Nic managed to get a great little video of Logan singing some of his favourite songs while playing accompaniment on the xylophone…
mini-me
new zealand, t'internet
May 27, 2009
More Herald Guff
The New Zealand Herald is the most popular newspaper in NZ, and it does have a very nice website. However the quality of journalism sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. Take this article from today’s online edition, by a journalist complaining about the free use of online newspaper content by sites such as Google and how it’s threatening the existence of “professional” journalism. Two things strike me about this article:
1) The author says online newspapers should protect their content from search engines like Google, yet the whole story is published on an unprotected, freely searchable site like NZ Herald.
2) The author bangs on about the demise of “proper” journalism, but manages to use the non-existent word “staffs” as a plural of “staff”, not once but twice.
The Herald is full of such gems of journalistic bumbling and if I can be bothered I might post more as I inevitably come across them - past favourites include refering to Africa as a country, David Cameron as the UK prime minister and IT helpdesk staff as “Nazis”.
t'internet
May 20, 2009
Walnuts B&B
foreign parts
May 5, 2009
Bookathon
Leafing through some old papers, I came across this list of books that I read whilst backpacking in Asia and Australia for six months. It looks like a pretty hefty list now and I think it says a lot about where my head was at back then (or not), and also the amount of bus/boat/plane journeys involved that facilitated all that reading time!
Here we go anyway, chronologically starting with the first book, which if memory serves was a leaving gift from Aarron..
Travels with a Tangerine - Tim Mackintosh-Smith
The Year of Living Stupidly - James Eckardt
Porno - Irvine Welsh
The Return of the King - Tolkein
The Wisdom of Crocodiles - Paul Hoffman
Four Past Midnight - Stephen King
Foucault’s Pendulum - Umberto Eco
The Gate - Francois Bizot
One Hit Wonderland - Tony Hawk
An Anthology of Military Science Fiction
Galilee - Clive Barker
Green Light, White Powder - James Hawes
The Death of Ivan Illyich - Leo Tolstoy
Are You Experienced? - William Sutcliffe
The Peshawar Lancers - S M Stirling
The Ghosts of Sleath - James Herbert
Holy Fire - Bruce Sterling
Bear vs. Shark - Chris Bachendecker
The Genesis Code - John Case
Dog Days - Jeffery Lee
High Society - Ben Elton
Birdsong - Sebastien Faulks
Catcher In The Rye - J D Salinger
The Songs of Distant Earth - Arthur C Clarke
The Black House - Stephen King
Dust - Charles Pellegrino
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J K Rowling
Grimm Fairy Tales - The Brothers Grimm
Amtrak Wars (Volume 1) - Patrick Tilley
Silent Partner - Jonathon Kellerman
The Aachen Referendum - Andrew Roberts
Barnacle Bill the Spacer and Other Stories - Lucius Shepherd
Millenium People - J G Ballard
The Fourth Hand - John Irving
The Ends of the Earth - Lucius Shepherd
White Queen - Gwyneth Jones
Chickenhawk - Robert Mason
Vernon God Little - D B C Pierre
Bringing Down The House - Ben Mezrich
rambling
April 13, 2009
Easter Deck Building Marathon
I’ve just spent the last four days (of the long Easter weekend) working on the deck - Friday was an excellent start when a few guys came round to help and we laid out almost all the decking, great work fellas. Spent Saturday morning, Sunday morning and all day Monday finishing off little bits and some fiddly corners and notches. Not quite there yet, got some edging to do and one more decking plank, but it looks a lot more like a deck than it did a week ago! Thanks to everyone who helped out, check out the photos page for some pics (here and here)!
rambling
March 18, 2009
iPhone? iShouldBeSoLucky…
Y’know being a geek at heart I long to get an iPhone but the cost just put me off completely. However we recently had a contractor in work who was over from Sydney who could not resist telling me how his iPhone had “changed his life”. Well it is a nifty gadget there’s no denying, but what really stunned me was when he told me how much his had cost him… nothing. Yep, free. Zero, Zip. Nada. Turns out that the outrageously high cost of an iPhone is just a New Zealand-only arrangement. Check out these deals from Vodafone in Australia and New Zealand:
Australia:
A 24 month plan for AUS$69 a month includes 250 Mb data per month plus about $40 month of text and calls. AND the first three months access is free.
iPhone 16Gb cost: $191
(http://store.vodafone.com.au/iphone/)
New Zealand:
A 24 month plan for NZ$80 (AUS$64) a month also includes 250 Mb data, 600 texts and 120 mins of calls.
iPhone 16Gb cost: $699
(http://www.vodafone.co.nz/iphone/16gb-black.jsp)
Well you expect to pay a bit of a premium living in a relatively small and remote country such as New Zealand, but an extra $500 more for an iPhone? For what? Remember these deals are from the same company on the same kind of network.
NZers will already know the reason for this blatant rip-off, which is the lack of any real competition in the mobile market here - there are two main networks, Telecom and Vodafone, however the Telecom network is CDMA technology while the Vodafone network is GSM (for those old enough to remember, think Betamax vs. VHS). The upshot is that phones from one network don’t work on another, and iPhones don’t work on the Telecom network at all, hence absolutely zero competition and Vodafone’s license to print money in the form of captive iPhone users. Shame on you Vodafone!
rambling
March 10, 2009
The Two Wolves
I heard this little story on the radio, and I kind of liked it even though it’s a bit corny:
The Two Wolves
An old Grandfather said to his grandson, who came to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, “Let me tell you a story.
I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do.
But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times.” He continued, “It is as if there are two wolves inside me. One is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.
But the other wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger,for his anger will change nothing.
Sometimes, it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit.”
The boy looked intently into his Grandfather’s eyes and asked, “Which one wins, Grandfather?”
The Grandfather smiled and quietly said, “The one I feed.”
rambling
February 21, 2009
Anniversary
Last weekend the 16th of February rolled around and for those with reasonably long memories you will recall Nicole and I got married on this date last year. Well what with having a mortgage, small child and the current economic climate we decided to just have a small celebration so Nic and I had a lovely meal out at Thai Family Restaurant just off the waterfront at Eastern Beach. Its such a small place, hardly bigger than a decent sized lounge, but the food and the service were both excellent despite it being one of their busiest nights of the year. We are both huge fans of Thai cuisine and we treated ourselves to some satay chicken skewers to start with, followed by a selection of mains - Pad Thai (well it is a classic), Panang curry and a chicken & basil concoction. There was easily enough for four people so Nic and I took some home with us, as it was too delicious to abandon! We had a quick drink afterward at nearby La Mama but unfortunately a wind had kicked up which prevented us from taking our planned romantic stroll along the beach (unless we wanted to get soaked). Then our chariot arrived in the form of Charlotte who not only provided the transport, but also the babysitting services for the evening (thanks!!) and that was the end of our short but lovely anniversary celebration. Thanks to everyone who sent cards or texted congratulations. It’s been a fantastic year in so many ways and Nic, Logan and I are looking forward to it being the first of many, many more.
rambling
February 16, 2009
New Look
Right, after much humming and haa-ing I have finally decided on how to upgrade this blog site - I tried out a number of alternative solutions such as Silverstripe, Concrete5 and Joomla, but have decided for simplicities sake to stick with my trusty Wordpress platform. However I have upgraded to the latest 2.7 version and was pleasantly surprised at how much has been added since I last upgraded. Under the hood there are heaps of new features I am looking forward to trying out - the first one is the ability to import my extensive collection of photos from the Facebook social site into this blog, so that even my friends that are not on Facebook (I’m sure there must be some of you out there!) can keep up with our doings. Click on the “Photos” link at the top to see what I mean. More to come soon I am sure, watch this space..
rambling
December 11, 2008
Lakes trip
Well it’s been a mite too long since my last blog, but here we go. A few weeks back Nic and I packed up car and baby and headed off to Rotorua for the weekend, to stay at the St John bach in Hamurana again. As well as a nice weekend break this was also a chance to go to see our Tauranga-based friends Andrew and Janet, who were staying at nearby Lake Rotoiti for the weekend and had invitied us over to their place for a naming ceremony for their baby Xavier.
After a cruisy 3 1/2 hour drive after work on Friday we arrived in the pitch dark and an insane swarm of some kind of insect/moth things and managed to get inside the bach and put Logan to bed. We got up Saturday and drove to Lake Rotoiti, about 30 minutes away and ended up at the bach Andrew and Janet had rented. This had to be one of the most amazing baches I have seen, sleeping 12 inside and a garden on the waterfront, with its own jetty! Even better, one of Andrew’s friends from Tauranga had brought his speedboat with him! I got to try my hand at wakeboarding and would have probably been pleased with my efforts had I not been completely shown up by a 16 year old girl who stood up on her first go and proceeded to amaze everyone with her instant wakeboarding skills!
We also took part in the very nice naming ceremony arranged by Andrew and Janet, which consisted of a number of readings and everyone saying what they wished for Xavier in his future life, which I thought was a lovely touch. I wished him plenty of adventures, which will probably surprise no-one!
The next day we had a lazy Sunday morning and then went to the Rotoria Gondola, which is a cable car going up one of the nearby hills, the top of which gives some great views of the lake and surrounds. Logan was amazed, but predictably more engrossed in the wheels that made the cable car go than the view itself! I had a go on the “luge” which is a kind of controlled sledge on a concrete track that runs down the side of the hill - great fun! Although a bit pricey at $9 a go..
Fabulous weekend with fabulous weather!
Other stuff that has been going on lately… we bought a Christmas tree (a real one at Nic’s insistence!) which is now Logan’s favourite thing, he points at it and tries to say “Christmas tree” (to non-parent ears it probably sounds more like “iss uss eee”). I have been working on the deck and am pleased to say it is now actually starting to look like a deck - the posts are all in and most of the frame is up and some of the joists, basically just the remainder of the joists to go in and then laying the decking planks on top and Bob’s you uncle! Oh and some minor details like a fence and steps..
Lake Rotorua