Mike Riversdale

Even more than the TV images this Sydney Morning Herald account hit home - " The sound of roaring thunder ... then screaming ". It was from an excellent list of links in the Hard News blog . If you're after more I'd suggest Wikipedia's excellent coverage . On a happier note from Miramar (NZ - have you seen how many 'Miramar's are in the world , quite cool) - we're off for a week in the sun (possibly) over the hill to Greytown and a mates house complete with pool, complete indoor-outdoor flow (!) and a laugh for New Year's Eve. I think we're even going to the races on the 2nd. So, everyone have a brilliant New Year and kiss as many people as possible.

Still the best, here's Daves 'look back in anger' at 2004, The politics, the passion, and Paris . Still not sure what I'll read every Monday morning once he hangs up his pen ...

Ha ha ha ha, maybe I should've kept the name " Mike Boyle " and then I could've somehow my way into a top-notch Microsoft meeting ... Although reading the blurb I see the words, "tax", "financial accounting practices" and "international regulatory agencies" which must mean that this Mike works in the most boring of departments within the uber-geek company of the world!

Jack Out and about in Wellington Zoe and Jack Jacqui on Christmas Day Sarah on THE day Jack having loads of fun squirting the girls in his new pool Zoe, Char and Jacqui putting the pressies around the tree Zoe with her new camera Half way through the present opening (took an hour!) The tree!

Yep the Meridian Energy Summer City Festival 2005 is upon us (really kicks off January) and there's LOADS of free things to do in Wellington and the region. We'll probably try and get along to some of the stuff in The Dell and Soundshell ... who knows. Hope everyone's having a cracking Yuletide so far.

If ya want to show your support for a Wellington Street Race . As I've said before, not a petrol head so don't care either way. AND, this is a Mark Blumsky run campaign ... hmmm ... not sure about that man.

Yep, without any stress on anyone's part and without really forcing the issue all the bits that make up a "Christmas Day" for me happened - Dr No was watched, pressies were opened (took an hour - the most I have ever seen outside of Kirks!!), chicken was eaten, family was communicated with (phone and the webcam worked - just brilliant to actually SEE them at the same time) and friends popped in (awesome effort from Paul) - and my awesome partner, Liz, was just brilliant, huuuuug! (oh, and Jack loved it - piccies at some point) So, one of the best Christmas Day's for a very long time - and a special thanks to Sarah, Graeme, Jacqui, Zoe and Char for making it so! And the best pressie - so far it's the "Rugby's Strangest Matches" book from Ma and Pa, just loving it. And now I know why a "try" is a so called. A glorious sunny, still day today as we all spent time around Oriental Bay and I even managed to push Jack home from town ... yep, all th

Who knows if I'll get to add to the blog over Christmas time so here's to you all. As noted earlier, we'll have the webcam running from Christmas Eve (NZT) so please don't hesitate to logon via Yahoo! Messenger (my ID is 'mike_riversdale ') and take a gander at the festivities. The Eggleston-Archers arrived safely last night and Jack is already in "Look at this Char ... come here Zoe ... do this with me Jac"! - awesome. And that's it. M e rry C h ristmas a n d H a ppy N e w Y e ar

New Year resolutions seems to be a dying tradition amongst my mates but I think it's a good time of the year to reflect on what's happened , where we were this time last year and what moved us and then do a little silly planning for 2005 . For myself I've had, for the first time in about 10 years, a quiet one ... although I did get married late Feb - which I barely recall (drunk!) which embarrasses me to this very day - not my finest hour but ) with the focus on consolidation, removing the debt and just enjoying the times with my family (especially the wee fella ) and mates. It's been succesful. At work it's been a year of trying new things. I've been a lot more focussed on what I want to get out of the job s and am most definitely have a career path that suits me. I have dropped the counselling side of things but that's not for ever and it's already being used in my day-to-day activities ... more to come on that front. Anywho - on with the New Ye

Whilst I'm not quite as excited about this, " Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ", as I was about the last one I'm sure I'll be able to build myself up by then ... although it's gonna clash with the Lions tour so I may just expolode with too much excitement in my life :-)

Hau Kainga - Wikpedia ... very cool.

(sent by a work colleague - most humorous) Update from the North Pole - Famous Reindeer Terminated The recent announcement that Donner and Blitzen have elected to take the early reindeer retirement package has triggered a good deal of concern about whether they will be replaced, and about other restructuring decisions at the North Pole. Streamlining is due to the North Pole's loss of dominance of the season's gift distribution business. Home shopping channels and mail order catalogues have diminished Santa's market share. He could not sit idly by and permit further erosion of the profit picture. The reindeer downsizing was made possible through the purchase of a late model Japanese sled for the CEO's annual trip. Improved productivity from Dasher and Dancer, who summered at the Harvard Business School, is anticipated. Reduction in reindeer will also lessen airborne environmental emissions for which the North Pole has received unfavorable press. I am pleased to inf

bizgirl has added me to her (or his, depending upon which rumour you wish to subscribe to) list of NZ blogs. As bizgirl, quite rightly, won the NZ Blog of 2004 recently it will be interesting to see how much traffic filters my way (for just a few seconds ...). The " referal code " is pretty cool. No idea how it works, what it's storing about visitors or anything - didn't have to sign-up for it so I'm happy it's doing its thang. Off to work in a mo' - 2 working days left for me (Thursday is always Jack day) - yaaaaaaaaaaaaay ....

"My life history", by Michael Riversdale aged 37 and a bit (from the mikey_boyle Yahoo! Website, all those years ago) Anything that I may have said about anybody is totally my memory/impression - anyone wants me to change/delete it then I will without hesitation, simply leave a comment. If you find any links that no longer work again, just leave a comment. < Chapter One: The First traveling Years Chapter Two: The Monmouth School Days (I am in the middle row, 5th from the left) Initially, after arriving in Monmouth in Wales , we stayed at Nanna and Grandads farm for a year or so. A wonderfully large farmhouse with fields and hills to play in that went on forever - I loved it. At the local school, Wonastow Junior School , I met my oldest (and still a best) friend, Andy Sparkes and we immediately set about humouring ourselves by playing " bogie boats" with our school meal tickets - a fruitful imagination was emerging at a scary rate. At home my b

The following are a few photo's taken by Adam as a pressie for Betty (my Mum) - there's a whole stack more but you get the idea. Once mum has chosen the one (or two) she wants as prints I'm gonna try doing it all via the Web ... I'll let you know how it went. A few piccies of the Riversdales #1 A few piccies of the Riversdales #2 A few piccies of the Riversdales #3 A few piccies of the Riversdales #4 A few piccies of the Riversdales #5 A few piccies of the Riversdales #6 A few piccies of the Riversdales #7 A few piccies of the Riversdales #8

Bennetts Beer :: About the Brewer and his Beers

And Maurice Bennett - The Toastman of New Zealand has just done a portrait of Peter Jackson at the airport .

A classic from this wonderful world of ours - Mike the Headless Chicken . And it certainly seems to be true!

Here's to a grand Christmas 2004 to you all and we hope you have a safe and pleasant (if a little blurry) start to 2005.

New Zealand Foreshore and Seabed for sale - TradeMe.co.nz - New Zealand ... ha ha ha ha. But hang on, it can't be sold anymore, it's in Government hands in perpetuity... or are this person saying, like the Mäori, that this isn't as fixed as it may seem!?!? :-)

STUFF : SPORT - Best sporting moments of 2004 , I dunno - would have ranked the Silver Ferns a higher. But, pretty close to what I would have said I s'pose. Also, looking for a JP (Justice of the Peace) to sign my Kiwi citizenship application which I found (just up the road from my work). Mind you, would like to get this done before the new Bill (from Mr Winston Peter, MP!) comes in to affect.

Not sure we'll be listed on the EarthCam - Webcam Network but we will have a Webcam running all Christmas Day. If you want to check out the Riversdale's over that time you'll need to say g'day via either MSN Messenger and/or Yahoo! Messenger (leave a comment with your email address if you need more help and I'll get in touch)

An awesome tribute from the BBC for John Peel

Yep, trawling through the Christmas Special email from TV Cream (still the best British nostalgia site going) and feel into OFF THE TELLY: Comedy/The Simpsons/"Cartoons Have Writers?" . A good weekend - part one of the food shopping , the BBQ went off well and we even got sun (it's been pretty shocking for the height of summer here in NZ - the South Island even got some snow the other day!) and a chilled night last night. Unfortunately both Liz and I (Liz more so) are fighting off a touch of flu-type symptoms (Liz has a wonderful cough that's slowly driving us all mad)! And VCR's are about to become a thing of the past - I'm gonna wrap the old crappy one we have (Liz bought it for $50 from a garage sale a few years ago) and then present it to Jack on his 16th birthday. But never fear, the UK has the best Chrtismas entertainment going and if you're in the UK you have to go and see ... the panto !

2013 New Zealand update: I think this is where you need to go to  http://allevents.in/wellington/12-pubs-of-christmas-2013/570607636327024 The 12 Pubs of Christmas !! Before the family this would have been a must!

Some funny adverts to try and save the speedway racing in Auckland: Public Address | Hard News . As anyone that knows me can testify, I'm not into cars in anyway but do think that stopping people having their own version of fun is a pain. BUT, people have a right to sleep as well. I don't believe that this land of Kiwi's that is famously known as "getting on with it" can't come up with a solution.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog. What is trackback? Check out the moveabletype explanation . Also found a trackback manual for sending a tackback 'ping'. And info about an 'auto-discovery' feature - whatever that maybe - gonna try it now.

Jack sees the man himself Mike and Jack at the PlayCentre Christmas Do Zoe (friends wee girl) and Jack at lunch being served by one of the wenches

Weebl and Bob - pie - ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, surreal but it made me laff out loud (not a lot of laughs going on for me today - still suffering!)

All very intersting - t r u t h o u t - Waxman: Halliburton Iraq Contracts Pass $10 Billion Mark . But, I must say not at all surprising!

Try out the Genes Reunited site - connect with the whanau :-) AND, this can be a laff: Tim Blair: 'FESS UP, FAUX PASSERS

Drinking again - and that's it for this Yuletide! God I'm just not built for the morning after anymore. And who knows what I said and how much of a loud bugger I was last night - will find out l8r, ick. At least it's done now and I don't have to think about the drink (oooh, stomach a bit quesy). Got myself Berocca , water, V and 2 bacon/egg sarnies so am giving myself a good healthy start to the day! ANd apart from work (quiet but some to do) - gonna do the Tourism NZ survey .

Checking out what I've got stored on my PC that has been collected over the years: A few Christmas related ones Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus Scientific Analysis of Father Christmas And this I received some years ago from Katelet: Mike Boyle From: Kate Ayres Sent: Saturday, 4 March 2000 12:58 am Subject: Father Christmas DOES Exist You'll like this, in today's "The Times" newspaper - Last Orders Column:- "Toilers at Waterloo Station, investigating damage to the glass roof of the Eurostar Terminal, found the remains of a reindeer's leg. 'Damage to the panels can be caused by anything from birds carrying things around to pieces falling off planes' said a spokesman. 'I can confirm that a reindeer's hoof was found. How it got there I could not begin to speculate...'" See, see..He must exist !!! Love katelet X The Dump - not that savoury really, be aware Men's Room Etiquette Aptitude Exam - a Dave Barry classic A cracking

Just been out and about with the wee fella and we had a grand time down at the Miramar wharf near the King Kong boat (Venture in the film) - it's all made up, full of props and even has a false dockside for the characters to get on/off the boat. Very cool - mind you, having seen the pictures from the Kong site the filming may have all been done, who knows.

Elsie and Jack Jack gets ready for Christmas with Santa hat and Liz's grandads wind-up Silent Night-playing Jesus in crib with revolving sheep-shepherd-3-Kings

Finally, Jack - and there's gonna be loads more ...

New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists - good site taking the 'fundy-mentalist" out of the political debate - they even read the crap and get the best bits for you. Of course it currently has loads of references to high-pitched right-wing/homophobic rantings about the Civil Union Bill. Funny how the no-argument has moved from "it'll demean marriage" to "it's just a backdoor (!) for gay marriage" - let's just fish around for anything to try and stop the bill shall we, *sheesh*. Sad. Anything else - got the latest King Kong production diary ( Day 66 ) - fascinating. AND, PJ (as people a lot closer to him than I get to call him) has a wicked hair-style; I reckon it's because he's got a bit-part in the theatre scene and it was a quick removal of make-up/hair piece - just my view ... could have just been blinking hotin there :-) Christmas has officialy arrived at The Riversales - tree is up. Liz and I were mighty impressed la

Another fine read from Russell Brown at his Hard News blog - wonder what the Scribe thang is all about (at the end of today's posting). Yahoo! news - go Haliburton , must be wonderful to be on the board of this company!! Also, " Man Acquitted of Rape; Says He Was Asleep " - just plain weird. Mr Llewellyn's got his blog up as well - SunnyO (Sunny Otaki is where he has the family 'home from the city' for those that want to know). Andrew's a very funny writer and I'd recommend checking in now and again. Sport - cricket tonight will be missed by me (just not into it at the mo'). I hope Perth gets the other Aussie Super 14 slot. Getting fed up about Johnny Wilkinson coming back from his injury - better be here for the Lions!

"My life history", by Michael Riversdale aged 37 and a bit (from the mikey_boyle Yahoo! Website, all those years ago) Anything that I may have said about anybody is totally my memory/impression - anyone wants me to change/delete it then I will without hesitation, simply leave a comment If you find any links that no longer work again, just leave a comment. Chapter One: The First traveling Years On the evening of March 11th, 1967 to Derek and Betty Boyle in Devizes , Wiltshire (yap born in England !) the gift of a healthy bouncing baby boy. This little cherub , that somehow through life changed into the fallible normal guy you now know, they named Michael Alan Boyle. Mum chose the first name (from where I don't know) as the deal was boys to be named by Mum and girls named by Dad. Although Dad never got his chance due to the birth of my brother, named Robert Derek Boyle he did get to pass on his middle name to me and his first name to Rob - so all's fair in love

Despite what everyone tried to tell me, "Boyle", was never that cool ... oh, you already knew did ya :-) And Liz's surname wasn't that much better either (Eggleston) so we chose this name after a beach town, Riversdale , on the eastern Wairarapa coast of the NZ North Island [ ZoomIn map | Google Map ]. And why there? Liz and I have an affinity with Riversdale after being introduced to the place by a close friend, Emma . We often stay at her brothers' bach ( Kiwi for 'beach holiday home') and it was on our first visit that Liz, under the sparkling stars and within earshot of the ocean, proposed to me. Once we had decided to come up with a brand new family name it seemed appropriate to refer back to where it all began. And it sounds quite cool. And it's unique in the NZ phone book [Update 10-Jun-2014] There's a little more to just changing the name. After deciding that "Boyle" and "Eggleston" weren't going to

I apologise in advance, but then again - I LOVE 'EM! Two fish in a tank. One fish turns to the other and says, "Do you know how to drive this thing?" A polar bear walks into a pub. Leans against the bar and says to the barman, "Get me a gin and ....................... tonic please." "Sure," says the barman, "but I gotta ask, why the large pause". "Dunno mate," says the bear, "I was born with 'em." A guy sitting at home watching TV and he hears a knock at the front door so he gets up and opens it. Looking around he sees no one and then spots a snail on the doorstep. He picks up the snail and throws it across the street. 10 years later the same guy is sitting watching TV and here's a knock at the door. Off he goes and opens the front door, no one around. Looking down he sees the snail, which says, "What the fuck was that all about?" Two cannibals sitting round eating a clown. One cannibal

Hi-de-ho everyone, Have just spent a pleasant lunchtime with some skylight staff including their Marketing/Sponsorship Manager, Annette Brook. Annette tells me that they have booked out The Embassy for the only cinema direct feed of the game , all on the giant screen. Booze and food will (I am assured) be available and with 700-ish seats (with the odd rugby icon floating around) it'll probably be the closest thing to actually being there AND of course, it's smack in the middle of town. Cost - not sure at the mo', details to be worked out closer to the day (Annette mentioned $50 but that's not in stone at all!). I'll try and keep people in the loop but it's probably a good idea to also keep an eye of their Website ( http://www.skylight.org.nz )

And here's a cracking tool to sort them all and get at them quickly - Picasa - from our wonderful friends at Google . I found it after downloading the Hello product (also Google) which is P2P picture sharing so I could get my photo onto this Website - but I'm not sure it's working that good for me, I will reserve judgment; nice interface though. BTW: what a domain name to have - www.hello.com - worth millions I s'pect Back to Picasa - love it; all my photo's at my fingertips AND the Timeline 'view' is just brilliant.

Mike at the Keep 

... well, I dunno. All set-up and nowhere to go. Sites I'm looking at during lunch here at the Ministry : skylight Scope creep definition Intranet Peers National Geographic: New Zealand National Geographic: Lord of the Rings Mythopeic Society Tolkein Society Easy to see where the brain went today ... 17th December and the final LoTR extended DVD is out. All filmed just round the corner from me in Miramar, Wellington - King Kong is happening now.