie politicians stuck to those solutions instead of finding ways to mend them for personal financial gain Since however we do not live in such an idealistic world we need to work with what we have Flat taxes can be great in certain areas specifically when some of the proceeds will help those that the tax hurts most Increasing petrol tax does not do this There is zero return a poor person will expect to gain over a wealthy person with reduced traffic or better roads Choosing between your two options the toll road only financially hurts those who choose to drive it You could argue that it s the same thing where higher petrol taxes only affect those who choose to purchase petrol Unfortunately for many that is similar to arguing that increasing food prices only affects those who eat definitely a true statement but immensely unfair given the necessity span If you d like to use my math from above to help your government increase revenue get rid of those small engine anti gas gobbling span style background color ffff99 three span cars you have Instead buy a car that gets 1 kilometer to the liter You ll be paying the government the full tax rate for each kilometer traveled The ozone hole over Alexander span style background color ff9999 in Central Otago span may slightly increase but you ll get to work faster thanks to reduced traffic from increased government profits span style background color ffff99 Another section of your article that I would like to comment on is regarding the assassination of John F Kennedy I certainly am not picking on you in this matter as there are literally millions of people that have written about the conspiracies that may or may not have existed The point that I would like to bring across especially when depicting American history in a New Zealand magazine is that Kennedy contrary to popular belief is not that unique span span style background color ffff99 Ask any American which presidents have been assassinated and you ll most definitely hear Kennedy A generous proportion will also tell you Lincoln I doubt very sincerely however that you will hear the likes of James Garfield or William McKinley both assassinated The fact is that 4 of 43 presidents have in fact been killed just over 9 of our complete presidential history Moreover 4 additional presidents have suffered assassination attempts the most famous probably being Ronald Regan yielding roughly an 18 chance that someone may try to kill you while president of the US Why then is Mr Kennedy so famously credited with being assassinated span span style background color ffff99 I have no idea whether or not there was a conspiracy to kill JFK but what I do know is that is that we as humans tend to make up better stories about the more popular or controversial figures There is nothing terribly surprising about that logic but it does put a nasty thorn in the side of conspiracy theorists because scientifically speaking the control group less popular figures has suffered just as many occurrences So what was the great conspiracy to kill McKinley or Jackson or even Truman Gerald Rudolph Ford had assassins after him twice why didn t Oliver Stone make a movie titled GRF span span style background color ffff99 The reason is simply that there just is not enough controversy and mystery to dig up Truman approved the incineration of tens of thousands of people in minutes you would think we could find good reason to discuss gunner Oscar Collazo at the same level as Oswald but the time was different WWII did not have the same controversy as the Vietnam war The media format of the time was different and there was not a tremendously sized hippy movement in the 40 s as there was in the 60 s Best of all Collazo was not Japanese and the assassination attempt had nothing to do with the atomic bombs at all but rather issues regarding Puerto Rico span span style background color ffff99 The elements just happen to line up for JFK That does not take away from the notion that there could have been a conspiracy but rather that it s easier for us to believe there must have been one instead of considering that perhaps we are over examining one moment in time It does seem that Oswald could not have acted alone but why is it so impossible to accept that perhaps his partner s in crime got lucky and ultimately got away Plain and simple span span style background color ffff99 Will we ever know Most likely we will not But quoting you in public life perception is often more important than reality I could not agree more with that statement and would like to use it for my own benefit We will always be more infatuated with the perception that the government set all of pieces moving rather than the possibility that one or two radicals didn t like Kennedy Either way given he was just one of eight presidents targeted for removal in American history his assassination is not quite as unique as we have made it out to be for 40 years span span style background color ffff99 I hope you will find my comments insightful and fully worth a supply of tea span

Dreux s Engagement photo 18637 487 0 right Dreux and Amy about 1 hour after getting engaged photo photo 18594 487 0 right The Rolex on Amy s arm photo strong Introduction strong Well it s been coming for years now that Dreux and Amy would wind up getting married that is I can recall back to the first time that I met Amy at a party Though it WAS my birthday the party was technically not a birthday party but rather just a get together that Crockett Evan and Dreux were having at their house I m not sure if I was drunk or not but I vividly recall telling Amy how much Dreux had been talking about her even though it was only the first time I had found out Dreux was even dating someone She seemed mildly impressed that he had spoken so much about her but at the time I don t think I knew she was a doctor and probably assumed I could out smart her In hindsight I m sure she knew I was full of shit Anyway I asked both Amy and Dreux to give me their own stories that landed them engaged Dreux sent me his in two installments strong The Tale Part I Considering Marriage strong The Dreux version of how he and Amy got engaged Amy and I have been dating for quite some time mostly long distance I was in Austin and she was in medical school 79 miles away in San Antonio At the end of medical school and 2 5 years of dating me she accepted a residency in Austin so we could live in the same city I bought a house around the same time that she was moving to Austin so we thought What the hell We ll live in sin and see where it gets us A year went by living in our small 1950 s house Late spring early summer of 05 things became a little more serious We had discussed engagement rings and how impractical they were As a doctor Amy would not be able to wear the ring very often because she wears gloves when treating patients Taking on and off the ring is a recipe for loosing it Also if you know Amy then you know she does not wear rings or jewelry unless it s a special occasion Me personally I think the diamond market is a scam What are diamonds really They re just a clear hard piece of rock that people only value because of clever marketing The only piece of jewelry I own is a hoop that is pierced in the cartilage of my ear I don t even wear a watch I tell time by a mobile phone that fits nicely in my pocket but I digress I was trying to figure out what to get Amy as an engagement gift Amy tends to hold on to anything that she gets as a gift even if it gets broken Her brother once gave her this campy wall clock for her birthday The clock broke and she did not want to toss it because her brother gave it to her When I asked her brother if he would be offended if she got rid of it he did not even remember that he gave it to her Moral of the story don t give her something that will got out of style wear out or an electronic that will be archaic in 5 years Rule 1 It had to be something that lasts a lifetime I was half way considering getting a painting a nice piece by an artist Amy and I liked But then she would not be able to show off the painting to her friends when she told them she was engaged Her conversations would go something like this Amy I m engaged Amy s friend jumping up and down screaming Really I m excited Where s the ring Amy Oh he didn t get me a ring I got a painting It is hanging in the living room you should come by a see it sometime Amy s friend visibly less excited Oh that s interesting Rule 2 It has to be something mobile so she can show it off I was talking to my friend Dave about the issue and he suggested a watch a nice watch like a Rolex I thought it was a good idea Amy currently wore a watch Doctors usually do they ve got to time you heart beat somehow or call someone s time of death This was an excellent idea Rolex watches last for forever it is something that can be shown off and it was something Amy could wear all the time I liked the idea because a watch was utilitarian strong The Tale Part II The Proposal strong In the late spring early summer of 2005 Amy asked Can we get a new showerhead Of course I said Sure we can get a new showerhead This went on for another month during which Amy would periodically ask about a showerhead Now Amy s birthday is September 27th and so when she asked for a showerhead our conversations would go a little something like this Amy When are we going to get a new showerhead Dreux Maybe you will get one for your birthday Amy I don t want a showerhead for my birthday Dreux A showerhead is a great birthday present Amy I m going to buy a showerhead and install it so you can t get me one for my birthday Dreux But I already got you a showerhead it is in my box Amy What box Dreux The box where I store stuff of yours that I don t like and if you don t notice it is gone in six months I get rid of it Amy You don t have box do you Dreux Maybe I do This went on all summer long Amy always threatening to call my bluff of getting her a showerhead for her birthday by getting one and installing it It never happened When September finally came around she started to ask what she was getting for her birthday She always wants hints on her gifts and I have a history of not playing this game right She asks me what her gift is and the first time I say I m not going to tell you But then she proceeds to ask and eventually after the 5th time I just tell her what she is getting Then she says I was not supposed to tell her and that I ve ruined the surprise I always tell her if she wanted to be surprised she should not ask So in September 2005 I employed a new tactic Every time she asked I would say You know what you are getting a showerhead Amy would always reply I m going to be very disappointed if I get a showerhead for my birthday I planned to propose on her birthday The week before her birthday I was going to be in the China for business before I left I ordered the watch The salesman at the jewelry store assured me it would be in when I got back and before Amy s birthday My buddy Emerson knew my plan to propose and while I was in China Amy and he went out to dinner one night Amy was asking him for hints at what I was getting her All Emerson would say was It is something you have wanted for a long time I came home September 24th the same day hurricane Rita hit landfall in East Texas and West Louisiana When I went to the jewelry store on Monday I was told that due to hurricane Rita deliveries were delayed The watch was not coming in until Wednesday the day after Amy s birthday New plan I needed to get her something so I was not empty handed on her birthday That morning Amy mentioned that some of her bras were wore out and she needed new ones After visiting the jewelry store I went to Victoria s Secret and got a gift certificate Monday night I met Amy s dad for a beer at a restaurant near his work so I could ask for Amy s hand in marriage I m not a traditionalist but Amy s parents are to some degree and I felt it was the right thing to do When I asked his response was Good It s about time We both laughed and he told me about when he and Amy s mom Linda went to Linda s parents place to tell them they were getting married Tuesday morning came and Amy woke up I wished her a happy birthday She asked when she was getting her present and I told her tonight at her parents place During my lunch hour I went to Home Depot and picked out a top of the line showerhead That evening I met Amy at her parents place with my pink Victoria s Secret bag complete with a showerhead and gift certificate inside I handed Amy the bag and the conversation went something like this Amy A Showerhead I can t believe you got me a showerhead Dreux There is a gift certificate too You said you needed new bras Amy Dreux looking over at her mom Dreux Your mom knows you wear bras You don t like your birthday gift acting hurt Amy No no I like it thank you trying to act not disappointed Dreux That is a top of the line showerhead and very aesthetically pleasing Amy Yes it is a very good showerhead Amy s mom who was watching knew that the watch was late and this was a fake gift but still could not help feel sorry for me This was a feeling I appreciated though misplaced as I was enjoying this back and forth and acting hurt And then as if on cue Amy s brother Scott and his girlfriend Kathy showed up and asked what I gave Amy Kathy What did Dreux give you Amy A showerhead Dreux A top of the line showerhead Kathy Cool Scott That s cool Kathy I want a showerhead Dreux to Amy See the showerhead is a good gift We went to dinner that night with her parents and on the ride over Amy Did you tell Emerson what you were getting me Dreux Yeah he knew why Amy It was just not what I was expecting Dreux What you don t like the showerhead Scott and Kathy like the showerhead It is a very good showerhead Amy No I like the showerhead it is just not what I expected While I went and picked up the watch on Wednesday Amy s friends at work asked what I had given her for her birthday Amy had to reply A showerhead That sparked a male bashing session with broad generalizations that men don t know how to give gifts or how to shop for gifts and telling of tales of fathers giving mothers microwaves or vacuum cleaners That night was Amy s birthday dinner with friends at Trudys North When Amy got home she asked if we could delay the friend birthday dinner to another night She had a presentation on Friday and the attending wanted to go over it Thursday and she had not done anything for the presentation yet Dreux Well we could delay the dinner but if we do I can t give you this handing Amy a gift wrapped box Amy What is this Dreux Open it and find out Amy opens the box to show a very nice Rolex watch Dreux Amy will you marry me Amy Of course I will Then I related the whole story of how the watch was not in on time and how I thought it would be fun to get her a showerhead That night we had a great time with friends at dinner Amy s friends at work had to eat their words the next day There you have it folks the long twisted tale of how Amy and I got engaged from Dreux s point of view I could not be happier on how it turned out and I m glad we have a nice tale to tell strong Comments strong Pat 10 20 05 02 32 19 PM Dreux em Did he ever tell you about the doll he set on fire em The Other Cajun 10 20 05 03 07 40 PM Every dog has his day em My congratulations to you and my condolences to Amy Amy Please have that watch appraised I hear through the grape vine that Druex took a quick flight to NYC and bought a couple of Lolex s in Chinatown em Lauren Joe and Noah 10 21 05 09 46 47 PM Watch Boy em If you need a watch boy we have one who can do it for real cheap If you do employ him he will require workman s comp and health insurance Also make sure the watch is water proof cause he drools a lot It s nice to hear your story It s a little long but good so long as Amy is happy Don t forget to get the watch insured they re only covered in theft under a Homeowner s policy for 500 Your beloved friends The Cadilacs em Kim 11 29 05 03 58 31 PM Congrats to Dreux and Amy em Congratulations on your engagement Dreux Amy is a keeper because I would ve bopped you over the head with my top of the line showerhead em

The New Bus So I ve been interested in getting a bus of some sort ever since I toured New Zealand in a a href http www kevinludlow com photos Auckland 102 3529 camper van a back in 2003 It was just such a great time that I have always wanted to do a conversion myself The dream has always been alive but has just never come into full fruition until now Caroline and I started chatting about the idea of having a bus and so after tons of research and a lot of poking around I found a relatively inexpensive Ford Econoline E 350 Private Bus She s definitely a sight of some kind but I think with some hard work and some fresh paint we can definitely convert her into a cool little toy photo 258041 258221 0 center A first look at the bus in my driveway photo photo 258038 258221 0 center The original back of the bus the front rows of seats are just behind me in the shot You wouldn t know it from looking at it but all of that rubber on the ground probably weighs almost 200 pounds photo photo 258028 258221 0 center Caroline removing one of the passenger seats They were quite a bit harder to remove than one might imagine Not to mention the steel frames they sit upon are heavy as all can be photo photo 258162 258221 0 center There were some pretty old wires in the engine compartment so I started replacing them one by one This is the new terminal lead I installed today photo photo 258168 258221 0 center The inside of the bus after completely stripping it down to its 3 4 plywood shell photo br style clear both As I was finishing removing an old kitchen exhaust fan this evening I disconnected a rubber hose from one of its two vents I assumed that the hose was just for air exhaust but evidently it collected water as well As soon as I pulled the hose off the dirtiest water I have ever seen started gushing from the spout I managed to redirect most of it outside but I can t imagine the parasites that entered my body through the initial 20 seconds or so of trying to stop it from squirting

RTF 314 Taxi Driver Kevin Ludlow RTF 314 Charles Ramirez Berg Allan Campbell October 2 1998 The movie Taxi Driver depicts many forms of violence language and strong sexual emotions especially those of a mere child However according Andrew Sarris the main problem with the movie is not the general controversial topics but rather the way in which the plot has no general structure to it when compared to the character Travis Bickle Robert DeNiro Sarris contests the fact that there is not much information given about the character at all Early in the movie we are told by DeNiro that he is a veteran looking for a job which happens to be for a taxi company in New York We are told nothing else about his past until later in the movie when we find out that he in fact has parents who are alive Again after learning this we still know nothing about his family except that he writes them at least one letter filled with farfetched lies Being a frequent cab rider Sarris also argues the ways in which taxi passengers are represented He makes only a few references but in the movie there are frequent occurrences and discussions about sex and shootings in the cab I think that after riding in cabs for long enough even in New York it is pretty unusual for one cab driver to repetitively have people having sex in his car much less getting shot or stabbed After seeing this movie a few times recently and a few more over the years it is very easy for me to agree with Sarris s opinion of a strange plot structure especially when compared to classical Hollywood cinema style I have heard the idea before that the entire middle of the movie is to be interpreted as a dream but I personally find that hard to believe I find it much easier to handle the idea that Martin Scorsese wanted to depict a taxi driver pulling a complete 360 on his life and essentially fulfill a fantasy of being a recognized city hero only to put his life back together once again It seems to me that the general turning point for DeNiro in the movie is when he sees the way that Iris actress Jodie Foster is treated as a teenage prostitute He eventually confronts her and says that he simply wants to help her get her life back together The way that DeNiro s character changes at this point seems to leave a great deal of confusion in the viewer s mind After buying a small collection of guns to play with completely changing his look and even going as far as inventing an automatic gun dispenser Travis seems to have lost it completely At this particular point in the movie the classical Hollywood cinema style seems to be completely lost from the movie There is no way of knowing exactly what is going on in the movie even after viewing it many times However this lack of understanding does not come from an overwhelming amount of suspense but instead pure confusion At one point Travis seems intent upon assassinating the office candidate but shortly afterwards he leaves the entire idea behind him Perhaps it is because he almost gets caught but it simply destroys any idea the viewer might have for Travis s intentions It almost seems as if he is trying to fight for causes that he will not stick with From the point that DeNiro changes in character it is impossible to figure out what he is trying to accomplish in the rest of the movie or if he is trying to accomplish anything at all He does not have any specific goals that need to be achieved The most obvious defiance of the classical Hollywood cinema style is the use of characters especially at this point in the movie Everyone in the movie seems to be playing the role of an antagonist towards DeNiro except for Jodie Foster who comes across in her brief few scenes as a mere victim of society Even early in the movie Cybill Shepherd s character seems to turn completely against DeNiro simply as a result of a tasteless date When Andrew Sarris set out to write his review back in February of 1976 I do not think that he had the classical Hollywood cinema ideas in his mind However everything that he discusses in his article is in opposition to the classical Hollywood cinema model In his first paragraph about Taxi Driver Sarris proposes several ideas to the reader about who Travis Bickle is supposed to represent This clearly goes against the idea of the character having a general set of traits throughout the movie Throughout his article Sarris explains how the movie has somewhat of an irregular flow to it which I agree with completely This irregularity adds to the lack of conformity to the classical Hollywood cinema model I do not feel that comparing the film to classical Hollywood helps or hurts the authors viewpoints within his article simply because he expresses very general statements about the movie I think that it is safe to say that if a classical Hollywood cinema style never existed in critics eyes that the same would still be said of the movie just because of its incredible lack of conformity to reality I suppose that somewhere in America perhaps even Manhattan there is a man who is similar to Travis Bickle On the same note it would be very hard to understand that person s ideas in everyday life much less cinematically Taxi Driver was released by Columbia Pictures so I am not sure if it is specifically considered a Hollywood release or not Taking an in depth look at the pictures content I would have to say that it was in fact targeted for a specific movie audience but it is hard to say which one It is obviously not a romantic story in any way nor do I think it could be considered an action movie I try not to categorize a movie when I watch it because I think that every film writer or artist for that matter has some meaning that he wants to get across to his viewers It just seems that in this movie it is very hard to tell exactly what meaning the author wants us to get I would personally have to categorize Taxi Driver as a dramatic psychopathic film about a very dynamic character that wants to change the way in which people live Anyone with an open mind would probably love this movie as do I but more close minded people or even people that could not imagine such a lifestyle may not like Taxi Driver Again I do not feel that this film follows many if any at all of the ideas of the classical Hollywood cinema It surprises me that this movie can be so obscure and yet relatively so popular I for one am very pleased to know that this movie did so well for itself despite its obvious lack of general cinematic form

HIS1301 The Conquest of Columbus Luther Elmore History 1301 Assignment 1 The Conquest of Columbus A journal worth exploring As noted in the first journal entries Columbus kept of their voyage he kept two separate accounts of the distances that had been traveled Looking back in history this obviously proved favorable to him on the voyage but one must ask why Similar to the time period that we are living in today there were definite classes of people whether we choose to acknowledge that today or not Sailors of the time were certainly of the class of people we would know as blue collar workers if not a shade below It was only the admirals of the fleet and a few select others chosen of the King and Queen that possessed the intelligence to understand the latitude of this journey Morals were certainly of importance on this voyage and what better way to keep the projected distance to the Indies close to track then to throw out white lies to the crew As most any modern text book or production will parody our government certainly does not tell us everything that goes on throughout our continued exploration of space for example They give us projected figures and this is all that we concern ourselves with because it is what we are told It gives us the clich d parental expression that we re almost there Furthermore it usually keeps us happy and anxiously waiting I speculate that Columbus was using the same psychology on his crew Curiously enough I find it surprising that such information ever went past the King and Queen of Spain and that it is such a tale we can read about today Another interesting factor of this story was the way that Columbus described everything that he encountered and even better how he had an explanation for most all of it It was most apparent as they sailed on the voyage and encountered mostly birds but also crabs whales and even drift Similar to a more modern explorer we know a great deal of it seems that Columbus was almost acting like Darwin someday would in his classifications He seemed to have an explanation for every creature that was seen whether it was one known to the Spaniards or not Humorously enough every creature that was encountered was believed to be only encountered x leagues away from land thus land must have always been nearby These statements may have been a bit pretentious of Columbus to declare especially to a man who would challenge a theory as bizarre as say The Earth if flat Nonetheless it was another tactic to keep the moral of the men up and most likely of Columbus himself While Columbus was probably more willing to trade fairly with the natives then his men were I think it is evident that he was happy to better deal them Still one could argue that the natives who had been accustomed to such commodities found it favorable to possess a piece of glass or a stain colored flag Unfortunately like most if not all other conquistadors of the time if Columbus meets that status the only thing that the natives lacked was Christian status I think its safe to say that if we look back in time problem after problem could have been avoided especially with native tribes had the explorers simply left religion alone If there was one thing that any one man of this time period wanted to possess it was power and riches As noted earlier the blue collar status of the sailors most likely led them to believe that they would never be powerful rulers but this also led them to believe that with riches they could live similar lifestyles There s no disputing the cause of most of the conquistadors of this time period riches Riches for them riches for the country and almost more importantly riches for the King and Queen of the era I am sure that in many of the sailor s hearts thoughts of gold and silver were the only things keeping them alive across the Atlantic Gold led to the later conquering of the Incas Aztecs Mayans and most every other tribe of Central and South America From a different perspective it only made sense for Columbus to seek such wealth as an explorer If he was to return to the islands or seek new land in other places he would have to return wealth The America s would have been of no use to the Spaniards had the commodities available not well exceeded the cost and dangers of the trip I found this extract to be very interesting in an overall sense In the middle of the journal I felt that I was reading a monotonous story but I suppose that my reading of it was nothing compared to the actual monotony of the voyage Society enjoys asking the question youths especially that if you could go back into time what time period would you like to live in To this day I have honestly always answered around the 1450 s I only wish that I could proposition our President to fund me on such an adventurous journey and to discover lands never found by the world as we know it Fortunately the King and Queen did not take a republican stance upon this request as I would now receive and allowed such a wonderful history to be uncovered I would love to have seen this article published in Spanish so that I could read it pre translated I simply feel that the non translated details I would notice would add to the visualization of the story Coincidentally I feel that visualizing history is what makes it interesting to read

Wellington Taken from Tisa's original journal entry: Wellington- (population: 205,500) aka: "Windy Wellington". This is the capital of NZ (previously, the seat of the government was in Auckland) and takes up the entire southern tip of the south island. It is the major travel crossroad between the north and south. The city's harbor was formed by the flooding of a huge valley. In 1460, an earthquake pushed up Miramar Peninsula. The city runs up the hills on one side of the harbor and because it is so cramped for space, many of the workers live in two narrow valleys. One is the Hutt valley where our campsite was located and the other valley follows the highway. No need to ponder the nickname given to Wellington. Back in 1968 the wind blew so hard that it almost blew over the Wellington-Christchurch car ferry onto Barrett's Reef just outside the harbor's entrance. The ship later broke loose from the reef, drifted into the harbor and then sank. The death of 51 individuals took place. Wellington is a wonderful city for many reasons but most importantly, it is known for its culture and arts. We could spend weeks here and not be able to cover the multitude of museums, theaters, vineyards, historic buildings, botanical gardens, etc… The amount of activities that are available in Wellington is fantastic! If you have the sufficient funds and resources, you can go mountain biking, sailing, kayaking, fishing, rollerblading, surfing and windsurfing, rock-climbing, diving, bungy rocketing, take a helicopter ride or even go on an organized tour. One of the most enjoyable things about Wellington was to people watch. There is such a diverse ethnic population here not to mention all the hippies and alternative kids that fill the city. Kevin and I visited the Te Papa museum which was humongous and impressive- to say the least. We stayed at the museum almost the entire day and could only cover one and a half floors (it is six floors and spreads wide!!!). NZ has invested so much into this pride and joy otherwise known as "Our Place", celebrating NZ and its people. The hands-on displays were great and could keep you entertained for some time while the visual pieces were strikingly appealing. If anyone comes to NZ, this is a must-see museum due to the hard work and effort, money ($317m just for the structure of the building) and creative minds that built the best learning center I have ever been to. Very stimulating! Kev and I took the bus around this city and agreed that not only was this the most efficient way to get around, but that it was an enjoyable bus ride coming into the city and back to Hutt Valley where we stayed that night.

Te Papa Museum Taken from Tisa's original journal entry: Wellington- (population: 205,500) aka: "Windy Wellington". This is the capital of NZ (previously, the seat of the government was in Auckland) and takes up the entire southern tip of the south island. It is the major travel crossroad between the north and south. The city's harbor was formed by the flooding of a huge valley. In 1460, an earthquake pushed up Miramar Peninsula. The city runs up the hills on one side of the harbor and because it is so cramped for space, many of the workers live in two narrow valleys. One is the Hutt valley where our campsite was located and the other valley follows the highway. No need to ponder the nickname given to Wellington. Back in 1968 the wind blew so hard that it almost blew over the Wellington-Christchurch car ferry onto Barrett's Reef just outside the harbor's entrance. The ship later broke loose from the reef, drifted into the harbor and then sank. The death of 51 individuals took place. Wellington is a wonderful city for many reasons but most importantly, it is known for its culture and arts. We could spend weeks here and not be able to cover the multitude of museums, theaters, vineyards, historic buildings, botanical gardens, etc… The amount of activities that are available in Wellington is fantastic! If you have the sufficient funds and resources, you can go mountain biking, sailing, kayaking, fishing, rollerblading, surfing and windsurfing, rock-climbing, diving, bungy rocketing, take a helicopter ride or even go on an organized tour. One of the most enjoyable things about Wellington was to people watch. There is such a diverse ethnic population here not to mention all the hippies and alternative kids that fill the city. Kevin and I visited the Te Papa museum which was humongous and impressive- to say the least. We stayed at the museum almost the entire day and could only cover one and a half floors (it is six floors and spreads wide!!!). NZ has invested so much into this pride and joy otherwise known as "Our Place", celebrating NZ and its people. The hands-on displays were great and could keep you entertained for some time while the visual pieces were strikingly appealing. If anyone comes to NZ, this is a must-see museum due to the hard work and effort, money ($317m just for the structure of the building) and creative minds that built the best learning center I have ever been to. Very stimulating! Kev and I took the bus around this city and agreed that not only was this the most efficient way to get around, but that it was an enjoyable bus ride coming into the city and back to Hutt Valley where we stayed that night.