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Showing posts from April, 2005

Jack approaching his 2nd year

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And one from February for the " Reading is such an underrated skill " article

The Lions, one month to go

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I've started to get a little excited which I must try and dampen down or I'll burn out before the buggers even land! A few nice pages off the official Lions site (that's the "British & Irish Lions" to you sonny). First of all, what they're being told about this fair country ; a few classic games and some lovely team pictures - the picture here ( 1977 tour to NZ ) is such a school photo eh! I'm happy the NZRU is selling the remaining 60,000 tickets on the open market - no one, and I mean NO ONE, now has cause to complain that they were diddled out of a chance to go along. If life was a little less full for me I would love to "road trip" to the Maori game (Hamilton , 11th June, 7pm); what a cracker I expect that to be. Super 12 Go the 'Canes tonight and awesome display from Crusaders last night . We were receiving txt's from family at the game who thoroughly enjoyed it. Shame about the Blues , buggers up my V.S12 picks, how dare

Miramarist-ish

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In the tradition of '...ist' sites all about a place here's links about Miramar , Wellington , New Zealand . About Miramar Miramar Peninsula (Wikipedia) Miramar/Seatoun (Wellington libraries) Miramar weather Getting Around and Staying Put Map of Miramar (Wises) Wellington City Council map (PDF, 604kb) Buses Route 02 (PDF) | Route 31, Express (PDF) Taxis Devonshire Cottage Bed & Breakfast Flatfinder: Miramar Services Miramar business directory Miramar Community Police Community Directory (WCC) - Type in "Miramar" and [Search] Education Review Office: Miramar schools Worser Bay School Yellow Pages: Miramar Salvation Army Peninsular Dental Centre Miramar Dental Health Centre Miramar Library Things To Do / Out & About Miramar TaeKwon-Do Miramar Rangers AFC Miramar Links - golf and conference centre Eastern Walkways (WCC) Capital Defence: Miramar Massey Memorial Business China Grill Restaurant Working Wise Ltd Wet

Don't Panic, it's not that bad after all

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After hearing that the new Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy movie was a pile of rotting fish I am happy to pass on ( via llew ) that it's not actually that bad. As with the previous posting this is from a review so if anyone can actually go and see the film for me and give me the punters low down I'd 'perciate it :-) If all else fails, play the on-line game whilst listening to the radio show bought via the BBC: Cult BTW: Seems to me that Mr Lucas hasn't managed to tie up the old with the new and is gonna do a TV series between Star Wars III and IV (Star Wars 3.1?)

Jessie from The Backyard, was that you?

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Am doing some work at skylight whilst Jude takes the wee fella out to the Zoo for the afternoon. And, being the super-duper fast and clever chap I am I've finished about 30mins ago and decided to utilise the extremely fast Web connection these guys have. I'm trawling the regular blogs and have a giggle at the latest from Alan at half-pie . I click to leave a bland, "ha ha, and me" type comment and then I see it. The comments fields have been filled in. It's got Jessie's details from The Backyard . I nearly cricked my neck as I challenged the Jessica that works here. I claimed my prize and demanded acknowledgment of her being the power behind The Backyard. But no, all I get back is a very convincing, " What the hell is a blog?!? " Doesn't everyone know about my latest obsession? Isn't everyone rushing to an Internet Cafe to sign up to Blogspot . No, obviously not. Which leaves me with only llew as my only real life, in the flesh, sighted

For Michelle

Two reasons for this: 1: SunnyO: For Michelle 2: Michelle's love of being titled 3: TV Cream - simply the best British 'nostalgia' site in the world AH! That's three, three reasons for this: 1: SunnyO: For Michelle 2: Michelle's on-going love of being named in titles 3: TV Cream - still the best British 'nostalgia' site in the world 4: .. that's it, no more, just three reasons

Town, civilisation, shops, people

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I hate where I work. Let me re-phrase that, I hate the location of my office. It's at the top of Molesworth Street and in large-city terms it's really only a hop, skip and a jump from the CBD. But I never get to go into the CDB. I feel so "out of touch", so "in the 'burbs" so, so ... like I'm an extra in The Office . Things could be happening without me knowing. I don't know what 'things' but they could be happening nonetheless and I'd not be included. The office itself is very cool ('won awards' type cool from what I can gather). It's big enough to feel important, small enough to not get too lost. It's open and airy (" well there's air in it ") and pretty close to the perfect office layout for me. And I sit next to a window, well a wall of windows really. I get to watch the happenings on Tinakori Road, the current helicopter log removal process and any accidents before/after the tunnels are there for me

10 measley points

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My second worse weekend of Virtual Super 12 but do I care, not a jittery jot . I think I'm gonna be like the Hurricanes with a grand start, average middle and a lame ending - I hope they prove me wrong. Lions latest news - none that I know of. The All Black management must be a tad concerened by the injuries but plenty of time to get that right for the tests. Sounds like the Maori XV will be full strength though. I flip-flop between, "Ach, the All Blacks will win 3-0" to, "Crickey, it's gonna be a tough series for both teams". I am interested in the All Blacks season this year though as it looks absolutely huge. Has anyone actually tackled anything like this before? British & Irish Lions x 3 Tri-Nations: Australia x 2 (incl. Bledisloe Cup ), South Africa x 2 UK Grand Slam: Wales , England , Ireland , Scotland I mean, that is playing everyone who's anyone in international rugby. Care to give me odds on the All Blacks winning all 11 tests?

Week 11 and the sickness is departing

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Sounds like a diary entry from Scott of the Antarctic doesn't it? Talking of Antarctic, winter sure has arrived here in NZ - as I look out the window the rain is pelting down from a grey southern sky and it's absolutely freezing, there goes the power bill . In fact the article heading refers to Liz and the growing of our new daughter - no, no actual evidence of "her" being a "her" as of yet BUT Liz's sisters have come up with a cracking theory which so far, totally holds water - prepare yourself for ' gender of baby theory #147 ': Find the sibling prior to the birth of this one - "only children" and "first borns" need not apply Check the direction of the hair on their crown (top of the head) Clockwise = Boy Anticlockwise = Girl So, after checking the head of Jack ("The Head of Jack", shurely a 1950's film starring Yul Bryner ) his crown hair is anticlockwise ... just. So it's gonna be a g

Toilets at Oriental Parade

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Had the occasion to utilise the new (to me) toiletry facilities near the spruced up playground at Oriental Parade (near Freyburg Pool ) the other day and I must say they are quite swish. Although upon entering the large cubicle I was a little put off by the wall sized mirror that greeted me - I nearly walked out as I thought there were other people in the toilet and I'd accidentally barged in on them. Also "room" is probably a better description as there's enough space to swing a cat - must take one along next time to try it. Once seated and happy in the knowledge that friends were looking after Jack I must say I would have been happy with a newspaper of the day or my latest book, most comfortable was I in the sunlit ablution palace. I think it's a guy thing. But when I finally got up I did discover a slightly unnerving function of this modern convenience - everything is automatic, well almost everything as I was still expected to manually hoik the trousers back

If you like that then you'll like this

If you like JonnyB's private secret diary with all its very funny writings, wonderfully described " characters " and just great stories then you'll probably love This is this. It has a similar "feel" that being British, very funny/good writing with both the day-to-day life and just some good old fashioned silly-ness . BTW : I am discovering that truly good writing in the blog world is a very rare commodity - wish I could do it betterer! I can't get enough of both and whole heartedly recommend regular visits in your quest of keeping away the blues (both " sadness " and " bad rugby teams " ;-).

Miramar's cinema

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As most people from Miramar probably already know the old cinema (down in the shops) has been vacant (derilct is probably a far more suitable word) for quite some time now after it was all "bought up by Peter Jackson". In fact, of course, it wasn't bought by PJ personally but by one of his jointly owned companies, Weta (Workshop and/or Digital ). And so, a notice on the Kong Is King site informs us that Weta Workshop have finally updated their website and off I tootled to have a look around. On the About: Weta Facility Maps page I see, amongst all the locations of the studios, workshops, post production company and the like that the old cinema is listed as "Miramar Cinema Project" and therefore is actually on someones 'to do list'. So, maybe I will get to see something in that cinema after all. My view on why it's taking so long, especially after I recall Jamie Selkirk saying that it would be finished by April 2005, is that they want have the c

Library story time and a walk home

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Jack and I hang out every Thursday and one of our rituals is the 10:15am library story time - we get stories, guitars, songs and then ink-stamps at the end. I love it and I suspect Jack does too, hee hee. Waiting for Tom to turn up Off to get a book "Your feet ... my pillow ... no! And I will stare at you until they are removed" Not sure Jack is really getting into this story, whatever it it was. He's probably hanging out for the singing (he loves music and dancing) or the stamps at the end Nope, not really listening to anything from anyone - but he has fun his own way And then it's home time Jack just past the local diary ('corner shop') Jack sees Mum has just got home

I finally experience Gods Proof Reader

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Imagine my surprise after hearing so much from Sarah @ one before about this/these Proof Readers in the work of the Lord when I have finally stumbled across them; oh how I giggled. Reading Grace by Robert Lacey - first on page 30 there is: and then, the same typo highlighted but in a different hand on page 68: I am, of course, hopping that the word 'fey/fay' is mistyped again and I can be the one to point it out to future readers.

And he died over a year and half ago

And still I've only just found out that Bob Monkhouse died Still not connected to the deaths of my childhood am I

The Lions are preparing to come

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I think the fact that Woodward outlines Lions vision and we're still playing Super 12 highlights how determined they are to win this series. If I'm correct the All Blacks won't be together until after the Super 12 final (28th May) giving the Lions a few weeks head start. And don't forget that they will have played Argentina (Cardiff, May 23rd) and five NZ regional sides and the NZ Maori before they step into their first test (Christchurch, June 25th). Oh, just read that the All Blacks have their trial (Napier, June 3rd) and a test against Fiji (Albany, June 10th) before facing the Lions. Still, this could be tougher for the All Blacks than I first imagined - especially if Mr Wilkinson really does make it down here . Interesting to hear that the NZ public aren't flocking to the non-test games ; wonder why. I got offered tickets to the Wellington and 'another' game. Declined them. Can't be arsed to be honest. Only put my name in the ballot for test ticket

one before - Host not found

Getting "Host not found" when trying to go to Sarah @ one before ! Really spoiling my day - anyone got any info?

Sake at Sandwiches tonight, 7pm

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If you can I would strongly recommend you get along to Sandwiches (courner of Kent Tce/Majoribanks St down by Embassy) to listen to a blues/jazz guy named Sake . He plays some awesome New 'Awlins type honky-tonk piano and has a cracking voice as well as sounding like he'd be a very funny ranconteur. Anyway, Sandwiches, 7pm tonight - go if you can and tell me all about it. Thanks to andymacdaddy's Journal for the details and to National Radio for the interview yesterday afternoon.

Jack and his chicken visiting

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We have some friends that live near-by and they have two chickens. When they're away we get to go and visit, change the water and take the eggs, very cool. Jack loves popping up there - here's a few of him over Easter. On another Jack related note - who's in for a bit of The Wiggles ? He absolutely loves them and is now so adept at dancing to the DVD/videos that I'm thinking of putting him into a dance competition! Proud Father Alert - he's one of the few kids in his peer group that actually gets up and shakes his thang (turns, jumps, sliiides with hand shaking, head bobbing he's got the lot). And it makes no diference what music; boy racers with thumping bass as they drive past, adverts with catchy jingles, Robbie Williams ... anything that gets him going he dances to. For his current favourites check out Yummy Tummy from, yep you guessed, The Wiggles!

I hate being ill

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I hate being ill ... now. At first it was OK, I got to be off work during a stunning Wellington week and spend some very cool times with the lad . I couldn't actually do much outdoors as my energy levels were absolutely shot - simply walking down to and back from the local dairy was a nightmare and I was totally knackered after it. Am at the office and have managed to grind through the work up to now but the brain has shut down .. completely. I cannot concentrate on anything I'm doing and am so easily distracted that this posting has taken a good 30 minutes just to get this far. Mind you, it's easy to be distracted as a sodding big helicopter flies across Tinakori Hill picking up fallen trees and, for a little excitement, accidently dropping one or two. ... [brain not repsonding] .... [reboot required] ... Oh, bloody hell, it's only 2:30pm ... I thought it was at least 4pm. Crickey, I'm never gonna make this. That's it, I'm off home to fall asleep in the

Oh lordy lordy

I looove the first from beautiful monsters: I can't believe blog. I'm sure the World Rock Paper Scissors Society is deadly serious ... And I laughed and I laughed at Unintentionally sexual comic book covers: Part 1. ... love it, but be careful (thanks to house_monkey ). This real McDonalds ad is just plain sick! And to get over that prepare yourself for NZ Political Idol , kicking off on Saturday, April 23rd - may save having to vote :-)

A meme for our town

I know, I know I wasn't gonna do one but ... look, I feel a failure already so just let it go and do the damn meme will ya! Wellington (NZ) Town meme 1: Where do you go when the rain/sun comes? Rain: Indoors here in Miramar with a good book/vid, OR, a cafe with mates: Eva Dixons (Miramar), Epic (crnr Ghuznee/Willis). Sunny: Scorching Bay with the Liz and Jack; Oriental Parade and around harbour ending up at Wellington Brewery Bar meeting mates. 2: What's your favourite view? Sitting on the harbour with my back to Te Papa on a sunny, cloudless morning looking out across the harbour to snow topped Rimutakas. OR, the one I used to have from Khandallah looking down on the harbour - very restfull. 3: The thing that annoys you the most about Wellington? The present council and the way they're allowing developers to break the rules and put up tall buildings. AND, that friggin' "by-pass". 4: How do you handle the wind? Leaning into it and going with the (strong) flo

Life Story, Chapter Five: The Hellraiser Years (OK Road)

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"My life history", by Michael Riversdale aged 38 and a bit 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 Travelling Years Chapter Two: The Monmouth School Days Chapter Three: Swindon and How to Survive It Chapter Four: London and Engagement Chapter Five: The Hellraiser Years (OK Road) I'm single, I'm well paid and I'm in a brand new land with opportunities laid out before me. Sweet as. First though I had to find a place to live which involved trawling around the city of Wellington every Wednesday evening and Saturday morning - unfortunately we'd sold the car so my flat-hunting was done by taxi , decadent! After a few false starts, a few, "No thanks you"s I wandered into a flat on Orangi Kaupapa Road (Northland) - OK Road - wh

I do this to warn you, "Do Panic"

It seems that the early reviews for the Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy film are bad ... how bad? This bad! (and what a wonderful URL!) I blog this not out of joy but out of sadness and to dampen the expectations. I trust King Kong will not require the same remedies. Star Wars III: The Revenge of the Sith almost certainly will.

British & Irish Lions: the squad

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The squad news: O'Driscoll to captain Lions Lions squad named O'Driscoll to lead the Lions to NZ We're all Lions now, says Woodard The latest Lions news: Planet Rugby: British & Irish Lions NZRU: DHL Lions Series

No more Microsoft Outlook email for me

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I've made a leap of faith into the dark and am no longer using a PC based mail client - everything is gonna be stored on-line and will be available all the time/anywhere at Google Mail . (well nearly everything - it still checks the old email addresses but I can shift them over to my Gmail ones as they pop-up) Why? Well, it does everything I want from a mail client/program AND it lets me keep everything I send and receive. That was the only reason I've been sticking to Outlook (or any PC based program) for so long, the ability to store all my emails in one place . Now that Gmail has 2Gbs and has a stated policy of increasing until it's just no longer an issue (they'd better!!) then have my patronage. I've kicked all the wheels and really given Gmail a damn good bashing in the past few weeks and it's missing nothing ... well, maybe a rich-text signature but I'm living with that. It stores, groups and finds my emails so easily. The interface is extremely i

Jack's gonna have a sister

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Well, I don't really know if Baby X is a girl but it would be cool as. But, as the everyone will no doubt say to us over time, "Whatever the sex, as long as they're healthy and have all their bits then be happy" which is basically true ... but a sister would be mighty ;-) So, for those that don't know, haven't read between the lines or not heard it on the grapevine then take this as your official notice (whilst The Times is more traditional this is cheaper and quicker). Yep, Liz is in the throws of ... throwing up , big time, as she's due to have a baby in mid-November . It's very early days but we're the sort of people to let everyone know all the facts when we find out and you'll get the latest on the gender , movement and all the other stuff we parents-to-be talk about constantly as it happens. I'm also gonna blog a bit of what it means to me being a father , again - you have been warned! At the moment all it really means is I'

People mourning the Pope at Saint Peters Square, Rome

If you want to "be there" then try out this QuickTime panoramic of St Peter's Square: People mourning the Pope

Blog memes, what's that all about then?

What is it with " memes "? I see them as the blog equivalent to those nasty sugary emails people used (used!) to send me. The ones with, "Love the world because ..." or "Think of a puppy all day and ...", [shudder]. Not as bad as all those bloody quiz results people also have - shite! Things that tell you what sort of song you are, or what year you are, or what bloody pavement type you are. For f^ck sakes, who cares and who in holy-heck ( no relation ) creates them. My guess, teenage girls. Just a guess. Updated: 15-April-2005 I've succumb to the meme bug

Negative growth and other crap uses of the English language

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" Negative growth " ... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, [breath in] ... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I actually heard this on the radio this morning. Some "market analyst" (a prime example of a 'crap-talker') was talking about the Auckland (or was it Australia - ach, who cares) economic outcome for the next few months and the interview ended up with the question, "So, is the [insert correct place] going to be in recession this year?", to which Mr ANALyst answered, "Oh, I don't think we're gonna experience two consecutive months of negative growth". Translation: "No, I don't think so". (as threatened there now follows a rant on the use of Plain English ) Why do they/we bother talking like that? What's wrong with being plain about these things? For instance, I wholeheartedly support John Tamihere for saying what he said . He may have stopped his career with a jolt and it may not have been the best outlet for hi

One-eye'd Cantabs

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It's fun being in Christchurch when the Cantabs are performing so well - down for a day of meetings and brought the wee fella down for the night to play with all his cousins and family. Of course they (I'm talking about the fans here - not the team, they are, I'm sure, magnanimous in both victory and defeat) are very keen to tell you how awesome their team is, how they are gonna win the Super 12 and that they are simply the best. It may be true. But everyone has told me - family, taxi-drivers, work colleagues, people at the meeting ... everyone. Ach, good on 'em. And the 'Canes tie might be rarking them up a bit - hee hee. But we, Hurricanes supporters, are very different - and when I get home I'm gonna expand on why I think that is. Oh, and whilst it doesn't feel that good to say it, on the Blues . More happy to say, " Otaaaaagoooooo !" But I had a shocker of a Virtual Super 12 weekend with 5 measley points! Not sure what I was thinking, but

Funerals certainly get you thinking

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Just got back from a funeral ... they make ya ponder life, death and everything in between don't they. This funeral was for a friends' mother whom I didn't know at all; to be honest I'm not really that close to the colleague after she moved to Dunedin to start a new life. But, I thought I'd go. And I'm glad I did go. This isn't about that particular funeral though as it's not my story to tell. Some of those "problems", those "hardships", those "issues" I thought I have in my life ... aren't. Life is such a fleeting thing and over for so long. I know, I know, it's all obvious and we all know it and it's even a tad sugary to say it. But I wasn't thinking it yesterday before the funeral and now it's become ... more ... no, I've become a little more prioritised in my life. I've managed stand back and see the big stuff. And for that I thank Christine. As for the actual ritual of a "funeral",

Jack at the end of March

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Jack and Mike at brunch with mates at Epic Kitted up for the first of the autumnal days "What you lookin' at!" Karen (mate from Sydney) and Jack play at the Chelsea Street play area

Juggle-Man ... I bounce balls for your delight

(inspired by an article at SunnyO ) The question from Morphess to my "Juggle-Man ... I bounce balls for your delight" comment was: ...wha....? And fair enough. So here's a description of the man himself. He's a short, thin guy with a face that's looks like it's seen life (ie, all major creases are deeep). His remit seems to be to stand in shop doorways wearing brightly coloured and quite tight (!) "circus" type clothing that is topped off by a woolen beanie that Jack would be proud of. He lays out a piece of cloth in front of him to "perform on" with something next to it (can't recall if it's a hat) for the punters throw their golden coins into. He then stands there with two or three balls (tennis?) bouncing them on the ground whilst, with puppy-dog eyes, he watches the crowds slip by him. He's usually doing a sort of, "Hey look [bounce] , look [bounce-bounce] , look at me [hold-out-balls-for-all-to-verify] , I'll j