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.
24 October 2005
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.
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.
17 October 2005
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.
10 October 2005
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).
3 October 2005
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.
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.
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