This is very sad news. Trebek’s stage 4 diagnosis was announced about a week after we learned that my dad’s pancreatic cancer had advanced to stage 4. My dad passed away just under a year ago. I was really rooting for Alex and of course RBG as well. It’s just a terrible disease. Doctors say that there are promising…

Lol, that sounds terrible, though maybe it’s reaching towards a beer cheese soup thing? I don’t know, I’ve never had beer cheese soup. Weirdest thing I’ve used in Kraft mac and cheese was coconut milk (the bland Silk brand stuff that tries to pass itself as a milk substitute, not the canned stuff). It was acceptable…

Luckily it sounds like this guy is just going to the KS House of Representatives. So not to DC like the other guy.

I guess we could ask his new family to do that, at least for the first couple months, so we can see that he’s transitioning well.

The job would be in Raglan. Here in Honolulu we have a very high cost of living, so I don’t think that itself would be too much of a shock for me. The main shock would be living in such a tiny, remote town—while Hamilton is reachable, it’s not just a quick little trip to get to city conveniences. But it is surrounded…

That’s good to know that she was happy with your parents and when you came back. We’re worried that our conure might be mad and lose his trust in us if we are away for too long. He’s sweet with us, but I think he has a streak of vengeance in him lol. He doesn’t squawk super loud (kind of at a conversational sound level…

That’s nice, yeah, maybe some pics showing he was happy in his new life would go a long way. If it’s not an acquaintance who takes him, I wouldn’t expect much, maybe just for a month or two.

Aw, it’s nice to have devoted dogs. I grew up with dogs and they are so loving :)

Cool, hi! I know NZ is expensive and isolated, but so is Hawaii, so I don’t know if it would be that much of a change. I think my skills might be more in demand in NZ (which is why this fixed-term position is able to recruit from outside the country in a global pandemic). The offer I have in Hawaii is about as good as…

That’s exactly the dilemma. NZ is amazing enough that if all else were equal, we might be willing to give up our bird—we’d be sooo sad, but we’d console ourselves as long as he had a good new home. But choosing permanent vs. short-term job at a stage when we’d really like to settle (I’m 35) makes it extra tough.

Yeah, we love the little bird. I do wonder if someone would look after him for 2 years with the possibility of us getting him back after that. Thing is, I think our bird would remember us after 2 years, but he might be pretty angry that we left him! Not that it would be impossible, but it might be hard to regain his…

I know, it’s been a fantasy of mine to move there, but the parrot thing makes it a more serious commitment in my mind. The election outcome is definitely a consideration, sad as that is. Luckily I have until the beginning of next week to decide, so we’ll see what we know by then.

We’ve joked that there must be some smuggling ring bringing animals into NZ. Or have him on a ship that gets close enough to shore that he can just fly the rest of the way! Not realistic, but we can dream.

Thanks. Yeah, we tried emailing a local parrot group, but no response--not sure how often they monitor the email. So maybe posting on their Facebook page. Might also be someone at work (who we know of, but don’t know) who likes parrots, so there’s a lead there. Trying to figure out what options there are.

So true, NZ life isn’t at a standstill like here. I was joking with my husband, “We should go to NZ just so we can go to a dentist!” We’ve been too afraid to go here.

Happy birthday! Very nice colors. I can’t wait to have my own place some day and escape the white white white that seems favored by rentals. 

Suuuper cute!!! Perfect costume, especially because she’s still totally mobile in it :)

Happy Halloween! Totally unrelated to Halloween, I have a huge life decision I’m facing in the next week. I’ve been offered a job in New Zealand! It’s a fixed two year position, and the border is still closed, but it falls under an essential work exception that would get me a visa much sooner than if waiting for…

Congrats!!! That must feel awesome. And 7 more opportunities to display your awesomeness :)

Yay, that’s so great to hear! What a relief. Wishing continued good health to you all.