LOCAL NEWS
Work on Wellington International Airport is nearing completion, and they made a fuss of some weird rock things on the roof, they look like two giant pumpkins from the outside. Waste of money, I can't see people visiting Wellington just for the airport.
The Halberg Sports Awards happened on Tuesday night. Shotputter Valerie Vili won the women's and supreme award.
Campbell Live did a lame-as interview with some hooded gimp purporting to be one of the medal thieves. They wouldn't reveal his identity and there was considerable fuss afterward. I even heard Paul Holmes give a rant about it, who has pulled his own lame stunts in the past to increase ratings, including interviewing fugitives. Don't see the difference Paul, do you?
The man who killed a tagger was granted bail. The victim's family weren't too happy, but I don't see them out there repainting fences.
The coroner pronounced the cause of death for one Ivan Segedin this week. The guy, after being fined for not wearing his seatbelt 32 times, set up a fake seatbelt so it looked like he was wearing one but wouldn't get a fine. He died in an accident where wearing a real one could well have saved his life. This proves there is no helping some people.
Some guy who was in hospital for a heart bypass got a visit from his boss to sack him. Why this made news, I really don't know. Stay tuned for the guy to win an Employer's Association award.
The Chinese New Zealand immigrant who allegedly killed his wife, abandoned his daughter in Melbourne, and escaped to the US has allegedly had a trap set for him in the US. Assuming he doesn't read the English speaking press he should get quite a surprise.
Poor old Helen is well down in the latest poll, this could be good news because more may vote for her in sympathy.
We continued to get stories about Owen Glenn (a billionaire who donated to the Labour Party who is in New Zealand at the moment).
Kiri Te Kanawa upset people by making a snide comment about Hayley Westenra (a watery voiced unpopular singer of pop songs). I suspect it did sound pretty bitchy but was probably pretty accurate.
WORLD NEWS
Toshiba pulled out of HD DVD so Blu-Ray is the new standard. At least we know.
REAL SPORT
At summer soccer they had a 2-2 draw against a team full of players we know.
Hannah helped our newbie water polo junior girls, they lost about 0-15, she then went off to play with her proper team who lost 0-11. Rory's Senior Boys won 15-2 or something against St Peters. Pretty one-sided really.
SPORT
The Poms got a reasonably large 340 in their innings at Napier, then New Zealand got 340 too. Second tie between them, both at the same ground.
In the final game, the Black Caps opened the door for England by letting them score profusely in the dying overs of their innings, slammed it shut early in their batting by reaching 100 without loss, then opened it again by losing three wickets in seven balls. The gods then got bored with the whole thing and locked the door with some rain, so England lost the series to New Zealand 1-3.
New Black Cap Jesse Ryder cut his hand while celebrating the series win at a bar and is out of cricket for three months after reconstruction surgery (what a fool).
Mahe Drysdale was thumped by Rob Waddell in the National Sculling champs. Next weekend they get a best of three race for the trial for the Olympic slot. It's the most exciting rowing has been for a long time.
Liverpool beat Middlesbrough 3-2, Arsenal had a nasty 2-2 draw with Birmingham, and Man Utd beat poor old Newcastle 5-1.
Meanwhile Spurs knocked Chelsea out of the Carling Cup in the semi final 2-1.
The Crusaders and Blues both handed out hidings to South African teams. Both put 50 points on the opposition, the Crusaders doing it to last year's champions, the Bulls.
MY SAD LIFE
I finally finished reading a book of Allan's - The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins, on Tuesday. I won't argue about evolution with Allan again. Oddly, two hours later I returned to the house to find another book by the same guy (The God Delusion) sitting on the table outside. I played an episode of the Twilight Zone so I could get the music. Then my phone rang, it turned out it was from Charles who dropped by on his way to the airport. In another bizarre coincidence Charles was still in his car outside the house when I returned, but he didn't see my car come in because another car was ahead of me.
Rory passed his practical test on Wednesday, 86% with 80% required. He's not actually sure what he got marked down on. Something about looking out for heads? We've no idea what it meant, he should have asked.
Diana's cousin's daughter Nicky has had her baby, which Jack is now a Great Uncle. Does it make you feel old, Jack?
Diana's cousin Ngaire is visiting from Tasmania, and stayed with us for the weekend. I haven't met her before. Diana played hostess and went exploring at Muriwai with her on Sunday.
I think Koos is, or was, in Hong Kong.
Doesn't really feel like we've had an achievement oriented week, as is reinforced by the brevity of this.
25 February 2008
18 February 2008
The medals are returned, Sarah has her babies, things back to normal - 18/02/2008
LOCAL NEWS
Nasty weekend on the roads with eight people dying. All of a sudden we seem to be getting holiday weekend style carnage on a normal weekend on a regular basis. Not sure why, for a few years we seemed to be cutting down the road toll. Perhaps we are going for a high score.
We had a mid-air collision near Paraparaumu airport between a helicopter and a light aircraft which three people.
News this week that half of mothers experience some form of manipulation or bullying at the hands of their children. Good grief. The other half just don't realise that they have. Who pays for this stuff?
Spooky coincidence on Tuesday. First the relatives of people who died in Mt Erebus (like 30 years ago) complained that they weren't able to visit the crash site, then the next day the guy who wrote the royal commission report got hit by a car and died. Coincidence? I think not.
A Blenheim house fire took three lives overnight on Wednesday.
Pretty sad murder suicide in south island, where a 67 year old man took the life of his 27 year old handicapped daughter and then his own. Not a lot of background on it but suspect he knew he didn't have long and didn't think his daughter would be cared for.
A local Scientist put his reputation on the line by predicting that the East Coast would have no earthquakes for the next 7,000 years. I guess he only cares if it happens in the next 50 years or so.
The war medals stolen from Waiouru a while back were returned this week, which surprised me. Very good news, although the circumstances of the return was a little odd. A lawyer negotiated the return, supposedly did his own digging to find them, then getting himself considerable publicity. He also negotiated a reward ($300k was offered, they got less). Meanwhile police say they are still trying to find the perpetrators. This story rated about three pages the day afterwards.
Some loser defied a liquor ban by walking in to a West Coast Police Station drinking beer. He was searched and they found cannabis resin as well. The moron was then charged.
WORLD NEWS
Has there been anything happening? I don't remember anything. Oh, hang on, there was a mass shooting or two in the US but that is BAU (business as usual). I think it is news when they don't have one.
Oh, and Obama has caught Hillary, it seems.
There was a rumour GW said something intelligent and comprehensible but I think he was misquoted.
REAL SPORT
Hannah had her first official high school polo training on Tuesday. There was much glee as they discovered that St Mary's were in the pool before them, which included a number of former team mates and school mates.
Her first school game was due on Friday night but the team they were playing defaulted. At least it was in time for us to organise more people to come and have a friendly game, which was good. The our senior girls played and they got thumped 10-1 by Mt Roskill.
Rory had an actual game against Avondale College. He was tired because he'd had Cassidy stay the weekend and I made him do some swimming two hours before the game (but it wasn't much and not hard). Anyway, they won 6-4 and I think Rory scored five of the six goals.
SPORT
The England cricket team continued to confound my predictions by losing the second ODI even more impressively than the first. They were victim to the vagaries of Duckworth/Lewis but all out for 158 was never going to be enough, the Black Caps made the required runs without losing a wicket, in about half the overs they had available. Let's be honest, unless Duckworth/Lewis doubled the target score I am not sure it would have mattered (although they would have fielded differently defending 300 than 158, I suppose).
Then, after all that, England did behave as expected and won the third one. They are now odds on to win the next one.
Former Black Caps captain Stephen Fleming announced his retirement this week. I never really rated him to be honest.
Fifth round of FA Cup saw Man Utd thump Arsenal 4-0. Barnsley upset Liverpool 2-1, West Bromich Albion thumped Coventry 5-0, and Chelsea managed to beat the great Huddersfield 3-1.
The Super 14 started this weekend, but I am afraid I am not sure anyone really cares. The Blues beat the Chiefs, Crusaders beat Brumbies (I think), Highlanders and Hurricanes both lost.
MY SAD LIFE
Well, Sarah took part in a radical weight loss operation on Tuesday, with the surgical removal of two babies. They are to be called Jack and Samantha (Oddly, Hannah said she wanted the girl to be called Samantha the day before). I don't know the official weights yet but think Jack was 3.06 Kg and Samantha's card had been lost when I was in there.
Most of the weekend was taken up with taking people to swimming pools. Hannah had six separate sessions for her New Zealand U15 trial. Who knows how it went and how she did. She came through okay, that is main thing, we should hear what happens next tomorrow but I am not really sure that we want her to continue beyond this cut. We hung around a bit during it and I really don't know how the coach is going to be able to select people when he didn't seem to be taking any notes at all.
Rory had a plan for Valentine's Day, which seemed to go well. Maddie made a heart shaped pink cake, which tasted very nice. And yes, Diana and I did have gifts for each other (that was for Brett, mostly).
The kids had their school swim sports on Friday. They both did pretty well in their heats. Rory re-set the intermediate record for 25m freestyle, and Hannah beat the existing in same race as two others who also beat it. They both swam in their relays.
Rory is sitting his practical exam for his restricted license this Wednesday.
We had a girl from Wellington, Maxine, staying with us for the weekend for the trial. She was very good, and Hannah got along well with her.
Diana and I watched most of Schindler's List over the weekend, it wasn't as grim as I thought, but not exactly a walk in the park.
Diana starts her new job today, she doesn't seem too worried about it which is a good sign.
Things seem very back to normal. Diana went to three different pools this week and so did I. I think total pool visits numbered fourteen between us this week. That does seem like a lot, should be a little bit less this coming weekend.
SOMETHING I LEARNED ON TUESDAY
Okay, not sure I want to explain how I learned this, but I am pretty sure I had a good reason at the time. Don't drink Worcestershire sauce, okay? Even if you like the taste of it on other food, don't even try it. No. Just don't. It's not a drink.
DID YOU KNOW?
Worcestershire sauce is made from rotten anchovies.
Nasty weekend on the roads with eight people dying. All of a sudden we seem to be getting holiday weekend style carnage on a normal weekend on a regular basis. Not sure why, for a few years we seemed to be cutting down the road toll. Perhaps we are going for a high score.
We had a mid-air collision near Paraparaumu airport between a helicopter and a light aircraft which three people.
News this week that half of mothers experience some form of manipulation or bullying at the hands of their children. Good grief. The other half just don't realise that they have. Who pays for this stuff?
Spooky coincidence on Tuesday. First the relatives of people who died in Mt Erebus (like 30 years ago) complained that they weren't able to visit the crash site, then the next day the guy who wrote the royal commission report got hit by a car and died. Coincidence? I think not.
A Blenheim house fire took three lives overnight on Wednesday.
Pretty sad murder suicide in south island, where a 67 year old man took the life of his 27 year old handicapped daughter and then his own. Not a lot of background on it but suspect he knew he didn't have long and didn't think his daughter would be cared for.
A local Scientist put his reputation on the line by predicting that the East Coast would have no earthquakes for the next 7,000 years. I guess he only cares if it happens in the next 50 years or so.
The war medals stolen from Waiouru a while back were returned this week, which surprised me. Very good news, although the circumstances of the return was a little odd. A lawyer negotiated the return, supposedly did his own digging to find them, then getting himself considerable publicity. He also negotiated a reward ($300k was offered, they got less). Meanwhile police say they are still trying to find the perpetrators. This story rated about three pages the day afterwards.
Some loser defied a liquor ban by walking in to a West Coast Police Station drinking beer. He was searched and they found cannabis resin as well. The moron was then charged.
WORLD NEWS
Has there been anything happening? I don't remember anything. Oh, hang on, there was a mass shooting or two in the US but that is BAU (business as usual). I think it is news when they don't have one.
Oh, and Obama has caught Hillary, it seems.
There was a rumour GW said something intelligent and comprehensible but I think he was misquoted.
REAL SPORT
Hannah had her first official high school polo training on Tuesday. There was much glee as they discovered that St Mary's were in the pool before them, which included a number of former team mates and school mates.
Her first school game was due on Friday night but the team they were playing defaulted. At least it was in time for us to organise more people to come and have a friendly game, which was good. The our senior girls played and they got thumped 10-1 by Mt Roskill.
Rory had an actual game against Avondale College. He was tired because he'd had Cassidy stay the weekend and I made him do some swimming two hours before the game (but it wasn't much and not hard). Anyway, they won 6-4 and I think Rory scored five of the six goals.
SPORT
The England cricket team continued to confound my predictions by losing the second ODI even more impressively than the first. They were victim to the vagaries of Duckworth/Lewis but all out for 158 was never going to be enough, the Black Caps made the required runs without losing a wicket, in about half the overs they had available. Let's be honest, unless Duckworth/Lewis doubled the target score I am not sure it would have mattered (although they would have fielded differently defending 300 than 158, I suppose).
Then, after all that, England did behave as expected and won the third one. They are now odds on to win the next one.
Former Black Caps captain Stephen Fleming announced his retirement this week. I never really rated him to be honest.
Fifth round of FA Cup saw Man Utd thump Arsenal 4-0. Barnsley upset Liverpool 2-1, West Bromich Albion thumped Coventry 5-0, and Chelsea managed to beat the great Huddersfield 3-1.
The Super 14 started this weekend, but I am afraid I am not sure anyone really cares. The Blues beat the Chiefs, Crusaders beat Brumbies (I think), Highlanders and Hurricanes both lost.
MY SAD LIFE
Well, Sarah took part in a radical weight loss operation on Tuesday, with the surgical removal of two babies. They are to be called Jack and Samantha (Oddly, Hannah said she wanted the girl to be called Samantha the day before). I don't know the official weights yet but think Jack was 3.06 Kg and Samantha's card had been lost when I was in there.
Most of the weekend was taken up with taking people to swimming pools. Hannah had six separate sessions for her New Zealand U15 trial. Who knows how it went and how she did. She came through okay, that is main thing, we should hear what happens next tomorrow but I am not really sure that we want her to continue beyond this cut. We hung around a bit during it and I really don't know how the coach is going to be able to select people when he didn't seem to be taking any notes at all.
Rory had a plan for Valentine's Day, which seemed to go well. Maddie made a heart shaped pink cake, which tasted very nice. And yes, Diana and I did have gifts for each other (that was for Brett, mostly).
The kids had their school swim sports on Friday. They both did pretty well in their heats. Rory re-set the intermediate record for 25m freestyle, and Hannah beat the existing in same race as two others who also beat it. They both swam in their relays.
Rory is sitting his practical exam for his restricted license this Wednesday.
We had a girl from Wellington, Maxine, staying with us for the weekend for the trial. She was very good, and Hannah got along well with her.
Diana and I watched most of Schindler's List over the weekend, it wasn't as grim as I thought, but not exactly a walk in the park.
Diana starts her new job today, she doesn't seem too worried about it which is a good sign.
Things seem very back to normal. Diana went to three different pools this week and so did I. I think total pool visits numbered fourteen between us this week. That does seem like a lot, should be a little bit less this coming weekend.
SOMETHING I LEARNED ON TUESDAY
Okay, not sure I want to explain how I learned this, but I am pretty sure I had a good reason at the time. Don't drink Worcestershire sauce, okay? Even if you like the taste of it on other food, don't even try it. No. Just don't. It's not a drink.
DID YOU KNOW?
Worcestershire sauce is made from rotten anchovies.
11 February 2008
Power shopping, some changes (one pretty big), and a return to normality - 11/02/2008
LOCAL NEWS
Wellington was hit by a deluge and lightning storm this morning. Nothing too serious.
After a hit and run (literally) incident with a drunk driver, a woman in her wedding dress ran down the offender. Must have been quite a sight.
Waitangi Day meant the usual plethora of boilerplate stories about who was doing what where on Waitangi Day. Meanwhile surveys suggested that nobody gives a crap.
We had a pretty pathetic version of a skyjacking/hostage drama this week. A recently immigrated Somali woman tried to hijack a plane to Australia from Christchurch, probably not even a plane that could get there (and how would they let it land, let's be serious). She managed to stab a couple of pilots but it wasn't that serious, although it shows what potential damage a psycho can do in some circumstances.
A dead 33 year old Japanese man was found in a car, in a lake, in Queenstown. At least it was a pretty nice lake to drown in.
The lack of rain is hurting farmers. They get no sympathy because cheese and butter have increased in price horrifically (like 60%+). This will, of course, give them an excuse to drive the price up further. There is talk of money from the Government for drought relief. The peasants are not impressed.
A 21yo man died while cleaning a ferris wheel at Rainbow's end on Sunday. Nasty.
Also nasty, a leg washed up on a Christchurch beach on Sunday. It came with a boot and a sock. Police are looking for a man with a size 8 foot and a pronounced limp.
WORLD NEWS
The photo of the baby being dropped from a burning building in Germany was everywhere in the media. At least you knew it survived but must have been an awful thing for the parents to do. There was no sign of bathwater.
The body of a man dead eight to ten years was found on a couch in a council flat in Bristol. The was another man living with him, who continued to live with the corpse. They found the body when neighbours complained of a smell, which you would have expected sooner than eight years after his death.
Big Tuesday didn't give us any conclusive leader, and then three more states went with Obama but one was Louisianan so they are neck and neck and nobody knows who's going to win.
REAL SPORT
In summer soccer we played a team comprised of mostly Western Springs College girls, many of which we know. It was very close because a Dad was playing for the other team and he put his head in front of any shot at goal. They won 1-0.
SPORT
Poor old Newcastle were up 1-0 then lost 1-4 to Aston Villa. Man City beat Man Utd 2-1, dammit. Chelsea drew 0-0 with Liverpool.
Black Sticks beat Argentina 3-2 to qualify for Beijing Olympics in the hockey.
The Black Caps actually won a cricket match against England. After failing dismally in the two 20/20 matches, they managed to roll England for a feeble 130 in the first ODI and made the total with nearly 20 overs to spare.
MY SAD LIFE
Change #1 I shall have to try and work on the content a little more from now on. Brett is now Dr Furlonger, having had his Ph.D bestowed upon him. Don't want a Doctor reading crap.
The children finally visited school this week. I use this phrase quite literally, as they did bugger all else other than go to school (and return). There were no actual classes and they did not learn anything in the 120 minutes they were there. Rory did this two hourly visit twice, and gets Monday off to recover.
Change #2 Diana resigned from work last Monday, finishes this Friday. She is off to do community education at Glenfield College (still teaching English to foreigners). She went off to a farewell thing on Friday night (don't ask, it makes sense).
Hannah and I met up with Gavin, Yana, and Maria at Dressmart on Saturday. The theory was that this could put Hannah off shopping and at worst meant they could shop together while we didn't (because standing around in clothing shops is not fun). Not sure about that, I think that they both taught each other everything they know about shopping. We left the girls to it for a while and visited a couple of nearby geek shops. It has been quite a while since Gavin and I have done geek shops together. We returned and they were still going (of course). The girls spent four and a half hours power shopping there, but some time was consumed changing and feeding Maria (now seven months old and boasting two teeth at lower front) and feeding and watering us. Nevertheless, four and a half hours was more than enough for me. Hannah had bags from about six different shops, and was pretty happy with what she got. Some kind of
This coming weekend, Hannah has her U15 New Zealand water polo trial. She says she is nervous about it. Going to be a full on weekend for her, over three days.
We visited the Goodins and saw Barry and Karen, visiting from Malaysia. I think it's been quite a while since we saw them. Thomas had just been to a windsurfing lesson on Lake Pupuke. It was a birthday gift from a friend who does it. Barry suggested that a revenge gift would be a horse riding lesson (horse riding is the path to the dark side). I also fixed the cabling for their TV, which had no yellow for six months (I offer no value judgements or opinions at this point).
Change #3 Sarah is theoretically due to lose two large parasites today. Inducement is planned for Wednesday. They could end up being Valentine's babies.
UPDATE: just got a text, she's being induced now. Seems able to text so can't be too bad yet.
It's Gavin's birthday this week, but how do you say happy birthday to someone who hasn't decided when their birthday is? I mean, shouldn't he just believe his birth certificate? It used to be the 14th but I think he now favours the 16th. Feel free to let me know when you think your birthday should be and why what it says on your birth certificate is wrong. I suppose if you shift it a few days every year you could move from Scorpio to Sagittarius or whatever.
Hannah spent a large chunk of Saturday evening and Sunday making a poster comprised of pretty random pictures. She had fun, and made a very large mess.
Rory has been preparing for Valentine's Day this Thursday, given his success in terms of Christmas presents I didn't think he would get anything sorted but he seems to have it under control. I think Diana's assistance was crucial. Meanwhile, I have already fulfilled obligations for Valentine's Day (which, philosophically, I don't believe should apply to people who have been married for 20 years, that's what we have anniversaries for).
TEDIOUS WHINGE - FEEL FREE TO IGNORE
As of today, we return to normal service. The quiet life has now officially passed. We now have the following timetable to deal with:
Monday - summer soccer and polo training for Rory, dancing for Hannah
Tuesday - polo training for Hannah
Wednesday - dancing for Hannah
Thursday - polo training for Hannah
Friday & Sunday - polo games (there are no games aren't this coming weekend, but Hannah will be spending about 20 hours at the pool)
I did not include me in there, but I think I am training polo teams Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights. This means that I will basically stop swimming because it is hard to swim and coach at the same time. Of course, when I say quiet life, I have been going to the pool almost every second day for the last month anyway. I was very pleased with myself when I swam 50 lengths in 24 minutes 55 seconds last week, that is about two minutes faster than I have ever managed before. The problem with all the planned training is that I don't often feel like going to the pool at other times to swim.
Wellington was hit by a deluge and lightning storm this morning. Nothing too serious.
After a hit and run (literally) incident with a drunk driver, a woman in her wedding dress ran down the offender. Must have been quite a sight.
Waitangi Day meant the usual plethora of boilerplate stories about who was doing what where on Waitangi Day. Meanwhile surveys suggested that nobody gives a crap.
We had a pretty pathetic version of a skyjacking/hostage drama this week. A recently immigrated Somali woman tried to hijack a plane to Australia from Christchurch, probably not even a plane that could get there (and how would they let it land, let's be serious). She managed to stab a couple of pilots but it wasn't that serious, although it shows what potential damage a psycho can do in some circumstances.
A dead 33 year old Japanese man was found in a car, in a lake, in Queenstown. At least it was a pretty nice lake to drown in.
The lack of rain is hurting farmers. They get no sympathy because cheese and butter have increased in price horrifically (like 60%+). This will, of course, give them an excuse to drive the price up further. There is talk of money from the Government for drought relief. The peasants are not impressed.
A 21yo man died while cleaning a ferris wheel at Rainbow's end on Sunday. Nasty.
Also nasty, a leg washed up on a Christchurch beach on Sunday. It came with a boot and a sock. Police are looking for a man with a size 8 foot and a pronounced limp.
WORLD NEWS
The photo of the baby being dropped from a burning building in Germany was everywhere in the media. At least you knew it survived but must have been an awful thing for the parents to do. There was no sign of bathwater.
The body of a man dead eight to ten years was found on a couch in a council flat in Bristol. The was another man living with him, who continued to live with the corpse. They found the body when neighbours complained of a smell, which you would have expected sooner than eight years after his death.
Big Tuesday didn't give us any conclusive leader, and then three more states went with Obama but one was Louisianan so they are neck and neck and nobody knows who's going to win.
REAL SPORT
In summer soccer we played a team comprised of mostly Western Springs College girls, many of which we know. It was very close because a Dad was playing for the other team and he put his head in front of any shot at goal. They won 1-0.
SPORT
Poor old Newcastle were up 1-0 then lost 1-4 to Aston Villa. Man City beat Man Utd 2-1, dammit. Chelsea drew 0-0 with Liverpool.
Black Sticks beat Argentina 3-2 to qualify for Beijing Olympics in the hockey.
The Black Caps actually won a cricket match against England. After failing dismally in the two 20/20 matches, they managed to roll England for a feeble 130 in the first ODI and made the total with nearly 20 overs to spare.
MY SAD LIFE
Change #1 I shall have to try and work on the content a little more from now on. Brett is now Dr Furlonger, having had his Ph.D bestowed upon him. Don't want a Doctor reading crap.
The children finally visited school this week. I use this phrase quite literally, as they did bugger all else other than go to school (and return). There were no actual classes and they did not learn anything in the 120 minutes they were there. Rory did this two hourly visit twice, and gets Monday off to recover.
Change #2 Diana resigned from work last Monday, finishes this Friday. She is off to do community education at Glenfield College (still teaching English to foreigners). She went off to a farewell thing on Friday night (don't ask, it makes sense).
Hannah and I met up with Gavin, Yana, and Maria at Dressmart on Saturday. The theory was that this could put Hannah off shopping and at worst meant they could shop together while we didn't (because standing around in clothing shops is not fun). Not sure about that, I think that they both taught each other everything they know about shopping. We left the girls to it for a while and visited a couple of nearby geek shops. It has been quite a while since Gavin and I have done geek shops together. We returned and they were still going (of course). The girls spent four and a half hours power shopping there, but some time was consumed changing and feeding Maria (now seven months old and boasting two teeth at lower front) and feeding and watering us. Nevertheless, four and a half hours was more than enough for me. Hannah had bags from about six different shops, and was pretty happy with what she got. Some kind of
This coming weekend, Hannah has her U15 New Zealand water polo trial. She says she is nervous about it. Going to be a full on weekend for her, over three days.
We visited the Goodins and saw Barry and Karen, visiting from Malaysia. I think it's been quite a while since we saw them. Thomas had just been to a windsurfing lesson on Lake Pupuke. It was a birthday gift from a friend who does it. Barry suggested that a revenge gift would be a horse riding lesson (horse riding is the path to the dark side). I also fixed the cabling for their TV, which had no yellow for six months (I offer no value judgements or opinions at this point).
Change #3 Sarah is theoretically due to lose two large parasites today. Inducement is planned for Wednesday. They could end up being Valentine's babies.
UPDATE: just got a text, she's being induced now. Seems able to text so can't be too bad yet.
It's Gavin's birthday this week, but how do you say happy birthday to someone who hasn't decided when their birthday is? I mean, shouldn't he just believe his birth certificate? It used to be the 14th but I think he now favours the 16th. Feel free to let me know when you think your birthday should be and why what it says on your birth certificate is wrong. I suppose if you shift it a few days every year you could move from Scorpio to Sagittarius or whatever.
Hannah spent a large chunk of Saturday evening and Sunday making a poster comprised of pretty random pictures. She had fun, and made a very large mess.
Rory has been preparing for Valentine's Day this Thursday, given his success in terms of Christmas presents I didn't think he would get anything sorted but he seems to have it under control. I think Diana's assistance was crucial. Meanwhile, I have already fulfilled obligations for Valentine's Day (which, philosophically, I don't believe should apply to people who have been married for 20 years, that's what we have anniversaries for).
TEDIOUS WHINGE - FEEL FREE TO IGNORE
As of today, we return to normal service. The quiet life has now officially passed. We now have the following timetable to deal with:
Monday - summer soccer and polo training for Rory, dancing for Hannah
Tuesday - polo training for Hannah
Wednesday - dancing for Hannah
Thursday - polo training for Hannah
Friday & Sunday - polo games (there are no games aren't this coming weekend, but Hannah will be spending about 20 hours at the pool)
I did not include me in there, but I think I am training polo teams Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights. This means that I will basically stop swimming because it is hard to swim and coach at the same time. Of course, when I say quiet life, I have been going to the pool almost every second day for the last month anyway. I was very pleased with myself when I swam 50 lengths in 24 minutes 55 seconds last week, that is about two minutes faster than I have ever managed before. The problem with all the planned training is that I don't often feel like going to the pool at other times to swim.
4 February 2008
Urinal etiquette, tagger wars, and the new game known as "hide the sparrow" - 04/02/2008
LOCAL NEWS
We had a fuss about the banning of the mankini at the Wellington sevens. Most news stories were oriented towards the costumes and partying rather than the rugby.
We had two people shot outside a tinnie house in a turf battle in Manurewa. Tokoroa joined Manurewa as a place you don't want to live with more violence breaking out.
Meanwhile a man was punched in a Christchurch Bar toilet for breaching urinal etiquette. Fair enough, too. I think pointing and laughing is just not right. Comments like "Is it supposed to be that colour?" and "Hey, it's just like a penis, only smaller" are not appropriate. He got community service.
Tea Ropati was found not guilty of the dodgy stuff he was accused of. I mean, he did it, he just reckons there was consent. The jury believed him. Meanwhile the accuser is reported as devastated. Perhaps next time when she over does the drink and drugs she could:
a) do it in a locked room;
b) get a minder to stay with her who hasn't been drinking;
c) have a reality show film crew follow her; or
d) grow a brain and stay off the booze.
A man died when a train pushed his car 350 metres. That’s over a third of a kilometre. I wonder if trains have a version of the two second rule and if so I wonder how many seconds it should be?
Another man died after a brawl in a pub in Mossburn, in an area described Northern Southland. People in Southern Northland were quick to minimise the confusion, to ensure their tourism was not impacted. Meanwhile, Western Eastland hasn't been invented yet.
Following on from the tagger being stabbed, we had a sevens fan in Wellington confront a tagger who stabbed him with a steak knife, not fatally. We now have escalation in the tagger wars. Who knows where it will all end.
Favourite MP David Benson-Pope won't be standing for Labour in his electorate. Someone else has been selected. Apparently he will stay loyal to the party, which is good because no other party would want him either.
We've had nearly twenty people drown so far in this year, including some poor bugger who drowned after rescuing some kids. A retarded Cook Island family went floundering in the Manukau close to dusk. They couldn't see in the dark, and they floundered around until two of the four drowned. No mention was made as to whether they caught anything. Given their capability with planning, safety, and seamanship, I suspect the fish were pretty safe. Meanwhile a man swam in the Hutt River, then got out, felt bad, and died. Not sure if that counts as drowning. We also had five rescued from an overturned boat in the south island and another guy rescued from the air pocket under his overturned boat near Otago.
The euthanasia guy Dr Nietzsche visited New Zealand this week with plenty of noise and controversy with his book being censored and stuff. Then he supposedly helped some women leave early and she didn't even have a terminal illness.
WORLD NEWS
It is super Tuesday in US this week. Such a long drawn out process, such a massive waste of money.
News this week that Microsoft is trying to buy Yahoo to regain some position on the internet. I don't see it making a difference.
REAL SPORT
I have been neglecting this section recently, Rory has actually been playing summer soccer for three weeks now. We've not had the numbers the last two weeks with people being away but returned to a decent squad this week. They generally struggle against older, male dominated teams but they got a rare win last Monday, 3-0, against an all woman team. Rory got his first goal of the season and nearly helped the team to a scorcher when his corner found Andrew's head and it hit the upright. The team is normally three boys and about eight girls but the make-up varies every week.
SPORT
The New Zealand team narrowly won the Wellington rugby sevens, just overtaking Samoa in the dying minutes.
Man Utd drew 1-1 with Spurs, Arsenal beat Man City 3-1, Chelsea drew 1-1 with Portsmouth, Liverpool beat Sunderland 3-0.
New Zealand did okay in A1GP in Sydney, but not great, sharing lead now with Switzerland I think.
Tiger Woods won the Dubai Classic. He's playing well.
MY SAD LIFE
The Amazon books arrived on Thursday, ironically the same day the library copies were due back (is that irony? Perhaps coincidentally). They were seven days earlier than predicted by Amazon, but the tracking for this class of post was really boring (ie there wasn't any other than telling me they were due on 7th Feb the whole time). I may try again with a better class of delivery but not sure if the cost is worth it. The delivery was 37.5% of cost as it was.
I was wrong about the twins. They were actually 7 pounds 11 and 7 pounds 15 on Friday 25th. That's bigger than our two were, and they were serial children, not parallel. No news yet on their arrival now about a week from officially due.
I found Ollie trying to get under Hannah's swim bag on Wednesday. There was no skink underneath, but I heard something alive inside the bag. I took it outside and found a male sparrow within, which was able to fly out and away with a little encouragement.
I visited a friend, Will, who owns a gun shop on the shore. He has an MG34, a German machine gun from WWII, he let me hold it. It is exceedingly heavy and very, very cool. It is basically illegal to shoot it unless he is selling it and the buyer wants proof that it works. Can't wait for the to happen.
Our neighbour, Jim, fell and broke his arm this week, just before his 92nd birthday on the 31st. The cat, Pandora, misses him horribly. I am trying to figure out if I could smuggle her in to the hospital to see him. Not a real nasty break, but not easy to recover from at that age.
I think I am going to do some study, of sorts. Going to do a certificate in sports training and development. Not a big thing, only level 3 so about 7th form level.
The kids had sequential sleepovers Saturday and Sunday at the same house so we've been one down for a couple of days.
Hannah's knees are continuing to strengthen, they seem pretty good.
The kids start school this week, sort of. Bit of a false start, one day each.
We had a fuss about the banning of the mankini at the Wellington sevens. Most news stories were oriented towards the costumes and partying rather than the rugby.
We had two people shot outside a tinnie house in a turf battle in Manurewa. Tokoroa joined Manurewa as a place you don't want to live with more violence breaking out.
Meanwhile a man was punched in a Christchurch Bar toilet for breaching urinal etiquette. Fair enough, too. I think pointing and laughing is just not right. Comments like "Is it supposed to be that colour?" and "Hey, it's just like a penis, only smaller" are not appropriate. He got community service.
Tea Ropati was found not guilty of the dodgy stuff he was accused of. I mean, he did it, he just reckons there was consent. The jury believed him. Meanwhile the accuser is reported as devastated. Perhaps next time when she over does the drink and drugs she could:
a) do it in a locked room;
b) get a minder to stay with her who hasn't been drinking;
c) have a reality show film crew follow her; or
d) grow a brain and stay off the booze.
A man died when a train pushed his car 350 metres. That’s over a third of a kilometre. I wonder if trains have a version of the two second rule and if so I wonder how many seconds it should be?
Another man died after a brawl in a pub in Mossburn, in an area described Northern Southland. People in Southern Northland were quick to minimise the confusion, to ensure their tourism was not impacted. Meanwhile, Western Eastland hasn't been invented yet.
Following on from the tagger being stabbed, we had a sevens fan in Wellington confront a tagger who stabbed him with a steak knife, not fatally. We now have escalation in the tagger wars. Who knows where it will all end.
Favourite MP David Benson-Pope won't be standing for Labour in his electorate. Someone else has been selected. Apparently he will stay loyal to the party, which is good because no other party would want him either.
We've had nearly twenty people drown so far in this year, including some poor bugger who drowned after rescuing some kids. A retarded Cook Island family went floundering in the Manukau close to dusk. They couldn't see in the dark, and they floundered around until two of the four drowned. No mention was made as to whether they caught anything. Given their capability with planning, safety, and seamanship, I suspect the fish were pretty safe. Meanwhile a man swam in the Hutt River, then got out, felt bad, and died. Not sure if that counts as drowning. We also had five rescued from an overturned boat in the south island and another guy rescued from the air pocket under his overturned boat near Otago.
The euthanasia guy Dr Nietzsche visited New Zealand this week with plenty of noise and controversy with his book being censored and stuff. Then he supposedly helped some women leave early and she didn't even have a terminal illness.
WORLD NEWS
It is super Tuesday in US this week. Such a long drawn out process, such a massive waste of money.
News this week that Microsoft is trying to buy Yahoo to regain some position on the internet. I don't see it making a difference.
REAL SPORT
I have been neglecting this section recently, Rory has actually been playing summer soccer for three weeks now. We've not had the numbers the last two weeks with people being away but returned to a decent squad this week. They generally struggle against older, male dominated teams but they got a rare win last Monday, 3-0, against an all woman team. Rory got his first goal of the season and nearly helped the team to a scorcher when his corner found Andrew's head and it hit the upright. The team is normally three boys and about eight girls but the make-up varies every week.
SPORT
The New Zealand team narrowly won the Wellington rugby sevens, just overtaking Samoa in the dying minutes.
Man Utd drew 1-1 with Spurs, Arsenal beat Man City 3-1, Chelsea drew 1-1 with Portsmouth, Liverpool beat Sunderland 3-0.
New Zealand did okay in A1GP in Sydney, but not great, sharing lead now with Switzerland I think.
Tiger Woods won the Dubai Classic. He's playing well.
MY SAD LIFE
The Amazon books arrived on Thursday, ironically the same day the library copies were due back (is that irony? Perhaps coincidentally). They were seven days earlier than predicted by Amazon, but the tracking for this class of post was really boring (ie there wasn't any other than telling me they were due on 7th Feb the whole time). I may try again with a better class of delivery but not sure if the cost is worth it. The delivery was 37.5% of cost as it was.
I was wrong about the twins. They were actually 7 pounds 11 and 7 pounds 15 on Friday 25th. That's bigger than our two were, and they were serial children, not parallel. No news yet on their arrival now about a week from officially due.
I found Ollie trying to get under Hannah's swim bag on Wednesday. There was no skink underneath, but I heard something alive inside the bag. I took it outside and found a male sparrow within, which was able to fly out and away with a little encouragement.
I visited a friend, Will, who owns a gun shop on the shore. He has an MG34, a German machine gun from WWII, he let me hold it. It is exceedingly heavy and very, very cool. It is basically illegal to shoot it unless he is selling it and the buyer wants proof that it works. Can't wait for the to happen.
Our neighbour, Jim, fell and broke his arm this week, just before his 92nd birthday on the 31st. The cat, Pandora, misses him horribly. I am trying to figure out if I could smuggle her in to the hospital to see him. Not a real nasty break, but not easy to recover from at that age.
I think I am going to do some study, of sorts. Going to do a certificate in sports training and development. Not a big thing, only level 3 so about 7th form level.
The kids had sequential sleepovers Saturday and Sunday at the same house so we've been one down for a couple of days.
Hannah's knees are continuing to strengthen, they seem pretty good.
The kids start school this week, sort of. Bit of a false start, one day each.
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