News from Nelson - July 2016

Hi everyone,
At the beginning of July, Jan and I went up to Wellington to attend a leadership lecture at  Victoria Uni from a set of Fullbright scholars and Sir Peter Blake Leadership trust award recipients. It was very interesting, and hosted by my old Master's supervisor, Brad Jackson.

Jan had to come with me to be my left-hand man, as I would have been unable to have gone without his assistance :-)

We got picked up by Brigitte & John, with Otto, and had a cup of coffee and a chat at the Ibis. We walked from there down to Vic law school for the lecture (and they gave us lots of canapes). 

After the lecture we got picked up by Jeremy, and taken to see his new place. We met DeAnne, and got a chance to catch up with Lara. All in all we had a very tight schedule, but we managed to fit in lots of visits.

It was great to go to the lecture, but my arm was jangling fit to bust by the time I got back to the hotel, and by the time I got home again after the trip.

A pity we couldn't see Tina, Hartmut and Uta as well, but there was such a short time. We could perhaps have caught up with Tina for breakfast, except I had already arranged to meet Brad at Astoria for breakfast, to talk about  PhD options.

Brad thought that I should try Griffith University in Brisbane, and that I should continue to pursue the idea that I worked up for AUT, rather than undertaking my original career leadership idea. Griffith apparently has a good - and growing - global reputation. As I had not considered Griffith before, this will take some investigation. 

Brad was quite dismissive of my original career focused PhD: and I think he has a point. This is a "safe" idea that won't rattle any cages, nor will provide the amount of challenge that my sports governance one will. 

After breakfast, Jan went to meet one of the HR people at WorkSafe (New Zealand's health and safety government watchdog). He wanted to find out more about the organisation, and DeAnne had put him in touch with someone to talk to.

Despite the Wellington trip away, I have been taking things very quietly. I have read a book a day since my surgery, which has been really wonderful. 

Jan has decided to take the opportunity to become a certified electrician, and is starting his coursework this month, with his final exam being in November, and a practicum in the first week of December. He is also hopeful of getting into a health and safety certification course, NEBOSH (and I've no idea what it stands for), which will be held in September and October. He is currently on the waiting list for that.

The Nelson Symphony Orchestra had their mid-year concert: America, held in the Nelson Cathedral. This was a very interesting programme, with music that was quite expansive and sweeping. Jan has also volunteered to play in the Nelson Choir's production of Stabat Mater, and in Nayland College's school production of Annie get your Gun (with performances in the first week of August).

We caught up with Glenys & Kevin for an afternoon of eating, drinking and talking (surprise, surprise) which was very entertaining. We also had dinner with Jenny, Tracey and Erica. 

We also had a mid-winter Christmas at the Hofman's which was great: we had "three lights"; three light courses - nibbles, soup, and cake for dessert. I had made a Nigella Lawson Christmas cake last year, but the recipe makes two, so I had put one in the freezer. I pulled that out and defrosted it. We took a sugar cone, and brandy, and turned the 'bladder' of Peckhams mulled cider into a burnt caramel, clove and cinnamon heaven. The nibbles were just fantastic: all the things we don't usually eat.

And no-one was too full. It was a really good night, with lots of laughs.

I drove for the first time three weeks after my surgery. to see the hand physiotherapist, for exercises and wrist support. my surgeon had said that I was OK to drive, and despite my reservations, I drove the automatic. The hand physiotherapist told me off quite thoroughly, saying that I should not be driving until the surgeon had signed the bone off as being healed. 

However, despite the driving, I got a good report from the physiotherapist. I have good mobility and had no pain at all from the session - she was very conservative, and focused on only what I could do until I started feeling a small amount of resistance. She was very happy with my mobility and movement, and gave me three small exercises to do five times a day each. My challenge was that they all needed to be done v-e-r-y slowly! She only wants to see me once my surgeon has signed me off, which will be next month. 

After I saw the hand physiotherapist, I went to catch up with an old friend, Di, who was able to drive us around that day, while we had a good gossip, drink coffee, and acted like we were ladies of leisure. 

So once more, Jan had to drive me into work, as I started teaching on the 18th. At least in the first week, I only had two lectures, as one of my other classes didn't start until week six, and the other was online.

By the last week of the month it was six weeks after surgery, and although I hadn't seen the specialist (because he was too busy off skiing and swanning around the world to conferences), I started driving again. Much easier.

We went to Alex and Caroline's Wassail celebrations this month, pulling in all manner of English traditions including the Black Morris to bring on the fruit for the coming year. Kev the Farmer sang a couple of songs again (he has such a good voice). Glenys and Kevin came along too, and we had a good chat about our planned weekend at McLaren's Bay next month.

We caught a movie at the Gecko Theatre in Motueka - Our Kind of Traitor - which was quite good. No major twists, but a good movie. We realised that we don't go to the pictures often enough, so have made a resolution to try to get there at least once a month.

I did a bit of digging and found that Griffiths was 39th in the world for sports management, so figured they could be really worth a look. I also realised that Graham Cuskelly was a professor in the business school at Griffith, and so I emailed him, and, despite being overseas, he replied straight away. So it appears that I may have my supervisor. 

Just like that. A new home across the Tassie for my project too.

Sam (and Jan)

News from Nelson - June 2016

Hello all,
We have been visiting friends for lunch on the early weekends of this month, which has been fun. One of my colleagues from NMIT and his wife came out to get firewood a while ago, and invited us for lunch in return.We had a great lunch at Shaw & Suz's place: I laughed so much, my face hurt. They are both so funny and have such great stories.

We also went to a Quiz night fundraiser for the Waimea Old Boys, with a load of our neighbours. We had a really fun night, and came in at around the middle of the pack - without any smart phone cheating.

We also had a good time up at Lake Rotoiti as well, having lunch with Robbie & Janet. We took homemade bread and pumpkin soup, so supplied lunch for everyone. We also had a good walk around the peninsular - and it was AMAZING how much frost there was still on the ground at lunchtime. The eels were right up by the boat ramp, looking for hand-outs, and there was an amazing duck - some kind of Chinese migrant - which had joined the resident mallards on the lake.

Marking, planning, marking, planning, marking, planning: that seems to be pretty much all that I did this month... aside from eating and sleeping. I had to mark flat out, plan all my work, assessments, build my Moodle sites, and do three course calendars for semester two this month as I had surgery on 23 June... and I needed six weeks of 'no work' space in order to recover. 

Jan went up to Lake Rotoiti to spectate Gary and Karen, Max, and Tracey did the round-the-lake run (I was flat out on my pre-surgery run-up so stayed home and marked):

I had my surgery on 23 June, and my anaesthetist decided to not give me any gas. As a result, for the first time I had no nausea after surgery. I couldn't believe it: I was actually hungry by the end of the day, and wasn't sick when I ate a very light dinner. Fantastic.

The surgery was to shorten my left ulna. For some reason my ulnas are too long, so when I damaged my left wrist two and a half years ago, it has not been able to heal due to the torsion put on it by the very length of the bone itself. Now it is 5mm shorter, with a 15cm plate, a bone graft and 7 screws, and should heal without problems. 

My right ulna is not as long as the left was, so probably may never need to be done, but I will be watching out for something similar, and flagging it much earlier.

I have a wrist splint that will help it heal, but basically I just need to ensure that I don't lift, twist or load it until the bone heals over the coming 6 weeks.

Oh, and I can't drive again either, until I get sign-off from the surgeon. I can use my arm a little, but not allowed to lift anything heavier than a cup in my left hand. 

All I can say is thank goodness for Dragon NaturallySpeaking. It is voice recognition software that means I can 'talk it in'... so I have 'written' loads of blog posts while I have been recovering at home. I have also been reading and listening to books (mostly murder mysteries). 

This has been a truly awful semester. Our school manager is off on leave for a month, and there has been lots of other employee assistance programmes put in place. We have been flagging for ages, but the organisation was fairly slow in responding... but they have responded now, which is good. I am getting a teaching assistant for next semester (which I have also had to factor into my planning for Sem 2). At least for the three weeks of next month I only need worry about myself. I start teaching in that third week, but should be fine by then, as teaching is 'light duties'. 

I also created a memorial movie about my Uncle Eddie for my Aunt Diana. It was so good to finally get the time to tinker, even if I was one hand shy!

Hui-Ping came to visit, with Mae. It was lovely to see them, and great that they could drive out and see us. She got cheap flights down to Nelson, and was staying with Bill and Cornish. We made chocolate chip biscuits to welcome her.

We have finally arranged to have our road upgraded, with Malcolm McDonald. We are going to get it done in two stages. The first stage will cost about 10 grand... ouch.

Ah well, it has to be done. 

More next month :-)


Sam (& Jan)

News from Nelson - May 2016

Hi Everyone!
The study break arrived at just the right time late last month for me to catch up on all my marking, due to losing so much time from the migraine I had. Since then I bought Dr Stanton's book, and started applying her "Stanton migraine protocol". I usually get a migraine a month, and this month only had one very small migraine (it was very light, and basically meant I went lay down for an hour). Everything else seems pretty normal now.

However, I am not eating any fruit, am limiting carbohydrates (both of those to reduce glucose), along with taking a magnesium supplement. I have hugely increased my salt - I was only eating about a quarter of what the protocol requires before I started. My taste for coffee is still missing in action.

Jan had a concert this month with the Nelson Symphony Orchestra at old St John's. It was entitled "A Night at the Opera", and featured a soprano, a spinto soprano, a tenor and a baritone, with 16 orchestral pieces taken from 10 operas. It was a really great night of music and performance. Tracy and Erica came with myself and my Mum.

I tried a new take on Uncle Eberhard's chocolate mousse recipe: I made caramel and sea salt mousse for the after party. And because it was made with dark chocolate with very little sugar, I could eat a little of it (ha, ha! Ulterior motive!).

Jan photographed this strange and spectacular rainbow from his office window:

We have had a few very spectacular dawns, which I have captured:

Some of my international research students had a lunch to celebrate their project progress thus far in the semester, which was really nice:

While I am not really feeling quite sociable as I used to - I wonder if that's an after-effect of the migraine? - we are trying to ensure we catch up with our friends. Jan feels more sociable than I do, which is a change. We caught up with the Cools's at our place for a morning tea, had a dinner with John and Aniko (who is here from Hungary) at Rose Road, and went to Tracey & Erica's for dinner with Jenny, and had a farewell dinner for John in Richmond as he has now headed back off to Europe for the winter. 

This means that Bonnie is now back with us for the winter, which is great. As John has been living down in Waimea West for the summer, Bonnie has been with him for most of the time, and we have been dogless. It was particularly awful when Jan had to be away on some training trips, and I was completely alone. 

The time is coming for a new puppy...! 


Sam (& Jan)

News from Nelson - April 2016

Hi everyone,
John had suggested that we download a Canadian movie called "One Week", about a guy who finds out he has cancer. We did, and watched it. It was interesting, and I particularly liked that it was messy, and didn't have a neat ending.

On my birthday we went to dinner at ChokDee, where I had a lovely green curry, and then on to a musical at the Theatre Royal, called "Legally Blonde".

It turned out that one of my research students was the voice coach for the show, and he did a great job. However, we were sitting in the front row, and the noise was deafening. I felt almost assaulted by the decibel level. I started getting a really bad headache during the show. By the end of the show it was a killer.

Then on the night of April second, I got a migraine where my sight didn't come back afterwards. Jan took me into hospital on the Sunday, and they hospitalised me for a few days and ran tests. Of course, they couldn't find anything wrong, aside from the fact that my blood pressure was steaming high: with no idea whether this was a symptom or a cause.

Me either. 

My sight slowly resolved over the coming 21 days, which was a total pain in the butt, and as I have trouble focusing, I couldn't read or watch films (thank goodness for my iPod or I would have been SOOO bored). I would find that I got dizzy as the day progressed, and would have to have a nana nap. I was not allowed to drive until I got signed off by the ophthalmologist, which was done at the end of week three.

Crazy & a bit scary (though scarier for Jan). 

The result: not a stroke. No brain damage (ie, nothing showed up on the CAT scan that was any different to the scan I had done a few years ago). Everything seems to be functioning normally. My eyes went back to normal. My cholesterol is normal. My blood sugar is normal. 

As a fix - even though they have no idea what is wrong - they have put me on lots of blood pressure medication, and watched it like hawks to ensure was rock-solid normal for several weeks (I had to email in my daily BP).

However, I think now that the high blood pressure was a symptom. As my sight started to come back, I started reading lots about migraine and found this researcher in California who has developed her own migraine protocol. Dr Angela Stanton's hypothesis is that migraine sufferers have not evolved enough to cope with modern stimuli, and our brain goes into over-drive and overload at times of high stress. It does a "run away and hide" thing, which is now no longer an appropriate physiological response to our environment. I am officially a throw-back!

Thus the overload from the show, combined with my currently heavy workload, might well have triggered a massive migraine attack. 

To correct this, Dr Stanton goes right back to cell chemistry and works on balancing inputs: getting the right amounts of salt, potassium, calcium and magnesium for correct cell hydration, so that our cellular pumps work properly. If the ratio of these chemicals is unbalanced, then we become dehydrated, and she thinks this is the basis of how migraine attacks occur. She also thinks we are habitually dehydrated, because we probably still don't drink enough water.

In addition, she thinks that migraine sufferers have an intolerance for glucose, so need to eat a low carbohydrate, low salt, low fruit diet. Her research has indicated that we need a HIGHER salt diet than most other people: that migraine sufferers need about 1.5 times the 'normal' daily salt intake recommended by the FDA.

Of course, I have eaten a low salt diet since I was about 11-12... funnily enough, right when my migraines started. The 'correct' ratio for migraine sufferers should be 4700 Potassium; 3600 Sodium; 700-ish Calcium; and 237 Magnesium per day.

So it has been a very interesting month. Not good, but interesting. Also interesting was that I lost my taste for coffee. VERY surprising.

At least it has taken my mind of my PhD derailing!

I had a week off work, then was able to teach (Jan dropped me off at work). But I couldn't mark or read much. So basically I had to postpone all my marking for a fortnight until I recovered. Students & staff were pretty cool about it. 

Jan has been my seeing-eye husband for several days, taking me out for a walk and guiding me. It took him quite a while to get used to being a guide, and to calling out the obstacles appropriately early enough (no falls, luckily, as a result of poor instructions :-D).

In amongst all this, Jan and I went into Nelson to pick up Katrin's goddaughter (Toni) and her friend (Leah) from the intercity bus. 

Toni and Leah are both very nice - seeming to enjoy the Turkish kebab shop (Akbabas) that we took them to. It was so funny - our old neighbour from Montrose Drive shouted hello to us Turkish coffee and rose Turkish delight. She gave me a big hug. 

The girls, who are both pre-uni age, are on a gap year of sorts. they have been to Bali, and Australia, now New Zealand before going to Fiji and the US. 

We dropped them at Kaiteriteri for a day cruise into the Abel Tasman. I would have liked to have sent them overnight into the park, however the bunks at Anchorage were sold out before we had a chance to book them. 

I bought some new running shoes which are so colourful they nearly make your eyes hurt. Feels just right for this month! Jan & I have been doing a walk near Motueka called the Inlet loop walk which is really nice:

We took Toni and Lea into the Nelson market and up the centre of New Zealand hill, to the Motueka market in Decks Reserve and to Takaka and Golden Bay. 

We visited Anatoki salmon, the cafe at Puponga, Collingwood, PuPu springs, Takaka, and enjoyed the view from the top of the Takaka hill. 

We stopped at Rosy Glow in Collingwood, and bough enough Rosy Glow to last the winter. They are back in full production: how awesome. 

While Toni and Leah were with us, we had a barbecue John and his mum, Lilla, who is here from the UK for a few weeks. We later farewelled Lilla with fish & chips on the Mapua wharf, with Chris Ratt, Scott, and Chris's Mum - who turned out to be Ginina - Aunty Jill's friend (small world). I had a really interesting conversation with Ginina about the Misses Dodson who owned the old pale metallic blue Chrysler that their father had bought for them to learn to drive in. It turned out that they had lived down the driveway from Ginina and her husband in Rainbow Drive. See? A very small world.

We caught up with Erik and Anne at the Nelson Ladies Kennel Association show in Nelson. Erik was showing a gorgeous red baby puppy. Yes, I can feel a new puppy coming on...

I hope you are all well!


Sam (& Jan)


Anyone wanting to read some of Dr Stanton's work can go to: Stanton, A. A. (2015). Migraine Cause and Treatment. Available at SSRN 2690927. Retrieved 17 April 2016 from http://www.mhfmjournal.com/mental-health/migraine-cause-and-treatment.php?aid=7552

News from Nelson - March 2016

Hi everyone,
We are both OK: busy, as usual, but also making lots of preserves at present for winter. 

Tracey and Erica have an organic farm in Appleby, which is 20 minutes away from where we live. it is a largely horticultural block, with tunnel houses and fruit trees (though they do have some organic Angus beef, and free range chickens as well).

We have been picking and processing tomatoes, pears and peaches from their place. And by processing I mean bottling, so we now have many litres of pear quarters (from our pears), peach halves, and puréed tomatoes with onion and basil in jars down in the cellar... all ready for winter consumption by both families. Tracey grew; we processed :-)

I have 60 litres of tomato purée in the cellar... I think that may be enough!

Jan has also made apricot jam, mixed berryfruit jam, the blackberry jam, kiwifruit jam, and plum jam (from our own Damson plums). We also made juice from our own Granny Smith apple tree (about 10 litres), and preserved black boy peaches from our black boy peach trees (which are the most delicious peaches on the planet).

Our Damson plums

Our Beurre Bosc pears

Our black boy peaches

Everywhere we go, Jan has been giving friends and family his jams. I think it is always nice to have the personal touch!


All in all, it has been a very fruitful start to autumn, and a good break for both of us from work.

For Easter there was a Kuwilsky family reunion in Taupo: Tanja and her partner Tony, as well is Lars and his girlfriend Ann, flew in from Australia; Brigitte and John drove up from Wellington, as did Tina and her partner Brad. Joerg, Melissa (and her friend) drove down from Morrinsville. We flew in to Taupo late on the Friday afternoon, and Tina picked us up from the airport.

The family had organised a great house to stay in, just out of the city, and we had a great weekend, with coffee forays, some walks, and some great places to catch up, talk, and eat.

Anne, Joerg & Jan having a great lunch in Taupo

Our selfie at Huka falls

Aratiatia Dam spillway, looking downstream (click to open a video)

Jan & Ann at Craters of the Moon

Jan & Sam attempt another selfie

The family on the first night

Otto & Lara couldn't be there as Jeremy was hospitalised with gallstones as he was driving up to to Taupo. He recovered reasonably quickly, but this was a great shame, as it would have been the first time almost all the family has got together for a long time. 


But hey: some is better than none! 

On the day we got back from Taupo, I met up with some Nayland Old Girls - Robyn, Nik and Chris - at Toad Hall. While Jan & I had been in Taupo, the Nayland College Reunion had been on. As I felt it more important to go to the family event rather than the school one, we arranged a catch up with some of those who were staying on after the event for coffee and a goss instead.

Sam, Robyn, Chris & Nikki

 
Sam (& Jan) 

News from Nelson - February 2016

Hi everyone!
This month we went with Tracey and Erica to Westport to spectate at the Buller half marathon, because Gary, Karen, Karin and Ian all came up from Christchurch to compete (or, in the case of Karin and Ian, back from Austria). Jan and I rendezvoused with everyone else at Berlin's for dinner on the way down. We hadn't been to Westport quite a while, and it was a great trip. 

Erica at Berlin's

'Our team' completing the half marathon

While Gary, Karen, Karin and Ian all worked hard, Tracy, Erica, Jan and I did a bit of sightseeing, had some great cafe meals, and stayed overnight at the University of Canterbury field-station (thank you Jenny).

We also celebrated Frits's birthday at a new Italian restaurant in Nelson. Note the scintillating converstationalists at work below...

Frits, Neil, Amy & Kathleen

Jan & Frits making conversation on their smart phones

We caught up with Tracey and Erica at the Sarau Fair for some local beverages, produce, food, music and conversation, to celebrate the end of the blackberry harvest. It is always a fun afternoon and evening, kicking off at 4pm and going until 9-ish. Mellow.

Tracey at the Sarau Fair

Also this month, my PhD supervisor pulled out on my PhD project, for reasons of work overload on the very day I was about to upload the last piece of documentation to become a pre-candidate - my pre-proposal. Gulp. I asked if we could push my project back a year, but she said that this would not change the situation. Worse, as my secondary supervisor was now living in Australia and supervising remotely, and Uni statute said that a lead supervisor had to be on campus, my secondary supervisor could not become my lead supervisor. Even worse, my third 'advisor' who was at the Uni in NZ hadn't finished her PhD yet, so was unable to fill the role of lead supervisor. Combined, this essentially stopped my project dead in the water :-( 

I stewed on this for a couple of weeks, and tried to digest this news, having invested six months in working up my idea (August to February). Planning was done. The pre-proposal was done. I was ready to start. The University was going to fund my research (the deal has always been that I could do my PhD when our mortgage was gone - and we still have NZD$100k to go... so if I could get a "PhD for free" I could start early. AUT had been going to give me a "PhD for free" plus $1500 in expenses each year).

Then I spoke to a friend who had done her PhD at no cost through an Australian University... and thought about that idea for a while. After a while I decided to revert to my original idea of looking at emergent career leadership in New Zealand, and to work that embryonic project up into a pre-proposal, and apply to somewhere like the University of Queensland (we are there are a couple of prestigious career field professors) once my idea was reasonably well-formed.

I would imagine this will take quite a while to work up due to - once more - a very heavy workload this coming semester.


Sam (& Jan)

Letter for Hope with supporting actor, Jeremy Nelson

A couple of years ago, Jeremy was in a short film as a supporting actor. The film was "Letter for Hope".

New Zealand on Screen has just uploaded the movie, and it can be watched online at http://media-src.nzonscreen.com/0000/9298/15839.1803.HI.m4v or below:



Sam & Jan

What Otto & Lara got up to on their holidays

Otto and Lara came to stay, and I think they had a pretty good time with us.

What they got up to can be seen below!




We hope they can come and stay again soon, as it was such a pleasure to have them here :-)


Jan & Sam

And the award for electrical wardrobe lighting goes to...

As previously mentioned, Hartmut came to visit last year, and collectively, he and Jan sorted out a plan for my wardrobe lights. As you can see, Hartmut did indeed purchase the second half of the string, and now Jan has installed them! At last, they are complete:



:-)

Sam

Houzz: Houses from around the world

Houzz published a great movie consisting of images of houses from around the world, viewable here:

Sam 

Reference: Houzz (Jan 2016). Houzz TV: 144 Gorgeous Homes Around the Globe. Retrieved 7 January 2016 from http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/59071785/video/houzz-tv-144-gorgeous-homes-around-the-globe?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u2319&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery2

Christmas in the Kuwilsky-Young Household

I had bought bars of organic, fair trade dark and milk chocolate for everyone from a colleague of mine, Nic John, who is starting up his own business: Divine chocolate. I designed the wrapper, which Nic suggested could work well if cropped to a heart-shape. So I spent Christmas eve cutting and cropping our Christmas present wrapping.

Barb stayed with us over Christmas, and we had a pretty relaxing time. I started Christmas day with a walk up Christian's hill. The view was pretty good!

Barb, Mike, my folks, Tessa, Matty & baby Izzy arrived for Christmas present opening at Rose Road, with a waffle brunch. Donna was unfortunately working, so only joined us later on, at her family's new business at St Arnaud.

And of course we sang commercials. Because we can. Including the Kentucky Fried Chicken ad.

That was followed by lunner (has to be lunner as it was too late for lunch, but too early for dinner) up at Lake Rotoiti with Donna's family.

Barb brought up her game, Cards Against Humanity. We had a hilarious time playing it: pants-wettingly funny. Charlie had possibly over-indulged in some of the local hop products, with the result that his attempts at reading out the cards had us in stitches. He should have perhaps borrowed my glasses, but all-in-all it was more fun without!

Jan & I took Katie & Lily to the lake for a swim - though it was QUITE cold in the lake. The sandflies were - as usual - vicious; however, we also got introduced to the concept of a roll-on deet stick which was pretty cool. 

Below is a video of some of the happenings:



Jan & Sam

Peter Whipp: this is your life photobook flipbook

I had posted a flipbook in April of the photobook that I had made for my father, but the version that was put online only showed the left-hand pages (so not so very useful). So I have looked around online and found a better, more magazine-like format! The more useful photobook as a flipbook can be found here:



Sam

2015 Christmas Greetings

I made a Christmas video based on our year, which can be viewed below:

May the summer break be restful for you all, and give you recharge time with your friends and families


Jan & Sam