Mike Riversdale

Poor old Jan's mum has had a shocker of an PC experience with a twat of a computer shop owner. If all told is true (and I see absolutely no reason to doubt it) then the guy should be talking to the coppers as it must be illegal to say you can do something, not actually be able to do it, lie that you did do it and then charge someone for it. If this was a car or a building then would it be the same? Well ... possibly if Mr R's story is anything to go by. By golly there are some bloody shocking cowboys out there scamming people. Bad karma to them all!

Ai, it was all go this morning around 10am as Liz called to say the doc was all fine and dandy about her coming home. Into the car hopped Sarah (sis-in-law and driver coz she knows where she's going) and I leaving Jack to have "TV, on!" and await the home coming. There wasn't a lot of stuff for us to pick up as I and Sarah (I think, maybe Jane) had taken a lot home yesterday evening. Pack up the one bag (no, not referring to Liz!), strap the girl into the Plunket car seat and off we toddle. Coming home was all about reconnections, trying to keep both kids happy and not get on each others nerves - funny how after only a few days you get used to having things in a certain way. Meg is an extremely un-fazable baby (at the mo') and even endured her Guthrie test from Joan (midwife) without waking up sorry, couldn't find one hit when I Googled "Gurthries test" . Jack has been very happy to have Mum home and is extremely excited (ie, loads of running arou...

How you? What's been going down?

So the real work starts then ... crickey! Gonna be good to have them back and I know Jack will really be able to start building his relationship (in whatever form it might take) with Meg once she's around a whole stack more. Be interesting to see how he reacts once he realizes that Mums new toy is here for ever. And, of course, Liz and Jack can spend some quality time - she's missed him and he her. So, can't spend too much time blogging and buggering around on the interweb as I got sheets to clean, beds to make, toys to put away, TV programs to tape, photos to catalog, presents to get ready, clothes to fold away and beer to drink.

Liz had a grand day today and is starting to get some sleep which means life looks a little rosier for her. I'm spending half my time with Jack (the mornings) and then half in the hospital with Liz to give her a break before heading home to put the wee fella to sleep and spend the evening catching up with life. Don't think I'm doing this alone though! Carol (ma-in-law and super Grandmother) is doing all the hard yards with Jack ably and totally supported by his cousins Char , Zoe and Jacqui . Liz's siblings here in Christchurch have all been amazing and the last few days would've been so much harder without them. Big hand to Jane (on duty with Liz this morning) and Sarah (being more then available and running around after everyone). To everyone else in Christchurch that's visited, dropped off pressies and sent flowers - thank you so much and huge hugs. Um ... especially Pen , the Harringtons beer is going down a storm. Everyone that has txt'd, left voi...

Welcome to our world. She's a long girl and weighed in at 9lbs 10oz as she entered the world via a c-section at 9:38pm , Friday 25th November (NZ Summer time). She's doing awesomely after a long feed and I left her fast asleep tucked up next to Mum at Christhcurch Womens Hospital. Mother is also doing well after a drop in her blood pressure was sorted out.

No Meg though. We've been in, had the prostaglandin inserted and all the written forms sorted. Joan, Liz's midwife, has prepared for all eventualities and filled in all the forms necessary which is awesome. After Liz lying down for an hour waiting for the prostaglandin to do it's thing we were then told, by the hospital, that we would go home and come back later. Called a cab and here we are. Liz is in her own bed fast asleep (I hope) and the twinges are happening but nothing you could really call a contraction. We go back to the hospital by the latest 2pm. I think Liz'll get 'prostaglandin part 2' and then we stay there no matter what. If, after another 6 hours, nothing has happened I think decisions will be made and my view is that Meg will be coming out via the sunroof. Read the previous Meg postings >>

Yep, we're booked in to Christchurch Women's Hospital to start the inducement at 8am this Friday (two days time). I'm sure it'll be quite a long day (hopefully not, as it was with Jack, a night as well). [big sigh] We're getting there ... Read the previous Meg postings >>

Due date: gone (Sunday13th) Induction-checkup day: gone (Wednesday 23rd) Induction day: Friday 25th Thursday 24th Ginny; Femke (3:33am) Friday 25th Tom Saturday 26th Jo Hubris 13th, 14th, 15th; 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd Jeremy ; Jane; Liz; Ruth; Annonymous #1 (11:32pm); Wendy Luke; Wendy (9pm);Sarah; Frogstar ; Chicks (5:25am); Carol; Char; Joshua; Graeme; Annonymous #2 (4am); Bron (9:37am); me ; Jack; Yvette (3:30am); Matthew Kelly (6:32am); Kyle (4pm); Comfy (late); Steve (2:30am); Jane (1:30pm); Jo; Neil; Wino (7:50am/7:50pm); Jacqui; Rochelle; Big Pete (7pm); Amanda ; Teresa (before 9am); Mindi (7:24am); Loren; Miss_Seph ; gibb0 (10:30-11:30pm); Milan (4pm); Matt; Zoe; Llew ; Frances (2am) Read the previous Meg postings >>

[Udapted 2:34pm] Met with Simon who was extremely nice, very efficient and signed all the papers we could ever require to get induced. We now wait for the mid-wife to call the hospital and make the appointment (tomorrow!!!) and then we're in. We're off to some clinic on Oxford Terrace to have a 'consultation' with the obstertian/obstairtrician/... baby-dude called Simon Jones . Once that has happened the mid-wife will book us in at the hospital to be induced - we've asked for tomorrow (Thursday) to which the mid-wife thought we were "pushing her"!?!? To ensure we don't have to have a second consultation we're gonna ask for a prescription for prostaglandin (the stuff that is used to induce). A "second consultation", where the bloody hell did that come from?! I am definitely of the opinion that it's far better in Wellington where the process was transparent, up front and they kept to their own deadlines. Here it's a voyage of dis...

The final hurdle in the UK Grand Slam tour ... which isn't set that high off the ground really. Of course, it's still something that could trip up the boys on black so a keen eye on the goal and no let up - in fact, a goal of 50+ points would be the way to polish off the year. Scotland 15 Hugo Southwell (Edinburgh Gunners), 14 Chris Paterson (Edinburgh Gunners), 13 Marcus Di Rollo (Edinburgh Gunners), 12 Andrew Henderson (Glasgow Warriors), 11 Sean Lamont (Northampton Saints), 10 Dan Parks (Glasgow Warriors), 9 Chris Cusiter (Border Reivers), 1 Gavin Kerr (Leeds Tykes), 2 Scott Lawson (Glasgow Warriors), 3 Bruce Douglas (Border Reivers), 4 Craig Hamilton (Glasgow Warriors), 5 Scott Murray (Edinburgh Gunners), 6 Jason White (Sale Sharks) CAPTAIN, 8 Simon Taylor (Edinburgh Gunners), 7 Allister Hogg (Edinburgh Gunners) Substitutes: 16 Dougie Hall (Edinburgh Gunners), 17 Craig Smith (Edinburgh Gunners), 18 Alastair Kellock (Edinburgh Gunners), 19 Kelly Brown (Border Reivers), 20 Mi...

I'm on a work's "team building" type affair and is overnight Monday. So, unless I get really bored and fire up the laptop I won't be posting anything until I get back Tuesday evening. If you're concerned about not getting the very latest about Megs 'impending' arrival I wouldn't be too worried as Liz and I have resigned ourselves to the Wednesday visit to the hospital to be booked in for induction either Thursday (cross fingers) or Friday.

[Updated 20-Nov, later in the arvo] There is a '4 weeks to go' production diary . Enjoy! James Newton Howard and Peter Jackson are working hard on the King Kong score with 4 weeks left to go. James Howard and his 'King Kong Roadshow' are in and around LA recording the score as it trickles out of his mind and onto paper. These musicians have to be on top of their game to be able to learn this music very very fast. We get some great sound-bytes from the recoding sessions and a look at some of the interesting instruments James is using for his score. 4 weeks to go and the pressure is on! Looks like the free Post Production Diaries are coming to an end as the "do it yourself" advertising via KongIsKing is supplanted by the highly professional and expensive "Hollywood marketing machine" of the official site . I'm not gonna blog anymore about King Kong as you all know about it and you'll hear much more about the movie in the coming few weeks. I...

A few countries are now declaring their hands: (2x) Australia voted for Japan England voted for Japan Seems Fiji are likely to apply to host one of the pool matches as well. Awesome idea and what a holiday that would be :-) ----- Here's what the NZ Rugby Union offered the IRB to win the 2011 World Cup hosting rights . Source: Planet-Rugby.com: Details of the New Zealand bid Details of the New Zealand bid Friday November 18 2005 What New Zealand promised to the IRB The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) has revealed exactly what they promised the International Rugby Board (IRB) in order to win the rights to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Unlike for the 2003 RWC, when the Kiwis lost out and Australia became sole hosts, this time the NZRU met the requirement to provide clean stadia. Here's the New Zealand bid in a nutshell... Rugby World Cup 2011 – New Zealand 1. New Zealand’s promises to the IRB A tournament for players * An environment where players can perform at their very...

No, that wasn't the score - that was the number of players that each side seemed to have. It started at 15-15 until the second half when it became clear it was 16-15 and then 16-14 followed by a drastic period of 16-13. All of which makes the actual score at the end of the game quite remarkable: All Blacks 23 England 19 The English 'power pack' were quite naff actually and the huge dude (name evades me) was out played and sometimes out muscled by Hayman - awesome work. The handling errors from the backs was probably the standout let down by the men in black, shame. Overall the team didn't gell quite as well as we all would've liked and it took quite a few minutes (may a full half) before Dan Carter got into his stride . I don't rate the ball from Kelleher either, but he was targetted. What did the coaches think: Graham Henry (All Blacks) Andy Robinson (England) Having said all that, the win was totally deserved and it's something the boys can be ...

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ... this is sooo funny. Brena at Smoothfruity @BrenaSmith posted about Twisted Sister and Aimz left the following comment : Dee Snider keeps it wheel Last week, Twisted Sister performed in Brighton. During the show, frontman Dee Snider of Twisted Sister gives a shout-out to the crowd, saying "The balcony is where all the REAL sick motherfuckers are. They can't even stand up by show time. Let's have the house lights up to see them!" The House lights are raised... ... and the band and audience find themselves looking back at the disabled section of the crowd, full of fans in wheelchairs. I nearly wet myself! What a prat!

Scott, writer/drawer-er of Dilbert, is giving away one of his non-Dilbert books, God's Debris . All it takes is one click and you've got the book in PDF format . If you need to actually know what the book is about and not just get it because it's free like myself then: Imagine that you meet a very old man who—you eventually realize—knows literally everything. Imagine that he explains for you the great mysteries of life—quantum physics, evolution, God, gravity, light, psychic phenomenon, and probability—in a way so simple, so novel, and so compelling that it all fits together and makes perfect sense. What does it feel like to suddenly understand everything? God's Debris isn’t the final answer to the Big Questions. But it might be the most compelling vision of reality you will ever read. The thought experiment is this: Try to figure out what’s wrong with the old man’s explanation of reality. Share the book with your smart friends then discuss it later while enjoying a be...

Nuff said!   Interesting comment (before the winner was announced) from Stephen Jones in the Sunday Times (London) - my emphasis: New Zealand may have the weakest bid, but what it does have is the All Blacks, who are the second-biggest brand in rugby after the British & Irish Lions. The New Zealand Rugby Union can promise future visits by the All Blacks, guaranteeing the host union millions. It is not too cynical to suggest that if New Zealand emerge as victors in the 2011 voting, the All Blacks can expect to play a draining series of away matches for the next five seasons.

As Dave says , this is a must-have item Don't just look at the front page, check out the actual thing itself - it's bwill.

It's willing to give it back ... seriously, run along and check it out I suspect only New Zealanders need apply

And I know how that annoys some people but it's true - I know where you are in the world, I know how you arrived here and I know what browser/operating system you use. How? Because I've been using, amongst other tools , StatCounter for quite some time now. But maybe I'll know even more. How? Because I'm trialling Google Analytics Watch this space and I'll let you know what I know about what you're doing ... [Updated 17-Nov] After a few days I got some data to review (nothing startling and I'm not challenging Yahoo! or MSN in their top Internet site status ... yet). I am, however, very happy with what is offered and will no longer be using StatCounter. The main reasons are that Google Analystic offers: Unlimited log (well, 25 million visits, that's unlimited for life for me) Excellent presentation of statistics Ability to set "goals" and see how well they did Of course, I have a Google account so I have no issues with the beast of the Intranet...

Okey cokey, pig in a pokey * , this is the one game left to top of an amazing year for the All Blacks (I know, Scotland next week ... !). Mr Henry is talking about last years incredible demolition of France - well, if the All Black forwards can do that again (no rye smile from Anton though) then I think England will be lucky to get out of it alive. A huuuge IF. England 15 Josh Lewsey (London Wasps); 14 Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks); 13 Jamie Noon (Newcastle Falcons); 12 Mike Tindall (Gloucester); 11 Ben Cohen (Northampton Saints); 10 Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks); 9 Matt Dawson (London Wasps); 1 Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks); 2 Steve Thompson (Northampton Saints); 3 Phil Vickery (Gloucester); 4 Steve Borthwick (Bath Rugby); 5 Danny Grewcock (Bath Rugby); 6 Pat Sanderson (Worcester Warriors); 7 Lewis Moody (Leicester Tigers); 8 Martin Corry (Leicester Tigers (capt) ) Replacements: 16 Lee Mears (Bath Rugby); 17 Matt Stevens (Bath Rugby); 18 Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers); 19 Chris Jones (S...

Social Network Analysis that is. Looking for something cheap ("free") and cheerful to trial at work and then maybe move onto something that costs but delivers later on ... Anyone? Leave a comment or drop me a line ( christchurch.capers@gmail.com ) if you have. Thanks

No, I'm not stopping the blog ... yet, that day will come. As I sit here at the very beginning of one life (10 months+) and enjoy the first few years of Jack I did remind myself of the words that will, if I can keep it together at the appropriate time, be my final words this time around: The gold's hidden in the ... I've always wanted to say that as my last dying breath leaves the old and well used body. Just like them old gold diggers of the West Coast. Yup, I'll even try and put on the accent if I can! Oh, in my mind I see myself dying after being hit by a bus (or some such road vehicle, not a lorry/truck). I am surrounded by people, someone pushes themselves forward with a, "Step aside, step aside, I'm a doctor". A small child is huddled into his mothers legs. A woman weeps and whispers to her neighbour, "Such a fine looking gentleman, what a shame". A lone dog howls in the distance. The doctor leans forward, I cough up some blood, I pull him ...

Have just been read at Wanda's blog that Ms Vile File is calling it a day (well, one year to be precise). What a shame, the blogging world isn't full of people that can actually write and Ms Vile was one of the few that could. You'll be missed. Thanks for the laffs, the comments and the mind-stretches. Byeeee.

We had the start of the process kick off this morning (I'll let you find out via a Google search what that actually is) and after a quick call to the mid-wife the good news was, "Yep, that sounds like the start of labour. She could be hours away or days". ... ! ... ? .... So, we're all still waiting. Meg arrival date sweepstake Even more awesome great comments - leave your guess

It has been said of Jack that, "He's quite a serious wee fella, isn't he?" Well no actually, it's probably just that he doesn't like you (joke!) It is true that he takes a good few minutes to check out people he hasn't seen for a while and will give you the long hard stare if you're totally new in his life. But stick with him and before long you'll be granted a grin like this: And all that smiling can take it out of a small guy so a cuddle at the end of the day with Dad watching The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh never goes a miss:

Well, I think the NZ Rugby Union has done its absolute best with its bid for the 2011 World Cup and, if as I suspect, it doesn't come this way they should be able to hold their heads up high and just make sure we win the bloody thing from now on. I think the mistaken view of "expanding into Asia" will prevail and the Japanese money won't be missed either. If they played any rugby in Asia I could go for it but really, a few company teams in Japan and that's it ... isn't it? Hell, I don't know because I live in the joint first most rugby passionate country in the world (equal with Wales, of course) and everywhere else just seems to be paying it lip service. As you probably heard on the news, the team presenting to the IRB in Ireland this Thursday (their time, early Friday for us in NZ) is: Colin "Pinetree" Meads, ex-All Black and rugby legend Jock Hobbs, NZRU President Chris Moller, NZRU Chief Executive Tana Umaga, current All Black captain and to...