This is early because I figured I would send it before we hop on the plane.
LOCAL NEWS
Access Brokerage failure continued to be in the news this week, and The Building Depot went into receivership.
Doctors at Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital have had to stop using botox on salivary glands (to prevent dribbling for kids with cerebral palsy) because they can't swallow for six months and had to be fed via tube. Is that a case of cure being worse than the complaint?
The South Island Kokako has been declared extinct but ornithologists will continue looking for it. And I thought being called a "trainspotter" was an insult.
A woman was admitted to hospital with head injuries after being attacked by an ostrich.
Meanwhile, Auckland Hospital is asking people to consult their GP as they can't cope with demand. They have also asked ostrich farmers to be more careful.
The Pope announced that New Zealanders should play less sport on Sundays and worship. Well, this is kind of bizarre. We know the midget inside the Pope has been getting ideas above his station lately, but this is ridiculous. Many people have pointed out that half the rugby clubs in the country are called Marist (very catholic) and this could be a problem. Our dear Prime Minister said something deep and not flippant like "maybe he should stick to worrying about Catholics around the world and leave the non-Catholics in New Zealand alone". Catholicism is running at about 14% in New Zealand and 40% have no religious allegiance.
WORLD NEWS
There were fires in San Diego, the kids were worried it meant we couldn't go.
REAL SPORT
Rory's team tried the new strategy. We put out the A Team first quarter to put some points on the board, and it worked. They were about 4-0 up in the first quarter. Then we went with weaker squad for second, only one goal, but did all right. Hard again third quarter (Rory on again) and went to 9-0. B Team got two goals last quarter for 11-0 win. He then played for team 3, who struggled, but Rory helped shore things up in the third quarter, and played in goal in the fourth (made one awesome save, let two in) and they won 6-4. Rory scored one goal in each game (was defending in first game).
SPORT
Auckland finally won a game of rugby, sadly they beat Taranaki (who I sort of wanted to win, even though I am an Auckland supporter). Taranaki remain top of the table. Otago lost to Waikato 27-39. Bay of Plenty beat Wellington 17-14 (a big upset, Wellington were going well). Canterbury thumped Southland 52-13 in their first Shield defence. Northland and North Harbour yet to play.
New Zealand lost to Australia in knockout cricket thing, and got knocked out.
MY SAD LIFE
As we disappear to San Francisco with Paul, Dave and Olwyn are off to see their grandchild, Ben. I think they might even see Roger and Shiyin while they are in Singapore but I bet Ben gets all the presents.
The Goodins are somewhere foreign, but you knew that already from reading last week's email.
Gavin made it through the first stage of fire fighting selection, then passed the second round of physical and mental tests on Saturday. Next thing is in two weeks. He reckons it is down to 60 people for 13 places.
Diana resigned from her job this week. Long story but the person she shares her job with resigned this week and we think life will be better without it. Then on Friday I found out the lady that gave Diana the job is leaving, too. Things aren't good there.
I wrote my first article for D-Photo magazine, finished it today. Another chapter in my life opens.
Rory gave Ross his old soccer boots on the weekend because he can't fit them any more. That's kind of funny. He isn't as tall as Ross yet, but the gap is closing.
Rory and his geeky friends have used observation of teachers entering passwords and installed a keystroke logger to get access to things they shouldn't. They don't know enough to do any real damage, and think they have crashed the server, but I doubt it was them. Ross asked Rory if he was going to improve his grades, the instant response was "we don't need to". Ross then suggested he do it for other kids for money and Rory went quiet. I think that was a very bad idea. He better not do it.
Rory got a very ordinary mark in a maths test this week, but got a prize for art. We think aliens have taken over his body.
Still no news on Hannah's dance exam, which is completely pathetic.
Barbara, the lady I had to cover for when she went into hospital a couple of weeks ago, came home on Tuesday then fell over Wednesday morning and dislocated her hip. I visited her in hospital on Saturday. She isn't in good shape but remains positive. She's one heck of a fighter.
Hannah had a sleepover birthday party last night and Ollie was not happy. He kept me awake from 3am and I gave up and got up around 4:30. I am on SF time already.
Stay tuned for an update Monday San Francisco time.
19 September 2004
13 September 2004
Happy birthday Hannah for tomorrow, go the 'naki! - 13/09/04
My grip on local affairs has not been very good this week, and I apologise for that.
Weather has been good.
LOCAL NEWS
Interest rates ratcheted up another quarter of a percent. Mortgages are not as cheap as they were and people with large ones must be feeling squeezed.
The mayoral race continues. Poor old Christine Fletcher has had her theme of "No Spin" changed to "No Spine" on signs all over Auckland. It's quite funny, because she is a bit wimpy, so the change is quite apt.
A mother, father, and baby died in a car crash. The baby was sitting unrestrained on the knee of the mother in the front seat. The lesson is if you are driving with a baby like that, consider staying on your side of the road. They killed someone in the car they hit, too.
The boss of a waste trucking company says Auckland should move the port out of the city to alleviate traffic. It's probably not a bad point, but it isn't just trucks that are a problem. It's the whining from everyone who commutes from one end of the city to the other.
New Zealand Idol runner up Michael Thingy released a song that was labelled an original, but it turned out it had even been nominated for a grammy when released by the band that wrote it a couple of years ago. Much egg on face.
A report on levels of dioxin in residents living near a former 2,4,5T plant in New Plymouth showed their levels to be three times that of normal. The plant ceased manufacture a good ten to fifteen years ago so the levels should have reduced in that time. Residents were not happy, to say the least.
WORLD NEWS
The bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta was big news. Technically, it is an attack on Australia, but it was outside the embassy grounds. There was one heck of a lot of broken glass.
REAL SPORT
Rory's team suffered from some bad planning and lost their game 3-7 on Friday night against the top of the table team. I think the mistake was that they didn't put the A team out in the first quarter and so they were playing catch-up for the rest of the game. Rory was in goal in first quarter, and off for second. It was 0-5 by then. We scored twice in the third (including one by Rory) and once in fourth but wasn't enough. In the third quarter we had the strongest team out there, and it showed. We know better for next time.
Soccer prize giving was on the same time as the water polo (or so I thought). It ended sooner than expected so I got to see the whole game, didn't think I would.
SPORT
Liverpool won 3-0 over West Bromich, Arsenal 3-0 over Fulham, Chelsea drew 0-0 with Aston Villa, and Man Utd drew 2-2 with sodding Bolton.
Auckland teenager Marina Erakovic won the junior female doubles at the US Open, first time in a long time that any New Zealander has won anything, and a first for New Zealand woman.
In NPC rugby, North Harbour beat Southland 35-16, Bay of Plenty beat Otago 44-16, Waikato beat Northland 41-21, Wellington beat Auckland 27-21, and the big news was Taranaki 30-23 over Canterbury for the first time in 26 years. Taranaki are top of the table with five wins from five, they only need one more to be sure to be in the semi-finals (one assumes none of the players live near the dioxin plant). Auckland are almost definitely not in the semis, as they have four matches left and only one win. Northland haven't won a game, and are the only team to lose to Auckland. The three "land" teams are still on the bottom.
England beat Poland 2-1, Wales had a 2-2 with Northern Ireland in World Cup 2006 qualifying.
MY SAD LIFE
Have had a very busy week (probably equivalent of a typical week for Penny or Goodins). I didn't enjoy myself. Barbara is still in hospital, although not really sick just having trouble sorting pain relief out. We have hired a contract accountant to cover for her so I can do other stuff next week. I did the equivalent of two weeks work in one week, that is a lot.
Rory had a school dance on Thursday night, I think that contributed to everyone in the water polo team being less than their best on Friday night, to be honest.
Much excitement this week in build-up to Hannah's party, which was on Saturday. It was a Fear Factor birthday party for 13 girls. I spent the morning making vomit and preparing everything, with loads of help from Rory while Diana prepared food with Nanny and Hannah. There was races for flags, putting face in water then flour to bob for lollies, then crawling through vomit minefield with part of an onion in your mouth. Nobody cried, nobody spewed. Hannah went first on the lolly bobbing, and after she did it I wondered if anyone else would, but they did, then I did. They all did really well, but it was chaos.
Then we had to carry washing machine outside to fix jam in impeller, and get up on roof to rescue a howler (with help from Gavin on both counts). No washing machine was disastrous having just used every face cloth and half the towels to scrape flour and water paste off 14 faces.
Granny returned from Australia this week. She came around yesterday and Hannah had a party with new clothing from Penny (thanks). Hannah walked past a mirror and she was stuck for hours.
We saw the Goodins briefly yesterday (except Thomas). They are off to tincan or ping pong or bintan or somewhere then Kuala Lumpur to visit Barry at the end of this week. We saw the photo of Tommys soccer team, they are so little, you forget so quickly.
Hannah turns ten tomorrow.
Rory organised for some friends from school to come over to watch a movie. It was the first time he has ever organised anything. I can't believe we agreed to it after just having had the party the night before, but it went okay.
If you want a GMAIL address, let me know. I have some spare invites.
THE TRIP
The next email will be from somewhere else, probably San Francisco. I will use my gmail address, so if you get something from robo42 at gmail.com it's from me, okay?
Planning is proceeding slowly. We did a dry run on suitcase with clothing yesterday, which was interesting. Should have tons of room and won't need extra cases. Coming home might be a little different.
Hopefully you will hear from me within a week
Weather has been good.
LOCAL NEWS
Interest rates ratcheted up another quarter of a percent. Mortgages are not as cheap as they were and people with large ones must be feeling squeezed.
The mayoral race continues. Poor old Christine Fletcher has had her theme of "No Spin" changed to "No Spine" on signs all over Auckland. It's quite funny, because she is a bit wimpy, so the change is quite apt.
A mother, father, and baby died in a car crash. The baby was sitting unrestrained on the knee of the mother in the front seat. The lesson is if you are driving with a baby like that, consider staying on your side of the road. They killed someone in the car they hit, too.
The boss of a waste trucking company says Auckland should move the port out of the city to alleviate traffic. It's probably not a bad point, but it isn't just trucks that are a problem. It's the whining from everyone who commutes from one end of the city to the other.
New Zealand Idol runner up Michael Thingy released a song that was labelled an original, but it turned out it had even been nominated for a grammy when released by the band that wrote it a couple of years ago. Much egg on face.
A report on levels of dioxin in residents living near a former 2,4,5T plant in New Plymouth showed their levels to be three times that of normal. The plant ceased manufacture a good ten to fifteen years ago so the levels should have reduced in that time. Residents were not happy, to say the least.
WORLD NEWS
The bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta was big news. Technically, it is an attack on Australia, but it was outside the embassy grounds. There was one heck of a lot of broken glass.
REAL SPORT
Rory's team suffered from some bad planning and lost their game 3-7 on Friday night against the top of the table team. I think the mistake was that they didn't put the A team out in the first quarter and so they were playing catch-up for the rest of the game. Rory was in goal in first quarter, and off for second. It was 0-5 by then. We scored twice in the third (including one by Rory) and once in fourth but wasn't enough. In the third quarter we had the strongest team out there, and it showed. We know better for next time.
Soccer prize giving was on the same time as the water polo (or so I thought). It ended sooner than expected so I got to see the whole game, didn't think I would.
SPORT
Liverpool won 3-0 over West Bromich, Arsenal 3-0 over Fulham, Chelsea drew 0-0 with Aston Villa, and Man Utd drew 2-2 with sodding Bolton.
Auckland teenager Marina Erakovic won the junior female doubles at the US Open, first time in a long time that any New Zealander has won anything, and a first for New Zealand woman.
In NPC rugby, North Harbour beat Southland 35-16, Bay of Plenty beat Otago 44-16, Waikato beat Northland 41-21, Wellington beat Auckland 27-21, and the big news was Taranaki 30-23 over Canterbury for the first time in 26 years. Taranaki are top of the table with five wins from five, they only need one more to be sure to be in the semi-finals (one assumes none of the players live near the dioxin plant). Auckland are almost definitely not in the semis, as they have four matches left and only one win. Northland haven't won a game, and are the only team to lose to Auckland. The three "land" teams are still on the bottom.
England beat Poland 2-1, Wales had a 2-2 with Northern Ireland in World Cup 2006 qualifying.
MY SAD LIFE
Have had a very busy week (probably equivalent of a typical week for Penny or Goodins). I didn't enjoy myself. Barbara is still in hospital, although not really sick just having trouble sorting pain relief out. We have hired a contract accountant to cover for her so I can do other stuff next week. I did the equivalent of two weeks work in one week, that is a lot.
Rory had a school dance on Thursday night, I think that contributed to everyone in the water polo team being less than their best on Friday night, to be honest.
Much excitement this week in build-up to Hannah's party, which was on Saturday. It was a Fear Factor birthday party for 13 girls. I spent the morning making vomit and preparing everything, with loads of help from Rory while Diana prepared food with Nanny and Hannah. There was races for flags, putting face in water then flour to bob for lollies, then crawling through vomit minefield with part of an onion in your mouth. Nobody cried, nobody spewed. Hannah went first on the lolly bobbing, and after she did it I wondered if anyone else would, but they did, then I did. They all did really well, but it was chaos.
Then we had to carry washing machine outside to fix jam in impeller, and get up on roof to rescue a howler (with help from Gavin on both counts). No washing machine was disastrous having just used every face cloth and half the towels to scrape flour and water paste off 14 faces.
Granny returned from Australia this week. She came around yesterday and Hannah had a party with new clothing from Penny (thanks). Hannah walked past a mirror and she was stuck for hours.
We saw the Goodins briefly yesterday (except Thomas). They are off to tincan or ping pong or bintan or somewhere then Kuala Lumpur to visit Barry at the end of this week. We saw the photo of Tommys soccer team, they are so little, you forget so quickly.
Hannah turns ten tomorrow.
Rory organised for some friends from school to come over to watch a movie. It was the first time he has ever organised anything. I can't believe we agreed to it after just having had the party the night before, but it went okay.
If you want a GMAIL address, let me know. I have some spare invites.
THE TRIP
The next email will be from somewhere else, probably San Francisco. I will use my gmail address, so if you get something from robo42 at gmail.com it's from me, okay?
Planning is proceeding slowly. We did a dry run on suitcase with clothing yesterday, which was interesting. Should have tons of room and won't need extra cases. Coming home might be a little different.
Hopefully you will hear from me within a week
6 September 2004
More news than you could ever use - 06/09/04
It's been a huge week, all over the planet.
LOCAL NEWS
The Herald continues to overtly support mayoral candidate Dick Hubbard, another candidate has pulled out in favour of Hubbard, while Banks is still just a dick.
The family of a Dad who went missing and is very probably dead were in the news before Fathers Day. The son had written a letter to him, which his wife read out on the telly. Sad story, but he wasn't going to show for Fathers Day.
A boy was badly burned when his pyjamas caught fire as he sat near a heater. His parents say it was the pajamas, the Warehouse say they are tested as safe. No mention was made of the fact that the kid was too close to the damned heater, or whether the heater was dangerous. I just wish I know which spelling for pjs is correct because it looks stupid with a Y and one article used both in it.
An interview show on Maori TV hosted by the man with the expensive public-funded underpants (Tuku Morgan) has been pulled because the producers of "The Kumars at No 42" think it is copying their show. Only about four people in New Zealand watch the station so it shouldn't be much of a concern.
Prisoners have been given compensation for being treated unfairly. However, the families of their victims aren't happy. They want to get the compensation money, rather than the prisoners. It does seem unfair that someone kills a person and is then awarded $100,000 for an abuse of human rights (putting them in solitary because they behave badly) and yet the murder victim got nothing for their human rights being removed completely. I don't think anyone agrees with them being compensated and getting to keep the money.
WORLD NEWS
I wouldn't send my children to school in Russia at the moment. After the two planes going down, the hostage taking at the school has got to make Russia the bottom of places to live. I fail to see how anyone could think they would help their cause by hurting kids.
Hurricane Frances has been playing in Florida.
REAL SPORT
Rory had two hours of water polo training on Tuesday night, then played two games on Friday night. He is training with the Western All Stars development squad until we go away. He was picked as a potential player for a tournament that happens while we are away (there are lots of things happening while we are away).
On Friday night he scored a hat-trick of goals in the first game for his team, and they won 9-2. He was playing the best I have ever seen him play. Given that he hasn't played for a couple of weeks, I was surprised. I know I am biased, but he just looked so good. He was flicking the ball over his shoulder to a player behind him (did it three or four times) and it look awesome. He played three quarters and set up more goals than he scored. Then, we waited for an hour and he played for Team 3, who were short of players. Three others from his team helped as well, and when Rory, David, and Sam were out there they took the opposition apart. Rory played two quarters and scored four goals as the team beat Bruce McLaren 2 17-0 (it was awful in the last quarter, even with Rory, David, and Finn off and Sam in goal the other team weren't doing well). Miss Hooper (the teacher) is sooo competitive, she didn't want to take the foot of their throat at all. She does a great job with them all, her approach to the teams is very similar to how I feel about the kids I coach at soccer (although I am less competitive).
Had parents versus team soccer game for Rory's team on Saturday. Parents sometimes broke into a walk but some were higher energy. I had my moments, my best being when Hannah and Rory were converging on me (with ball), I chipped the ball between them, it deflected off Hannah, I jumped between them, over their legs, got the ball and scored. The crowd in my head went wild. Very tired afterward and sore ever since.
SPORT
Canterbury won the shield when they beat BOP 33-26 on Sunday. It's a shame, really, because it is more interesting when the smaller provinces have it. Auckland lost to North Harbour 32-34 and really suck at the moment. Wellington beat Waikato 33-17 (Waikato were up 17-0 at one stage then lost a key player to injury). Otago beat Southland 27-10. Taranaki are still unbeaten, beating Northland 62-11. The bottom three teams all end in "land" (auck, south, north).
No premiership games because England drew with Austria after being ahead 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier.
I don't have to mention the Warriors any more (they didn't win). Somehow the Rabbitohs came last, but on points difference.
MY SAD LIFE
It was a very big week this way in many ways, some small, some quite big.
I decided to stop writing for PC World this week. My column has become more of a battle to do, I've been struggling to stay interested, and the editor has now decided that the column has done it's dash. I don't have any ideas for an alternative, and although he is happy for me to continue with some other things I do, I don't think I want to. They didn't want me to write for a digital photography magazine, which really annoyed me recently. I nearly pulled the plug then, but wimped out because of the (paltry) regular income. The only way I could contribute to the first issue was grant permission for them to use extracts from my book in it (which I think may have annoyed PC World). But now it looks like I will write about digital photography anyway, the editor of Dphoto is keen. It is published by a company called Parkside Media, the evil nemesis of IDG (who publish PC World), so I guess you could say I am going over to the parkside (couldn't resist that, have said it about fifty times). I have written at least one article in every issue of PC World for fifteen years running (165 issues), that is a long time. I am ready to move on, but it does feel pretty weird.
Rory seems to do no wrong at school. He thought he had cocked up an assignment he handed in on Monday (not sure why, but the girls all did way more work). He came home Tuesday with the news that he got 5/5. I think his teacher sees hidden depths that aren't really there (the Emperors New Clothes syndrome).
I bought a new office chair, when I was actually looking for shelving. It doesn't have arms, and although it is easy clean leatherette, it doesn't seem to cold when I sit on it in my boxers (sorry about the mental picture that conjures up, try to think about puppies or bunnies or something).
My iPaq died on Friday, it was a crisis. I had to go do some work without it and it was scary not having my little notes with me. It did finally recharge and is fine now, but I thought it was done for.
Gavin applied to join the fire service this week, about 1 in 20 get in, but I think he has a good shot at it. Interestingly, many fire stations don't have fireman's poles in them. Gavin was far less disappointed in this than I was. He is working hard.
Diana went to listen to a lady that wrote a hilarious book about punctuation. She really needs to get out more.
Went to Devonport and North Head on Thursday night with the kids and Paul while Diana was off hearing humourous anecdotes about the inappropriate use of semi-colons. We had fish and chips down at the water after wandering around the old naval defence base, pretty typical of a trip there.
Radio show on Sunday went really, really, well. I didn't nearly die on air or anything.
I heard from Charles, but not Koos. I did talk to his parents who should be landing in Amsterdam any time around now to see Heidi before they go visit Guernsey and then Koos (Guernsey is a channel island, not a person, where Koos was born). I did tell Pam she shouldn't mention Puffins.
Rory and I went to a geek swap meet thing on Saturday. Lots of people I know were there. Rory got given lots of bits from a guy I know. It was fun.
It is Matt Tucker's first birthday today (nephew #2).
We went to see Allan & Jackie Chambers for lunch. All three kids were away (Hamilton, Dunedin, Ruapehu). Allan has been travelling a lot for work, off to Melbourne in a week, then Ohio mid-October.
We think the Goodins still exist. They are currently being used as field triallists for a drug that eliminates the need for sleep.
We saw Alien Versus Predator (AVP) this week, and Jersey Girl. Quite different movies, but both good. Jersey Girl is by a guy called Kevin Smith, I have seen all his movies, although some are pretty marginal.
A lady who has been a client of mine for about 11 years went into hospital on Monday morning. She received five pints of blood, and improved markedly (that's a lot of blood). However, another problem has since flared up and I think she is struggling. I have spent a lot of time with her over the years and got quite attached to her. I am not sure that she is going to be able to keep working. I am heading off there now to cover for her. This is going to be a tough week.
LOCAL NEWS
The Herald continues to overtly support mayoral candidate Dick Hubbard, another candidate has pulled out in favour of Hubbard, while Banks is still just a dick.
The family of a Dad who went missing and is very probably dead were in the news before Fathers Day. The son had written a letter to him, which his wife read out on the telly. Sad story, but he wasn't going to show for Fathers Day.
A boy was badly burned when his pyjamas caught fire as he sat near a heater. His parents say it was the pajamas, the Warehouse say they are tested as safe. No mention was made of the fact that the kid was too close to the damned heater, or whether the heater was dangerous. I just wish I know which spelling for pjs is correct because it looks stupid with a Y and one article used both in it.
An interview show on Maori TV hosted by the man with the expensive public-funded underpants (Tuku Morgan) has been pulled because the producers of "The Kumars at No 42" think it is copying their show. Only about four people in New Zealand watch the station so it shouldn't be much of a concern.
Prisoners have been given compensation for being treated unfairly. However, the families of their victims aren't happy. They want to get the compensation money, rather than the prisoners. It does seem unfair that someone kills a person and is then awarded $100,000 for an abuse of human rights (putting them in solitary because they behave badly) and yet the murder victim got nothing for their human rights being removed completely. I don't think anyone agrees with them being compensated and getting to keep the money.
WORLD NEWS
I wouldn't send my children to school in Russia at the moment. After the two planes going down, the hostage taking at the school has got to make Russia the bottom of places to live. I fail to see how anyone could think they would help their cause by hurting kids.
Hurricane Frances has been playing in Florida.
REAL SPORT
Rory had two hours of water polo training on Tuesday night, then played two games on Friday night. He is training with the Western All Stars development squad until we go away. He was picked as a potential player for a tournament that happens while we are away (there are lots of things happening while we are away).
On Friday night he scored a hat-trick of goals in the first game for his team, and they won 9-2. He was playing the best I have ever seen him play. Given that he hasn't played for a couple of weeks, I was surprised. I know I am biased, but he just looked so good. He was flicking the ball over his shoulder to a player behind him (did it three or four times) and it look awesome. He played three quarters and set up more goals than he scored. Then, we waited for an hour and he played for Team 3, who were short of players. Three others from his team helped as well, and when Rory, David, and Sam were out there they took the opposition apart. Rory played two quarters and scored four goals as the team beat Bruce McLaren 2 17-0 (it was awful in the last quarter, even with Rory, David, and Finn off and Sam in goal the other team weren't doing well). Miss Hooper (the teacher) is sooo competitive, she didn't want to take the foot of their throat at all. She does a great job with them all, her approach to the teams is very similar to how I feel about the kids I coach at soccer (although I am less competitive).
Had parents versus team soccer game for Rory's team on Saturday. Parents sometimes broke into a walk but some were higher energy. I had my moments, my best being when Hannah and Rory were converging on me (with ball), I chipped the ball between them, it deflected off Hannah, I jumped between them, over their legs, got the ball and scored. The crowd in my head went wild. Very tired afterward and sore ever since.
SPORT
Canterbury won the shield when they beat BOP 33-26 on Sunday. It's a shame, really, because it is more interesting when the smaller provinces have it. Auckland lost to North Harbour 32-34 and really suck at the moment. Wellington beat Waikato 33-17 (Waikato were up 17-0 at one stage then lost a key player to injury). Otago beat Southland 27-10. Taranaki are still unbeaten, beating Northland 62-11. The bottom three teams all end in "land" (auck, south, north).
No premiership games because England drew with Austria after being ahead 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier.
I don't have to mention the Warriors any more (they didn't win). Somehow the Rabbitohs came last, but on points difference.
MY SAD LIFE
It was a very big week this way in many ways, some small, some quite big.
I decided to stop writing for PC World this week. My column has become more of a battle to do, I've been struggling to stay interested, and the editor has now decided that the column has done it's dash. I don't have any ideas for an alternative, and although he is happy for me to continue with some other things I do, I don't think I want to. They didn't want me to write for a digital photography magazine, which really annoyed me recently. I nearly pulled the plug then, but wimped out because of the (paltry) regular income. The only way I could contribute to the first issue was grant permission for them to use extracts from my book in it (which I think may have annoyed PC World). But now it looks like I will write about digital photography anyway, the editor of Dphoto is keen. It is published by a company called Parkside Media, the evil nemesis of IDG (who publish PC World), so I guess you could say I am going over to the parkside (couldn't resist that, have said it about fifty times). I have written at least one article in every issue of PC World for fifteen years running (165 issues), that is a long time. I am ready to move on, but it does feel pretty weird.
Rory seems to do no wrong at school. He thought he had cocked up an assignment he handed in on Monday (not sure why, but the girls all did way more work). He came home Tuesday with the news that he got 5/5. I think his teacher sees hidden depths that aren't really there (the Emperors New Clothes syndrome).
I bought a new office chair, when I was actually looking for shelving. It doesn't have arms, and although it is easy clean leatherette, it doesn't seem to cold when I sit on it in my boxers (sorry about the mental picture that conjures up, try to think about puppies or bunnies or something).
My iPaq died on Friday, it was a crisis. I had to go do some work without it and it was scary not having my little notes with me. It did finally recharge and is fine now, but I thought it was done for.
Gavin applied to join the fire service this week, about 1 in 20 get in, but I think he has a good shot at it. Interestingly, many fire stations don't have fireman's poles in them. Gavin was far less disappointed in this than I was. He is working hard.
Diana went to listen to a lady that wrote a hilarious book about punctuation. She really needs to get out more.
Went to Devonport and North Head on Thursday night with the kids and Paul while Diana was off hearing humourous anecdotes about the inappropriate use of semi-colons. We had fish and chips down at the water after wandering around the old naval defence base, pretty typical of a trip there.
Radio show on Sunday went really, really, well. I didn't nearly die on air or anything.
I heard from Charles, but not Koos. I did talk to his parents who should be landing in Amsterdam any time around now to see Heidi before they go visit Guernsey and then Koos (Guernsey is a channel island, not a person, where Koos was born). I did tell Pam she shouldn't mention Puffins.
Rory and I went to a geek swap meet thing on Saturday. Lots of people I know were there. Rory got given lots of bits from a guy I know. It was fun.
It is Matt Tucker's first birthday today (nephew #2).
We went to see Allan & Jackie Chambers for lunch. All three kids were away (Hamilton, Dunedin, Ruapehu). Allan has been travelling a lot for work, off to Melbourne in a week, then Ohio mid-October.
We think the Goodins still exist. They are currently being used as field triallists for a drug that eliminates the need for sleep.
We saw Alien Versus Predator (AVP) this week, and Jersey Girl. Quite different movies, but both good. Jersey Girl is by a guy called Kevin Smith, I have seen all his movies, although some are pretty marginal.
A lady who has been a client of mine for about 11 years went into hospital on Monday morning. She received five pints of blood, and improved markedly (that's a lot of blood). However, another problem has since flared up and I think she is struggling. I have spent a lot of time with her over the years and got quite attached to her. I am not sure that she is going to be able to keep working. I am heading off there now to cover for her. This is going to be a tough week.
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