MOVEMBER - Update #3, Movember 8, 2012

The ol' moustache is coming in rather nicely, now (almost) thicker than my eyebrows (though, in the interest of full disclosure, I have thick eyebrows). Big thanks to all those who have donated thus far, almost halfway to my goal of $750! Great work all around.

As always, www.mobro.co/davidreinhardt to donate if you haven't already.

Just give it a little more time...

MOVEMBER - Update #2, Movember 4, 2012

Just a quick one today. The moustache is coming in rather nicely. I wrote a haiku to commemorate my nose neighbour:

Hair above my lip
Thick as Siberian woods
A portrait of man

DONATE TO MY FACE

Also, as self-serving as it is, Happy Birthday to ME.

That is all.

MOVEMBER - Post #1, Movember 1, 2012

Hello dear readers. As we move into November here in NZ, I would like to call your attention to a great charity event that occurs in this month every year - MOVEMBER. For the uninitiated, men across the globe grow moustaches in an effort raise money and awareness for a wide range of men's health issues, chief among them prostate cancer and depression. As I have done for the past 4 years, I will be growing a moustache and raising money for the cause.

Due to the varying quality of soup-strainers that are on display throughout the month, Movember often gets a negative rap - "Everyone looks so gross" they say. "You look like you should be in jail" they cry. Well, I am here not to disagree with (some) of those sentiments, but to say that to get lost in those arguments misses the whole point of the month. At last count, approximately 50% of the earth's population is male, and thus directly impacted by the prospect of prostate cancer. When adding in the mental health aspect as well, the number of people, both men and women, that stand to benefit from the money raised by the Movember campaign surely stands in the hundreds of millions. Thus, if you are making some type of stand against Movember (or know someone who is) based on "moustaches are gross," I say to you: pull your head out of your ass and make a positive difference!

Now, for my personal campaign - why donate to me? I'll give you 3 reasons:
1. As I am currently living in New Zealand, I'll actually be growing my moustache while upside down. Truly an impressive feat, and one worth donating to.
2. Even though I'm thousands of miles away from anywhere, it's really easy to find me and donate: my Movember homepage URL is mobro.co/davidreinhardt (just type it into your browser and you'll come to my page), and I'll be posting updates there every 3-4 days. Also, both my Facebook and this blog will be getting regular updates as well.
3. BUT, the BEST reason to donate to me is...If I raise AT LEAST $750, I pledge to keep my moustache until I return home! The date of my return is a top secret date (so donating is a bit of a gamble - will I have my mo for 1 extra day, or 20? WHO KNOWS?) in December, but push me over that donation threshold and I'll have a moustache for at least some of the following life events: Grad. Job interviews. Hiking the Milford and Kepler Tracks. Climbing Mount Doom. Dealing with airport security. So yeah, let's make that happen.

Well, that's about it. Thanks for reading this waffle, and remember to donate for a worthy cause this month - if not to me, then anyone else you know, it's a great cause and a great campaign.

Cheers from NZ,

Dave

Day 01. Feel the intensity.

Beer Friday! - Cider Saturday?

Good morning/afternoon/evening to all, and welcome to yet another specially themed edition of Beer Friday!. I am aware that having weekly special editions takes away from the whole concept of what makes them special, but that's something you'll have to reconcile as you read along. I believe you can do it.

As I'm sure you can tell from the title of the post, the theme of this week's Beer Friday! is not actually beer at all, but CIDER. Summer is rapidly approaching here in the Southern Hemisphere, and while Dunedin does its best to cling on to the last vestiges of winter, it has stopped raining enough lately for the sun to make a cameo appearance or two. As such, I was rather feeling like a summery type drink this week, and what better than cider to fill that need? How about three different ciders? Yeah. When I wrote that little section, I was intending it to be a rhetorical question, but then I realized halfway through I had an answer. Writer's craft at its finest! Anyway, read on for the reviews...

Beer Friday! - Recession Special

Hello again folks, and welcome to a specially themed edition of Beer Friday! I've been in New Zealand for over 8 months now (!), and as I have not been working, my funds are starting to show signs of drying up. I will make it to the end of my time here without having to resort to nefarious means of money-making or dumpster-diving for food, but I am starting to feel the pinch (my trip to Australia did not help matters, but that is not likely to elicit any sympathy, as Australia was AWESOME). As such, I've passed on trips down to Castle MacAdam the past few weeks, and instead will be delving deep into my memory to review three beers that can be kindly described as "cheap" (but realistically described as "fit only for butt-chugging"). Read on for a (hopefully) humourous look at some of the lower-echelon beers this fine nation has to offer.

Upside Down Dave Goes Across the Ditch

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Apparently it's been a month since I last made a post, and that's just embarrassing for all parties involved, but mostly just me. I don't have a good excuse, but here are some bad ones:
- I was busy with school
- My internet cut out for a few days at the end of September
- I was in Australia
- I lost my fingers motivation to write for a while
So, deepest apologies, there will be more frequent posts in the next few weeks as I hit the stretch-drive of my New Zealand experience. Now, back to the show!

As I mentioned in the bad excuse section above, I recently spent some time in the great nation of Australia, in and around the delightful city of Melbourne (or as the locals call it, "Melbin." I could expend a few thousand words discussing the horrible butchery that the Aussies submit the English language to, but I'll just say that it is often cringe-worthy . Loyal readers - should that be pluralized? - of this blog will remember my July vacation, when my cousin made a visit to NZ and we spent a few days tearing up the slopes and bars of Queenstown. Well, this trip served as a reciprocation of that visit, as I crossed the Tasman to visit him on his territory. Read on for a recap of all the eating cool stuff we did!

A Black Night to be Green

This past Saturday, September 15th, I had the privilege of attending an All Blacks v. South Africa Rugby match - their first meeting in the expanded Rugby Championship. Below is a recap of the game and experience, written in the "Purple Prose" style of turn-of-the-century sportswriters. Do enjoy.

The grass below sat expectantly, an emerald carpet smooth as a dance floor, pining eagerly for the unchoreographed monster truck waltz between Springbok and All Black. Shielded from the harsh, biting wind and rain on offer in Dunedin, the turf could have been a transplant from Versailles, with the Sun King himself as likely to run out of the tunnel as the modern-day gladiators the crowd was shouting for. The dome above shone and reflected an ethereal light, a glittering monolith standing in stark contrast to its predecessor - if Carisbrook, the original "House of Pain" was built on gritty, dirt-under-the-fingernails footy, then this, the "House of Pane" is a fitting monument to the new game; flashier, faster and made-for-TV.