Weather still cold at times, but hasn't been a lot of rain and lots of crisp sunny days (except not this morning).
LOCAL NEWS
New Zealand gets new currency today, three smaller coins and no more 5c pieces.
There was a shooting in a gun shop on Thursday. The son of the owner defended himself when a man entered waving a machete. Interestingly, there are not many recorded instances of a single machete wielding psycho successfully taking control of a gun shop. Apparently the people that work in gun shops are quite familiar with, um, guns actually, and how to use them. The "victim" was shot in the gut, which slowed him down but wasn't fatal. I think the guy was pretty lucky, considering.
The Kahui twins' killer remains free. Meanwhile, a relative has been arrested for rape and has since been beaten up in prison. It just gets worse and worse.
Two drunken 19 year olds were arrested stealing a trampoline while dressed as smurfs. What can I say. Dunedin, the place where the unexpected can happen.
Former All Black Stephen Bachop was arrested in Tahiti for drunken misbehaviour on a plane.
Proof that ice cream is bad for you. A 17 year old woman died in a head on collision with a Mr Whippy truck just North of Rotorua. The truck driver was pretty badly hurt, too.
I think the journalistic community are both lazy and tedious as they continue to run "news" about the new version of the All Black haka. Get over it.
The opposition tabled a vote of no confidence in the Speaker of the House over the handling of Taito Philip Field (dodgy MP). It was an interesting move but not sure anything more will come of it, but it has not done Labour any favours.
WORLD NEWS
Israel continues to be responsible for useless journalists all over the world mispronouncing the word "Hizbolah". We've had "His bowler" a lot. Taking out the UN OP probably wasn't a great idea, I think the Israelis even admit that. A kiwi was supposed to be there but couldn't because of the shelling. Funny thing is, Hizbolah seems to have multiple spellings, just like falafel and hummus.
Brett pointed out that the American Medical Association has admitted that they are the third largest killer of Americans. That's under the knife, wrong medication, wrong diagnosis, and so forth. In New Zealand some 1500 people die as a result of medical care, three times the road toll. Now, this is kind of tricky, as I don't know if they count people who were going to die without surgery who died during surgery.
REAL SPORT
Much less going on this week. Only five games, practically a weekend off. I believe in some cultures people get weekends off.
Didn't see a lot of Rory's club game, they were playing just before Hannah's team and I needed to organise them. There was a bit of experimentation done during the game, the coach was trying to give some of the boys more game time. Rory only played two quarters. They lost 1-3.
Hannah's first game on Friday night was defaulted by the team they were playing. They therefore used a bunch of ring-in players (including one boy who isn't at intermediate any more). Was tough game, final score 5-11 loss, but the default meant a 5-0 win.
The Ponsonby Girls team were playing St Marys, a team that is loaded with girls we know. Three of them kept coming and listening to the girls while I was trying to get them ready to go. The girls themselves were so loud that I put my ear plugs in. The game was very tight, and the St Marys girls kept scoring in the last seconds of each quarter (like when the clock was 0, twice, one second later and neither would have counted). It was 3-4 to St Marys at half-time. Things came right in the second half as we changed the structure in the pool and we scored five goals in a row to win 8-4. Interesting how a structural change can make such a difference.
Soccer on Saturday was at Cox's Bay, where I don't think the girls have lost a game this season. It was against a team they had drawn 0-0 with during grading but were near the bottom of the table now. The Dudettes (Hannah's team) led 1-0 at half-time and scored towards the end of the second half to win 2-0.
Rory's school water polo team had a tough game on Sunday night, the team they were playing loaded with some very good club players (including two who trialled for the National U15 team). However, the Senior College team went to the wrong pool for some reason, so no game was played.
SPORT
The New Zealand netballers lost to Australia on Tuesday night, first time in a long time. They played with player selections which helped bugger it up.
The Warriors lost, they can't make the playoffs now. It was always going to be difficult starting with negative points.
The All Blacks beat Australia, narrowly 13-9. I have only just realised that the tri-nations now appears to be three games each, not two, which came as a surprise (and I thought we played those guys too often already).
Sri Lanka made a record partnership in their test against South Africa, over 600 runs I think. It looks like it now may be a draw.
MY SAD LIFE
I have been suffering all week with a cough that started without warning about Sunday night. I don't enjoy it, and Diana seems to think I deliberately cough at night to keep her awake (this is only partly true, at most, and only partially addresses the suffering inflicted in the other direction, I am sure). All sympathy should take the form of chocolate…...
We took Rory and his six friends to Paul's house for a sleepover (yep, I think he was mad too). The boys did not sleep at all the entire night, because sleeping meant the others would draw things on your face or remove an eyebrow. It was an…interesting evening. They were generally, well, behaved (commas in correct places, trust me). Nothing was destroyed, nobody needed stitches, nobody lost any eyebrows. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought, although worse in some places. Paul isn't talking to me any more (well, he hasn't replied to my email, at least). In quantity, they are pretty horrible, smelly, messy creatures. Actually, they are pretty horrible, smelly, messy creatures on their own, too.
Today, Rory turns 14 at about 6:35pm tonight. I say about because we aren't really sure of the time, because we didn't check watches as we were kind of busy. I am sure the current occupants of 20 King St would not appreciate a re-enactment on the bathroom floor. We have year until he starts making driving noises.
Paul Chambers is off to live in Lund, Sweden for six months. He is completing his last semester at university over there. It should be pretty cool. Had a bit of chat with him last night, gave him the tip about New Zealand 50c pieces which are supposedly the same as some high denomination kroner coin.
The mail box is going to be closely watched today as we are waiting to hear whether or not Hannah has been selected for the u12 Auckland Soccer Rep team. I am not allowed to open any letter that arrives. One girl she knows got the "no" letter on Saturday so we may have additional hope. Not entirely convinced that selection is actually a good thing (given extra training and so forth).
WARNING - DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!
I chew menthol chewing gum when I am coughing, it reduces the coughing a fair bit (so does drinking water, but too much water and I never get any sleep because I keep having to go). However, I made a discovery. Don't chew menthol gum while drinking Berocca. It tastes so disgusting, I cannot describe it. If even one person follows this advice, I will have achieved something with my life.
10 YEARS AGO
Well, there was a bit of a hiatus in this while we were away in Sydney for two weeks in 1996. I described it as a tour of Sydney playgrounds and sandpits. Hannah was barely walking and not talking much (aah, the good old days, I do miss them). She called Craig "Lisa", in fact almost anyone was "Lisa". We bought some wine in the Hunter valley, half of which I think we still have. We started installing the playground in the back garden when we returned (which was removed about a year ago). I went to a telecoms show with Bambi. He had a dodgy photo of Lisa in his wallet (from behind, but still..) and kept waving it around when he gave people business cards. I referred to Lisa as "Bambi's Girlfriend" at the time (funny how things change). It was the beginning of working with number portability (which I am still working on, ten years later, and most people still don't understand what it is and if they do why any sane person would want to work on it).
In the real world, Nelson Mandela recommended that everyone in Australia vote for Jim Bolger, which I thoroughly agreed with, however he remained PM of New Zealand - much to the disappointment of most New Zealanders.
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