Conversions

tupid metric system.

Diane would always chide me by saing 'it's easily
divisible units of 10.' But, had I the courage, I
would have told her to 'shove her divisions of ten
elsewhere...'

So, for now:

I am getting used to driving 50 in a school zone.

I don't mind anymore when I see that the weather will
only be 20 degrees.

And I am quite happy to only weigh 55.

(in kilometers per hour, degrees Celsius, and
kilograms, respectfully).

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On another note, I think (and you would probably
agree) that it would seem very reasonable for today's
date (September 28th, 2006) to be written as
9/28/2006. But to a Kiwi, it would be reasonable for
today to be 28 September 2006, or 28/9/2006. I really
have to remember that when I am checking the dates on
the milk carton, that 5/10/2006 really means that my
milk is good until October 5th.

(Dear Mary, I hope you don't hate me for telling the
next story...) As a result of this confusion, my
friend Mary (who will be starting her own adventure
here in three weeks) and I recently had a good
laugh... When she applied for her work visa, she
wrote her birthdate down 'wrong'. She wrote 8/12 for
August 12, and when she got her forms back, they had
written her date of birth as December 8. But because
Mary is such a creative thinker, she realized that
this is an opportunity for us to have 'New Zealand
birthdays' this year as well. We'll be celebrating
hers in December, and you are welcome to send me lots
of presents on November 5th.