Mike Riversdale

You know what, I can't be arsed outlining it all so take it for read that it includes health, wealth and happiness. A healthy amount of sexual deviancy. A wealth derived from exploitation. And happiness at the failings of others. Possible a little from all and mixed up with a smattering of humour. Oh. I do have a dream that IT departments take their heads out of their collective arses and start behaving like the service provider they claim to be and not the wizards they think they are.

Hmm, tricky one this ... being anyone else would be quite amazing. Do I get to remember my 24 hours as someone else, am I like a passenger inside someone else's head a la Being John Malkovich ... am I reading far too much into this. Let's trawl the #30DaysOfMe posters that have posted their choices and see what others have done: Pebblesey - "male" Amie McCarron - "astronaut" In Real Time - "Dorothy Parker" smrtgrl - "stay me" Honorary Kiwi - "cat" Josie Campbell - "Michael Parkinson" By the way, the first in the list is the originator of this whole #30DaysOfMe malarkey Hmm, a wide choice just from that sample. I know, I know ... I want to be Clint Eastwood and then I could stop asking that question .

Christ, talk about an animalistic response to this video - I am shaking and have sweaty palms, *gulp* Found via Neatorma but the RSS link doesn't find the post anymore

I generally use my iPod for podcasts and most of them are either tech, BBC or history ... in fact that probably covers 99% of them. And, up until recently, there was no music on it at all as I had an unfortunate incident with Apple and a pair of broken headphones to which the DomPost said, "Mike Riversdale is fuming" ... and I was and still am. I digress. Working headphones have meant I've popped on some music, normally it's "Latest added". Here we go: The Dandy In The Underworld - T.Rex Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys Touch And Go - The Lightning Seeds The Man I Love - Sarah Vaughan Mum's Going Out - The Whitlams I've Got A Crush On You - Dinah Washington (I've Got A Gal In) Kalamazoo - Glenn Miller and His Orchestra Riders On The Storm - The Doors The Drugs Don't Work - The Verve Chinese Bombs - Blur All links except The Whitlams are to YouTube vids.

I met The Amazing Travelling Photobooth at Karen & Will's wedding earlier this year and now, thanks to the wonders of YouTube, you can see what I was talking about - yip, they've used Karen & Will's wedding as a promo for what they do (Liz and I are the ones kissing!) Thanks to @AmieMcCarron for the heads-up

HA HA HA HA HA ... it's 6 minutes of wasted politicians time but well worth it! Found on Mediaite

I don't have many of me AND my immediate family - the Riversdales - and very few from recent times. Here's a couple of me and, *gulp, MY family - all terribly growed up eh!

Dear you, You really are an arrogant, anal retentive prick aren't you! You come in here after being invited and start your secretive, nasty little fucking "the big I am" and it's so fucking boring I think I am going to vomit. And yet the really fucking annoying thing is that you claimed to be so different, wanting to help, wishing to contribute and I believed you. You dress like a second hand whore that's fallen on bad times. The self-centered, it's all about me and stony faced approach to pain is wearing, life sucking and something you need to seek help about. I can't take the single focus all the time and if we're ever to be something different you need to think about how you see it all. The times you open your mouth to talk makes me wish I had no ears. Thank you and FUCK OFF, Mike Hmm, when I let it out I really let it out. But not half as eloquently as the Stone Roses: And there's NO FUCKING WAY I'm going to let you know who that amalgamat

Ok, so at the beginning of the year I got all passionate about being passion and let loose on the poor sod students from SoC ( pt1 | pt2 | pt3 ) .. but at least it wasn't about sofas!

Easy peasy. Llew and I were working together and, during a lunch time wander the streets of Wellington we talked about "blogs" and why people might want to do it and if it was actaully that easy. That afternoon we both had a blog. His was originally called SunnyO but he has subsequently moved to Observing Trifles which, like a lot of blogs, has a less than regular update rate :-) And that's a shame because Llew writes wonderful posts, grrr, I hate Facebook and Twitter (@apllewellyn) for distracting us from real writing. Oh, and don't try and go to his original SunnyO blog as it's being reported as hosting malware ... which is a real REAL shame as there are some classic posts on it :( So that was Llew and I ended up with this blog ... sort of. It was MiramarMike and hosted on Blogger (we just found it the easiest to get going with) but wasn't actually *this* blog. When I moved to Christchurch I renamed the blog to ChChChanges (see what I did there) and as f

I love the easy subjects :-) So, after the Kiwi friends picture here's a relatively old one of myself and my two oldest friends from the UK. Andy (on the left) is the person outside of my family I have known the longest and Rob (in the middle) is not that far behind. We were at Monmouth Comp together amongst a wider group of cool kids ... *ahem* Unfortunately I haven't seen them both since the days of this photo ... no, that's not quite true we did all manage to catchup on our Welsh/UK sojourn a few years ago. But it's still tru to say I don't really communicate with either of them on any sort of regular basis. Having said that I still count the, as friends and would do almost anything to help them out if ever called on.

Aha, back to music , it says so much about us eh! Sorry boys and girls, I'm just gonna pop in the vids and let you work it out Happy - From that concert Sad - reflections Bored - because I want to live forever Hyped - Because Mad (angry I'm assuming and not dribbling and stabby) - good times with loud music , perfect

I managed to stay off this bloody computer and get amongst it with the family. And the best part was when Jack and I wandered into town on Sunday morning together to the Software Freedom Day event at Vic Uni. It was awesome just hanging out with the him, chuckling away, playing table football and then wandering the streets of Wellington. We popped into shops, had a coffee/hot chocolate and generally were just with each other. It was awesome and I loved it.

Make some money to keep the lights on ... that is all.

The biggest impact is impossible to judge, in fact nothing ever stays at the number one slot. And so let's go for one of the top 5 things/people that have had the biggest impact on me. Hmm, kids ... wife/wives ... friends ... family ... you, dear readers ... you know what, I don't think it's a person that's had such a big impact on me. Oh, of course everyone touches someone and I have no end of being touched (!) but, somehow, it's not about people. Events maybe, fall of the Berlin Wall ... summer of 1977 ... You know what, the something that has had the biggest impact on my life is music. And especially live music. That thrill of being close to a person or people that are technically extremely good at what they do, have a talent, work with a lot of people to put on the show and have the guts to do it. And then there's the music - that soothing, energising, passionate, calming, dancey, classical, loud, quiet ... noise. From the moment I heard music and realised t

Righty-ho, favourite super hero ... Homer Simpson, not hero enough, um, how about ... oh I dunno. Yes, yes I do - Sherlock Holmes ! Is he really a superhero though - well, for you youngsters needing it all fast and biffo based check out last year's film and then you'll soon agree. But why Sherlock Holmes - because he is clever, fallible, always gets the baddies always ( almost ) and is fiercely independent. He is also loyal to those closest to him and to his ideals. AND, I love this quote from A Study In Scarlet : "What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently; "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work." Here's a picture of the finest actor ever to portray Holmes - I had the greatest pleasure ever imaginable to see him on stage playing Sherlock alongside Edward Hardwicke, also from the TV series. (name the other 2 characters without asking :-) And then there

Christ, been to loads of places. Ok, ok, let's think what might be of interest to you, dear reader. How about this one? It's the Queen's in Monmouth and if you went to the Comp in the 80's then you'll know exactly why it's here. Oh all right then I'll let you know ... the Comp (Comprehensive School) is just down the road and come the time and age The Queen's Head became our local. In fact, the one and only time I've ever had my age questioned was on my 18th birthday - yip, the guy behind the bar obviously had a moment of clarity and wondered why I was celebrating a birthday and yet still wearing a school uniform (I stil have my striped tie). One day too late ... well, quite a few years too late as I'm sure we'd been going into pubs from quite an early age [ life story, chapter 2 is the one you want] "Queen's Head" from Flickr user By elhawk, aka Hawk/ Dave Pearson When Liz and I took the nippers back to Monmouth for our fail

Smoking. I have tried to give up many times, for instance ... It is really tough.

Golly, this actually turned out to be quite a tough one ... so many pictures of friends but very few with me in 'em ;-) And so, I've plumped for this one which was one of those moments - Liz meets my mates in the cold light of day for the first time :-) Whilst it seems only a few years ago now the date belies a passing of years way beyond my comprehension. Mind you we all do look young and fresh. The glum looks (some pretend) come from us watching the Wellington Lions being beaten by ... by ... someone [right,let's see how good this Google thing can be and see what game was being played on 29th September, 2001 ...] ... oh, NOT just "some" rugby game it was at 'Jade Stadium watching Todd Blackadder's boys defend the Log o' Wood against Tana Umaga's Wellington' [ source ]. Wellington lost 29-31 ... arse! Seems we wuz robbed as well: After the excitement came the crash. But it might well have been excitement-plus for the second year in a row, if

Well, the name on the title is "Mike Riversdale" and I'm sure that doesn't require any explanation unless you're from the UK and wondering why it's not Mike Boyle . But most people will know me/this blog by the monicker "Miramar Mike". And that doesn't require much working out: Miramar = the English-speaking name of suburb of Wellington I live in Mike = the short name of Michael Voila!

I know it's more than one but it's one at a time and if you only look at the one then it is ... enjoy I "own" the Monmouth (Wales, UK) Flickr group which is an exercise on connectedness (I love in New Zealand!), absurdity and nostalgia. I'm also doing other things online for the love of it As I get older I become more and more concerned about flying and heights It's true, I really did once apply to be a manager of a local "sex shop" I still use http://www.volvo.com to check that I have a connection to the web I became a Kiwi (NZ citizen) in 2005 ... it seems so long ago and also a mere blip on the life-rader I hate meme's (I know, I know) but here's a couple I have succumb to that contain all sorts of interesting (yeah, right) formation about me: I've Been Number-Memed Flickr meme mosaic Childhood A meme for our town My surname , Riversdale, is both made up and (therefore) extremely rare . I was born on a Saturday and the family

Noticed a few of the local Twitter gals using #30DaysOfMe and finally got round to clicking on @smrtgirl's tweet and read what it's all about. And so, in this reflective time I'm having (good, bad and sometimes just plain boring) I thought I'd join in. So what can you expect? Well, this lot (stolen from Michelle's opening post ). And yes, it's everything you expect from a self respecting blogger, all me, me, me! Day 01 - A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself Day 02 - The meaning behind your Blog name Day 03 - A picture of you and your friends Day 04 - A habit that you wish you didn't have Day 05 - A picture of somewhere you've been to Day 06 - Favorite super hero and why Day 07 - A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you Day 08 - Short term goals for this month and why Day 09 - Something you're proud of in the past few days Day 10 - Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad Day 1

Whilst I haven't checked with Dom to see if it's OK to re-post his celebratory @HashigoZake newsletter musing I'm sure he won't mind ... and you can get your own weekly updates from their newsletter . 52 Weeks Excuse me if, instead of the usual modest tone these messages try to strike, we indulge in a little smugness for once. It seems just yesterday that a Beervana 2009 patron, visiting our stall and hearing about Hashigo Zake, said "But how are you going to survive?" There has certainly been no end of things we've supposedly done wrong. You'd think that when you take Heineken, bottled water, cheap tequila, jagermeister, hot chips and loud music out of a Wellington bar all that would be left is an empty shell. But Hashigo Zake has, if anything, been an experiment in answering the kinds of questions that people with little or no hospitality experience idly wonder about. What if we ask the breweries we like, wherever they are in the world, to sell u

I've always been fascinated by this event and I really must ask Dad about it as I'm sure he would've been there at the time (very young, of course ;-) On the Isle of Dogs, almost surrounded by the Thames, visibility was occasionally reported to be nil – the fog was so dense that people could not see their own feet. Read the full article over at the Another Nickel In The Machine blog that I discovered on March 11th this year in Christchurch whilst listening to the BBC podcast called (now) Outriders . How so specific, it was my birthday :-)

Internal CCTV footage ... eek

Ready ... according to the Dark Roasted Blend blog squares A and B are the same colour! And even though the proof is right there ... naaaah ... are they? And the Dark Roasted Blend blog post has another 11 equally crazy mind fucks

The awesome Wellington blog, The Wellingtonista , has asked the following questions of all the Wellington mayoral candidates who are asked to respond to each in 25 words or less. It's a great exercise in getting a sense of each candidates approach and how they feel about our city. You have 30 seconds to convince someone to come to Wellington. What's your pitch? How do you think traffic flow to the hospital and airport could be improved? Where do you stand on the issue of opening up government data? What plans have do you have to improve recycling/composting facilities? What is your policy on street alcoholics? Do you support pedestrianisation of the Golden Mile? Why/Why not? What's the last local market you went to? What did you buy? Describe your bicycle, or your favourite bus route? When did you last use the library, a community centre, or a council-run sports facility? Would you welcome a central government driven "super-city" amalgamation of local authorities?

I am filled with admiration for Dominic and how he has, in a relatively short time, created Hashigo Zake , a wonderful bar filled with amazing beer, great staff and comfort. And he's successfully managed to tap (!) in to the now obvious demand for such a place here in Wellington. So pop along on Thursday and/or Friday (9th/10th) to Hashigo Zake and help them celebrate their first birthday party! If you're on Twitter you can let everyone know you'll be there Thursday:  http://twtvite.com/hashigozake1yr This from their newsletter : Our 1st Birthday The astute among you might have noticed that we're up to Issue #51 of what is more or less a weekly dispatch. Which means we must be close to a year's worth. Our birthday is next week, and at that time we will contemplate the significance of the milestone while expressing contempt for those who were skeptical a year ago. This week however is for shamelessly promoting the event itself. So... next Thursday and Frid

Old Spice started it and now we have the tippexerience . So, you go to the site and watch the video ... all the way to the end. And then, do as the hunter says and type in what you want and push your Enter key. Yes, the obvious works so try it ... type in "fuck" and see what happens. All save for work.