It is still Christmas in half the world so merry Christmas anyway - 26/12/05

Apologies for the MSL section, it is way too long. Because of it's length, this message took longer to reach you than it would have otherwise and is therefore not late. However, I sent this via a mail server in Hawaii so Christmas wishes cannot be considered late,

LOCAL NEWS

Still nothing on Harmeet Sooden.

120 pilot whales stranded near Nelson. They did well to refloat about 100 of them despite not getting any away at the first high tide. I reckon shark nets would be a plan to keep them away from dodgy beaches they get trapped on.

A private cable car in Wellington (they have steep sections where carparking is at bottom of a cliff) failed and four people were hurt, a couple pretty seriously. The motor controlling the safety features broke and caused the accident, which was ironic.

A well decomposed body was the subject of a rescue operation at Piha (until they realised they were a bit late, like the person concerned). They could not tell gender, but it took considerable effort to recover it. I wonder why they normally say "badly decomposed". That should mean not very decomposed. I assume they say badly because it is really icky.

Been about five deaths in holiday road toll so far. Not sure how people manage it.

Some guys burgled an upmarket hotel then decided to return the stuff the next morning. They are being sentenced next week, although to be fair I am not sure they deserve sentences if they returned the stuff. Bit tricky, really.

WORLD NEWS

I can’t believe we are getting so much reminiscing about the sodding tsunami.

Some bozo has worked out that accidents in 8-15 year olds occur less frequently when a Harry Potter book comes out. Their theory is that they will release a new exciting book to read every week to reduce accidents.

Meanwhile, weight-loss researchers have found that children gain weight faster just after a Harry Potter book is released. They are looking to burn these evil books to prevent the population becoming too sedentary.

SPORT

The test between SA and Aussie ended in a draw, with SA hanging on gallantly with about four wickets to spare.

The next one starts today.

MY SAD LIFE

Pretty big week in my world, one way or another.

The big prize giving on Monday was very weird. Rory had told us he was getting one award, which meant that while we listened to a bunch of "minor" awards (like effort in Social Studies, achievement in PE, etc). We (Diana and I) were crossing our fingers going "not this one, not this one". When we came to core subjects like English, Maths, and especially Science (Rory's Science Teacher really likes him and thinks he is really into science) we got more worried. As each one resulted in someone else going up (and believe me, there were a lot of awards) we breathed out. Rory did his speech, which went down very well, and then it was the School Service awards (for councillors and people that helped around the school). Again, it was tense. Still his name was not called. By then, some people had been up three times, and I was thinking that perhaps he had been crap at school and he should have got something by now. Finally, we got to the major awards, so we kind of relaxed. When his name was called out for "Outstanding Contribution to the School" I asked Diana if that was the one we were hoping for. She said it was pretty good, so I "oh jolly good" and mentally relaxed. Then Rory's friend Harry got the sports award for boys and Rosie from his water polo team got sports award for girls, we were happy with those. The final award was Overall Academic Achievement, and they read out Rory's name again. That gave us a big surprise, we were expecting only one, and I had put away my camera. A tear came to Diana's eye, and I was completely surprised. Meanwhile, as the ceremony wound-up, Rory was making notebook computer gestures at me (the reward for his prizes). He was the only person to score two of the big awards, and was very pleased with himself. The parents were pretty happy, too. We went out to dinner that night to celebrate. He didn't get the notebook, in case you are wondering.

I don't remember much of Tuesday. Hannah had dancing prize giving which was a non-event (meaning she didn't get anything, but she has done well in the past so that is fine).

Then, on Wednesday, the council decided our rubbish wasn't good enough for them so they didn't collect it. Not a good week to have a full rubbish bin. Diana called them and it was emptied later on.

Wednesday night I announced to Rory that I wanted to watch a Christmas movie. He replied "Die Hard?". My response was "Exactly". We watched Die Hard 2 on Saturday. Unfortunately, Die Hard 3 is not set at Christmas time. I think I got them for my birthday from Diana one year.

Thursday, Rory went to the zoo with Greta. A lion jumped up on the glass right in front of Rory, who thought it was pretty cool. I wish someone had taken a photo.

Thursday night we went out and left the kids at home. They didn’t kill each other, which was good. Rory, however, despite having lived in the house for some time, decided to draw the curtains. Worse yet, he hadn't noticed they have cords you pull on so he knackered them. It took a bit of fiddling to sort it out the next morning. He seems to be unaware of his own strength or the world around him. I think his new approach is all about brute strength and ignorance.

On Friday, I tried to go get a gift for Diana, but failed at the sight of queues to get in to the car park. Saturday morning I went in early and got something before it went insane, I had not been in a mall all December, which was a wise choice.

During the day on Friday, the kids and Diana took Thomas and Katie out to Motat and Western Springs. They seemed to have a lot of fun. We then went over to the Goodins and saw Barry (Ross's brother), Karen, and Alyssa as well. Charles also showed up. We braved the rain and wind to go see the laser light show near by.

Saturday, our phone lines got cut by morons doing water pipe maintenance. That meant no internet either. We were promised it would be back up and running by 7pm, on Monday. That was not good. It came back about 7pm on Saturday, that was a relief.

Saw Roger, Shin, and Ben on Saturday after we went swimming with Paul. The kids were very annoying but raced off when the dive well was opened. They jumped off 5 metre board, as did Paul but he dived in. I did a bullet man dive (arms by sides) off a low springboard, it hurt my head. Ben bit me and the children ate far too much Toblerone at Paul's house. I took my laptop with me so I could check up on things, with Paul's wireless internet I could drive up outside and log in without having to disturb anyone inside (unless you count me sending them emails as disturbing, some of my emails are particularly disturbing). Ben is very cute, and said "bye bye" to us. He is about 19 months old. No news of Ben number 2.

Also on Saturday, Rory's new philosophy meant that whilst cleaning the bathroom mirror he tore the heated towel rail off the wall. Not exactly a great result as we have no other towel rails. To be fair, the plastic mountings were probably a bit fragile but nevertheless it was pretty inconvenient. I made him help me construct replacements out of aluminium that was left over from the construction of the mouse droid. It took a while to do, but the towel rail isn't coming off again in a hurry.

The Bambis rang at 3pm and said they would pop in. About 9:30 they showed up. On Christmas Eve. A good thing we weren't waiting to have dinner until after they left. Big news with them is they had made a pact that B2 would be named by Christmas Day. Although unconfirmed it sounded like B2 was about to become Charlotte Maria.

Koos also rang Christmas Eve. At least it was someone who sounded like Koos. They have moved in after a false start involving an unplanned water feature (the water tank was leaking aggressively). We now know where they live. Assuming it was really Koos and not just a crank call, of course.

Christmas Day went well in our household. Weather was good. Presents were opened. Children seemed happy enough. Gavin and Yana joined us for lunch and we went to the beach in the afternoon to walk it off.

A FUTILE RATIONALISATION RIDDLED WITH SELF-DELUSION

Because it will still be 2005 for many people when I send my email next week, I am leaving the annual summary until then. Seems perfectly reasonable to me, and has nothing to do with the fact that I haven't done it yet. Which simply isn't true, it is just the year isn't finished yet.

Well, talk to you from 2006 in about a week or so.

Six days until Christmas, so you're knackered now if you haven't done your shopping - 19/12/05

LOCAL NEWS

Not wanting to be outdone by meter maids not ticketing themselves, noise control officers in Kapiti were cautioned after their Christmas party was considered to be too loud. It must be human nature that the gamekeeper considers himself to be above the rules.

A small story here that deserves at least some space. A woman was sentenced to 15 months in prison for dangerous driving causing death to her boyfriend. She was driving while stoned, in an unwarranted, unregistered vehicle, doing "drifting" (skidding). She had rolled the vehicle into a muddy pond, she and a friend escaped but they left the boyfriend to drown. She then told police that he was driving, which was later shown to be untrue (he was left in the passenger seat, after all). Her friends all feel that the sentence was too tough, and she doesn't deserve to be in prison. Even more bizarre, the family of the dead man seem to largely agree with the sentence or think it is too tough. While this might not be murder, it strikes me as being very close.

A two year old boy was killed when another two year old boy released a handbrake in a parked car. Are the parents that weren't supervising their kids going to be charged with negligence?

Nasty incident with a woman thought to be a prostitute that was killed by a couple of guys who seemed to be enjoying themselves in Christchurch. I thought they would catch them, and they had one guy the next day (he was unemployed, what a surprise). On Sunday the woman's mother announced she forgave the guy that tortured and cruelly killed her daughter. She must be a member of a cult or something.

News of Harmeet Sooden consisted of regularly pointing out that has been no news. He's turning into a regular Ben & Olivia.

Judy Bailey is signing off this week as a newsreader, and that is considered news as well.

Couple of lives lost at sea took second place to a hen party for another overpaid TVNZ pseudo-personality in the paper on Sunday.

King Kong opened this week and we had a premiere in Wellywood.

WORLD NEWS

Sydney continues in semi-siege mode with people being frisked for Molotov cocktails and submachine guns.

WTF is happening with the WTO? And does anyone really care?

REAL SPORT

No real sport for the moment.

SPORT

The first cricket test between Australia and South Africa is finely poised. The South Africans had a slight advantage on the first innings but Australia look like they will post a good score in the second.

Man Utd beat Villa 2-0, Bolton thumped Everton 4-0, Newcastle beat West Ham 4-2, Man City beat Birmingham 4-1. Chelsea beat the Arse 2-0 and Spurs drew 3-3 with Middlesbrough.

Jonah Lomu had his second comeback game for some Welsh club. I think he needs to let go. He didn't score, although former Auckland Captain Xavier Rush scored two tries. Jonah can't pass, he can't tackle, and now he can't run.

MY SAD LIFE

Well, we had two graduations on Thursday, one for each of the kids. Before them I was wondering what the opportunity cost is in terms of lost revenue for 200 parents sitting around for two hours. It can't be good for the GDP. Rory had the graduation dance afterwards.

Not really sure what is happening with Koos and Julie. I assume he is back from Hong Kong, I assume they have moved, I assume they have a new phone number, I assume that he is busy and not just avoiding me.

Brett has bought a car.

Rory's Ponsonby Palangi Kilikiti team kicked butt and won the interzone competition.

Hannah's show was all weekend. Four shows plus dress rehearsal, which took up to three and three quarter hours each (do the math, that's a lot when you add on hanging around and travel time). We went on Saturday night. Another event where the reduction of the national GDP came to mind. Rory and I took a break between the first and second intermission, and Hannah took one of our seats so she could see it. We took Hannah home after her last piece at about 10:30, she had to wash hairspray out of her hair and stuff so it was a pretty late night. Diana and the grannies got home even later. As always, she did very well, she looks so tall and glam. She has really stretched out in the last year or so.

Rory had a party at Marcella's house on Friday night. The usual suspects were there, but Riley never showed up. Riley is very heavily monitored by his mother. The classic joke among the boys is Riley's mum on the phone "You are going to cross the road? Let me speak to the road's mother.". Riley is Marcella's boyfriend (supposedly) but doesn't ever show up because he prefers visiting his grandmother. Supposedly Riley wasn't allowed to come because Rory is a bad influence on him (which Rory sees as something of an achievement). Two of Rory's friends are now "going out" with two of Greta's. Rory went to movies with Greta, Nick, and KM on Sunday.

Jim made it home on Saturday, after being in hospital about twelve days. Pandora was very happy to see him and was waiting at his front door in the rain, was very touching. She really does like Jim.

Paul's container arrived Wednesday and was unpacked the same day. It was a lot easier to empty than it was to fill. Rory climbed up on top of it, because he could. Organisation of the contents is expected to take a little longer. I think we should have a sweepstake as to how many boxes are still intact a year from now.

Rory is overwhelming us with deodorant at the moment. He supposedly sprays himself but it smells like he bathes in it. I am concerned about what it is costing us. I see an opportunity to sell low-strength deodorant for teenagers.

I am very concerned about Gavin. Since the arrival of Yana he has been acting quite out of character. He even sent us a Christmas Card (which I think is a first in the 27 years I have known him) and he used the phrase "water feature". I think I need to call the Bloke Police.

I hear Heidi is on her way over for a holiday.

I expect to see Jono, Roger, Shin, Ben, Barry and family, and Heidi at some point over the next month or so. Not sure about Koos. Any reported sightings of Charles are likely to make the news.

The kids are spending the day with Thomas and Katie on Friday. That should be entertaining.

So Hannah has finished school and Rory finishes today with Prize giving this afternoon. It is certainly the end of an era for Rory at Intermediate, as a lot of his friends are heading off for separate schools. Hannah has a squad of girls accompanying her and she will be at the same school as some of her soccer and dancing friends for the first time. I will no longer walk a child to school, ever again.

Have a good Christmas

Subject postponed due to lack of space - 12/12/05

Okay, there are some really long bits in here, sorry.

LOCAL NEWS

We continued to hear about the plight of Harmeet Sooden, held captive in Iraq. The deadline (pardon the pun) came and went so many times is was not funny. Still no news of his fate yet.

Nasty domestic double fatality in Tauranga overnight.

A woman stole a $250 watch from a store in Queenstown, then made her escape by parapenting from the top of the gondola ride. Sounds very glamorous but is actually not quite so. Pursuing police consisted of a cop sitting in his car at the bottom of the gondola ride eating a meat pie and reading a newspaper. There is some doubt as to whether the thief knew the police were even (although half-heartedly) pursuing. And the parapent was a tandem ride, she was the passenger. There is even evidence that she had planned the ride before the theft.

A guy was randomly stopped by police in sleepy Waitangi, and found to have bomb making material in his car. This is pretty bizarre in a place like New Zealand, especially a small town like Waitangi. The man was described as a transient, and was also in possession of methamphetamine. Drugs and bombs just don't mix.

A police baton was used in a road-rage incident this week, but not by a policeman. It did some pretty reasonable damage to victim, who somehow retained possession of the baton.

We've had premiere's of King Kong and Narnia this week, neither were in New Zealand but we made a massive fuss all the same. Meanwhile a local luxury theatre has opened with la-z-boy chairs and charges $30 (which sounds outrageous but it costs $15 to see in a regular flea-pit anyway). I think box office takes are going to shrink fast when it is cheaper to go buy a new DVD than take a family to a movie.

Two road accidents in Otago have been nasty, both involving multiple teenagers and alcohol, one included three cars and about twelve teenagers (one died). Not sure of total fatalities but two so far.

Weird result from a murder trial this week. After his uncle (think it was his uncle) admitted the crime nine years ago, he got charged, and then surprisingly acquitted this week. Then, he was arrested the next morning for breaching the peace, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest.

Some pensioners apprehended a thief at the bowling club, and tied him up for police. Kind of funny, young guy tried to get away but was overpowered by the smell of lavender and taken out by people with crutches. Grey power at its best.

People have been queuing up for days for the extra U2 concert. The web site sales never happened last time, which is pathetic.

WORLD NEWS

Comedian Richard Pryor died this week, he was 65 years old.

Nice little mob thing in Australia over the weekend near Cronulla, where they were harassing middle eastern people.

I read something about a enshrining of a sparrow at the Rotterdam Natural History Museum. Apparently, it flew in to a building where they were setting up for a world record domino toppling attempt, with over 4,000,000 dominoes. The sparrow flew around and knocked over 23,000 dominoes before an exterminator shot it with an air rifle (the exterminator knocked over 34,000 tiles but nobody wanted to shoot him). The fuss that ensued has meant that this stupid sparrow will now be seen by thousands. Heidi, please don't tell me you've been to see it.

Big explosion at an oil terminal in Hemel Hempstead, largest one in peacetime Europe. It was heard 100 miles away. Is currently considered to be an accident. Nobody was hurt seriously.

REAL SPORT

Not a great week really. After so much activity for the last few weeks there was no training and two games on Sunday. This was club playoffs for 5th to 8th in 14th grade Div 1. I won't dwell on it, it was awful, they have too many disinterested and weak players. They should never have been in Div 1. They finished last. Lost 2-11 and 1-8. Rory scored two of the three goals. It didn't help. I have real concerns about the idea of putting teams in to a tough division for them to "develop". They won one game the whole season. Most will still be 14th grade next year, if this season hasn't put them off. I have serious concerns about Rory playing in the team next year. If the weakest players are too weak the whole team suffers, especially if they play in Div 1 and they aren't up to it.

SPORT

Australia won the second ODI, but it was close, with New Zealand needing 323 to win they were all out with one ball to spare on 320.

New Zealand then managed to win the dead rubber (why is it a rubber all of a sudden? Not a dead game?) by scoring the largest ever total in a run chase, 332 runs.

Liverpool had another win, 2-0 over Middlesbrough, Man Utd 1-1 draw with Everton, Chelsea beat Wigan 1-0, Newcastle beat Arsenal 1-0.

The draw for World Cup Soccer 2006 has been made. Interesting pools, England should be okay.

MY SAD LIFE

I forgot to say Happy Birthday to Charles for last Sunday (sorry dude).

Diana and I were left in peace in the house on Saturday night. Both kids went to birthday parties so we got out some DVDs.

Interesting series of events on Saturday night (sorry, it is a bit long). Rory went to a birthday party in Westmere (Christian, aka Krusty, from his class). Theoretically just your typical sleepover, the lads swimming and watching movies. I picked him up the next morning to take him to water polo. Brett, Krusty's father, told me that they had had some gatecrashers, three girls (Greta, KM, and Marcella). He was in a similar state to me when he told me, surprised, scared. All known to us, KM plays in Greta's soccer team, and Marcella played for Ponsonby Red. Brett's stepdaughter, Roma, is in Hannah's soccer team so she knows Greta and KM. She answered the door, and came in to the boys and said "There are some people for you at the door, girl people." Due to texting, the boys knew they were coming, but nobody else in the house did. They seemed to have a fun time, not surprisingly. The girls even brought Krusty a present (very expensive chocolates). Anyway, these girls were originally having a party at KM's house (which was boyfriend optional, but none showed up) and somehow decided that the party was over, so they walked from Grey Lynn to Westmere (Marcella lives somewhere near Krusty). Of course, we would not be happy if either of our kids told us they were going one place and then went somewhere else (although I am sure we both did that when we were younger). An interesting event during the evening was when Greta was on the phone with her mother, being told off for changing venues on an unplanned basis, so she slipped in the news that she is getting a prize at prizegiving (which completely defused her mother, a very clever but evil move, keeping a get out of jail card up her sleeve). It did sound like they had a great time, but it does signal the beginning of the party age. It seems Rory has another party to go to this Friday, at Marcella's house.

Hannah's dance show is next weekend, she has been rehearsing and getting photos taken over the weekend.

Rory put himself to bed Sunday afternoon, slept for about three hours, he was knackered, they didn't get a lot of sleep at the party.

Paul's worldly goods arrive about Wednesday. Some planning has been going on. I really hope you guys have room in that garage.

Saw Brett on Thursday for a bit.

We have an awful lot on this coming week, with graduation for both Rory and Hannah, the graduation dance for Rory, he has inter-zone kilikiti today. Good thing Diana has finished work for the year. Rory's school prize giving is next Monday afternoon, we know he is getting something, we just don't know what.

Have you every thought about the saying "feeling a bit below par". Surely, being below par is a good thing?

Some news from an aged one before his brain succumbs to senility - 05/12/05

Today is international volunteer day.

LOCAL NEWS

After the murder suicide in Taupo which included police using smoke, a knife wielding man stabbed three people, an elderly man fatally, then got taken out by police on Monday. It was in Railside Ave in Henderson, about 500m from the pool where Rory plays water polo and less than a kilometre from where Gavin lives. They thought he was trying to rob the Norcross sports store, but they then decided he was "just disturbed". He survived the shooting. A parking warden tackled the man with the knife, and is hailed as a hero, but not sure how he needed tackling and shooting.

Ironically, the same week, a parking warden elsewhere in Auckland keeled over and nobody assisted them. The warden got themselves up and back to base without any help.

Parking wardens in Wellington were also in the news for making a deal with each other to not ticket each other's cars.

New Zealand is the 7th fattest country in OECD, a dubious honour at best. Interestingly, I am not sure things would change if you brought in all non-OECD countries because they are mostly starving. US is first, Mexico second, not sure where Canada is, UK is third, Australia is sixth.

A brother and sister died within hours of each other this week, both with complications from Alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency, a disorder which affects the lungs and the liver (a condition which Rory and I both have, but hopefully not quite a serious). She had liver problems, he had lung problems.

Canadian-born but New Zealand resident Harmeet Sooden is one of four people captured in Iraq this week and threatened with death. We are getting lots on this right now.

Cabinet Minister and former teacher David Benson-Pope continues to attract attention. Despite not being charged, it certainly sounds like he pushed the boundaries of punishment. However, I think calling it bullying is inaccurate.

We are suffering from information overload about the new King Kong movie, alongside Narnia, they are two very large movies made in New Zealand.

Our interest rates and fx rates continue to be high. It is interesting that I know three people wanting to bring money to New Zealand from overseas right now (Koos GBP, Paul USD, and Brett AUD) and none of them are too happy about it.

WORLD NEWS

Van Nguyen, Vietnamese-born Melbournian, was hanged in Singapore, as scheduled on Friday. They made a massive fuss here. More so in Australia, I think.

McDonalds and other fast food companies continue to come under fire from various quarters. The latest is a magazine which tested meals and found most of them contained more fat than the figures published by the companies themselves (in one case three times as much). The tests also showed that the "healthy" salads weren't particularly healthy. Making a change to diet lemonade is not going to save the world from diabetes.

REAL SPORT

A weekend of contrasting games for Rory. The first game was for Western Springs against Kaipara College. It was close, again wasn't until the fourth quarter when the outcome became clear and even then with only one minute thirty on the clock. Final score was a 12-8 win, very high scoring, it was 5-4 end of first quarter. Rory scored an embarrassing 11 goals (sort of didn't know where to look). They had no subs so they were all buggered at the end. That is his highest personal tally in a game.

The second game was a club game, a dour grind where some of the lads were obviously off their form. They lost 4-8 and Rory didn't score a single goal. He had about three shots on goal at the most. Passing was shocking and the other team scored most of their from breaks.

The third game saw only six from the springs team show up, but only two from St Peters. This meant St Peters defaulted and they just played a friendly. Hannah got in and played and then I did too. Interesting. My first actual game of water polo on a day when I had already done 54 lengths that morning. We all played on same team. At one point I passed to Hannah, she passed to Rory, and he scored, that was cool. I was marking Tom, who coaches the team, and he just never stopped swimming. I was pretty tired, and shoulders were really quite achy last night but not so bad this morning. No other parents were silly enough to get in the pool.

SPORT

There hasn't been much on, sport wise.

The Black Caps lost to Australia in the first ODI.

Man City beat Charlton 5-2. Arsenal lost to Bolton, of all teams, 0-2, Spurs beat Sunderland 3-2, Man Utd beat Portsmouth 3-0 (they needed to).

MY SAD LIFE

A funny old week. Seemed busy but not much happened.

Our neighbour, Jim, had a stroke on Wednesday. Not a major one, he should be okay, but Pandora really misses him.

We met the "houses" (you know, like Gryffindor, etc) at Rory's new school on Thursday night, Rory is happy that there are plenty of kids he knows in his core class, house, and generally. The class structure is quite complex, with a form class that include kids from all ages. Hannah looked frighteningly at home amongst the potential year 9s.

While swimming this week, I did my fifty lengths without stopping for the first time ever (another futile attempt to prove to myself that I am not as clapped out as I really am). I usually do four then rest a bit. Took about the same length of time, which was interesting.

My car is now incredibly clean, thanks to Mum. It looks pretty good, I was quite surprised. The kids sort of helped but not a lot. I spent a fair amount of Saturday tidying things that needed it. My tools in the garage were all over the show, so they got tidied, my office got cleaned out a bit, I did more weeding of the lawn (it needed it badly) and trimming back foliage.

We had a barbecue on Saturday ostensibly for my birthday. It was good, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. It included a large number of people who receive this email so I have to mention them (Brett, Koos & Julie, Paul, Ross & Kath, Allan & Jacqui. Gavin & Yana, Mum, Ross & Kath, Matt & Kristy). Greta was also there, which kept Rory distracted. I was presented with a 12" action figure of myself, a heavily modified Darth Vader, which had been organised by Gavin and Diana. It is very clever, but I still don't quite know what to make of it. Worse still, the kids knew all about it and neither of them breathed a word. Traitors.

Koos has buggered off to Hong Kong again (left Sunday) so Julie can move in to their new house in peace (they took possession on Friday). This means, Heidi, that cards may not get to the right address, but I am sure they will put in a redirection order with New Zealand Post (that was a hint).

We are going to see John Cleese tonight. I hope it is good, I have been looking forward to it for a while. I am not normally one for concerts and things.

Heard from Helen this week, which was good. Haven't heard from big Rory in a while (how tall are you? Little Rory is now about 173cm).

Jono, when are you over?

Oh well, might as well do some work. Less than three weeks to Christmas.

A weekend for great wins in a number of sports - 28/11/2005

Weather not great, unusually windy and wet. The kids have got three weeks left of school.

LOCAL NEWS

A P-crazed crazy man was on the run from police in Northland. It strikes me that the people that take this stuff are already a bit bonkers to begin with. The latest news is that he was seen in Avondale. He has died his hair red to disguise himself, but given his distinctive facial tattooing I am not sure it will do the trick.

Big hailstones hit Kaiwaka in the north, some as large as grapes.

There was a lot of news about a bust of a marijuana growing facility in a warehouse in Auckland. It was owned by a fashion label know as "Insidious Fix". Then it turned out that there was some weird tunnel to the warehouse from somewhere else (not sure where).

There was a blast in fashionable Paratai Drive when a P-Lab went bad.

A murder-suicide happened in Taupo on the weekend.

A UN envoy came to New Zealand and told us that we need to give Maori more money. I find this sort of thing worrying because it creates resentment all around. They earn less because they don't work or don't get the skills. Some of them do. That means that others can. Not sure how race relations are helped with this.

Air New Zealand were found to be in breach of fair trading rules (or should that be fare trading?). All to do with fine print about petrol surcharges and how small the writing is.

Very confused news this week about All Black Captain Tana Umaga retiring. First he was going to retire, then we had the stories about how his family are pleased and speculation about whether he was pushed. Then, two days later, he's not retiring.

WORLD NEWS

Model and drug charge escapee Michelle Leslie continues to be in news, while poor Schappelle remains in jail in Bali. She returned to Australia and was interviewed by journalists at every step in the journey.

Vietnam is poisoning pigeons to prevent bird flu. Meanwhile it is hard to know how serious this thing really is.

George Best died on Friday, and there was a suitable fuss made. His career was quite short, but he was very good. He retired when he was 26, which is very young.

An Australian (with a very Vietnamese name) is scheduled to be hanged for drug offences in Singapore, now everyone is pleading for clemency. The hangman was named in the furore and has now retired after hanging 850 people in his 50 year career. I did not know they hanged people for chewing gum in Singapore.

The benzine in the water in Chinese city Harbin has also been in the news. Nine million people unable to drink from their taps would be very problematic.

REAL SPORT

Hannah's team played Ponsonby Green again, who they played only two weeks ago. They did okay, but by third quarter Green were starting to get away on them. Loyalty was again divided and when Hannah was on sideline I tended to support Ponsonby. Hannah did well, made one excellent shot at goal which the goalie got to, and did some awesome defence. The team was definitely weaker when she was off.

Rory didn't play for Ponsonby Blue, who after losing 5-6 to Waitak the week before had to play them again without Rory and Henry. They lost 2-12. However, about five of the team stuck around to see Ponsonby Red play. The big final had a very big crowd, including five teachers from Ponsonby, and lots of friends. Rory's contingent was extremely large, with the Bambis (including B2, being named after a vitamin isn't very good is it), Gavin & Yana, Paul, the Grannies, Greta, and of course me and Diana. It was really nice to have the support, guys. Diana was dreaming about water polo on Thursday night, but we weren't getting too worked up about it.

Although Ponsonby Red had not lost to Bruce McLaren 1 during the season, the goal difference was only 1 with a narrow win and draw in their previous two encounters. There was not a lot in it, and they all needed to do their bit to win. Ponsonby got out to an early 2-0 lead in the first quarter but Bruce McLaren scored twice to level at 2-2 by the end of the first. In the second quarter, Red came out firing again and were 4-2 ahead. Third quarter was very hard play, very competitive, nothing conceded in defence, and they were all working hard. No goals scored in the third quarter which was surprising, so was still 4-2 going in to the final quarter, and the blood pressure was okay. Bruce McLaren scored first, 4-3 and the tension was suddenly very high. My voice was starting to fail. Ponsonby Red knuckled under and scored again to open up the lead and then stretched it out to 7-3 with about a minute thirty to go. Joe swapped the starters off to give the other players more game time. Bruce McLaren did get a consolation goal, but it wasn't enough and final score was 7-4. We think Rory got three goals, maybe four. At the prize giving afterward, Ben Pearson from Red got most promising boy and Rory got an MVP award (which he got last year in Div 2, we didn't really expect it this year). They then pushed poor Ms Hooper into the pool, which was very naughty.

Afterwards, most of the team went to Wendy's for a celebrationary coke and burger. They were very happy with themselves, which was not surprising. It got very messy, but they were happy.

When we got home on Friday night, Rory arranged his medals around the trophy (which he somehow ended up with) on his bookshelf as a little water polo shrine. He was a very happy young man.

Despite the excitement of Friday night, Rory still had four more games over the weekend. Three club ones and one Western Springs one. They lost the first two, won the third, lost the fourth. Rory scored twelve goals in the five games. We spent a lot of time going to swimming pools, including our first visit to a very new pool in Manurewa.

SPORT

The All Blacks won 29-10 against Scotland, completing a grand slam which is not a grand slam in my books.

Meanwhile, Australia lost to Wales 22-24 and South Africa lost to France 20-26.

The really big sports news is the Kiwis beating Australia in the League final, and not only beating them but holding them scoreless, winning 24-0.

Black Caps Captain Stephen Fleming has had a benign tumour removed from his jaw line. They play Australia this Saturday without him.

Everton beat Newcastle 1-0, Man Utd beat West Ham 2-1, Arsenal beat Blackburn 3-0, Chelsea won 2-0 over Portsmouth, Liverpool beat Man City 1-0.

The Aussies are playing West Indies in another test and it is pretty even with two days left (I think there are two days, they could run out of time).

MY SAD LIFE

Monday evening we went to play at the Hasbro warehouse with Ben and Matt. We took them through the showroom which had wall to wall toys, then out to the warehouse were there were cartons of toys stacked floor to ceiling. I think they were both a little overwhelmed but Ben certainly seemed to know what was happening.

Penny and the boys went home on Thursday. Ben's birthday was on Sunday, he is now five.

Hannah's interschool athletics was on Thursday. I hung around for two hours before she threw a ball twice and it was all over. Not sure why she didn't do long jump, very strange.

We found out that Rory has been asked to speak at the prize giving at school. There is still some homework that needs doing, and the speech is now on the list.

Hannah had her school disco on Friday night, which made for tricky logistics with water polo. She stayed the night at Hayley's so it was quiet at our house. She danced with eleven different boys, which I think is a fair definition of a full dance card. Funny, she seems quite happy with the idea that it is impolite to say no if someone asks, yet Rory would not take that on board and was quite happy to turn people down even earlier this year.

One thing we have noticed with Rory is that since Greta hit his radar with a vengeance, there have been no outbursts of how "hot" anyone is on the TV or anywhere. It appears the blinkers are well and truly on. He wants to be in her class next year, but Diana and I are not quite as keen for that to happen.

This morning Hannah complained to me that she is swimming "24/7" at the moment. School swimming started last week, but they actually only swam once, and water polo finished on Friday so she only has school swimming this week. Three swims, including one water polo game, does not really constitute "24/87" in my book.

Rory has an orientation night at Western Springs College this Thursday night. He also has interschool athletics on Tuesday. Hannah's dance show practices are starting to gear up.

I changed to the Mozilla Firefox web browser on Friday and I don't know why I didn't do it sooner.

Well, time to do some work, next week you will be hearing from a 41 year old. Ugh.

Grand Slam on track, New Zealand to host rugby world cup 2011, and the wedding is complete - 21/11/2005

After a rather big weekend, I have gone to work for a rest.

LOCAL NEWS

The big news of the week was New Zealand being awarded hosting rights for Rugby World Cup 2011. There was no other news, it was one of those days when you could slip in some bad news and nobody would notice. We continue with the usual run of stories from those about infrastructure required, impact on house prices, the danger to native birds of too many rugby supporters, you know the sort of thing.

A mental health patient that had threatened to kill pre-school children was released into the community to live directly opposite a childcare centre.

They found the body of Michael Erceg two weeks after his helicopter went missing. They found the Dutch guy too. They say they were found in bush, at best a clump of trees, about a thousand metres from real bush in the middle of paddocks.

Criticism of Winston Peters by the Herald has been described as treason by, wait for it, Winston Peters.
Hmmmm. Some might consider that to be an act of patriotism.

The Ellerslie Flower show was on this weekend, Diana went there on Friday. She seemed happy enough.

It turns out that newsreader John Campbell was first to the accident last weekend that killed a motorcyclist. He comforted the man as he died. What a guy.

Another good samaritan dragged a woman and her dog from a burning car.

The prison service has spent $300,000 on removing tattoos from their customers. I think some smart customers could offer to be paid a reduced amount to not get tattoos. Could be a growth industry. It supposedly helps reduce reoffending.

WORLD NEWS

An Israeli company has developed a lie detector that uses tremors in the voice to detect lies. They are going to be used in airports. This is kind of silly, because people tend to say "yes" to the "did you pack your bag yourself" question just to make life easier. What will it achieve by people being forced to say "well, my wife did a lot, my kids made cards and a macaroni painting that they wrapped themselves and my sister gave me a gift to take." Is that really going to help?

GW has been telling us why they shouldn't get out of Iraq. Nobody believes him.

APEC was this week. Nothing interesting happened.

REAL SPORT

Continuing a tradition of playing for your next school in our family, Hannah helped out Ponsonby Gold on Friday night for two quarters (they were short in numbers) before getting ready for her own game. She left them in good shape at 3-3 but they were playing six on seven so they just couldn't hold it together and lost 3-9 to Rangeview Grey.

Hannah's team played Bruce McLaren 2, and lost fairly convincingly. They have a player that has lost the plot, she scored an own goal this week that was bizarre.

Big semi-final on Friday night, against Rangeview Black (a team from Olwyn's school). It must be about the sixth time they have played each other this year, and I feel sorry for them. To quote Mick Jagger (when talking about Australia playing England in cricket a couple of years ago) "It's like a porn movie, you always know what is going to happen". The final score was 12-1. They play Bruce McLaren 1 in the final next Friday. The result of that is not predictable.

Rory also helped Ponsonby Blue against the much-vaunted Waitak 1. They worked very hard and it was 5-5 with about a minute to go, then Waitak got one and the final score was a 5-6 loss. A very good result for them, nonetheless.

Rory played for Western Springs on Sunday afternoon. For the first time, he didn't start in goal. They finished the first quarter ahead, about 3-0. Rory went into goal in the third quarter, scored a goal in the dying seconds despite the goalie at the other end knowing it was coming. Final score was 9-2, Rory scored about five or six of them, at least one in every quarter.

SPORT

The big news is the All Blacks won the game against England 23-19, with 14 men for a good chunk of the second half. They now need to beat Scotland to complete the grand slam (which I still say is easier given that they need to win only four games against four different opponents. In golf you have to win four matches. Be the best over four sets of four rounds, against a hundred-odd others in each match).

Australia beat Great Britain in the League so New Zealand play Australia in the final.

Netballers won again in Jamaica.

The Windies are struggling against Australia, who are actually having to bat again. They don't need many, about 78.

Lots of teams scored three goals in the premiereship. Man Utd beat Charlton 3-1, Arsenal beat Wigan 3-2, Newcastle lost 0-3 against Chelsea, Liverpool won 3-0 over Portsmouth.

MY SAD LIFE

Well, the wedding dominated this week, it is fair to say. It all went pretty well, not perfectly, but they never do. Scott and Sarah are now married (the expected outcome). The kids both did their bit very well. Hannah was absolutely stunning in her bridesmaids outfit. Rory looked very grown up in a suit, handing out programs and doing a reading during the service. One funny moment was when some people realised they were at the wrong wedding, Scott and Carla were being married next door. As they left, Rory said "Do you think I should ask for their copies of the service to be returned?".

I have seen Penny do her floristry thing about half a dozen times now, and I still can't get used to seeing foliage flying everywhere, glue gun in hand, creating these bouquet-things.

We've seen quite a lot of Ben and Matt, the nephews. The kids have had some good fun with them, we went swimming with them yesterday morning (leaving the mums to recover a little).

We went to see Chris and Tracey out at their house in Papatoetoe yesterday. Rory brought Greta, we were all amazed she would be willing to go. They seemed to enjoy themselves. It is was we call FFF (Forced Family Fun). Rory was very happy that Greta was going to see him play water polo.

Both kids had school athletics this week. Hannah was first, she came second in long jump, third in high jump, and third in shot-put. She hurt her knee so I wouldn't let her run. Rory's was the next day. He came third in long jump, discus, 4th in shot put, second in 100 metres final and 400 metres and fourth in 200 metres. For the first time ever, they are both off to inter-school athletics (neither of them have qualified before).

Hannah had her tests for intermediate school on Thursday. She seemed happy enough with them, very happy with a bunch of friends there.

On Wednesday it will be two years since Ross Cole died. I think we are pretty used to him not being around now.

It is Judy's birthday tommorow, and Ben's on Sunday.

Craig went home last night, Penny and the boys are staying until Thursday.

WARNING contains high water polo content - 14/11/2005

Sorry for the large real sport section. It felt like we had an awful lot of water polo.

LOCAL NEWS

School NCEA exams start today.

The search for the missing helicopter grew, involving 20 helicopters. Over this week, efforts have been scaled back, no helicopter has been found. One wonders what would happen if they lost another one during the search. To lose one is unfortunate, to lose two is considered careless….

A man died when he rolled a stolen car into a power pole mid-week in Onehunga. So much better for society than having to pay for his incarceration.

A bus drove into a house Wednesday, then a car drove into another house and landed on another car. The number of housing fatalities is bound to rise at this rate.

Apparently 600 new born babies die in New Zealand each year. I think they should ban being born as it is far too dangerous.

An Australian man who faked his own death and came to live in New Zealand has been discovered. Also turned out he had a new wife. Wonder if she faked anything.

A Lotto shop owner told a customer a ticket had won $17 when it had actually won $60,000. This is a massive betrayal of trust and breach of his duty. When your job is to help your customers, this is beyond the pale. The customer took back the ticket and went to the Lotteries Commission directly. The man is no longer a Lotto shop owner.

They reckon the property market has cooled off, as prices rose 14.4% as compared to 14.9% the previous year. Not really much of a cooling off if you ask me.

Rod Donald died of a viral myocardial thing. A heart attack induced by disease. He was buried in a recyclable pine box and transported by foot during services.

HMNZS Wellington was ceremoniously sunk over the weekend to begin its life as a reef.

WORLD NEWS

I thought New Zealand was political correctness gone wrong, but Australia are doing their best to catch up. Their latest crisis is that there is concern that photos of children at the beach could end up on dodgy web sites, so photography at the beach is about to become illegal. They seem to have failed to recognise that sufficient photos of such things already exist and stopping people taking more won't really have much of an impact.

Riots in France have settled down, but it did look like Beirut on a bad day for a while.

The 11th of the 11th was the anniversary of the end of World War I.

REAL SPORT

Friday night was busy, but not as protracted as some weeks. It was all done in about two hours.

Rory's Red team were up against Waitak Invitational 1, a team made up of identified players (many of which play for under 14 and 12 club teams). Rory was off second quarter and they slipped to 1-4 down (was 1-1 end of first). Rory came back on third and they stepped it up, they had equalised within about three minutes, by then end of third quarter they were up. In the fourth quarter Red locked down, and got out to 6-4. Then Waitak got one back, with about a minute left and Ponsonby looked after possession and let the clock run out. Final score 6-5. This was last game in league, Waitak won with Ponsonby Red coming second by three goals on goal difference (both on 34 points). That is big result for Ponsonby, who have a semi-final next week. Rory scored four goals and got player of the game. Rory came out of the pool and said to Diana "God, I love water polo".

Hannah's team (Waitak 2) played Ponsonby Green. Very tricky. Wanted Hannah to do well but wanted Ponsonby to win too. Hannah was in goal for half (I was going "Shoot Jane, um not too hard" was very confused). She let in no goals and her team was up 1-0 end of first half. But in second half Ponsonby came back and Sinead in Hannah's team was obviously too thick to know the rules because she wasted three free throws by shooting when she had to pass. Final score 2-1 to Ponsonby, but Hannah played in all four quarters and was pretty happy.

Rory then played for Western Springs, always a challenge. The opposing team had an under 16 club player who was all over the Springs team (Rory was in goal first quarter but just a waste of time). Once Rory came out, he marked the under 16 and shut him out of the game. He got two goals for them but they lost 8-3. Rory got two goals.

Rory then played for Ponsonby Blue. Only one quarter, the last one, in goal. Blue were down about 0-6, Rory opened the scoring for Blue (from goal, described as a gimp goal by the ref, Joe, who we know quite well) and they got one more so lost about 2-7.

Rory had another game on Sunday afternoon. It was against Northsport A, the best team in the league and was never going to be pretty. Only six guys arrived, when the minimum is seven, so they took the default (a 0-5 loss) and played a friendly match with some ring-ins, including their coach. It was a very good game, really good for the six players there because they had a bit more structure and tactics. Far better than a 0-20 loss or something if they had managed seven players (it would have been, in all honesty). Rory got himself a nice goal, but missed two others. They won 12-9. Rory got a goal in each game, he is very proud of that.

SPORT

The All Blacks named a completely different starting line-up from the previous weekend. There was much controversy about that, but it is to develop depth. There was some question about whether it would put the Grand Slam at risk (which is a far easier Grand Slam to win than in golf or tennis, but don't go there). They beat Ireland 45-7. They play England next weekend. Scotland is unlikely to provide much of a challenge.

The Kiwis lost miserably to Great Britain 12-38 in the League. After praise was heaped on the coach recently, he won't be so popular.

Aussie lost to England 16-26 in the rugby, their seventh loss in a row, that is not good.

England came back from behind to beat Argentina 3-2 in a soccer friendly.

MY SAD LIFE

Three birthdays this week, Helen J, Caitlin, and Nanny, all on Sunday (and it is still Sunday somewhere in the world). The 13th of November was obviously a big day.

Heidi said she is thinking of visiting Paris. I recommend taking a rental car and lots of insurance.

Popped in to see Koos and Julie and Marissa on Sunday after water polo. We got to meet Magic the cat, who has now had his second knee operation. He is large, black, and fluffy, with a red mane and both legs partially shaved. The left has regrown a fair bit, and other is very pale. Looks like he is trying to become a poodle. They had a pomegranate, I've never seen one before.

Big week coming up, with Scott and Sarah's wedding this coming Saturday. The Tuckers arrive Thursday. Went with Hannah for final fitting of dress. Other wardrobe items being sorted.

We went to see the show Big Boys Toys on Friday. Paul and I snuck off with the kids early Friday to beat the rush. We had a good time. Paul and I got free chocolate, beer, and condoms.

We have been battling to fit homework in around water polo, because Rory has some due the Monday after the wedding, and not much will be achieved next weekend.

Paul came with us to the water polo on Friday night and took a lot of photos. Haven't seen them yet but should be cool.

Diana went to Jacqui Chambers' 50th birthday party. The usual suspects were there, Allan and Paul wisely kept a low profile (it was girls only).

SCENES WE MISSED FROM LAST WEEK

Guy Fawkes. I wanted to have a bit of a rant about sodding Guy Fawkes. We celebrate what was actually a terrorist act. While the Americans have 9/11, we in New Zealand have been celebrating 5/11 for a long time, despite the fact that it is never really acknowledged in England (where it actually happened back in 1605). Beyond this fundamental idiocy, we imported 1700 tonnes of explosives this year so that:
- fire-fighters and hospitals can work overtime for ten days
- pets can get distressed
- vets can sell more tranquilizers
- people can get hurt
- we can release tonnes of noxious greenhouse and poisonous gases
- we can talk to our insurance companies more about property damage
- kids can't get to sleep
- people who start work early in the morning can under perform
- the additional money spent of fireworks can help to further wreck the country's balance of payments deficit
- families that can ill-afford them spend their lotto, booze, cigarette, and drug money on fireworks instead
- people can spend time picking up the litter created by others
As you can tell, I have thought about this way too much. But I cannot see any compelling reason that we celebrate an event from 400 years ago (nobody mentioned once in the media that this year was the 400th anniversary, which shows how much anyone really cares about the purported original event) that happened on the other side of the world.

Ollie was nowhere to be seen when we got home on Sunday night. Just before I went to bed I called him outside, and heard a faint squeak. It could have been a tree branch rubbing on something, but I checked the office. Nothing. Called again. Squeak. I checked the car, nothing. Squeak. Opened the garage, and out comes a black fluffball, rubs past my legs and takes off for the food section of the kitchen.

Fit people dying everywhere, alongside the stupid ones - 07/11/2005

LOCAL NEWS

Co-Leader of the Green Party, Rod Donald, died yesterday of a heart attack at 48. We've had all the usual things about what a guy he was. He was one of the fittest and healthiest MPs. This probably means Zaphod gets back in to Parliament. Wonder if they will still have "Co-leaders" in the Greens. First time a sitting MP has died in nearly 20 years.

A 36 year old swimmer died after taking part in 2.6k harbour swim on Saturday.

Pania of the reef is, or should I say was, a statue of a Maori maiden that was in a park in Napier for many years. A little tourist attraction and local icon, it was stolen last week (I forgot to mention it). It has brought all of Napier together, and they want it back. We had interviews with the woman who was the model, and all sorts. There was a theory that it was motivated by another statue theft recently where the perpetrators were paid $10,000 for it's return. I suppose it is artnapping, rather than theft.
Then, police found her/it on Friday during a routine search of some scumbags house.

Resignation of head of TVNZ continues to be news. These dodgy exit packages for people who resign are beyond me. He gets about $400k. Who negotiates this stuff?

The double murder in Tauranga (did I mention that last week?) continued with dribbles of information. Sounds like they drove from Henderson to Tauranga in about 90 minutes, more like a good 2.5 to 3 hour drive (I can understand wanting to leave Henderson in a hurry, but that is just silly). The weapon was a shotgun. It was revealed that the two victims were known felons (something the police withheld to encourage information from the public). A man was arrested yesterday.

Businessman Michael Erceg went missing in a helicopter about four days ago. No sign of him yet. Another guy was with him, but he wasn't as important, apparently.

A car accident on Wednesday killed six people. The driver was drunk, stoned, tired, had no seat belt, and was speeding. No evidence to suggest she was texting her best mate at the time. Her 2yo son was one of the dead. She was on a restricted license. Yet another example of Darwinian evolution. That is five stupid things at once, plus the fact that the small car had six people in it, so call it even half dozen.

Yet another winner. This week the sister of the man who killed a six year old girl (Coral Burrows) while fuelled on P, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. She killed her partner while in a P-powered rage. Why do people even bother to try it?

We had a couple of other nasty traffic fatalities, the competition for moron of the week was pretty tough this week.

The government has been worrying about getting our people back from overseas, at a time when three people I know have come back without government encouragement. I don't get it.

WORLD NEWS

The riots in France are a bit weird, they’ve been going on for a good week or so.

Big hole opened up on corner of apartment building in Sydney near a tunnel construction project. They seem to have patched things up okay.

REAL SPORT

Only one game this week. The club 14b team versus the club 14a team. Mate against mate. Rory did pretty well, but the team as a whole made some silly mistakes. Final score was 15-0. The 14a team have scored more goals in a game, so that is something.

Hannah's team playing a game they should win this week, and Rory's team a game they should lose.

SPORT

Makaybe Diva won the Melbourne Cup for the third time in a row. I don't really understand why we get so interested in horse racing for about a week a year. Apparently Ascot is similar in England.

Lots of build-up to first test in Wales for All Blacks. The ABs won 41-3, not very close, although the first 15 minutes was pretty quiet.

The Kangaroos thumped Great Britain 20-6 in the League Tri-nations.

Man Utd actually had a win, 1-0 over Chelsea. This is their (Chelsea's) first loss of the season. Arsenal beat Sunderland 3-1, Wigan beat Portsmouth 2-0 (and remain high on the table), Newcastle beat Birmingham 1-0, Liverpool beat Villa 2-0.

Black Caps lost the ODI series to SA 0-4, saved by weather in one game. Not good.

MY SAD LIFE

B2 is six months old and still B2. Yup, still B2. She thinks R2D2 is her older brother. Bambi tested his pyrotechnical skills at a thing at St Kents, exploding star shells to the 1812 overture, synchronised with MP3 player. Geeky, but very cliché.

Brett is heading towards New Zealand, yet another ex-pat becoming a, er, pat?

Kids had a great time at Halloween. Hannah went with about four other girls and terrorised the neighbourhood. They started at one end of Pt Chev at Bonnie's and worked their way here. Rory offered to look after the treats they didn't like. Then Rory went a bit later on with Greta and Lewis, which seems to be a very comfortable dynamic (which Rory wasn't sure about, but Lewis seems pretty relaxed).

Or is he an ex-ex-pat?

My Uncle Chris and his son Hayden were on a local game show. I am sure you say "I am smarter than those clowns" every time you watch it, as I do. Those buggers are pretty quick on the buzzer. They were the best of the three sets of contestants, but couldn't take out the final prize (which was two lousy chairs. Expensive chairs, but still). He didn't even tell people to watch the show, but we sprung him anyway. But was it worth it? Was it really worth it?

Brett is an ex-pat of Australia now, as he did become a citizen so he could vote.

It is Kathryn's birthday tomorrow. Enters her 40th year. Bet she can't wait.

Paul arrived on Friday as a another ex-ex-pat-pat. His container is due in about two weeks or so. He has already bought a car, three new stereos, and some routers.

Rory has mega-photos this week, plus he is playing touch-rugby. They are taking team photos for school magazine. Rory is in photos for wrestling, kilikiti, volleyball, soccer, water polo, softball, netball, and probably others I have forgotten.

Brett, have you considered what you are doing to immigration statistics in two countries?

Koos is home alone this week, the girls are off on camp.

Haven't seen Gavin this week, but Jana did relationships at school this week and the coming week is motorcycle maintenance (I actually can't remember what the topic is this week, might be politics, but motorcycle maintenance sounds more interesting.

Better go and get ready for some audio conferences.

PS Why Chris, why, why oh why?

Happy Halloween, Melbourne Cup Day, and Guy Fawkes - 31/10/2005

It's a busy old week really, with Thanksgiving happening in US as well.

LOCAL NEWS

It was revealed this week that one in five workers tested for drugs after being in a workplace accident returned a positive result. This means that people not taking drugs are four times more likely to have an accident in the workplace. As a result, some employers are considering requiring their staff to take drugs before coming to work.

A South African National said in his defence that he did not know it was illegal to beat up people with a baseball bat. He did this to his roommate in Nelson during a disagreement. Perhaps the victim was black, I don't know.

National have appointed Wayne Mapp to eliminate political correctness from legislation. What a load of bollocks. There must be more important things to do.

Head of TVNZ, Ian Fraser, has resigned. Not sure that's news, even though he used to read it.

A good Samaritan climbed 210 metres down a ravine to help four people who went off the road in their car. In the dark. I am not sure I would do that.

WORLD NEWS

Florida got Wilma, things got pretty windy. It really seems to have been a theme lately. Nobody ever mentions if the wind generation plants make money in this sort of whether.

Three blasts in Delhi are thought to be terrorist related.

Bird flu continues to be in the news. I really can't tell how serious it is. But predictions of pandemic are rife. Sars never really did the damage they thought it would.

Footballing legend George Best isn't in great shape but is improving a little. A quote of his goes something like "I spent a lot of my earnings on wine, women, and song. The rest, I just wasted." I am not sure his liver would agree.

REAL SPORT

No real sport for Hannah this week. Rory made up for it by playing in a schools tournament and for Western Springs College. He played seven games in less than 48 hours. That is quite a lot.

In the Western Springs game, he played in goal for the first two quarters, saved heaps but let in four. Then, in the second half, he set up their first goal and then scored three more. They still conceded another four goals so lost 4-8 but that was a lot better than it was looking at half-time. We spent seven hours at the pool on Friday night, although I did manage to go for a swim between games.

The opening game was against Murray's Bay, who won the winter tournament. We were in the group of death. It was 2-3 at the end of second quarter and 2-4 end of third, but then the subbing went insane and we blew out to 2-8. We were ahead 1-0 at the beginning. We won the second pool game and lost the third, which qualified us 3rd in the group and put us into the plate round. The variation in ability in the team is quite high, so plate round was okay, I thought. The next team was 4th qualifier in another pool, and they were beaten easily about 8-0. The last game on the Saturday was against Rangeview (Olwyn's school). For some reason, the coach decided to play low-key in first two quarters, down 0-2 at half time. Then Rory finally got to play out (he was in goal first quarter and off second). Rosy and Rory combined in devastating fashion. They scored four goals in third quarter between them, then another three in second. Rosy got three, Rory four. Rory's last goal was right on the buzzer, a shot from inside the five metre at their end that went over the goalie's head and in from about 20 metres away. Final score 7-2. We were pretty worried at half-time.

The Sunday morning they had the plate final, we didn't even know who we were playing until we got there. It was Remuera, and we knew they would be good, judging from the prior game which was the team they beat versus the team we beat. We led 2-1 in the first quarter and even in fourth we were still in it only a goal behind but I think final score was 4-8 as Ponsonby threw everything on attack and forgot to defend. Rory scored at least one goal in every game over the weekend.

We don't know who won the tournament, but the two teams that beat Ponsonby in pool play made the semi-finals.

SPORT

The Silver Ferns beat Australia in the netball test 61-36, which is quite a margin.

The Kiwis beat Great Britain in the League tri-nations 42-26. There was all this concern about the Kiwis playing three weekends in a row and travelling to England between second and third games. By full-time it was all about it being tough for GB to play a team that has already played two games.

Black Caps lost again to South Africa in ODI, didn't catch the details.

The Black Sticks won their hockey test against Australia 1-0. Third win in last 26 matches.

Sunderland were thumped 1-4 by Portsmouth (ouch). Man Utd got the same treatment from Middlesborough, losing 1-4. Liverpool beat West Ham 2-0. Chelsea won 4-2 over Blackburn. Arsenal drew 1-1 with Spurs. Someone said Wigan is second on the table, that can't be right.

Auckland Marathon was yesterday morning, they close a couple of lanes on the bridge for it.

Michael Campbell didn't do enough in the golf on the weekend to overhaul Colin Montgomery for the order of merit.

MY SAD LIFE

Really didn't do much this weekend other than drive to and from swimming pools. We visited Epsom Girls Grammar four times over the weekend and by the time it was all over about lunchtime on Sunday, we had had enough (although Diana went mad and cleaned out the fridge, setting back the evolution of a couple of promising life forms).

Interesting point that I should mention. The two original people I sent this to are now almost back in the country (Koos is and Paul will be before next Monday's email). It first started in about 1996, before we moved to the house we live in now (which was also 1996, I think). Okay, it was interesting for me, apologies to anyone who feels misled.

Forgot to mention Thomas's birthday in last weeks email, it was on Thursday, seven years old. Rory and Hannah rang him and he seemed very happy with his haul. They went to Valentines for dinner and had the party on Sunday (I think).

Jana has been here about a week now. We met her on Tuesday, although it was very brief for Rory and I as we had to go to the pool fifteen minutes after they arrived.

Hannah's dress for the wedding has arrived, she goes for a fitting on Friday. Plans are proceeding with various logistical matters. It will be a very busy couple of days around 18th and 19th.

Rory has been very happy with his new phone (got it last weekend). Can't leave it alone. Gets well used on weekends, believe me.

Jono, what's happening dude, you have been particularly quiet.

As I alluded earlier, Paul due back in New Zealand this week. Seems he is sick of living in an apartment w

We were all buzzing after the game on Saturday night, it was so exciting and Rory did a great job. He said in the car on the way home "I am a teenager now, I am supposed to be moody, depressed, unhappy with everything. But I'm not. I couldn't be happier. Everything is better than I could expect."

The kids are all organised for Halloween. They are going with their own friends to different locations. They spent a bit of time organising outfits on Sunday, they had a bit of fun. It is quite funny how they are so grown up one minute then very childlike the next.

Good and late, and of mixed quality when you think about it - 24/10/05

Labour weekend this weekend so today is a holiday. Thoroughly variable content this week due to lack of time and commitment from me. I apologise sincerely, any complaints should be written on a $20 note and sent to me. Or you can paypal me the complaint as a note attached to a payment.

LOCAL NEWS

200 teenagers on a balcony on a 110 year old villa found themselves dropping on an unplanned basis onto 40 teenagers below, nobody was hurt.

There was flooding near Gisborne with all three major routes into the city closed on Friday night.

The driver of a milk tanker died when it rolled near Matata (where they had flooding a while back).

A woman is claiming compensation from ACC for the failure of a tubal ligation which resulted in her getting pregnant. She maintains that she didn't take normal precautions such as avoiding alcohol, not smoking, etc because she didn't know she was pregnant. The baby was born with some minor complications and she now wants compensation for the cost of raising him (she has four other children). I will not comment on this at all, it is beyond comment.

A party in South Auckland result in two people being seriously injured and a man being found dead nearby. Nice party.

WORLD NEWS

Mexico copped a storm.

Florida is about to cop a storm.

REAL SPORT

Heavily deprived of seeing my kids play, I got to see four games on Friday night. First up was the big top of the table clash for Red against Bruce Mac 1. It was a tight game, 1-1 end of first quarter (Rory scored the first goal). 2-1 up at the end of the 2nd quarter. 3-1 end of 3rd quarter. Rory opened scoring in 4th quarter to take them to 4-1. Then Bruce McLaren then scored a goal and clawed their way back, and then again with about a minute to go. When Red's goalie got the ball with about 35 seconds on the clock he very slowly swum it out and hung on to the ball. Nobody challenged him, so he finally threw the ball towards the other end with a few seconds left and then it was all over with a 4-3 win. An important game for them. Rory got awarded the player of the game, the first time this season (Diana has been grumpy about him not getting it before now, but it was a worthy game for him to get it in).

Their next game was against Glen Eden 1, played in the 25 metre pool. Was close for the first quarter, 3-1 at the end of the first quarter but they stretched out their lead pretty quickly. Final score was 12-2 which was a good result.

Hannah's team played St Mary's 2 who are top end of the table. They lost 6-4 but it was 4-4 for a while, a good result for them.

Then Rory played for Blue, but it was against Waitak invite 1. Wasn't pretty. Final score about 12-0. Rory played in goal for just two quarters, made some great saves but there was little defence.

SPORT

Auckland won the NPC final, beating Otago 39-11. It was 8-3 to Otago about 30 minutes into the game, but Auckland scored a try to go ahead 10-8 at half time.

David Tua won a fight against some guy.

The Kangaroos beat the Kiwis 28-26 in the return match. That is pretty close.

Man United had a crappy draw, can't remember who it was against.

I think the Black Caps lost a game of cricket (ODI) to South Africa.

The All Black squad to go on the grand-slam tour was named but nobody really cares yet.

MY SAD LIFE

Well, San Francisco feels like a long time ago. We went pretty hard getting things ready for the truck, and were in pretty good shape by the time I abandoned Paul on Wednesday. We got the big stuff down on Wednesday morning, with still a lot of boxes which we got quite a few done but I was completely knackered and Paul was mostly knackered. He said that the truck took five hours to pack and load into the container.

Don't seem to have suffered from any sort of jet lag. Sleep deprivation yes, but seem to be sleeping normal hours.

Spent Saturday at Armageddon, with the kids, leaving Diana in relative peace. The kids had a great time, and I had some fun too. Spent Sunday there too, went early this morning (which is why this is late).

Koos seems to be busy. Marissa is settling in to school, even though we haven't actually seen her since she arrived, we assume she really is here.

Jana arrived on Saturday night, Gavin has been a busy boy. Haven't seen her yet but have spoken to him a couple of times. He visited Armageddon on Saturday, his last day of freedom.

Managed to sneak out of Armageddon for a while today and went down to Mission Bay and St Heliers for a walk in the sun and some lunch with the family.

We have to go buy Rory a new cellphone. Not because his existing one doesn't go, but because it isn't cool enough and I brought Hannah home an iPod from US. Hannah enjoyed lots of comment from people about it at water polo on Friday night.

The person who was exchanging considerable volumes of texts with Rory met up with him at Armageddon on Sunday. He seemed very happy with the day, and I suppose they could be genuinely described as "going out together". He had confessed to me on Saturday that they weren't just friends. Greta played Rory's girlfriend in Bugsy Malone.

News from the wrong side of the Pacific - 17/10/05

LOCAL NEWS

I feel like a bit of a cheat talking about local NZ news when I get more news from SF this week. So this week the local news is local to San Francisco.

In a pumpkin growing competition, as a lead up to hallowe'en, a man won with a 1200 pound monster, winning $6,000 which is about $5 a pound. I think he grew it on a pallet.

The De Young Museum opened this weekend. We might go take a look, depending upon how busy it is.

NZ NEWS

Still no government, but some rumours exist of National courting Winston so who knows what will happen. Seriously wondering what is going on.

Not having a good time with road safety in the Hawkes Bay, killing one a week at the moment.

They finally rescued a boat that had been adrift for 22 days or something. Everyone was well and pretty happy to be off the boat.

A Rotorua man was in court because he left a dog poo in a park. I can't believe

A soldier died in a white water rafting accident. How is that military training? They going to raft down the Tigris and storm the palace? He was the 20th soldier to die on home soil since 1990. Less die overseas. It's a bit like the statistics on accidents at home, I suspect.

An out of control jet boat left the river and nearly wiped out a bunch of spectators. Luckily, there were no soldiers in the group.

A catholic GP has publicly announced he can no longer give advice to people on contraception. Instances of doctrine overriding common sense are particularly pathetic when it could ruin the lives of the people they are supposed to be helping. I wonder if he will cut his price for young women? Perhaps he will lose tons of customers.

REST OF THE WORLD NEWS

The EU are sweating about bird flu now. This has been bubbling away and will either be a disaster or a non-event.

REAL SPORT

I missed the water polo but I got reports from home. Waitak 2 (Hannah's team) lost to Henderson, didn't get told the score but Hannah played in all four quarters included two in goal. She seemed happy enough. Ponsonby Red beat Glen Eden 1 9-1, Ponsonby Blue lost 2-7 to Bruce McLaren 1. Red needs to beat them when they play next.

Rory then had training the next morning and a club game later in the day. They lost 3-11 to Marist 1 I think. Rory played three games and trained for an hour in less than 24 hours.

I will get to see their games next week, yay!

SPORT

In NPC rugby, Otago upset Canterbury in the first Semi-final 37-22, at Jade. Auckland beat North Harbour 38-24. I think Auckland has the home final.

Big news was the Kiwis beating the Kangaroos in a League test, 38-28, their first win in Sydney for 46 years (that is a long long time in League years).

The cricket all starts are playing a test against Australia but it sounds like crap.

Newcastle lost to Wigan 0-1, Liverpool beat Blackburn 1-0, Chelsea had a 5-1 romp over Bolton. Man Utd beat Sunderland 3-1.

MY SAD LIFE

Not whinging or anything but carrying crap up and down stairs has featured a lot this week. We do a set of trips down to the landing, down two flights of stairs, then take that lot from there to under the house. It is very physical.

It has been interesting observing the American way of selling houses. They seem to prefer to move out and get the house "staged". There is an open home in an apartment in Paul's building today. We will make ourselves scarce for that.

Diana helped Gavin prepare his house for Jana/Yana/Yarner (delete wrong ones).

It is Paul's birthday today, Sunday here but Monday at home. Please note that service does not extend to everyone to help unpack your house to shift on your birthday.

Paul said the back fence at his parents house blew over, so the weather does not sound good.

Cooking here is now....problematic. We basically packed everything that wasn't in the dishwasher so I had to fry eggs this morning again with my trusty spoon (we still have a pan, the spoon replaces the slicey thing). Vegetable consumption continues to be sporadic and largely unplanned. Fruit consumption is okay, including mostly apples, grapes, and these tiny hairless kiwifruit the size of grapes.

Saw a few kids playing soccer over here, small fields in the afternoon on a Friday and Saturday. Interesting observing the different approach. At least the ball is still round.

The family are surviving well without me. The house is considerably quieter. Rory is continuing to text excessively, 460 yesterday, how they counted I don't know.

Armageddon is this coming weekend, also Labour weekend in nz so I get three days but they will be hectic.

After talking to his friend Anne, Paul googled himself and finds he is less notorious on the web than I am. Googling yourself is a lame thing to do.

Going home Wednesday, really looking forward to seeing the family.

News from the weary traveller - 10/10/05

LOCAL NEWS

Police named their susped and then they finally arrested and charged someone for the murder of Birgit Brauer. Her name continues to be pronounced in many ways. At least they have the guy.

Four missing hunters were found alive. I reckon people should get charged for being searched for.

Some thieves returned the ashes of twin baby boys that were in some luggage they stole. Scumbags with morals, amazing.

A guy went to a bad taste party dressed as a suicide bomber. They party went to a nightclub and he ditched the bomb in a bin so he could get in. That sparked a bomb scare, the got the EOD out and everything. Police said they might charge him, but I am not sure if he did it innocently. Let's face it, a real bomb would not be made to look like a bomb.

A violent storm cut off power to homes in Auckland. Some are still without power.

WORLD NEWS

Nasty earthquake in Pakistan.

People got buried in a mudslide in Guatemala. Shame Dr Ropata isn't there to help.

Ronnie Barker died this week. My favourite joke from him is this:

In the news tonight, a midget fortune teller has escaped custody. Police say there is a small medium at large.

He was a great comedian, certainly one of the best.

SPORT

Auckland lost their Ranfurly Shield match against Canterbury. BOP slaughtered hapless Northland (who have not won a game in about three seasons).

The cricket World XI seems to have been a build up to a big fizzer. The Aussies won 3-0. Silly idea, I reckon.

No premiereship games, no idea why.

MY SAD LIFE

I spent the week saying "yep, I am fine, under control". By Friday I realised that I was in denial and the last hour or so before I left for the airport was pretty frenetic. Got there okay, got to SF okay.

Don't remember mentioning that my car was cleaned out of change by some bugger one night while parked at home. They checked out the garage too, but didn't take my power tools or anything important (so far as I can tell). Now lock my car at night, which is a right pain.

Gavin's little friend is now due in about two weeks.

Rory got banned from texting yesterday because he had done more than 200 in one day (it gets really annoying, I don't blame Diana at all).

Hannah has been emailing me a bit, which is really nice. Diana too. Rory hasn't without being forced to. He goes on camp for four days tomorrow. Diana is expecting a very small grocery bill this week.

Played puzzle pirates with the kids from here, that was really cool. Makes it seem less distant.

Done a few touristy things, went to the computer museum in Silicon Valley, which was cool. 5Mb hard disk the size of a washing maching, that sort of things. Old Apples, and so on. Went to a robotics convention, also interesting.

Hard core packing the apartment today. Need to make space, big time. Believe me, there isn't much right now. I have accused Paul of being a hoarder (I can hear Diana making a comment involving pots and kettles about now).

Yes, Diana, I have remembered to buy a toothbrush and I have eaten some vegetables and fruit. Well, I will. I promise (the fruit, I mean).

Bali tourism not good, and they finally got Smart - 03/10/05

A week in which we heard little of Rita or Katrina, but the petrol price still got a mention.

LOCAL NEWS

The poor Birgit Brauer has had her name pronounced about seven different ways this week as we got news of sightings of the ute, then they found the ute in a place where it looked like someone tried to hide it. Turned out the ute had been stolen by an employee six weeks earlier. This employee is apparently surprised he has been associated with the murder. He's a nice chap, wouldn't hurt anyone, just steals his bosses car and disappears for six weeks.

The lead up to final election numbers continued. The final election result came with a whimper. National lost a seat, nothing else changed. This is the first time ever that Labour have been in power for three terms.

Donna Awatere-Huata was sentenced to just under three years for her fraud. The family made spectacles of themselves in court and two elected MPs were among those who protested at the justice of it all. Not really sure that is appropriate behaviour for MPs. This is a woman who abused a position of power to steal money from a trust that was meant to teach Maori to read. And somehow many Maori are okay with this.

Prince Andrew has been visiting the country. It was pretty low-key and he has gone now.

WORLD NEWS

The latest Bali bombings suggest to me that you would be mad to holiday in an Islamic country, particularly Bali. Why would you go somewhere like that. Forget the fact that you might not be hurt or injured, what about wanting to go home early, or the disruption everywhere afterwards.

The passing of Don Adams was widely reported. As Maxwell Smart he was an icon for many. He was in his eighties, so it isn't really surprising I suppose. I haven't seen an episode of Get Smart for ages.

An Australian man woke up inside a compacting rubbish truck three weeks ago, no idea how he got there. Turned out he was pretty drunk and passed out. Security video has been found that shows some samaritans covering him in rubbish, then dumped him in a skip and relieved him of his wallet. The skip was then emptied into a truck and he was squishied twice before he woke up. He banged of the wall and got let out by the truck driver. I hope the perpetrators are caught and charged with attempted murder. Not the best story to restore faith in mankind.

GW displayed an immensely poor piece of public speaking when he stumbled his way through a sentence suggesting Americans should use a little less petrol. Suggests thinking sitting down is tough for someone who does not seem able to think on his feet.

SPORT

Lots of news about League Grand Final on Saturday. A few New Zealand players were in it, but Benji Marshall was the focus. The West Tigers won 30-16 over the Cowboys.

After playing a 0-0 draw in the Champs league, Liverpool played Chelsea again this morning and lost 1-4. Man City beat Everton 2-0, Arsenal beat a 10 man Birmingham 1-0, Man Utd beat Fulham 3-2 which was a closer game despite all the goals being in the first half.

Auckland beat Wellington 29-22, Otago upset Canterbury 24-19, Bay of Plenty upset Waikato 17-13, North Harbour thumped Taranaki 37-3, and Southland beat Northland 21-15. The top four are likely to be Auckland, Canterbury, Otago, and Harbour in that order. Auckland have a shield challenge against Canterbury next week which will decide who gets home final.

MY SAD LIFE

Rory's trademe auctions closed last weekend and this week has been a flurry of packaging, deposits, phone calls, and so forth. Been trying to get Rory to handle most of it but even with him doing packaging it hasn't been easy. Now I have to sort out the money, which is tricky (payments, less auction fees, postage, and so on).

The kids have had some quiet days and some busy. Rory went to megazone one day, they all went to Rainbows End on Friday.

Preparation for my trip to SF has been low-key. Diana has taken out three travel insurance policies and appears to have purchased a surface to air missile on eBay. I am concerned.

I hear a rumour Brett is coming to Auckland to live. You have been very quiet about this, Brett.

A MEAN TRICK YOU SHOULD NEVER PLAY ON PEOPLE YOU LOVE

Rory has been heavily texting a female person on weekends (he swears they are just friends, okay, and I believe him, let's face it I kind of hope it is true that they are only friends). However, because there is no charge for texts on weekends, his phone vibrates every 4.5 minutes and he clicks away a reply. It is very annoying. I suggested we velcro some sandpaper to his phone and use it as an electric sander. How can you have something new to say that often? The estimate is over sixty texts on Sunday.

Anyway, while at Allan and Jackie's on Saturday night, I borrowed Paul's phone and texted Rory an anonymous message that went like this "I know who you are. Stop texting my daughter or I will call your parents." I told Rory I did it about five minutes after I sent it, he admitted to being slightly relieved.

A politician does a good deed and Rita not as nasty as we thought - 26/09/05

LOCAL NEWS

A female German backpacker was found dead in a Taranaki National Park. Not good for New Zealand's image. No wonder Namibia and Ecuador rate higher than New Zealand for tourists.

Cabinet Minister Jim Anderton was walking with his wife when they rescued a homeless man who was bleeding profusely from a cut in his arm. They applied a tourniquet and called emergency services. The man recovered. Shame he didn't do that a couple of days before the election, he might have got more votes.

Keith Locke, a Green Party candidate for the much-contested Epsom seat, vowed he would walk the streets of Newmarket if Rodney Hyde won. It was probably the best thing anyone did for Rodney, because the statement made the news big time. However, the people of Epsom must be considered to be of dubious taste if they felt that it was worth getting Rodney to make Keith expose himself. Over the weekend he walked the streets very semi-naked. Was wearing a g-string, a body painted suit, and a big smile.

Shocking news for Pisceans in the Herald on Friday, their prediction was omitted from the horoscope. Twenty confused and directionless Pisceans rang them for guidance.

Apparently 4 million people visited the New Zealand stand at the World Expo in Japan. I didn't even know it was on, it closed over the weekend. I didn't even know they still did World Expos. Funny, they used to make big fuss of them, but haven't heard anything for years.

The announcement of the final vote count is this coming Saturday at 2pm, so election coverage is ramping up again already this morning, it's been directionless and quiet for the last few days.

WORLD NEWS

We got blow by blow (sorry) coverage of the next hurricane heading towards the southern US. I heard someone called Rita being told that they knew why the hurricane was named after her on Thursday, which was interesting (obviously everyone had heard about it). Damage was not as bad as feared, but New Orleans got wet again.

Navy killer dolphins have escaped because of the hurricane. They are armed with some sort of tranquilliser darts. It's nearly as cool as the sharks with lasers on Austin Powers.

Model Kate Moss was in the news a lot because she has been caught taking cocaine. Interesting concept.

Scientists in Australia have found that sheep are smarter than they thought. Not sure why they want more intelligent wool and meat, but they want to breed smarter ones.

There was a survey released this week that said that Australians like New Zealanders. Many saw this as surprising. I think the statement was missing a word. It was actually "Australians like BEATING New Zealanders".

REAL SPORT

No games to speak of this week or the next two.

Rory went and trained with the Western Springs College teams on Thursday. They are low on numbers and resorting to kids that are going to go there to help out. I ended up coaching them for a while, which was bizarre. He won't be able to play for them every week, because it may clash with the Intermediate League. He knows a couple of people in the two teams.

SPORT

Wellington narrowly lost to Canterbury in a shield challenge 14-15. Northland lost to Auckland 53-7 (they have lost something like 27 games in a row). Otago beat Taranaki, Southland beat BOP, North Harbour beat Waikato who aren't doing well.

The Presidents Cup in golf is pretty tight with one day to play. Michael Campbell is playing.

Wests are into the grand final, as are the North Queensland Cowboys (who downed the Eels 29-0).

The Swans won the AFL final.

Home advantage paid off when New Zealanders won the World Mountain Running titles in Wellington over the weekend.

Sunderland beat Middlesbrough 2-0, Chelsea beat Villa 2-1, Liverpool drew 2-2 with the Brummies, Man Utd lost 1-2 to Blackburn at Old Trafford.

The New Zealand team came third in the first A1 race.

MY SAD LIFE

A funny sort of week. Been in considerable pain, the left side of my mouth. Didn't think it was teeth but eventually decided it must be so went to the Dentist on Saturday. It wasn't teeth. Was the cheapest visit to the dentist for a while, $60 including drugs. Was much happier afterward, despite nothing being done by the dentist. The pain is considerably less now.

We brought home the 2D Rory on Thursday, from the show. It's big. The eyes aren't even the thumb on the left hand is on the wrong side. It's still pretty cool.

Rory spent Saturday working as an extra on a TV commercial. It was boring but he made $100. He then went to a friends house afterward. The house seemed very quiet that day.

Hannah got honours for her tap dance exam, she was happy. She got two new pairs of shoes, too, she was very happy.

It was Scott's birthday on Sunday. Wedding plans appear to be under control.

Saw Allan on Sunday, for first time in ages. He said Brett is coming back to live in Auckland from Perth. He also said he was in Melbourne at the moment. Allan has been working in Sydney a lot lately.

I went for a bike ride with Hannah on Sunday and we saw this man who was a little strange, to say the least. Hannah remembered him from a trip to the domain about a year ago. Nobody seemed to be keeping an eye on him, he was sort of quoting "Hansel and Gretal". Hannah was pretty worried about him, but I think he is
harmless enough.

Julie and Marissa arrive on Thursday, I think. No news of Jana yet, visa has not shown up.

Had Gavin and Koos over on Saturday night. Was meant to be sort of a last chance blokes night out. Except we didn't go out. Alcohol was consumed, not excessively.

I am off to San Francisco end of next week to visit Paul. Roger was there last week. He gets a lot of visitors.

The kids are veging in front of cathode ray tubes, might have to yell at them to go get breakfast. Diana is working only two days each week for the holidays.
Oh well, better go do yelling.