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.