Jack Frost nipping at your nose - 28/06/99

Well, mega frost on the back lawn on Thursday, first real one of the season. Shortest day has been and gone, so at least the days are going to start lengthening. The cold is starting to arrive, the high on Saturday for Auckland was 9 degrees, I think.
Welcome to Penny, my sister, who is now connected, although I am not sure how well or how often.
Shipley managed to fit both feet in her mouth the other day when she went on the offensive about Jon Hawkesby's possible payout from TVNZ. The whole golden handshake thing seems to be way out of hand. Seems the best way of getting ahead is to work in a top position in a government organisation.
Tank Commander Spice (JS) is spending considerable amounts of time with foot in gob. She must be getting a taste for shoe leather. They called for her resignation again, ho hum. I have reached the conclusion that I think National will need a new leader into the election if they are to win. She has done nothing for two years other than get in trouble. She's tough, but she's stupid. Should be in the All Black front row.
Three teenage girls attacked a 20-year old mother and her young daughters in their home in Levin. The attack lastest 12 hours, the oldest was 16.
A convicted rapist escaped Paremoremo last week, and was recaptured over the weekend, was lready on preventative detention.
Auckland City Council has decided to sell it's shares in the Airport and use the money for Britomart (dead clever, that is) and fixing the drainage.
They announced that GPS readings are out by up to 200 metres in Australia and New Zealand. Can't say it bothers me that much.
In a move that I morally am very uncertain about, a pissed off ACC customer stabbed and killed an ACC case worker in Henderson on Thursday. After getting nothing out of them and being screwed around when I crippled my calf muscle, I hate the ACC and all they stand for. With the new approach in July, we still have to pay ACC for a backlog of claims and we (the company) have never had a claim. My personal claim was never paid so I feel like pulling the same sort of stunt with them. "Oh, we seem to have lost your documentation" when they want us to pay them, or perhaps the classic "Your file has been closed". Feel sorry for the woman killed, as the anger is probably more deservingly directed further up the chain.
Eight people decided they didn't want to see the All Blacks play South Africa in a fortnight at Carisbrook and died on the roads instead. Excellent weekend for emergency services, glad I stayed home.
Rugby had some moments over the weekend. They spent all week saying the French really lift themselves for tests against NZ, then they got thumped 54-7. They scored a soft try just after half time when the pulled a good move, but in the first half they had heaps of possession and did nothing with it, 30-0 was halftime score. Good game though, Umaga got three, Wilson one or two, Cullen one, Marshall two I think. Jonah wasn't even in the reserves. Last game before Adidas takes over, who also sponsor Jonah.
Didn't see the Australia England centenary game, Australia won. Who would believe that the Warriors could win two in a row! But they did. Balmain must suck. The new captain, Jason Simons, has made a big difference. Interesting to see who will be in charge when Ridge finally returns.
The really big news was Wales beating South Africa 29-19, which confirms Graham Henry's position and 2ic to God in Wales. Compare that to last year's game when Wales was beaten in Pretoria 96-13.
In Origin III, it was a draw, so Queensland win. Bit slack but there you go.
In the third netball test, the Silver Ferns beat the South Africans by about 18 goals, less than the other two games but still a good win. They better not relax, before the last champs they beat them by 18 goals and then lost to them in the World Champs semi I think.
Radio Sport raved about the last test at Athletic Park all week, and the bloody "Legendary All Black Team" was announced on Friday. Wankers. These people seem to think they are contributing to the world by making up a team that never played together. I think what they need is a PlayStation game that lets them do exactly that then they can just shut up.
Devlin (on Radio Sport) made a classic comment the other morning. It was announced that the under-17 World Soccer Champs held here in November is having 20 games broadcast live in 80 countries. Then he says "And research just to hand from the Ministry of Tourism tells us not one person in those 80 countries is a potential tourist". Did I mention previously they weren't willing to assist with funding of the tournament, and yet felt APEC was going to be a winner with tourists? I can't believe why anyone in their right mind would want to visit Auckland whilst a bunch of bureaucrats were playing with themselves and with half the motorway system shut down for their benefit. Don't come to Auckland the second weekend in September, trust me. I even don't want to be here. We are thinking of telling our customers we are reachable by phone only.
Kids are now on holiday, going to try to take a long weekend with them this weekend. Should happen with luck.
Toys are muddling along, got some cool new samples last week, including one that almost needs an R rating. I love toys, just have to convince other people to buy some. Sold about 25 Lara's to Lucozade the other day. And am going to try to get exclusive on Star Trek product for NZ this week with the blessing from the guy who handles Paramount Studios interests in NZ.
In the really important sport, the Orcas got a game on Saturday morning, played on Mangere Mountain, really nice spot actually. We won 2-0, the other team had their moments but never really worked together. Had one really big scary kid but he couldn't do it on his own. The lads are really starting to pull together (They were shockers at practice). Rory had a reasonable game, did some good work. We are having a practice game against the Tigers this Thursday, they were the only team to beat us last season and we meet them in about a fortnight for a real match. This is the big one. Not that there is any pressure or anything. Elsie is knitting a scarf in the club colours for Rory, but I want it.
Didn't go see Paul play and he scored his first two goals of the season in a 7-2 win. They were playing at Marcellin, which we just about drove past on the way to pick up Elsie (which is why we couldn't stop).
Diana had her birthday, we did lunch with Hannah and she has been using her new stereo (little thing for the bedroom, and no, we don't have a copy of Bolero in case you were wondering). She has a price list to do for Stanley Tools, so spends quite a lot of time on the computer, in the bedroom, and now can listen to music. She is a bit sensitive about the age thing, saw and ad on telly mentioning better rates for over 35 and I said "ooh look" meaning both of us (eventually) and she got thingy.
Birthday party season well on top of us, Hannah went to Max's party midweek, then Rory went to Tylers, then Hannah went to Emmalenes over the weekend. Ryans and Bens coming in the next week or so.
We purchased about 40 small pokemon at the Takapuna market yesterday, plus some pokemon clothing (Pokemon, short for Pocket Monsters, is the most popular thing with kids at the moment). Should have scratched that itch for a while. Later, the Warehouse were selling All Blacks (Action Man with a different head) for $10 each or three for $20 so I bought some. Turns out they are fully articulated for for less than $8 each a bargain. Now Rory has Action Men that not only don't look like Action Man, but they are quick up the wing as well (they only did Michael Jones, Cullen, and Wilson). We only unwrapped one at this stage. Emmalenes party was at Lollipop Land so Rory came with Jared and so he had a pretty good day, all things considered. He is going to Circus School today with Harry.