Awesome weather on Saturday, crap on Sunday.
LOCAL NEWS
Winston Peters (MP and leader of New Zealand First party) and former MP Ross Meurant hit the headlines as being a recipient of a $300,000 bribe in the Scampi fishery thing. The allegations were made under parliamentary privilege and then TVNZ dug deeper. Winston Peters is now suing TVNZ for $7m, as you would expect. Here comes another winebox.
Huge fuss about Olympic boxer who killed his daughter continued all week. Debate over rehabilitation, forgiveness, and being a complete scumbag raged in all quarters. No easy answer. Some people said that kids that fall of the rails lose hope if their chance of redemption is flattened (ie if this guy doesn't go to Athens). Others point out that murderers shouldn't represent their country given that people with cannabis convictions can't enter the US or Australia.
Some teenage moron did evolution a favour and stood on the motorway and got hit by a truck near us on Friday, mucked up traffic that morning something rotten.
NZ fruit labels are on sale in China to make fruit look like it came from NZ. I am sure there are labels from other countries too, but local press don't care if they are faking other country's fruit.
Apparently Australians are buying property in Invercargill. They are buying houses for $100,000+ and renting them to students for $200 a week. It's kind of funny because usually it's NZers buying houses on the Gold Coast and renting them for, um, nothing.
Sick waste of time interview last night on the telly of the woman who married Scott Watson, the guy jailed for Ben & Olivia's murder. She has four kids to four different fathers, and they all now call Mr Watson (still in
jail) "Dad". This shouldn't be news.
WORLD NEWS
Handover of Iraq happens in two days.
REAL SPORT
Rory's water polo team had a tight game, think it was 5-3, over a much tougher St Mary's team. He did okay, didn't score, but one awesome pass set up a goal. Then team 3 needed players so him and David played for them. The game was stopped by a fire alarm and we misplaced the goalie but she was okay. The game carried on and although it was looking dodgy for a while in the last quarter when both Rory and David had a rest, Rory came on and sent the ball forward and they scored again to with 9-5. Rory got three goals in that game.
Hannah was playing the dreaded Birkenhead Birds, who gave us a 7-0 thumping (our worst of the season) in our first meeting. They arrived with only six players, so we gave them four and played a friendly (according to the rules, you must have seven players within ten minutes of the start time or forfeit). They had five arrive at 20 past, so we balanced off the teams and continued. We nearly scored a couple of times but couldn't, and let one in badly so lost 0-1, hell of a lot better than last time but the scorecard will show a 2-0 win as they defaulted. Kind of a cheap win but gets us some points. We next play a team that I think was below us in the other group.
Rory's team played a team they drew with, on the same pitch at the girls, so I got to see the whole game. It was a high scoring match, 3-2 up at half time. A free kick was given to our team just outside the penalty area and the hags from the other team were screeching "bend it like Beckham!" (now a derogatory term, see below). Stephen slotted it, beautiful shot. They won 5-3 but it was 3-3 for a while.
SPORT
Euro 2004 has been interesting and awesome. It's great getting up to watch a game. England scraped through with a good 4-2 win over the Swiss. France nearly blew it. Germany lost to Czech Republic and the Netherlands won so they went through second and Germany went home. Portugal went through, Spain went home. Italy won their last game but it wasn't enough because the Swedes and Danes knew a 2-2 draw was all they needed to qualify. Italy are probably the unluckiest as the went out based on goals for and against with the other two in a three way tie (would have been better if they had won another game).
England lost the first quarter final in penalties, if you didn't know that you would be living in a cave without a newspaper delivery. Then France lost to Greece Saturday morning our time 1-0. Then a 0-0 bore between Netherlands and Sweden with a penalty shootout that the Dutch won (first time after losing last four penalty shootouts). I remember the game where Jaap Stam missed one and another guy (was it Bergkamp?) - that was at Euro 2000, I think. This morning the Czechs were struggling to crack the Danish defence then did it in style winning 3-0. The Czechs play the Greeks (and should win) and the Netherlands play Portugal (too close to call, think Portugal might win).
All sport in England this weekend has been cancelled. No Wimbledon, no cricket.
All Blacks played Argentina, who cares. I think Australia beat England too. Rugby is so boring, all these reset scrums and stuff. Give me soccer any day.
MY SAD LIFE
Well, Tuesday was a big day for the children. Rory aced his talk on dragons which was finished at the last minute. Hannah got a gold award for her art in the school exhibition (which means it is displayed at the local intermediate school) and then got O (for awesome) in hiphop dancing (not really, but I can't remember the grade, it was the one below maximum (which requires 95% to achieve). She also got honours in Jazz, which was what she really wanted.
Diana's birthday passed without too much drama. She went to work as she usually does, and we had a nice dinner for three of us (Hannah doesn't come home from dancing until 7pm). Rory and I did the dishes, as agreed prior to the day.
Jono, did you do a flash version of cave? Rory spotted one on a site called addictinggames.com that looks like your cave game. It's one of the most popular ones there. (I said happy birthday to Steph)
Paul Chambers turns 21 on the 2nd of July.
Mum disappears for about six weeks on a grand tour this week.
Spent some of Sunday doing a Six Million Dollar Man on Mr Vader. We can rebuild him, we have the technology.
Rory's science fair project continues, along with a continuing stream of homework.
Hannah wants to play in the inter-school soccer team. I may be coaching but not sure if Hannah should play in the A team or B team. It's mixed teams so in theory the top team is likely to be all Year 6 boys, a Year 5 girl would be doing well to get into it.
NEWS FROM LAST WEEK
I forgot to mention my watch strap broke just before we went away to Christchurch, I have been without it for ten days and just about got used to not having it. It drove me (and Diana) crazy for a while (because I would ask her what the time was every five bleems, especially on the plane when I couldn't look at my cellphone).
And let's talk about Christchurch for a sec. In particular, the Avon River. Pardon? River? I think not. It's barely a streamlet, perhaps a trickle hoping to become a creek. It's about two metres wide in places and four at most and flows slower than someone with a prostate problem. And punting on the Avon, that looks so pathetic it's not funny.
You don't have to read the bit at the end, unless you hate England.
Have a good week.
Rob
THE ENGLAND GAME - PENALTIES IN DETAIL, OR HOW COME DOING A BECKHAM IS NOT A GOOD THING ANY MORE
Portugal versus England quarter final. What a game. England lead 1-0 for most of the game, Portugal equalise late (again). Extra time, no goal in the first half, one each in the second, Portugal first then England.
Penalties:
England: Beckham shoots first, slips and cocks it up over the bar. I wouldn't have let him take one at all. He's crap at them. (Later video analysis shows the ball rolled to one side just before he kicked it)
Portugal: Deco scores, 1-0 to Portugal
England: Owen slots it. 1-1, England still have a chance.
Portugal: Sumao scores, 2-1 to Portugal
England: Lampard scores, 2-2
Portugal: Rui Costa takes it, and misses! 2-2 still. Rui Costa scored the second goal, he's a good player.
England: John Terry's hands are shaking when he places the ball, but scores. 3-2 to England.
Portugal: Ronaldo (the one that plays for Man Utd) scores. 3-3
England: Owen Hargreaves, late sub, scores (first time England haven't scored in middle of goal, first time goalie stood his ground)
Portugal: Maniche scores.
That's 4-4 after five. Now it's sudden death shootout. A different player has to take each one. Nobody has saved one yet. Only two misses.
England: Ashley Cole scores. 5-4
Portugal: Postiga (scored the first Portugese goal) scores with a bobbly one. 5-5
England: Vassell, Ricardo goes the right way and saves it! 5-5
Portugal: Ricardo takes it and scores! Portugal win.
28 June 2004
22 June 2004
The last tango in Christchurch - 22/06/04
The weather has been pretty horrible in Auckland.
I told you it would be late, send refund requests and complaints to sod_off@email.co.nz
LOCAL NEWS
News services were confused about a car load of teenagers that went over a cliff. Two bodies were found on one station, three on the other, then they decided there was only two before the end of the piece. Meanwhile, the cliff varied from 80 to 140 metres in height, as they do. Five days later they still hadn't found two of them.
I saw this old shaved head cop on the news talking about a fake documentation shop that had been supplying fake degrees, birth certificates, and lotto tickets to mainly Chinese immigrants. I realised he was a guy that was in my class at school (Koos, it was George Koria). He was quoted in the paper the next morning.
The Warehouse (a low-end department store) have been told off for selling a very big Easter egg with an advert suggesting that children can "pig out for hours". I totally agree, let's ban Easter eggs.
A New Zealand boxer going to Athens has been revealed as having been previously convicted of the manslaughter of a five month old step daughter.
Latest polls have Labour catching National and the rest of the parties well within the margin of error. The new Maori party started life with 2% support.
WORLD NEWS
(more this week because I watched CNN in the room when there was nothing else happening)
There are concerns about shortages of cars in Iraq for car bombs, and recent membership drives for suicide squads are struggling for success.
The death of Paul Johnson in Saudi was another example of the media taking something too far and overdoing it. I am sure the hostage takers were pleased with how much coverage it got on CNN. Again, you would think this guy was an ex-president or war hero with the fuss they made. The fact that more people in the US die per hour choking on a chilli dog than die in a week in Saudi from having their head cut off is beside the point.
SpaceShipOne has been to space and back. If it goes again within ten days they win the $10m prize.
I think the world should ignore the Bill Clinton book. He was a lying b*st*rd and people shouldn't buy his book.
REAL SPORT
Rory scored a goal at training at Water Polo, but complained about sore knees all week afterward. I think it is growing.
At training for Hannah on Thursday, the girls finally beat the boys team they play. They were low on numbers, only ten of them there, so they did well. Was only 1-0 but a win is a win. They've drawn twice and lost about three times.
Rory's water polo team lost 1-9 to a team from a swim school. Rory though that was a bit unfair.
All soccer was cancelled for the weekend due to bad weather, first cancellation of the season. I was very disappointed, even though I wasn't there to see it. Just about went to watch complete strangers playing in Hagley Park in Christchurch anyway (that is one big park).
SPORT
The Euro soccer has been great. Greece has made it through, as has Portugal (by beating Spain for the first time in ages). In our hotel, we could only get Sky Sport 1, which had the sodding golf on all weekend (so the only time I couldn't get Euro on Sky Sport 1 was when I couldn't get one of the other channels, typical). Italy need a win tomorrow, and Germany and Holland are competing for the last place in Group D the next day, playing different teams.
England beat Croatia 4-2 this morning, after being 0-1 down. France go through after beating the Swiss 3-1, it was 1-1 for a while. England play Portugal and France play Greece.
The All Blacks beat the Poms 36-12, in a game that England had a player sent off in the tenth minute (cheating sod, he deserved it in the first game, too). The ABs lost a player for ten minutes at the end, and still scored a try in that time. Missing a player in the scrum upset things for quite a while, as the Poms were deliberately letting the ABs collapse the scrum. There is nothing more dull that a scrum be re-set over and over again.
MY SAD LIFE
I can't really remember to what happened last week now.
We went to see the latest Harry Potter movie on Wednesday night, but was pretty stressed getting everything organised as Hannah comes home late from dancing. Movie was good, I suppose. Saw a trailer for the new thunderbirds movie and it looks like it really sucks. Looks like Spy Kids 4.
Rory got high distinction in a baby geek computer test that he did at school. Only three Year 7s got it and four year 8s. We have documentary proof he is a geek. We found out on Friday when we were already in Christchurch.
No results for Hannah's dancing yet.
Nanny looked after the kids while we were away. They all went to see Shrek 2 on Saturday with Gavin. Granny came and had lunch on Sunday with them. Rory beat Gavin in Warhammer at Games Workshop.
Diana is currently enjoying her last day as a 30-39 age group person. Big day is tomorrow, but she's working so it will be a bit of a non-event.
WHAT WE DID IN CHRISTCHURCH
It was busy getting ready for the trip to Christchurch, but we got there in the end. Only just made the plane, parked in the wrong car park, couldn't find a car park, etc. Once we got on the plane things calmed down a bit. I went to HP for a tour and a meeting then met up with Diana at the apartment.
Christchurch is an interesting place. The city really is built around the cathedral in cathedral square. Everywhere you go there is another sodding stone church (AFG syndrome for those that know). Lots of stone buildings, huge old schools and churches.
The don't seem to really know about road rules, in fact they don't seem to know what a road is. Around the cathedral there are footpaths that seem to be okay to drive on. We never felt safe outside. Even in the botanic gardens the occasionally car would whizz through. Funny, they honk their horns to say thanks if someone pulls over out of their way.
We did the tourist thing on Sunday and went to Akaroa, a small village on the harbour in Banks Peninsula. Went out on a harbour cruise, saw penguins, gannets, petrels, an albatross, a seal, tons of shags, terns, seagulls, and finally three Hector's dolphins (funny little grey and black ones). In a place called little river we saw an old red phone box, still being used (these days they have been retired most places, they would get vandalised a lot). At birdlands we stopped and collected small rocks from a beach that is covered in small round rocks. They had all been washed down from the alps across the alluvial plain and into the water and then the ocean pushed them back onto the beach. There was no sand on the beach at all. We had fish and chips at a little place in Akaroa. Diana wanted tomato sauce, and decided everyone else did too. When she opened the packet it burst like a ripe red fragmentation grenade and went all over herself, me, and passing tourists. If someone had yelled "bang" when it happened, there would have been people lying everywhere screaming "I'm hit!".
On the bus back from Akaroa, there was a horrible obnoxious American woman that giggled the whole time for no obvious reason. It was most disconcerting, I am surprised the woman next to her didn't try to move. Diana was ready to go strangle her. I would had to think what sort of noises she would make in other circumstances.
The Maori new year was being celebrated in Cathedral Square on Saturday, lots of traditional Maori things took place. They had Maori Idol (where they sang), and Maori Fear Factor. This whole Maori new year thing is pretty new, haven't really heard of it before last year. There is talk of Queen's Birthday weekend being replaced by a day around the shortest day of the year.
On Monday morning we didn't really have time to do anything too serious so we went and watched Shrek 2 in a warm movie theatre with four other people then went to the airport. We were pretty glad to get home. I missed the kids a lot, sad but I did.
We picked the kids up on the way home, Rory from drumming and Hannah from a friend's house. The cats didn't seem to have missed us.
I told you it would be late, send refund requests and complaints to sod_off@email.co.nz
LOCAL NEWS
News services were confused about a car load of teenagers that went over a cliff. Two bodies were found on one station, three on the other, then they decided there was only two before the end of the piece. Meanwhile, the cliff varied from 80 to 140 metres in height, as they do. Five days later they still hadn't found two of them.
I saw this old shaved head cop on the news talking about a fake documentation shop that had been supplying fake degrees, birth certificates, and lotto tickets to mainly Chinese immigrants. I realised he was a guy that was in my class at school (Koos, it was George Koria). He was quoted in the paper the next morning.
The Warehouse (a low-end department store) have been told off for selling a very big Easter egg with an advert suggesting that children can "pig out for hours". I totally agree, let's ban Easter eggs.
A New Zealand boxer going to Athens has been revealed as having been previously convicted of the manslaughter of a five month old step daughter.
Latest polls have Labour catching National and the rest of the parties well within the margin of error. The new Maori party started life with 2% support.
WORLD NEWS
(more this week because I watched CNN in the room when there was nothing else happening)
There are concerns about shortages of cars in Iraq for car bombs, and recent membership drives for suicide squads are struggling for success.
The death of Paul Johnson in Saudi was another example of the media taking something too far and overdoing it. I am sure the hostage takers were pleased with how much coverage it got on CNN. Again, you would think this guy was an ex-president or war hero with the fuss they made. The fact that more people in the US die per hour choking on a chilli dog than die in a week in Saudi from having their head cut off is beside the point.
SpaceShipOne has been to space and back. If it goes again within ten days they win the $10m prize.
I think the world should ignore the Bill Clinton book. He was a lying b*st*rd and people shouldn't buy his book.
REAL SPORT
Rory scored a goal at training at Water Polo, but complained about sore knees all week afterward. I think it is growing.
At training for Hannah on Thursday, the girls finally beat the boys team they play. They were low on numbers, only ten of them there, so they did well. Was only 1-0 but a win is a win. They've drawn twice and lost about three times.
Rory's water polo team lost 1-9 to a team from a swim school. Rory though that was a bit unfair.
All soccer was cancelled for the weekend due to bad weather, first cancellation of the season. I was very disappointed, even though I wasn't there to see it. Just about went to watch complete strangers playing in Hagley Park in Christchurch anyway (that is one big park).
SPORT
The Euro soccer has been great. Greece has made it through, as has Portugal (by beating Spain for the first time in ages). In our hotel, we could only get Sky Sport 1, which had the sodding golf on all weekend (so the only time I couldn't get Euro on Sky Sport 1 was when I couldn't get one of the other channels, typical). Italy need a win tomorrow, and Germany and Holland are competing for the last place in Group D the next day, playing different teams.
England beat Croatia 4-2 this morning, after being 0-1 down. France go through after beating the Swiss 3-1, it was 1-1 for a while. England play Portugal and France play Greece.
The All Blacks beat the Poms 36-12, in a game that England had a player sent off in the tenth minute (cheating sod, he deserved it in the first game, too). The ABs lost a player for ten minutes at the end, and still scored a try in that time. Missing a player in the scrum upset things for quite a while, as the Poms were deliberately letting the ABs collapse the scrum. There is nothing more dull that a scrum be re-set over and over again.
MY SAD LIFE
I can't really remember to what happened last week now.
We went to see the latest Harry Potter movie on Wednesday night, but was pretty stressed getting everything organised as Hannah comes home late from dancing. Movie was good, I suppose. Saw a trailer for the new thunderbirds movie and it looks like it really sucks. Looks like Spy Kids 4.
Rory got high distinction in a baby geek computer test that he did at school. Only three Year 7s got it and four year 8s. We have documentary proof he is a geek. We found out on Friday when we were already in Christchurch.
No results for Hannah's dancing yet.
Nanny looked after the kids while we were away. They all went to see Shrek 2 on Saturday with Gavin. Granny came and had lunch on Sunday with them. Rory beat Gavin in Warhammer at Games Workshop.
Diana is currently enjoying her last day as a 30-39 age group person. Big day is tomorrow, but she's working so it will be a bit of a non-event.
WHAT WE DID IN CHRISTCHURCH
It was busy getting ready for the trip to Christchurch, but we got there in the end. Only just made the plane, parked in the wrong car park, couldn't find a car park, etc. Once we got on the plane things calmed down a bit. I went to HP for a tour and a meeting then met up with Diana at the apartment.
Christchurch is an interesting place. The city really is built around the cathedral in cathedral square. Everywhere you go there is another sodding stone church (AFG syndrome for those that know). Lots of stone buildings, huge old schools and churches.
The don't seem to really know about road rules, in fact they don't seem to know what a road is. Around the cathedral there are footpaths that seem to be okay to drive on. We never felt safe outside. Even in the botanic gardens the occasionally car would whizz through. Funny, they honk their horns to say thanks if someone pulls over out of their way.
We did the tourist thing on Sunday and went to Akaroa, a small village on the harbour in Banks Peninsula. Went out on a harbour cruise, saw penguins, gannets, petrels, an albatross, a seal, tons of shags, terns, seagulls, and finally three Hector's dolphins (funny little grey and black ones). In a place called little river we saw an old red phone box, still being used (these days they have been retired most places, they would get vandalised a lot). At birdlands we stopped and collected small rocks from a beach that is covered in small round rocks. They had all been washed down from the alps across the alluvial plain and into the water and then the ocean pushed them back onto the beach. There was no sand on the beach at all. We had fish and chips at a little place in Akaroa. Diana wanted tomato sauce, and decided everyone else did too. When she opened the packet it burst like a ripe red fragmentation grenade and went all over herself, me, and passing tourists. If someone had yelled "bang" when it happened, there would have been people lying everywhere screaming "I'm hit!".
On the bus back from Akaroa, there was a horrible obnoxious American woman that giggled the whole time for no obvious reason. It was most disconcerting, I am surprised the woman next to her didn't try to move. Diana was ready to go strangle her. I would had to think what sort of noises she would make in other circumstances.
The Maori new year was being celebrated in Cathedral Square on Saturday, lots of traditional Maori things took place. They had Maori Idol (where they sang), and Maori Fear Factor. This whole Maori new year thing is pretty new, haven't really heard of it before last year. There is talk of Queen's Birthday weekend being replaced by a day around the shortest day of the year.
On Monday morning we didn't really have time to do anything too serious so we went and watched Shrek 2 in a warm movie theatre with four other people then went to the airport. We were pretty glad to get home. I missed the kids a lot, sad but I did.
We picked the kids up on the way home, Rory from drumming and Hannah from a friend's house. The cats didn't seem to have missed us.
14 June 2004
A soccer dominated weekend for me - 14/06/04
As I write this, I am watching England play France in Euro 2004. England are 1-0 up so far.
LOCAL NEWS
The woman that drove a car into party goers was sentenced to seven years in prison. Family and friends of the injured and dead all (not surprisingly) felt it wasn't enough.
Three people died in a car accident as they left a funeral at a cemetery near Wellington. The funeral director made a good performance about how the intersection needed work (despite it having got him three new customers). The three were found by the daughter of the person who's funeral they had been to. As if she didn't have enough on her plate already.
A very large methamphetamine factory has been uncovered in Suva with enough raw material to make nearly a billion dollars worth of the drug. Most of it was made for export to other countries as the Fiji market isn't very big. The facility is larger than anything they have found in New Zealand.
A media satire show did a piece on the accidental butchering of that sodding sheep Shrek. Although I thoroughly approved of such sentiment, it was a little too graphic for my taste. There was much furore over the incident and they lost about nine viewers because of it (around 20% of the audience).
A meteorite crashed through a house in Ellerslie and hit the couch on Saturday. They reckon it could be worth good money. Lucky nobody was on the couch at the time.
A South Auckland man has been charged with some sort of cruelty offence after microwaving a cat.
A man that was late for work arrived to find a truck in his office on an unplanned basis.
I have a real problem with what the Herald considers to be front-page news. They ran yet another story on Saturday on Damon (the guy I know that hanged himself two years ago in preference to spending time in the big house). Then, this morning it was front page news that rugby players punched referees in three different incidents over the weekend.
The Act party have chosen Rodney Hide as their new leader.
New employment law has meant that people rostered to work on a Sunday or public holiday get paid penal rates even if they are sick. Heaps of people have been calling in sick and causing problems for employers.
WORLD NEWS
Big news in New Zealand, although it happened in France. A Matamata veteran got lost when he hopped on the wrong bus at the D-Day commemorations in France, ended up in the wrong place. President Mitterand gave him a big greeting and gave him a lift on "Airbus Un", the French Presidential Jet, back to Paris.
The ongoing Reagan thing reminds me of how stupid it is that they make a massive fuss of someone ten years after they became brain-dead (some would suggest it happened in about 1981). Nobody seemed to care about him the last ten years or so.
In England, a man has outrun a horse for the first time. It was over 35km. The horse was carrying a rider, so I think the horse would have won if Huw Lobb had been carrying a horse.
REAL SPORT
Rory's team won their water polo 9-4. Rory only had one quarter up front (one on defence, one in goal, one on sideline). He scored one goal and made two good saves.
Hannah's team practiced with some help from Penny Chapman, a National Secondary Schools rep, this week. We played a team that has won all their games so far, and scored 12 against the team Hannah played for last weekend. They worked really hard, but defence was a bit quiet a couple of times and we lost 3-0. Was disappointing because the last goal was an own goal and 2-0 would have been much better. I would have settled for 5-0 before the game, so wasn't too bad.
Then Hannah, Greta, and Zippy (Chelsea number 2) played for a 13th grade team (this is girls that are 12 and 13 years old). Zippy didn't get subbed in either game so she played for like 110 minutes. She deflected a hard shot into their own goal in the second game, which wasn't her fault. All three girls did a great job, big confidence booster for them playing so well in an older game. Hannah defended solidly for the second half and got them out of trouble a lot, Zippy had a huge match. Hannah's confidence is rocketing skyward.
Rory's team started short, and couldn't get their act together, but two late goals got them a 2-2 draw. They played in Manurewa the same time as Hannah so I didn't see any of it. Rory is playing well, at the moment.
SPORT
Former New Zealand cricket player Craig Spearman scored a record 341 for Gloucestershire, beating the record set by WG Grace.
Nobody predicted that the All Blacks would win, let alone by 36-3 over England on Saturday night. Graham Henry is God for the moment.
The Black Caps again spent one day well placed and another fighting to save the test. It's so dull when they play on the other side of the world. They capitulated on the fourth day and England cruised for a clean sweep win. The only good news was that Cairns got a good haul of wickets (about eight in the match) to add to his total in his last test match before retirement.
The Euro 2004 tournament started this weekend. Greece beat Portugal 2-1, wouldn't have predicted that. In fact, the night before the game we got pizza from a Greek guy who reckoned they had a good chance and I said I thought he had already had too much Ouzo. Spain beat Russia 1-0. In the 90th minute, Zidane nailed a free kick to equalise, then James fouled a French player in the box to concede a penalty that Zidane kicked to win the game 2-1. I can't believe it. Am thinking about buying a French shirt. Am actually thinking about buying a few and wearing only soccer shirts during Euro.
MY SAD LIFE
Forgot to mention that last week was the eighth anniversary of living in this house in Point Chevalier. Hannah wasn't two and Rory turned four just after we moved in. They really don't remember the other house, which we lived in for eight and a half years. By the end of this year we will have lived here longer.
Hannah had two dance exams on Wednesday. Had some excitement around it, had to get her there and pick her up. I had an audio in between, which I did from my car. Then the car wouldn't start, I kind of suspected the battery was failing. Called for a battery guy, and then got the car started (turned off all the accessories and waited a while) and went to Peter's house (he lives just up the road from the Dance Studio). Then, while I waited for the battery guy, I borrowed Peter's car to get Hannah. What an awful bloody car, it's an XJS. I couldn't change gear (it's an automatic). Getting in was impossible, there was just nowhere to put my left foot, I ended up tucking it under my right leg. Hannah was somewhat surprised when she was picked up in a different car. We went back to Peter's and swapped back. I then had another audio in the car on the way home. Diana took her to the second exam in the afternoon. Hannah was insufferably perky that night, very pleased to have them out of the way, I suspect.
Ollie climbed Darth Vader on Thursday and killed him. He broke at the hips and his helmet cracked when it hit the ground. Hannah and Diana both said "well, it wouldn't have happened if Vader wasn't there". The correct polite response is "well, if I don't take my foot out of Ollie's backside I will only need to buy one slipper". Ollie also caught a sparrow on Thursday. Both cats are behaving like spoiled 18 year olds, they seem to think they can do whatever they like. He was chewing the aerial on my car on Friday.
The microwave oven died on Thursday, as well, and the laundry toilet stopped flushing on Sunday. This house is full of clapped out things. Both failures caused stress. One toilet is not enough on days when Diana is working.
Forgot both Ross and Craig's 40th birthday this week. Didn't call either of them. Diana remembered on Friday. I plead that I, too, am getting old, and my brain isn't what it used to be.
Spoke to Koos on Friday, at least I think it was Friday.
Jono, saw Steph on Tuesday. She seems well. Cassie must be quite old now.
We spent a chunk of Sunday doing homework, again, it is getting exceedingly tedious. Rory has something major due every week at the moment.
Hannah and I made a chocolate pudding for dessert last night. It's funny, Hannah's spending a lot more time with me these days (while Rory does homework). We practiced soccer in the garden yesterday while Rory did homework, too.
Diana and I managed a late walk in the fog this morning after the soccer finished. Only about ten days until her birthday (did you know that 40 in binary is 101000? In Hexadecimal it is only 28). We are going to Christchurch this coming weekend, without the kids. We get home Monday so next Monday's email will be late.
Well, coffee time before I have a shower.
Have a better week this week that I did last week.
LOCAL NEWS
The woman that drove a car into party goers was sentenced to seven years in prison. Family and friends of the injured and dead all (not surprisingly) felt it wasn't enough.
Three people died in a car accident as they left a funeral at a cemetery near Wellington. The funeral director made a good performance about how the intersection needed work (despite it having got him three new customers). The three were found by the daughter of the person who's funeral they had been to. As if she didn't have enough on her plate already.
A very large methamphetamine factory has been uncovered in Suva with enough raw material to make nearly a billion dollars worth of the drug. Most of it was made for export to other countries as the Fiji market isn't very big. The facility is larger than anything they have found in New Zealand.
A media satire show did a piece on the accidental butchering of that sodding sheep Shrek. Although I thoroughly approved of such sentiment, it was a little too graphic for my taste. There was much furore over the incident and they lost about nine viewers because of it (around 20% of the audience).
A meteorite crashed through a house in Ellerslie and hit the couch on Saturday. They reckon it could be worth good money. Lucky nobody was on the couch at the time.
A South Auckland man has been charged with some sort of cruelty offence after microwaving a cat.
A man that was late for work arrived to find a truck in his office on an unplanned basis.
I have a real problem with what the Herald considers to be front-page news. They ran yet another story on Saturday on Damon (the guy I know that hanged himself two years ago in preference to spending time in the big house). Then, this morning it was front page news that rugby players punched referees in three different incidents over the weekend.
The Act party have chosen Rodney Hide as their new leader.
New employment law has meant that people rostered to work on a Sunday or public holiday get paid penal rates even if they are sick. Heaps of people have been calling in sick and causing problems for employers.
WORLD NEWS
Big news in New Zealand, although it happened in France. A Matamata veteran got lost when he hopped on the wrong bus at the D-Day commemorations in France, ended up in the wrong place. President Mitterand gave him a big greeting and gave him a lift on "Airbus Un", the French Presidential Jet, back to Paris.
The ongoing Reagan thing reminds me of how stupid it is that they make a massive fuss of someone ten years after they became brain-dead (some would suggest it happened in about 1981). Nobody seemed to care about him the last ten years or so.
In England, a man has outrun a horse for the first time. It was over 35km. The horse was carrying a rider, so I think the horse would have won if Huw Lobb had been carrying a horse.
REAL SPORT
Rory's team won their water polo 9-4. Rory only had one quarter up front (one on defence, one in goal, one on sideline). He scored one goal and made two good saves.
Hannah's team practiced with some help from Penny Chapman, a National Secondary Schools rep, this week. We played a team that has won all their games so far, and scored 12 against the team Hannah played for last weekend. They worked really hard, but defence was a bit quiet a couple of times and we lost 3-0. Was disappointing because the last goal was an own goal and 2-0 would have been much better. I would have settled for 5-0 before the game, so wasn't too bad.
Then Hannah, Greta, and Zippy (Chelsea number 2) played for a 13th grade team (this is girls that are 12 and 13 years old). Zippy didn't get subbed in either game so she played for like 110 minutes. She deflected a hard shot into their own goal in the second game, which wasn't her fault. All three girls did a great job, big confidence booster for them playing so well in an older game. Hannah defended solidly for the second half and got them out of trouble a lot, Zippy had a huge match. Hannah's confidence is rocketing skyward.
Rory's team started short, and couldn't get their act together, but two late goals got them a 2-2 draw. They played in Manurewa the same time as Hannah so I didn't see any of it. Rory is playing well, at the moment.
SPORT
Former New Zealand cricket player Craig Spearman scored a record 341 for Gloucestershire, beating the record set by WG Grace.
Nobody predicted that the All Blacks would win, let alone by 36-3 over England on Saturday night. Graham Henry is God for the moment.
The Black Caps again spent one day well placed and another fighting to save the test. It's so dull when they play on the other side of the world. They capitulated on the fourth day and England cruised for a clean sweep win. The only good news was that Cairns got a good haul of wickets (about eight in the match) to add to his total in his last test match before retirement.
The Euro 2004 tournament started this weekend. Greece beat Portugal 2-1, wouldn't have predicted that. In fact, the night before the game we got pizza from a Greek guy who reckoned they had a good chance and I said I thought he had already had too much Ouzo. Spain beat Russia 1-0. In the 90th minute, Zidane nailed a free kick to equalise, then James fouled a French player in the box to concede a penalty that Zidane kicked to win the game 2-1. I can't believe it. Am thinking about buying a French shirt. Am actually thinking about buying a few and wearing only soccer shirts during Euro.
MY SAD LIFE
Forgot to mention that last week was the eighth anniversary of living in this house in Point Chevalier. Hannah wasn't two and Rory turned four just after we moved in. They really don't remember the other house, which we lived in for eight and a half years. By the end of this year we will have lived here longer.
Hannah had two dance exams on Wednesday. Had some excitement around it, had to get her there and pick her up. I had an audio in between, which I did from my car. Then the car wouldn't start, I kind of suspected the battery was failing. Called for a battery guy, and then got the car started (turned off all the accessories and waited a while) and went to Peter's house (he lives just up the road from the Dance Studio). Then, while I waited for the battery guy, I borrowed Peter's car to get Hannah. What an awful bloody car, it's an XJS. I couldn't change gear (it's an automatic). Getting in was impossible, there was just nowhere to put my left foot, I ended up tucking it under my right leg. Hannah was somewhat surprised when she was picked up in a different car. We went back to Peter's and swapped back. I then had another audio in the car on the way home. Diana took her to the second exam in the afternoon. Hannah was insufferably perky that night, very pleased to have them out of the way, I suspect.
Ollie climbed Darth Vader on Thursday and killed him. He broke at the hips and his helmet cracked when it hit the ground. Hannah and Diana both said "well, it wouldn't have happened if Vader wasn't there". The correct polite response is "well, if I don't take my foot out of Ollie's backside I will only need to buy one slipper". Ollie also caught a sparrow on Thursday. Both cats are behaving like spoiled 18 year olds, they seem to think they can do whatever they like. He was chewing the aerial on my car on Friday.
The microwave oven died on Thursday, as well, and the laundry toilet stopped flushing on Sunday. This house is full of clapped out things. Both failures caused stress. One toilet is not enough on days when Diana is working.
Forgot both Ross and Craig's 40th birthday this week. Didn't call either of them. Diana remembered on Friday. I plead that I, too, am getting old, and my brain isn't what it used to be.
Spoke to Koos on Friday, at least I think it was Friday.
Jono, saw Steph on Tuesday. She seems well. Cassie must be quite old now.
We spent a chunk of Sunday doing homework, again, it is getting exceedingly tedious. Rory has something major due every week at the moment.
Hannah and I made a chocolate pudding for dessert last night. It's funny, Hannah's spending a lot more time with me these days (while Rory does homework). We practiced soccer in the garden yesterday while Rory did homework, too.
Diana and I managed a late walk in the fog this morning after the soccer finished. Only about ten days until her birthday (did you know that 40 in binary is 101000? In Hexadecimal it is only 28). We are going to Christchurch this coming weekend, without the kids. We get home Monday so next Monday's email will be late.
Well, coffee time before I have a shower.
Have a better week this week that I did last week.
7 June 2004
60 years since D-Day - 07/06/04
It is also Queen's Birthday weekend here, so I get a day off.
LOCAL NEWS
Weather has been cold and wet. Not a lot of fun at all.
The Forest and Bird Society in New Zealand want us to stop eating fish, except pilchards and anchovies. They say the rest are over-fished or hurt dolphins. I don't get how they even have a mandate for anything to do with fish given that forests aren't in the ocean and there are sod-all birds over the ocean and they hardly ever get caught in gill-nets.
A couple of guys were rescued from Lake Taupo when their tri-maran flipped. They were lucky but family notified search and rescue when they failed to show up as expected.
A New Zealander is helping genetically modify corn and soybeans to produce petrol. That would be pretty cool. Then the price of gas might go down a bit. I heard it was over a pound a litre in England. It's like $1.21 for regular here, and that's heaps.
A burglar is believed to have drowned in the Waikato river, shame.
There was a protest about the sentencing of the girl found guilty of manslaughter for driving into a bunch of people near Whangarei. They feel the sentence will be insufficient.
The Green Party have said they will not contest any electorates, but will go solely for the party vote in the next election. If they keep video of them dancing at their conferences out of the public eye they may stand a chance.
WORLD NEWS
Ronald Reagan has died, I guess the US get upset whenever a president dies, but he was knackered anyway. Some reckon he was knackered whilst still in the job. It makes one wonder about how the family of a public figure feels when their loved one is carted off for all sorts of official engagements and state funerals. I suppose they get to have a private thing later, but they probably have to attend the public thing too.
REAL SPORT (bit long, sorry)
Hannah's team are in first division for sure, and we are going to have to work very hard to get through it in good shape.
Queen's birthday weekend always mucks up soccer. I consulted with the manager of Hannah's team and decided that if we were going to play with ten or maybe eleven without our best goalie that travelling all the way to Eastern Suburbs to play the team that scored 65 goals in seven games was probably not worth it, so we gave the rest of the team the weekend off and defaulted. First time I've ever done that, but we've played the team before and we weren't going to get anything out of it. I think it was sensible. We get docked competition points, but a 0-2 loss for a default is way better than we ever would have managed against them.
Instead, Hannah and Greta played for Mark's team. His girls had only scored one goal in six games and hadn't had a win. He was low on numbers, and was without his two usual goalies. They were playing down at Cox's Bay, so we could still see most of Rory's game. Both Hannah and Greta played really well, they worked very hard on the field on the basis that they may not get much of a chance as replacements. Well, the team scored two goals in the first half, the second of which was probably offside. A parent from the other team was grumbling that both were off-side. The first wasn't, in my view, and the ref (from our team) called a chance off-side when it technically wasn't so what the heck. In the second half the floodgates opened and they scored another five goals. Hannah was huge in defence, and gave them masses of go forward when she was on the pitch. She worked the hardest I've ever seen her play. The other team got a consolation goal late in the second half (when Hannah was off), but the final score was 7-1, a resounding win for Mark's team. The whole team were buzzing, the coach was overjoyed, and the parents were pretty happy, too. One girl said "it's still fun when we lose, but it's a lot more fun when we win." It was probably a good thing that Hannah and Greta didn't score, because the team will take that confidence into their next game, but their contribution really helped boost the team and the rest got much hungrier for the ball seeing how hard Hannah and Greta worked.
Rory's team lost, again. But I saw Rory on the field in the second half and if it wasn’t for him working hard on the right wing with a couple of others they wouldn't have had any chances. They scored a goal when Stephen lobbed a ball that Billy and Rory were competing for in the air and the opposition goalie carried the ball across the line. He competed really well, I was very pleased with how he went.
Quote of the week from a boy in 12th grade Team 2 that I was helping at training on Tuesday, after I said "my girls don't even do that." He says "Your girls, what are you a pimp?". I quietly pointed out that if my fifteen "girls" found out what he said, he would risk physiologically qualifying to play in a girls team.
DULL SPORT
I didn't forget to mention the Warriors last week. The coach resigned this week. Only two kinds of coaches, those about to get sacked and those that have been sacked. They won their game yesterday.
Second test has one day left, not looking good. Vettori injured. I thought it would be a draw but it could be difficult now.
Euro 2004 is only a week away, that will be awesome. England beat Ireland in a friendly. Holland don't seem to be playing at all well.
The All Blacks had a trial, and they were all guilty of playing a stupid game where they stuff about in group hugs and standing in queues for their turn to get the ball. They play England this weekend, I think.
MY SAD LIFE
Things seem to have been pretty quiet. Don't get a chance to do anything too exciting.
Rory came home from school after doing "health" one day. They had discussed the changes at puberty. Rory says "got that, done that, done that, got those. Now all I need to do is have a period and grow breasts." It was pretty funny.
Had a nice family night last night, we played Cluedo, watched Family Fear Factor (the jerks didn't win, the mother and daughter team did), and it was nice. We seem to be doing different things too often and spending little time together.
I had my radio thing again yesterday morning, went smoothly. I can't believe how popular the show is, we still get a full board of calls.
I was approached to write something for a new digital photography magazine, but it comes from another publisher and the publisher of PC World isn't grown up enough to agree to me doing that. The pay was lousy (20c a word, Jono, tell Emma that) anyway. Instead, they are running an extract from my book, which will help sales I think.
Because I rang Gavin on his mobile, he got distracted while walking the dogs, and Robin's puppy got hit by a car. I am so thoughtless and heartless, how could I callously ring someone like that. I would probably have been a nazi war criminal during the war. I bet those guys regularly rang people while they were walking their dogs, without leads, near roads, without any regard for canine safety. Despite my efforts to slaughter puppies, Chino has survived with a broken front leg, and will recover. I have to now think of a new way of getting my evil revenge upon him.
We saw the Bambis on Saturday night, Sasha is walking, just like a real person now. Bambi had been out fishing all day, in crappy weather, I wouldn't have bothered.
Koos, you alive?
Helen, you shifted house yet?
I wonder if the Goodins have bumped into the Tuckers? They were all at Port Douglas this week.
LOCAL NEWS
Weather has been cold and wet. Not a lot of fun at all.
The Forest and Bird Society in New Zealand want us to stop eating fish, except pilchards and anchovies. They say the rest are over-fished or hurt dolphins. I don't get how they even have a mandate for anything to do with fish given that forests aren't in the ocean and there are sod-all birds over the ocean and they hardly ever get caught in gill-nets.
A couple of guys were rescued from Lake Taupo when their tri-maran flipped. They were lucky but family notified search and rescue when they failed to show up as expected.
A New Zealander is helping genetically modify corn and soybeans to produce petrol. That would be pretty cool. Then the price of gas might go down a bit. I heard it was over a pound a litre in England. It's like $1.21 for regular here, and that's heaps.
A burglar is believed to have drowned in the Waikato river, shame.
There was a protest about the sentencing of the girl found guilty of manslaughter for driving into a bunch of people near Whangarei. They feel the sentence will be insufficient.
The Green Party have said they will not contest any electorates, but will go solely for the party vote in the next election. If they keep video of them dancing at their conferences out of the public eye they may stand a chance.
WORLD NEWS
Ronald Reagan has died, I guess the US get upset whenever a president dies, but he was knackered anyway. Some reckon he was knackered whilst still in the job. It makes one wonder about how the family of a public figure feels when their loved one is carted off for all sorts of official engagements and state funerals. I suppose they get to have a private thing later, but they probably have to attend the public thing too.
REAL SPORT (bit long, sorry)
Hannah's team are in first division for sure, and we are going to have to work very hard to get through it in good shape.
Queen's birthday weekend always mucks up soccer. I consulted with the manager of Hannah's team and decided that if we were going to play with ten or maybe eleven without our best goalie that travelling all the way to Eastern Suburbs to play the team that scored 65 goals in seven games was probably not worth it, so we gave the rest of the team the weekend off and defaulted. First time I've ever done that, but we've played the team before and we weren't going to get anything out of it. I think it was sensible. We get docked competition points, but a 0-2 loss for a default is way better than we ever would have managed against them.
Instead, Hannah and Greta played for Mark's team. His girls had only scored one goal in six games and hadn't had a win. He was low on numbers, and was without his two usual goalies. They were playing down at Cox's Bay, so we could still see most of Rory's game. Both Hannah and Greta played really well, they worked very hard on the field on the basis that they may not get much of a chance as replacements. Well, the team scored two goals in the first half, the second of which was probably offside. A parent from the other team was grumbling that both were off-side. The first wasn't, in my view, and the ref (from our team) called a chance off-side when it technically wasn't so what the heck. In the second half the floodgates opened and they scored another five goals. Hannah was huge in defence, and gave them masses of go forward when she was on the pitch. She worked the hardest I've ever seen her play. The other team got a consolation goal late in the second half (when Hannah was off), but the final score was 7-1, a resounding win for Mark's team. The whole team were buzzing, the coach was overjoyed, and the parents were pretty happy, too. One girl said "it's still fun when we lose, but it's a lot more fun when we win." It was probably a good thing that Hannah and Greta didn't score, because the team will take that confidence into their next game, but their contribution really helped boost the team and the rest got much hungrier for the ball seeing how hard Hannah and Greta worked.
Rory's team lost, again. But I saw Rory on the field in the second half and if it wasn’t for him working hard on the right wing with a couple of others they wouldn't have had any chances. They scored a goal when Stephen lobbed a ball that Billy and Rory were competing for in the air and the opposition goalie carried the ball across the line. He competed really well, I was very pleased with how he went.
Quote of the week from a boy in 12th grade Team 2 that I was helping at training on Tuesday, after I said "my girls don't even do that." He says "Your girls, what are you a pimp?". I quietly pointed out that if my fifteen "girls" found out what he said, he would risk physiologically qualifying to play in a girls team.
DULL SPORT
I didn't forget to mention the Warriors last week. The coach resigned this week. Only two kinds of coaches, those about to get sacked and those that have been sacked. They won their game yesterday.
Second test has one day left, not looking good. Vettori injured. I thought it would be a draw but it could be difficult now.
Euro 2004 is only a week away, that will be awesome. England beat Ireland in a friendly. Holland don't seem to be playing at all well.
The All Blacks had a trial, and they were all guilty of playing a stupid game where they stuff about in group hugs and standing in queues for their turn to get the ball. They play England this weekend, I think.
MY SAD LIFE
Things seem to have been pretty quiet. Don't get a chance to do anything too exciting.
Rory came home from school after doing "health" one day. They had discussed the changes at puberty. Rory says "got that, done that, done that, got those. Now all I need to do is have a period and grow breasts." It was pretty funny.
Had a nice family night last night, we played Cluedo, watched Family Fear Factor (the jerks didn't win, the mother and daughter team did), and it was nice. We seem to be doing different things too often and spending little time together.
I had my radio thing again yesterday morning, went smoothly. I can't believe how popular the show is, we still get a full board of calls.
I was approached to write something for a new digital photography magazine, but it comes from another publisher and the publisher of PC World isn't grown up enough to agree to me doing that. The pay was lousy (20c a word, Jono, tell Emma that) anyway. Instead, they are running an extract from my book, which will help sales I think.
Because I rang Gavin on his mobile, he got distracted while walking the dogs, and Robin's puppy got hit by a car. I am so thoughtless and heartless, how could I callously ring someone like that. I would probably have been a nazi war criminal during the war. I bet those guys regularly rang people while they were walking their dogs, without leads, near roads, without any regard for canine safety. Despite my efforts to slaughter puppies, Chino has survived with a broken front leg, and will recover. I have to now think of a new way of getting my evil revenge upon him.
We saw the Bambis on Saturday night, Sasha is walking, just like a real person now. Bambi had been out fishing all day, in crappy weather, I wouldn't have bothered.
Koos, you alive?
Helen, you shifted house yet?
I wonder if the Goodins have bumped into the Tuckers? They were all at Port Douglas this week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)