Yesterday started out good, but gradually went down hill (see yesterday’s post), and that down hill spiral has continued into today.
It’s raining again this AM, which means no bike ride. I could go to the gym for a spinning class, but that just takes so much out of me, I don’t feel much like doing that. And on top of it all, I think I’m talking myself into being sick again.
At least I’m hoping that’s the case, and I’m not really getting sick. 
Ever have one of those days that are both good and bad at the same time?
Well, today is starting off to be one of those days, being both good and bad at the same time. The good part is work is a little slow, and there is nothing for me to do, but it’s also bad for the exact same reason.
It’s like when I ride my bike on the river trail with friends who are stronger than me. It’s good because there are no traffic lights or intersections to slow us down, but it’s bad because there are no traffic lights or intersections to slow us down, giving me a chance to catch my breath.
Oh well, such is life, so here I sit with nothing much else to do except post to my blog, and wait for the traffic to die down, before maybe heading home. I say maybe because I am expecting a shipment of wine, from one of the wine clubs I belong to, to be delivered by UPS today at work.
[I think I'll change all my ship to addresses to my home address, so this doesn't happen again.]
In the mean time, I’m going to go bug my co-workers. 
UPDATE: 12 PM
It’s too bad I didn’t go home early, since after trying to catch up on some paper work I always keep putting off [I think I know why now], I got all worked up when I found a number of paper work errors.
Fortunately they weren’t major problems, and I discovered them before an auditor did, but now I can’t help but wonder what other problems may be out there that haven’t been discovered yet.
Ever talk yourself into being sick?
Well I have, and I think I’m doing it again. And I’m not exactly sure why.
Maybe it’s because I’m getting stressed out over our trip to New Zealand, maybe it’s because the weather is turning foul again (it’s 39.9°F this morning), or maybe I’m starting to get stressed out again over all the idiotic (at least IMO) customers I have to deal with at work.
I actually thought I had come to grips with that sort of idiocy, but apparently that isn’t the case, as yesterday was just “one of those days” causing “one of those headaches” that doesn’t seem to want to go away.
Or maybe I am actually getting sick. I know I haven’t been sick this winter yet, and it would be just my luck to get sick before our trip to New Zealand.
Whatever it is, I’m not planning on going for a bike ride this morning. I just hope I can relax enough in the next hour or two, to muster enough enthusiasm to go for a spinning class at 9 AM.
Even though I was tired yesterday after my bike ride, I felt good. I didn’t do much after the ride, other than eat and rest, hoping I would be recovered enough tomorrow to maybe play around of golf.
Well, I am recovered today, but I have absolutely no interest in playing golf. I don’t even have any interest in going to the practice range.
Of course, I’m not sure why I should be so surprised, as it’s been about 2 months since I last played, and well over a month since going to the range to practice, and I haven’t had any burning desire to play all that time.
I’ve even turned down a few opportunities to play, because it would interfere with my bike riding, and even now that I’ve been sitting around the house all day today doing absolutely nothing, I still have no desire to golf.
It’s seems I’d rather be posting to my blog.
What has gotten into me?
I just have to get out of the house.
Maybe I’ll go to the gym. Believe it or not, I have more interest in doing that, than playing golf.
Well, after four itinerary changes, I think we’re finally set for our trip to New Zealand.
We leave the end of February, bound for Queenstown, spending the first 3 days at the Stoneridge Estate.
From there, we plan to visit a few wineries of the Central Otago region, as well as take a tour of Milford Sound (that seems to be on everyone’s list of sights to see), and take a jet boat ride (or maybe kayak) up the Dart River (it goes by some Lord of the Ring sites).
Beyond that.we have nothing specific planned until we get to Auckland, where I have 4 nights booked at the Westin Auckland, Lighter Quay. (I’ve used my Starwood points, so I can change those dates if needed without a penalty.) Total time on the ground in New Zealand – 17 days.
Touring the wineries is easy, we have a car, but how to best experience Milford Sound and the Dart River is proving a lot more daunting than I had expected.
There are just too many different tours to choose from, with prices ranging widely, especially for Milford Sound, which involves a helicopter ride (not my favorite form of transportation, but…..).
Anywaze, so I’ve decide to resort to asking for advice and suggestions (I’m hoping all the NZ links I’ve put in this post will get to someones attention), from those in the know, who either live in New Zealand, or have visited there, and can offer some recommendations.
Our hosts at the Stoneridge Estate, have recommended the Glacier Southern Lakes Helicopters company, and Dart River Safaris as the best tour operators, but there is at least one other helicopter company that offers tours.
Price isn’t a major obstacle, as I’ve always regretted being cheap, and then missing out on something, but at the same time, I want to be sure I’m getting good value for my dollar (even with the favorable exchange rate).
The other day, my company was audited by one of our customers, and one of the findings was, we did not have a procedure to address how we would handle a request to return customer owned property.
Can you believe that? It’s not enough just to comply with the request, we have to have a procedure to tell us to comply with the request.
I only wish I was joking, but I’m not.
Then today watching Jeopardy (I know, but Sylvia likes it), the woman in the lead failed to bet enough, in final jeopardy, to cover the doubling of the bet by the second place contestant.
Had she never watched Jeopardy before?
When you’re in last place, the best bet is typically $0 (the exception being if you’re so far behind, you have bet something to catch up to the other 2 contestants in case they miss), because your only chance of winning is neither other contestant knows the answer, and then having to bet and answering the question (technically questioning the answer) incorrectly, makes you the default winner.
Second place is the tough one. You have to bet enough to cover the doubling of the bet by the last place contestant, if he’s stupid enough to bet anything, yet enough to at least cover the 1st place contestants current total, assuming they don’t know the answer, and stupidly bet $0, or more in case they do know the answer yet stupidly not bet correctly.
It’s confusing I know, it’s hard to know for sure what to do when in second place, but when you’re in first place it’s really very simple. You have to bet enough to cover the doubling of the second place contestants winnings, because you have to assume they know the answer, and that’s the only way you can assure yourself victory.
Anywaze, this contestant, even though she knew the answer, ultimately lost, because she didn’t bet enough to cover the doubling of the 2nd place contestant, who risked it all, and knew the answer.
Although I have seen it before, it still never ceases to amaze me, there are people [and companies] out there who just never get it.