Beware politicians that think they can dance, and Harbour win the Ranfurly Shield for the first time ever - 25/09/06

Haven't seen a paper this morning, so my news may be a little out of date (well, in terms of what happened two days ago).

LOCAL NEWS

A few years ago the Green Party lost voters by the thousand by boogying to hippy tunes at a conference. This week, two government ministers boogied for some ungodly reason (and it really was a crime against god). If the voiceover had described the scene as government ministers being tasered, we would have believed them. It was truly shocking. The news shows repeated the footage over and over again.

A local doctor has been banned from performing vasectomies after three failed on two men. I mean, let's think about this for a second. One guy got two failed vasectomies from the same Doctor. So, a guy botches your vasectomy so you go back to the same Doctor? Hello? Worse, these three failures resulted in three pregnancies. Again, please explain why you wouldn't consider having a test to prove you were shooting blanks if the same Doctor didn't get it right the first time. And what exactly did he cut and tie a knot it? That is what worries me. I mean, how can you miss? He has been banned from performing them for three years.

This week, this country's leaders continued to duke it out. Darth Helen described Don Brash as "cancerous", "corrosive" and various other things beginning with the letter "c". She and Pete Hodgson (now known as the Minister for Breakdancing While Being Tasered) suggested the National Party needs a new leader. Not sure if it is reverse psychology or what. We also got continuing crap about the Closed Brethren and how they supposedly spied on Darth Helen. Also, Don Brash ordered the Young Nats to remove a cartoon of Helen as Darth Vader (so it's not just me that sees the resemblance to a sith lord).

As for Peter Davis (Darth Helen's hubby) kissing a man, it turns out the man in the photo was Darth Helen.

News presenter for TV3, Clint Brown, was in an altercation with some normal people about a week ago and it appears that he got a little too carried away. It seems there is a very good chance he will be looking for a new career. Booze is not the friend of public people in public places.

Carpet manufacturer Feltex was put into receivership this week. They've been in trouble for a while. There is quite a bit of controversy around it, the company was only recently re-floated in the last couple of years.

It is multiple birth awareness week. So, you must increase your awareness of twins and triplets. Not at all sure why. I think Loud Shirt Day was more interesting.

WORLD NEWS

We got lots of coverage and updates on Richard Hammond, the Top Gear presenter who crashed in a jet propelled car. He seems to be on the road to recovery. Rory really enjoys Top Gear, as do I.

REAL SPORT

Hannah is in the middle of a large under 12 water polo tournament. On day one they played one of the best teams in their pool. They were 0-4 down at half time but came back to draw 4-4. Their other two games were more one-sided affairs, winning 13-0 and 16-0. Hannah got herself three goals in the 16-0 game, she was pretty pleased, she only had three shots at goal.

They won all their games on Sunday, 15-0, 8-3, 8-1, and 17-0. Hannah scored another four goals, didn't miss a shot. She just improved over the day before. I know we are biased but she has been incredibly solid.

Today is the final day, they can come anywhere between 1st and 4th, depending on how they go.

SPORT

In rugby, Auckland beat Otago 48-7, Waikato beat Wellington 37-21, and Tasman beat Northland 56-15. The really big news in rugby is that North Harbour beat Canterbury 21-17, in itself not earth shattering. The big thing is that it was a shield defence match and Harbour has taken the old Log of Wood for the first time in their 21 year history. Ten years ago, I vividly remember Harbour's nightmare run when they played the team that had just won the Shield three times in a row and lost all three times.

The NRL League Grand Final is next weekend, Melbourne Storm versus Brisbane Broncos. No Sydney teams in it, interesting.

Europe has won the Ryder Cup over the USA. Tiger Woods always plays like crap in this.

Newcastle drew 1-1 with Everton on goals and red cards. Liverpool beat Spurs 3-0, Arsenal beat Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday 3-0, Villa beat Charlton 2-0, Man Utd managed a 1-1 draw with lowly Reading, Chelsea didn't score against Fulham until late in the game but won 2-0.

MY SAD LIFE

I think many friends do not believe us when we say that we are busy on weekends and that we say so to avoid them or something. But this weekend, for example we had games at 12:30, 2:30, and 4:30 on Saturday and 10, 12, 2, and 4 on Sunday.

While we were at the water polo, Rory spent the weekend playing on the xBox in his underpants. That sounds wrong. He was wearing underpants while he played on the xBox. The xBox wasn't in Rory's underpants, there just wouldn't be room, and it would be silly.

This week I actually swam four times, doing 5km in a week for the first time in ages. I just haven't been able to manage it. I still slipped in a soccer meeting on Tuesday night as well.

You should have seen Diana's face on Sunday morning when I suggested Rory's hair was growing back straight. It was not a happy face. She threatened to kill me and Rory if it did grow back straight. I have witnesses (Hannah, if she was paying attention).

Gavin starts a new job today, working at a company that has been client of mine for 15 years or so. That will be kind of funny, although he doesn't work in an area that I have much to do with.

Diana has this week off after working full days for the last two weeks.

We saw Bambi and the girls on Saturday, at the pool. He's off on Wednesday to China for his semi-controlled explosion competition. He's thinking about buying a pyrotechnic company, but it is a long-shot. It is a sort of boom or bust business, that could easily go off with a bang or up in smoke (sorry, but it's really hard to resist).

We are beginning to wonder if people really believe us when we say we are busy on weekends or if they think we are avoiding them. I managed to go visit Paul for a short time between games on Sunday but proper socialisation is problematic. The next two weekends are going to be quite the opposite, which should be good.

Despite being tired from all her polo, Hannah has been very cheerful. She seems to be really enjoying it.

We are off to exotic Orewa for a few days, we desperately need a break.

Well, that sums it up for this week.

Dog swims to safety, political leaders having difficulty keeping private life private - 18/09/06

LOCAL NEWS

The big political news this week was rumours that Don Brash is having marital problems, and after we all assumed the blue pills weren't working (or perhaps the problem was that they were) we got news that he's had an affair. Yuck. Really, I mean, why would anyone want to with him? And I think I have a philosophical issue with anyone that can't keep it in their pants, politician, movie star, or whatever. Regardless, not sure that anyone really needs to know.

Following the attention on Brash, Darth Helen's husband has been under fire with a variety of rumours including that he is gay and that he was detained in California for something unsavoury (heard this last bit on Saturday, before I heard it in the media). Helen is not impressed. I have to say that while I suspect it is unlikely to be true, if any of it is true it is likely to severely tarnish the PMs already dented reputation.

As I continue to struggle with local newspapers, we got the premature halt of The Sopranos as front page news this week. The story then failed to point out that this is yet another reason why people are choosing to download TV shows from the net or just buy the box set of DVDs when they come out and not bother to watch them with advertisements when the broadcaster feels like it. If there was a TV license I would stop paying it (not actually sure I ever did when there was, but let's not go there). It also failed to ask advertisers what they thought about broadcasters driving away viewers by pissing them off and whether that might change their view of the value of television advertising.

A dog in a life jacket swam for 18ks to land after a boat capsized.

A Romanian man was severely beaten in South Auckland over the weekend. Things don't seem too good in South Auckland, don't think I would go there on a Saturday night.

News this week that New Zealand will host the 2008 under-17 women's Football World Cup. Hannah will be too young to play in it but there is a very good chance we will know someone in the team. New Zealand hosted the men's u-17 tournament in 1999, I think. It was pretty good.

THE PASSING OF A CROCODILE PERSON

Got some good feedback from around the world (thanks folks). Sounds like the crocodile hunter made more of an impression in Holland and Singapore. Germany wasn't too concerned about it, they didn't seem that convinced that he wasn't just a crocodile botherer/molester and England was possibly more interested than Germany but less than the others.

Ever wonder why he was called the Crocodile Hunter when he didn't actually hunt them?

WORLD NEWS

Apart from Pope Benedict offending Muslims and the space shuttle floating around I am just not noticing much about the world around me. Apparently a 70 year old nun was killed in Africa as a revenge attack for the Pope's comments.

REAL SPORT

Friday night was a dour affair. Spent five hours at the pool because Rory refereed. I also reffed my first match and was useless. Partly because I was reffing with someone who I know well and is a very experienced ref and I didn't want to call anything he didn't call (but I did, a few times, eventually). I also couldn't co-ordinate hand signals to save myself. Afterwards I went straight into coach mode and was waving my arms with signals to, um, guide the refs. Was interesting.

Hannah's mixed team played the top of the table team, and struggled. Not being a biased parent but once Hannah was marking the danger player he was pretty much out of the game. They lost 2-10.

The girls team played the top of the table girls team (Rangeview Pink, with pink swim caps and insane supporters), and were totally destroyed. The Rangeview team are a very good unit, and won 8-0.

Hannah also had a mini-tournament on Saturday in preparation for a tournament next weekend, three quick games, they won two, lost one. Rory refereed.

SPORT

The wheel blacks lost to USA 30-34 in final of wheelchair basketball on Saturday.

Auckland drew 22-22 with Waikato after being down 0-19 at half time. Wellington beat Canterbury 26-24, Northland had their second win of the season (and second in about four years)

Man Utd lost 0-1 to the Arse, Chelsea beat Liverpool 1-0. Newcastle had a win 2-0 over West Ham, Blackburn beat Man City 4-2.

Germany beat Australian 4-3 in the men's hockey final. New Zealand came 8th.

New Zealander Valerie Vili won gold in women's shot put in World Cup of Athletics over the weekend.

MY SAD LIFE

Another pretty busy week for me (I said for me, I know many of you live considerably busier lives). Went to Hamilton again, but this time I managed to go on Hannah's birthday. Not good. Just never joined the dots. Somehow I had two Thursdays, the one that was Hannah's birthday and the other one for going too Hamilton. I left at 6:30am before Hannah was awake, so she didn't open any presents, which was the main annoyance for her, I suspect. I think I had over 80 unread emails that night. Only managed to go through a chunk of them this morning.

We had a nice family dinner on Thursday night with the Grannies for Hannah's birthday. Rory seemed to use some phrases that most would consider entirely inappropriate with parents, let alone grandparents, in the room. I won't repeat them here. On the way home from Hamilton I stopped at Candyland and bought some things to redeem myself with Hannah, she seemed happy with what I got for her.

Judy is off in Fiji, as is Sarah, for a wedding. Judy has had her stitches out and is reasonably well recovered from her unplanned dive.

Kathryn is in NSW for the week, checking out customers over there. Ross is holding the fort at home.

Heard from Jack in Stuttgart, he has got his father's lathe going, which is cool. Was also nice to hear from Peter Evans in England. Not that hearing from Shin and Heidi wasn't good, of course, it's just that I hear from you more often than Jack and Peter.

Heard that Bambi is off to China for some fireworks competition. I suspect that similar to the Mancunians with their nuclear accelerator, the planet will not be safe.

Went to a memorial thing Wednesday night for Les Dobson, a guy that was a client for about five years. Lots of insurance bods there, the usual suspects as one of them always puts it. Saw a few people I had not seen for a while, including a few soccer people who are in the insurance business (Mick Miller being one of them). You know you are getting old when you see so many people you have known since before children (especially when the children are older too). Got to town late from way out east so didn't get to change into glad rags, luckily wasn't too badly dressed but most were in suits (although the ties came off very quickly). Had a chat to Paul East (former Attorney General and National Party cabinet minister, I know him reasonably well from a number of these dos) about the Don Brash stuff, his viewpoint was similar to mine, although not surprisingly given that Brash is leader of the same party as him.

Among everything else on Saturday, Hannah and I went to an end of season soccer do and Hannah went to a birthday party for her friend Bonnie and 50 of her closest friends, which seemed to go well. It was fancy dress, every went as something beginning with the first letter of their name. Hannah was a hippy (Rory suggested Hooker, and other unsavoury things, good on you, son).

Diana, Rory, Paul, and I went to see Clerks 2 on Saturday night (while Hannah was at the party). It was an R16, but Rory was not challenged on the age question. Afterwards we decided perhaps it should have been R40 (so people over 40 wouldn't go, Diana was a little dismayed at some of the content but I enjoyed it). Rory enjoyed it immensely, our shares went up for taking him.

Had a good crack at the garden over the weekend, it doesn't take long to fill the garden bin. There is so much to do around the house, really need to spend a good couple of hours every weekend on things, but it doesn't often happen. I am not sure I am actually catching up at all. We relocated the soccer goal to the opposite corner of the garden.

Hannah has inter-school volleyball this week, I am attending.

Diana worked full time last week and this week, but has next week off, I think. It changes a lot.

This is last week of school before yet another school holidays. It seems like they never go to school.

TV SHOWS, PIRACY, AND BROADCASTERS

I was thinking about this, and ranting in the car to the family yesterday. It doesn't seem fair to me that the broadcasters can basically do whatever they want about scheduling, stopping, riddling with adverts, and so forth without any breach of the law. However, the poor old consumer is treading dangerously if they download episodes they miss, or imports DVDs from overseas. In other words, consumers should either lump it or not watch it at all, there is basically no other choice. I don't think that is remotely fair.

TEN YEARS AGO

We had had 29 days of rain in August in 1996. I am sure it wasn't anything like that this August. It was the beginning of me weeding the lawn. I still do it, but not very often (but I did yesterday). For many years you could run around our section with no worries of prickles. Kiwi Air was going bust, and Air New Zealand was silly enough to buy half of Ansett (which was a major factor in their reorganisation about five years later). Stage three of the playground was constructed (which has been gone nearly two years now).

A 13 year old took a bus on a joy ride, which resulted in the following joke:
Q: Why did the teenager steal a bus and go on a joy ride?
A: He asked his mum the best way to get to Kaeo, and she said "Just take a bus."
I noted in an email back then that I wanted to write more. Interesting, this was before I wrote the proper books. Part of me still wants to. The sensible part knows it doesn't really pay.

Guess that'll do for now. You know these emails are like 1500 words every week? What was I saying about writing a book?

The possible end of the world, and a bad week in Australia for well known Australians - 11/09/06

Not a lot of good things happening, it has to be said.

LOCAL NEWS

I would be interested to get a feel for how much you all heard about the death of Steve Irwin (the crocodile hunter) in countries other than Australia and New Zealand. I was unfortunate enough to be driving to Hamilton the morning after and all the radio had was what a loss he was, how wonderful he was. Funny how the media doesn't really discuss how irritating the man was and how some of us felt that his passing was both appropriate and not before time.

Another dead Australian was race car driver, Peter Brock, who died in a rally by hitting a tree. It was the second apt ending for an Australian in the week. I wondered if Shane Warne would die in the saddle this week to complete the trifecta, but it wasn't to be.

The King of Tonga, Tupou IV, has finally died, at Mercy Hospital in Auckland, although it wasn't in keeping with other two big ones. He was 88, and has been pretty ill for a while.

Nasty accident on Wednesday night on Napier Hastings expressway. A pedestrian was struck by a truck, then while the truck driver was trying to free the pedestrian from under the truck, his truck was hit by other vehicles and he was killed.

Quite a lot of news about merging Auckland councils into one mega council. Could cost heaps and be a very expensive exercise.

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, a mine collapsed at 800m and killed a miner.

Three people dressed as swat officers stormed a Chinese family home and demanded money. They held the family at gunpoint for a while but escaped when the real officers arrived.

There was a brief hostage situation at Paremoremo Prison, a female warden taken into a cleaning closet by a prisoner. The closet was stormed and the warden rescued.

The creep that bashed a woman (his supposed girlfriend) to death in Whangarei was captured with his equally creepy ex-girlfriend.

A woman was stabbed to death in her car by her ex-boyfriend with her baby in the car next to her. He was apprehended nearby.

There has been talk of legislating the sale and labelling of soft-drinks to combat child obesity, etc. I am not entirely sure what they hope to achieve, but I suppose preventing the sale of Coke and so forth at schools is probably a good idea. It does smack of the thin end of the wedge and the end could be us all being told what we are allowed to eat, but I do not see a need for kids to have soft drinks at school. Mind you, this will probably result in a black market trade where the local dairies all sell tons before and after school.

WORLD NEWS

Lots of news about Tony Blair retiring but it is not really news.

Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of 9/11 even though it was 12/9 here we seem to be recognising it today.

Another air accident at an air show in Malta. One pilot died, the other ejected, it was over water. I think the guy that caused it survived, but I might be wrong.

I HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS

Scientists in Manchester are about to user a super collider (or particle accelerator or similar) to try to make black holes. It's perfectly safe though, the chance of destroying the whole planet is only one in 10 to the power of 40. I mean, that's safer than crossing the road. As long as nobody cocked up the maths in the probability calculation. I don't think anyone should be allowed to do this on our planet.

REAL SPORT

Hannah's mixed team played Bruce McLaren 1, was pretty even early on, but by the 2nd quarter the Sharks were developing a lead. Final score was 10-5 win for the Sharks.

The Girls team were playing an undefeated Glen Eden. I made a tactical mistake putting Hannah in goal in first quarter, we were down 0-4. She came out 2nd quarter and defended. She also took the ball up and scored our first goal, which helped morale. She is probably the best defender in the girls team and made it much harder on the attackers. We fought back but the other team was pretty good. Final score was 4-7 loss, but I don't think Hannah is going in goal again early on.

SPORT

South Africa beat Australia 24-16 in tri nations to get some self-respect back. They still came last but they beat everyone else once.

Man Utd beat Spurs 1-0, Liverpool lost to Everton 0-3 (that was a big one), Chelsea beat Charlton 2-1 but Lampard missed a penalty could have been 3-1. The Arse drew 1-1 with 'brough. Fulham beat Newcastle, the Geordies won't be happy.

Been some fuss about rugby on Thursday nights. People need to get a grip. If they don't like it they don't have to watch it, end of story.

Schumacher won Italian Grand Prix, two points behind Alonso now with three races left in the season.

The Knights had their first loss, 0-3 to Melbourne.

SALT

Have you ever thought much about salt? You know, the stuff you buy for cooking and things. How often do you buy it? We had to buy some this week. I reckon we buy it about once every three or four years. You have to wonder why the supermarkets stock it. I mean I know it is a staple but we just don't use it a lot any more. Or am I missing something and people use it heaps for nefarious purposes that I am not aware of. I mean, I suppose you use a bit when making play dough, and some people brush their teeth in salt water but that can't really account for huge volumes of sales, can it? And it ran out on shelves everywhere in the restocking strike, so someone must buy lots.

MY SAD LIFE

Forgot to mention last week that Rory joined in a parade in Henderson to celebrate 100 years of the mullet or something. The u14 Water Polo teams walked along in their track suits with their medals. Not sure that anyone really knew why (in the crowd or in the parade itself). Earlier in the week, each of the players got a letter from the local MP, and their photo was taken with him at the end of the parade. I am not sure anyone will hang that on a wall.

A lot of time and effort went into Hannah's birthday party which was on Saturday. We were all ready to go and then we got up Saturday morning to rain, which stuffed it up big time. We had sixteen party goers (including three rather brave boys), and a range of Amazing Race style events, except there wasn't much racing with everything confined to our section and ducking under cover a lot. The event went well, Hannah was pretty happy. We were all knackered afterwards.

Rory's view on Steve Irwin was interesting. He thinks he failed his family by taking unnecessary risks, although deserves an award for services to television by departing early.

Hannah's actual birthday is this coming Thursday, and she has Friday off. At twelve, she seems far too grown up. I'm not sure I am ready for this at all. In fact I am quite sure I am not.

Hannah got her Jazz result this week and she got honours, which is 85-89%, which is pretty good. Should get tap tonight with luck.

Rory did some babysitting on Friday night. It was Raf and his brother (one of Rory's friends). He was home quite late.

Starting to forget what Rory looks like, he is spending a lot of time on the 360 with this Oblivion game. Not entirely sure it's a good thing. All it ever seems to do is load all the time, can't quite see how it can be fun.

Bloody Ollie, Hannah's cat, has been a right pain. He ended up behind my desk on Friday, in a place that looked almost impossible to get out of (requiring a 1m vertical jump and then a move to the right). We ended up getting him to come out another way, through a ton of cables, behind another desk. This morning he caught yet another bird. He is also beating up on Pandora far too much. Meanwhile, Pandora has been quite cuddly, which is unusual, could be for sanctuary from Ollie.

We are getting a new road/driveway thing, they are pouring concrete as I write this. It's a council thing, the pavement for the whole street is being replaced. Shame they can't underground the power at the same time.

Oh well, that'll do for now.

I can't think a single thing to put in this bit - 04/09/06

Father's Day. Love the presents they suggest in advertisements. A security floodlight with sensor, perhaps? A ream of A4 paper (if he was into origami, I suppose). How about a Westinghouse top load washing machine? Or a lawnmower perhaps? Nothing like a gift that keeps on taking, is there. Retailers are idiots.

LOCAL NEWS

A circus performer disappeared after her performance at Cirque Rocks to avoid returning home.

An armless man that was found to be speeding has had the dangerous driving charge dropped because he has provided proof that he can, in fact, drive safely with his feet.

We are still hearing about this 17 year old that died in the back of a paddy wagon. He sounds like a pretty difficult kid, could be Darwinian evolution at work here.

Dodgy MP Taito Philip Field has been stood down pending a police investigation. Seems he believes traditional Samoan payments to people that help you are okay and not considered bribes. Tricky one here, he could accept them then donate them to a worthy cause I suppose. Anyway, he didn't. This has started a debate on "koha" which is the Maori name for gratuities. Not sure of the Maori name for gratuitous gouging of the punters.

The population has had their say in a poll which says 81% disapprove of the Labour Party over spending in the election campaign. National is in front in the popularity stakes, not entirely sure that is a good thing.

Customs found a ton of P in picture frames this week. I just don't get why people have to take drugs, you never hear about people who have solved all their problems by taking drugs or became a world leader in their field and they owe it all to the drugs they take, you know what I mean?

A woman lost her footing above a cliff between Piha and Karekare and they think she died (they can't get to her until this morning). A was a 43 year old Australian woman.

A strike of supermarket workers that restock shelves has started causing issues for our largest supermarket chain, a week and a half in to it, supplies are pretty low.

Bob Clarkson, the MP that dethroned Winston in Tauranga, has come out with more dubious statements about his view of the world. The man spoke poorly to a few journalists who obviously thought there would be food and drink. He appears to be a confused old man, without any public speaking skill, who has a mistaken view of his own intelligence. Better to keep silent and be thought a fool than speak and remove all doubt.

IS HELEN CLARK IS A SITH LORD?

I am beginning to think I am wrong about Helen Clark. She isn't undead. With the latest news, she seems to be developing an innate disregard for the rules (about four issues out there that suggest this to be true). It has to be said that her government's views on changing the law to make illegal acts legal, downplaying fraud, and flouting other laws (like the one against speeding) all seem remarkably similar to the end of the grand republic and the rise of Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars. If she takes us to war against an imaginary foe and breeds a clone army, I shall start worrying. In the mean time, I think she should be known as "Darth Helen ".

WORLD NEWS

They've captured a number 2 of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Who was really only number 3 but they killed off a guy that was number 1 a while ago. Not sure that it makes any difference.

Poor old British PM Tony Blair seems to be under pressure to let go of the reins. He was once immensely popular but the wheel appears to have turned quite a lot. I suppose it happens to most of them, eventually.

REAL SPORT

Hannah's mixed team won 5-3 against Liston on Friday night. They needed a win. Hannah did not score any goals but was solid in defence, I think the goals were scored only when she was off (we were 3-0 up end of 2nd quarter, I subbed her off in third and that's when it started).

On Sunday I took Hannah and her soccer and water polo team mate to see the final of the women's knockout soccer cup. The Western Springs team had made the final for the first time ever, and the team included a number of players we know (Penny Chapman came to some training sessions with our girls a couple of years ago, Hannah Valentine and Poppy Binning were in a team I coached six years ago, Rosie White was in their 14th grade tournament team, and Rory's school water polo team last year). It was 0-0 at half time, but turned to custard in the second half with Lynn Avon winning 3-0).

Hannah is in the first team for U12s for the coming water polo tournament. She says she would rather be in one of the other teams but I am not completely convinced.

Rory's school team played on Sunday night in their final playoff against Lynfield. He was knackered because he had club training for an hour straight before the game. They lost 2-4. Rory scored both goals and for some reason then went into goal for the last quarter and made about five saves, and kept a clean sheet (although didn't manage to score from goal this time).

SPORT

The All Blacks lost their final Tri-Nations match versus Sth Africa 20-21. Their first loss of the year.

Andre Agassi has bowed out of professional tennis after 21 years. He has been a colourful character in the tennis world. The Las Vegan started very young, about 15 years old. (Las Vegan? Sounds like a Spanish vegetarian).

The Knights (formerly the Football Kingz) won their match on the weekend 1-0. They have probably scored more points in two games than the whole of last season. They are third on the table.

Hamish Carter won silver in the World Triathlon Champs, he retires now (I think).

The Warriors lost their last game of the season. Not sure if the removal of the -4 penalty would have got them into the playoffs.

MY SAD LIFE

Father's Day lasted about an hour on Sunday, for me. Got breakfast in bed, and that was about it. Was pretty busy after that, going to soccer game then water polo training and game later (with Paul and Matt & Kristy popping in, in between).

We picked up the new Xbox 360 on Monday night. Rory is happy. The lads all came round on Tuesday night and worked on their playstation tan, again. Wednesday night he dug holes to earn money at a friends house. Thursday he bought the game that motivated the Xbox purchase, called Oblivion. This is somewhat appropriate because he is oblivious to the rest of the world while he is playing it.

Hannah had no dancing this week, life seemed so much easier to manage, and I hardly ever take her to dancing.

Roger, I saw Kevin Barry on Friday. He is still at Nokia, so is Lex. I mentioned you are a Daddy and a half. He asked if your wife was a Singaporean, then he said they can be quite stroppy. I said "Shin isn't stroppy, she's REALLY stroppy". (just kidding, Shin, well maybe a little).

Both Hannah and Rory are home sick today, not sure I am feeling very well either. It is Diana's fault, she was sick first.

It is Matt Tucker's Third birthday on Wednesday.

Friday was September 1st, first day of spring although the equinox isn't for a couple of weeks (where daylight and darkness are equal, think it is the equinox). Also the 8th anniversary of the passing of my paternal grandmother. Seems a very long time ago now.

Oh well, that's another week.
Rob
PS I think I have forgotten to have breakfast, I can't be well.
PPS I have brushed my teeth, though.
PPPS So if I go have breakfast do I brush them again?