Dan’s Online Diary

Hello all.

2008-03-29T06:34:00.002+13:00

I haven't posted since October. But I read this and had to share it. It's so easy.

Smacking

2007-10-28T21:16:00.000+13:00

Burglars can break into your car while it's parked on the street and the police don't want to know about it.

...but...

Smack your child's behind with the palm of your hand in the privacy of your back yard and three cops show up on your doorstep.

Ruapehu erupts

2007-09-26T08:15:00.000+12:00

Mt Ruapehu erupted yesterday evening. We'd been on the mountain just the day before; we left midday yesterday. Scary stuff.

Crazy mountain - just erupts without warning. Apparently it was a '2' on a scale of five; a moderate eruption.

I'm still alive.

2007-09-22T15:20:00.000+12:00

Things are going well. I've been blogging a bit over at twoseven.co.nz.

We're off to the snow tomorrow for a couple of days; the boys should really enjoy it.

Work is going well; I'm getting into some really fun stuff.

How have you all been?

Apple iPhone in my hand

2007-07-02T19:21:00.001+12:00

I played with an actual iPhone today. It is the most amazingest. I wrote about it; go check it out.

This is unbelievable!!

2007-07-01T08:00:00.000+12:00

I read this article on the NZ Herald site this morning.

Okay - some words that should now have been used in this article:

'row'; where is the row? Where is the point of contention? Both Mr Cunliffe and Family First NZ are in agreement.
'accused';

This article has been deliberately written to twist the truth and to evoke a public response based on a false premise.

I challenge the NZ Herald to remove this article, or at least publish an accurate account of the facts, and I shall be contacting David Fisher to ask why he wrote the article in this fashion.

I hope Family First NZ will be posting something about this on their website soon.

Update:

For your information, here is the letter I emailed to Mr Fisher:

RE: Article 'MP in smack row' - 01/07/07

Hi David,

I'd really love to know why you used the words 'row' and 'accused' in your article 'MP in smack row'.
It is quite clear from the facts you present that there is no 'row'; Family First NZ (McCoskrie) and Mr Cunliffe do not appear to be in contention or at odds.

You use the word 'accused' twice, and yet the following statement - albeit tacked on at the very end - "McCroskie said Family First NZ believed Cunliffe acted correctly" is far from an accusation, and at face value seems to be supporting his actions.

Are there some facts that you've failed to report? Or are you trying to stir up trouble? It appears to me to be the latter, but I would love to be proven wrong.

Either way, as it stands, this is a shocking piece of reporting.

I look forward to your response.

Regards,

Dan Willis.

Update 02/07/07:

Monday morning has an article on this incident by Audrey Young. A few more facts and a little less supposition.

Audrey shows a little more restraint; 'controversy' is a little less controversial than 'row', and no accusations to be seen. Nonetheless, this is a non-issue based on little more than hearsay.

At World's End.

2007-05-31T19:39:00.000+12:00

Saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End last night. It was much better than I was expecting. I'd heard/read a lot of negative reviews, so my expectations were far from high.

I was pleasantly surprised. Captain Jack Sparrow just gets crazier; more ships get wrecked; more crosses are doubled and reality gets just that little bit further away. A great story, and not as plot-twisty and complicated as I had been lead to believe.

Stats and traffic and giving people what they want.

2007-05-29T06:27:00.000+12:00

Google Analytics is a great tool. Firstly, it's free. Secondly, it is very usable. It produces lots of smooth, easy-to-understand charts and tables. It tells you everything you need to know. I'm using it to record stats for a number of sites; from sites that get 2-3 visitors a day, to one in particular that gets over 25,000 visits each day.

The Casio fx-6500g Programmable Graphing Calculator

So I was looking at the Google Analytics statistics for this site today, and noticed that I was receiving a fair amount of traffic from people searching for the Casio fx-6500g calculator. I referred to this calculator a few times back in 2003, mentioning that I could scan and render to PDF some pages of its manual if any readers so required. There are a couple of comments in this blog from people who have requested the manual, but alas they've not left their contact details.

I'm pretty sure I still have the calculator somewhere, along with its manual. I'll have to investigate the exact details, but I'm sure it would be a breach of copyright for me to scan and publish the full manual. But if anyone wants any information from the manual, we may be able to come to some sort of arrangement. In fact, since this seems to be such a popular piece of vintage electronics, I probably should find out how much it is worth; perhaps someone might like to purchase it?

Here's a bit more about the Casio fx-6500g. It was manufactured in 1986 and it does lots of cool stuff.

So, thank you Google Analytics; now perhaps I can give the people what they want.

Infuriating, just a bit.

2007-04-26T09:03:00.000+12:00

So it transpires that the EB (Exclusive Brethren) have had perhaps just as much involvement with Labour as they have had with National; read David Farrar's post.

Firstly, Labour's deceitful response to this 'revelation' is simply aiding the inflating hypocrisy that they're displaying. EB meeting minutes show planned and carefully minuted meetings with Labour caucus members. And yet our Prime Minister paints them as "stalkers" who accost her in public encounters where she must extricate herself at the earliest possible convenience (I read this somewhere, but am struggling to find the source).

Secondly, it appears as if the media have missed the Labour/EB connection entirely. Where is the equivalent lambasting and lengthy speculation that we saw after "revelations" of a National/EB relationship? I don't know much about unions, and how much of an influence they have in the media industry, but I'd say that the media must find it to be in their best interests - read, 'dollars at stake' - to keep quiet on this one.

Such petty, underhanded nastiness. Someone show me some real politics.

twoseven.co.nz

2007-04-03T19:27:00.000+12:00

Hello all!

Don’t forget that I'm also blogging over here.

And don’t forget to vote over here.

Ha ha!

2007-03-16T12:09:00.000+13:00

Check this out! It’s kinda funny since we know a few people from that neck of the woods.

Sportsthought

2007-03-16T06:09:00.000+13:00

A colleague and friend of mine has just started a blog on New Zealand sports.

He writes about cricket, league, rugby and other stuff.

Go check it out.

Debate stalls Section 59 repeal progress

2007-03-15T08:47:00.000+13:00

As much as I don’t like pimping the Herald, I read this article that tells that debate has stalled the progress of ‘the Bill’ through the house.

I’m really not sure why we need this bill when - after reading this - it seems to me that CYFS just do what they want anyway. CYFS are worse, and far more dangerous, than the courts or the police.

NCEA getting better?

2007-03-15T06:02:00.000+13:00

The NZ Herald has an article regarding NCEA pass rates; they’re “getting better”.

I would say that although the pass rates are higher, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re better.

It could mean they’re easier, which means people could be as dumb or dumber than previous years, but passing instead of failing. That’s not a better outcome for students.

There are too many variables. And I guess I shouldn’t be too cynical.

I'm nearly old.

2007-02-19T06:07:00.000+13:00

So on Tuesday, the 20^th of February - that’s tomorrow - I turn thirty.

Thirty is a pretty significant age.
Once you’re thirty, it’s not so acceptable to fall back on the excuse of inexperience.
Once you’re thirty, you really are an adult, despite the fact you’ve being claiming that title since the age of eighteen.

On Saturday, my family and friends threw me a surprise birthday party - it was the best party, but it was over all too quickly. Thanks so much to those who came along, and thanks for the gifts!

In other news, I’ve started up a new site/blog. twoseven.co.nz launched a few days ago. It’s where I talk about things related to web design and development, and other such things. You’ll currently see the default Wordpress template, but that will morph into something else, slowly, and incrementally.

I'll keep posting here, so don’t go away!

Hippo Gnu Deer

2007-01-31T05:53:00.000+13:00

This post only just makes it into January. Scary stuff.

The new year is up and running - work is working and other routines are being established.

Michelle and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary this last Monday. I surprised her by hiring a VW Kombi camper from kiwikombis.com. This one, to be specific. A tidy old ‘66 split window with chrome Empi 5s. Went up north for the weekend and stayed at a lovely campground at Whangateau.
It’s funny, my boss said to me yesterday "You’ve been married seven years and you’ve only got two kids?". Children are great!

Anyway, I’d actually sat down here to look at a) upgrading this blog to the new Blogger, and b) giving the old blog a bit of a makeover. I’ve not progressed with either, although the message I got when I logged in leads me to believe that a) will occur soon whether I like it or not. I just a little concerned that upgrading might foul up some of the other blogs I administer that haven’t been upgraded yet. We’ll see what happens.

Well, to you who are still reading this, thanks for sticking around. This blog is now four years old. I can’t say it’s still going strong, but it is still going.

Best be off - take care and all that jazz!

Tee Vee Three

2006-12-22T05:28:00.000+13:00

Not wanting to feel left out, tv3 have redesigned their website.

My initial assessment is that it is too cluttered, and not cohesive. It is hard to find stuff that turns out to be sitting right in front of you.

New Stuff and NZ Herald websites

2006-12-15T16:53:00.000+13:00

Yeah, the new stuff.co.nz format is more better than the Royal New Zealand Herald.

Stuff is owned by Fairfax, who also own the Sydney Morning Herald and so it's no surprise that their layouts are similar (eg: they both happen to be 992px wide, and both have the silly (yet quite effective) little ad banner in the top right). There are fairly significant differences in the mark-up/CSS, however.

I've put them all head-to-head and thrown in tvnz.co.nz (cos it's similar) just for kicks.

Homepage analysis

Sydney Morning Herald:
Homepage weight (bytes/server requests): 238447 / 60
Markup errors: 237
CSS errors: unable to test properly due to page errors

stuff.co.nz:
Homepage weight (bytes/server requests): 156893 / 35
Mark-up errors: 127
CSS Errors: unable to test properly due to page errors, but estimate 29

NZ Herald:
Homepage weight (bytes/server requests): 285952(fat-ass) / 51
Mark-up errors: 200
CSS Errors: 8 (2 actual, 6 proprietry attributes)

tvnz.co.nz:
Homepage weight (bytes/server requests): 292697(obese) / 54
Mark-up errors: 271
CSS Errors: unable to test properly due to page errors

I'm such a slacker...

2006-12-08T05:37:00.000+13:00

U2

While it is post-concert, I think perhaps I should have posted again sooner.

U2 were(are) excellent; big, flash-but-simple set, excellent pick of songs, great crowd. A good (healthy?) dose of politics+religion, using the catchword 'Coexist' with the 'C' as the crescent of Islam, the 'x' as the Star of David, and the 't' as the cross of Christ.

Wordie

In other news, wordie is a fun, interesting and potentially educational website; it's like Flickr, but without the photos. You can check out my collection of words. Remember, kids - words are fun!

Laughing in the face of danger

In yet more news, I was browsing the NZ Herald website and read across (yes, 'read across') this serious article about a police officer who was stabbed with a screwdriver. The article is calling for stab-resistant body armour for frontline police, but relates a particular incident from yesterday. While this is a serious article, somthing made me chuckle; here is a quote from a witness:

Dion Takimoana, who was a passenger in the truck, said he saw the incident unfold over two or three minutes and it was quite a blur "because the adrenaline was just pumping so much", he said.

"At first we thought it was quite funny until he pulled the screwdriver out and then I just thought, 'Far out, wicked, this isn't good'."

While running away, the driver lunged at the two officers and also tried to get into other cars that were on the road.

"But this big Island guy had the massivest stick and just went up to the guy and whacked him," Mr Takimoana said.

The blow did not stop the offender, who just brushed it off and kept running, Mr Takimoana said.

So you see, sometimes even the massivest stick won't help you.

Cross-purposes

Well, it's junk-mail-and-jingles season once again. Try not to forget what Christmas is all about. Don't feel obliged to buy people a better present than you bought them last year (eg: myself an iPod). Don't feel guilty if you don't have a Christmas tree up. But do remember to serve one another in love.

You too?

2006-11-24T05:46:00.000+13:00

All things going to plan, this evening shall find me at Mt Smart Stadium.

U2 are finally here, and with immeasurable thanks to a top chap, the sweet sounds of Bono and the boys shall be made sweeter still by the prospect of free tickets.

I'll report back post-concert.

In other news, Ariston appliances are the man, replacing the faulty SPST momentary rocker doorswitch in our dishwasher for a paltry $0.00. Prompt and polite, their service was excellent, as was the advice of their local service agent, GK Appliances of Manurewa.

In other other news, my current object of tech-lust is the Sony Ericsson W950i. I've had the Sony Ericsson M600i for a few days and it was a joy to use, with its scroll-wheel, touch-screen and intuitive user interface. The W950i has the same physical format as the M600i, but with a standard-layout keypad instead of the M600i's qwerty keypad. But the W950i has 4GB of storage, and a hot hot music player (it's in the Walkman series of phones).

Anyway, have a good weekend, and perhaps I'll talk to you all again soon!

Something new

2006-11-03T08:47:00.000+13:00

I need/want to start something new.

So many ideas, so little resource.

Crazy Insane!

2006-10-18T16:52:00.000+13:00

Now I don't expect you to all get excited and jump up and down as I did, but at least take a moment to check this out.

This is JavaScript at its finest - absolutely stunning work. And he did it in one day.

This man deserves a pizza trophy. Nine times.

Blogging is bad!

2006-10-14T16:58:00.000+13:00

...at least according to this article.

What do you think?

Click here

2006-10-11T16:46:00.000+13:00

Here, that is.

Wow!

2006-09-01T06:49:00.000+12:00

I hadn't realised how long it had been since my last post!!

In the meantime, a number of singularly monumental occurances have... umm... occured.

Last Friday, having contracted there for about six weeks, I became a full-time webmaster of a large mobile communications company; one that isn't Telecom.

Secondly and more importantly, my degree of dadness has increased, due to a doubling in the number of sons I have. Noah Hans Willis was born on the 21st August, weighing 3680gms (that's 8lb2, for you old-skool weighers). Praise the Lord!

Check out his babiness...

Anyway - that's what I've been up to - how about you guys?

Funny quote

2006-07-17T15:09:00.000+12:00

"My mp3 player has more free space than this 'server'. Can I go and plug in my USB memory key to give it some more room?"

...as spoken by the Brasilian at the desk adjacent to mine, after attempting to index a handful of database tables, and subsequently bringing the server to a grinding halt due to the log files consuming what little drive space remained.

What would you do?

2006-07-12T15:17:00.000+12:00

Use the last iceblock-stick stirrer in the staff kitchen, but then wash it and put it back into the container, wet?
Or would you look in the cupboard directly below, find the obvious stash of hundreds and hundreds of stirrers and then restock the container?

Maybe my job is getting boring?

Sorry!

2006-06-29T11:05:00.000+12:00

My apologies to IE users who haven't been able to see my blog lately.

I made some minor template changes the other day, and a typo in my markup kinda broke things.

PS: get a real browser!!

Hot wheels!

2006-06-14T11:19:00.000+12:00

Check out these hot Hot Wheels adverts.

jobbing

2006-06-12T22:45:00.000+12:00

me = looking for job

I'd like a job either close enough to home to walk/ride, or otherwise in the city, where by train I might travel henceforth. I like the city. Messy smelly place with its weird/cool persons, with the buildings that I miss and the leaky carpark roof-square thing.

In other news, music is cool. There is some good-sounding stuff now. It's just a shame that everyone else thinks so too, and so it gets thrash-ed, therefore. The Arctic Monkeys, Gnarls Barkley, Fallout boy, et al.

Anyway, tis a-time for to be nap taking. Goodness and good night.

speechlessness

2006-06-10T12:34:00.000+12:00

I'm impressed; I never thought that those two cars, amazing as they are, would elicit such resounding speechlessness from my readers!

Well done, you lot! You're more petrolheaded than I might ever have hoped!

Catching Up

2006-06-08T13:27:00.000+12:00

I feel as if I'm in a perpetual state of catching up.

Like my life has gone on without me, and I'm frantically trotting/stumbling along behind, trying to pick up as many pieces as I can without falling further behind.

Do you know what I mean?

It would be nice to be on top of things one day.

PS: Oh wow! and oh wow!. Believe it or not, these cars share the same 3 litre quad-cam V6 engine. They are both entirely legendary cars, both in New Zealand, and both for sale.

More thoughts

2006-06-03T12:01:00.000+12:00

Wow! Two posts on the same day!

I'm really enjoying working for the council. I'm working in a building right on the town square, and being paid by the ratepayers - my friends and neighbours - to serve them; my local community.

I've spent some time in Switzerland and Germany, and many of the towns there are old, and built around a city square (rathausplatz), with the town hall (rathaus), including the government offices right on the sqaure. Usually the rathausplatz is the geographical centre of the town, with all the main streets leading away from it, and often a big cathedral very nearby.

This configuration evokes a sense of community, and I think this is largely missing from New Zealand culture.

Manukau Town Square is not the bustling centre of Manukau, it's just a little bit of open space tacked onto the side of a very large shopping mall.

With our sprawling suburbs and our lack of hesitation to drive more ten kilometres to get to a shopping mall, this sense of community has been lost.

Malls have become our centres, but centres of what? More often than not, they're not in our immediate community. Sure, malls are places where we can go to meet with friends and share meals, and otherwise socialise, but they've become detached from where we live, from where we work (unless you work in a mall).

Our actual local communities have lost many of their worthwhile stores and facilites and are now just streets of two-dollar shops, liquor-stores, and poker-machine parlours; hardly the vital core of a healthy community.

I hereby encourage myself and my readers to patronise the local non-chain-store shops closest to where we live, and see if we can't rekindle that sense of community if not in the hearts of others, then at least in our own hearts.

You never know, you might actually get to know your 'neighbour'.

More xtra cannon fodder

2006-06-03T11:36:00.000+12:00

I was talking with my father-in-law, who many of you know, and as those of you who know him would understand, he happens to send a good bit of email to Europe.

But lately he's been experiencing problems with his international email; some messages he has sent have not reached their intended recipient(s), nor have some emails sent to him from Europe arrived in his inbox.

So he called up xtra support to see if they could help. After being placed on hold and passed from one person to another (all part of their <sarcasm>wonderful</sarcasm> customer service), he reached a person who asked him which ISPs his recipients were with. Having disclosed this information, he was then told that those ISPs may in fact be blocking email from xtra, as it is known that some international ISPs have xtra on their spam blacklist!

So, not only do xtra charge exorbidant monopolistic prices for their sub-standard services, not only do they provide the poorest customer service of any ISP I have dealt with, but now it is apparent that they can't keep their network clean and are known internationally as a source of spam.

Delightful!

Good old Andrew has blogged some worthwhile commentary on xtra/Telcom/Teresa.

No news is...

2006-06-01T12:55:00.000+12:00

... no news!

I'm currently working at the council, helping them migrate to a new website platform, until at least the end of June.

I'm also starting into my first almost-proper piece of freelance work; there may be more to follow. If I get time, things might change over at twoseven.co.nz.

Michelle is holding up well, with our second child due early-to-mid August sometime.

Toby is doing great - he's starting to pick up all sorts of words, now.

How have you been?

Hmm

2006-05-09T21:01:00.000+12:00

So I feel like a traitor and a hypocrite.

I just signed up for an xtra broadband package.

Another Alfa

2006-04-26T20:54:00.000+12:00

My brother and I have bought another Alfa.

So I will soon have three Alfas at my house. None of them will be road-legal.

My wife is a woman of infinite patience, whom I love very much.

Gadgets and broadband

2006-04-24T09:19:00.000+12:00

The New York Times has a 'Most Popular' section. Count the number of Canons in their top 10 most popular cameras. Yeah boyee!

In other news, I'm going to do an 'Allan' and alert you all to Xtra's fallacious advertising. I received a pamphlet from Xtra in the mail (not unsolicited, by-the-way) advertising 'cheaper broadband'.
Let's break it down. On the front of the pamphlet is a double-scoop ice-cream in a cone, with the copy "Now from the price of one of these a day, you can have Xtra Broadband.". So without further investigation, with the price of a double-scoop ice-cream being at least NZ$2.80, you'd guess that their cheapest broadband package would be about NZ$84 per month (30 x NZ$2.80). That's a bit steep.
But no, Xtra's marketing department is under the illusion that a double-scoop ice-cream cone costs NZ$1.00.
That's just a careless oversight compared to what you find inside. Inside the pamphlet, they're advertising a 128kbps (max 256kbps) connection for NZ$29.95 per month. For a start, that's not broadband. The ITU-T (International Telecommunications Union Standardization Sector) defines broadband as a transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate ISDN. So in the USA, that's 1.5Mbps, and in Europe and elsewhere broadband is a speed greater than 2Mbps. That's approximately ten times faster than what Xtra are trying to sell as 'broadband'.
Having said that, for marketing purposes, most ISPs have taken to using the convention that broadband is 256kbps or greater. Which is still twice as fast as Xtra's 128kbps connection, and still not broadband in a technical sense.

So how much do Xtra charge for a true broadband connection? Well since we're not in the US, the Xtra 2Mbps connection can't be considered true broadband as 2Mbps is the maximum speed, and I'd be willing to guarantee that you'd never quite reach that speed, due to factors such as line quality, etc. So to safely get true broadband, you'd have to go for the 3.5Mbps package, which will cost you NZ$49.95. And while it may be 3.5Mbps downstream, it's still only 128kbps upstream, which means uploading high-quality photos to flickr, for example, will still take ages.

So - make sure you know what you're buying before you act on Xtra's seriously misleading advertising; although you'll see they're not as far wrong with the ice-cream analogy as we first thought.

Hiya

2006-04-21T09:35:00.000+12:00

I have a job. A job at the Manukau City Council. It's a nice-and-handy kind of location.

Easter was good. We went to Athenree. I watched Discovery Channel and the History Channel too much. I learned about a sinking ship and where Christ's tomb might be and how frustrating it is for a father and his two sons to build a really cool chopper for Gillette and what are the 10 best weapons in the world and where John the Baptist might have hung out and how you shouldn't use cheap fuel regulators when you're hotting up a 1985 Buick Grand National.

The weather is changing.

Some stuff is really cool.

DST y'all

2006-03-18T10:49:00.000+13:00

We're leaving Daylight Saving Time tonight/tomorrow. We get an extra one hour of sleep. If you ever wondered where good old DST came from, check it out here.

In other news, I need a job.

and the winner is...

2006-02-15T08:31:00.000+13:00

In the battle - Toby vs. Mum and the potplant - Toby won. Notice that his t-shirt says "It Wasn't Me"! I just re-potted that plant too. Oh man!

In other news, Dan and I are having another baby! I am not sure why after the dirt episode! Nah, we are really excited and so blessed by God. It is due mid August.

Hope you are all well...

Survey results

2006-02-08T22:40:00.000+13:00

Updated 120206

side bar left or right?

left:1
right:4 5

color?

red: 2 3
green: 1
pink: 3 (who would have thought?)
orange: 1

Hmmm...

Reader Feedback Required

2006-02-01T21:28:00.000+13:00

Do any of you use the alternate styles provided at the top of the sidebar?

If you do, which color/format do you use?

Nothing a day...

2006-01-17T19:15:00.000+13:00

...keeps the doctor away

It's now getting to the point where I hear any of the words 'experts', 'scientists', 'reports', 'studies', and 'statistics' and I'm already prepared to say 'That's bollocks!' before I've even heard what they're talking about.

So apples are now bad for you. It's all that evil sugar. Some experts somewhere (again, I can't be bothered with links - you've got google, you don't need my help) have decided that fruit can no longer be considered a health food due to its highish natural sugar content.

If our apples aren't as great as we're led to believe, then why all the big hoo-ha about Australia not buying them? 'Experts' would say that maybe Australia is right.

And that brings me to the problem with Auckland traffic. I think they should clearly demographfy (that's one of those new verbs that they've reserved for sole use by me) the Auckland drivers who started back at work this past Monday. I'm almost certain that they ('they' being the 'experts') would find that 'idiot' would be a strong common denominator. I mean, what is it that makes all the good drivers start back one week earlier than the idiots?. I mean, there were so many accidents on the motorway today. And near accidents; at least two people tried to change lanes onto the piece of road where I was driving. So tell me what is different about this weeks starters?

Oh, and to top it all off, we're talking ourselves into a recession.

Believe me, it's actually not hard to be such a pessimistic cynic. All I have to do is talk about the news

How have you all been?

Not Happy New Year

2006-01-10T20:16:00.000+13:00

It's not that this new year is not happy, it's just that I didn't want 'Happy New Year' to be the title of this post, but I couldn't think of anything great, or at least worthy.

Some other people have (I can't be bothered linking to them; besides, you've probably read them already) posted 'best of' lists for last year. I can't be bothered thinking too hard, so instead of an actual list, you'll just get a rant.

Music. I didn't listen to much. Singing along with Chris Martin to Rush of Blood to the Head on the way to work improved my upper register. It also drowned out the nasty clanking/clattering from the engine of my Alfa, which is in disgrace and is most definately not car-of-the-year. I hope it isn't reading this - I still love you (and need you to get me to work so I can afford to get you to work properly). I got Day of Fire's CD for Christmas - they're pretty good too.

I liked The World According to Clarkson, Jeremy Clarkson's book of his columns from the Sunday Times. He's not just about cars. But best book this year would still probably go to The Bible

I can't remember what movies I watched but I saw Peter Jackson's King Kong the other day and it was grouse. Other people didn't necessarily think so. Without spoiling it for those of you who haven't seen it yet, apparently the bit with the people at the place doing the thing with the stuff was the scariest bit, but I myself didn't really think it was that scary. I get scared by movies that portray things that could actually be true and/or real. Or movies with big spiders or Ben Stiller.
That last Star Wars one was okay too, but we all knew how it was going to end, which meant that it could have been the best movie evor, and it still would have lacked something.

Holiday of the year was going to Switzerland, followed closely by going to Gisborne. Switzerland is cool and is better than New Zealand. In Switzerland you can have a beer with a meal; or even two beers. But no-one there really cares for drinking twelve beers with (or without) a meal. No, our Kiwi drinking culture is just plain foolish/stupid/munted.
Plus their mountains are bigger.
Gisborne has sun and beaches. Auckland has enough humidity over summer that despite the sun, it might as well be raining, and to get to a decent ocean beach from Auckland means sitting in traffic for longer than you'll actually spend at the beach anyway. Which is why people settle for the manky mudflats of Maraetai. Gisborne has cool people too. Macphersons, Radomskes, and also-visiting Morrisons.

Best blog of the year is not mine, because I've pretty much stopped writing in it lately. It's not because I don't want to; I've just been really busy. I got a new job/computer/mouse a few months ago as many of you may know, and the stippled plastic case of the mouse has worn smooth where I hold it. In just 3 months.

My computer (Dell Inspiron 9300) won best laptop of the year according to some magazine/website. I think it's pretty good too, which is largely the reason I bought it. It's disappointing features (or lack thereof) are that it has no internal microphone, and no InfraRed port.

I gotta go to bed, because I'm tired, and you're probably bored now anyway.

Speaking of bored, I'm bored with the look of this blog, which isn't exactly inspiring me to write in it. I need to change it.
Tell me what would look cool.

It's tomorrow

2005-12-22T06:41:00.000+13:00

Something I came across via Jason's blog, is a ten-year-old article written by Jon Krakauer entitled Mark Foo's Last Ride. Even if you're not into surfing, this is a great read; it tells of the legendary big-wave surfer Mark Foo and his most unfortunate last ride at Mavericks. A really well written article.

Well, I better get back to work... praps I'll write some more soon.

What's going on?

2005-12-21T23:57:00.000+13:00

Well, it has been a while.

I know this sounds ironic, but spending all day at a computer makes blogging tricky. I even have DSL at home now, but that hasn't been the quite the blogging incentive I'd expected it to be.

Work has been very busy, and will continue to be busy right up until I finish for the year on Friday. Enjoyable, but busy.

Toby is growing up fast - nearly 14 months old now.
He's not slow either. His usual evening bed-time routine is nappy-change, bottle, then bed. This evening was no different; I removed his old (disposable) nappy, folded it and placed it on the floor. Then I put a new nappy on him and placed him with his toys while I went to the kitchen to prepare his bottle. While I was at the bench, he crawled into the kitchen and stood up against the rubbish bin, and out of the corner of my eye I saw him trying to open its lid. This is a little tricky, as it is a pedal-operated bin, so it is not designed to be opened by hand.
We don't like him touching/playing with the bin, so I turned to gently remind him of that fact and saw that in fact what he was doing was disposing of the soiled nappy that he'd brought from his bedroom! The clever monkey!

My Alfa is surviving, but is making some pretty serious clatter. I'm relying on it to get to work, so have to keep driving it, but with no time or money to repair it, I hope it lasts.

I'd like to say more, but have run out of time... maybe tomorrow!

Weeds and Lulls

2005-11-16T08:48:00.000+13:00

One of my photos has been published on a new website, Safe Natural Tips, on their page about natural weed control. That's my patio weed in the top left there.

And it's funny, but this may help to prove Scott's theory, but I'd already started composing this post before I went to Scott's blog and read his post on lulls.

PS: Sorry about the lull.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOBY

2005-11-02T07:51:00.000+13:00

1 year today!

spare the rod, spoil the child

2005-11-02T07:30:00.000+13:00

Man, figuring out how to discipline Toby is difficult. Dan and I are reading the book "Shepherding a Child's heart" and watching the video series to go with it. I agree with what the author - Tedd Tripp - says. In fact, I think it is brilliant. Basically the idea is to bring everything back to God and the Scriptures.

Say if two kids are fighting over a toy, most of us (including me) would have said something like - 'Who had it first?' or 'please share darling?' Or, 'why don't you take turns at having the toy?' etc. Tripp says this is all wrong because you are only changing the behaviour and not the heart. So instead he suggests pulling your child aside and explaining to them from the scriptures, using an appropriate verse such as Philippians 2:3 & 4 - Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others or James 4:1 - What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?

After you have done that you talk about the themes of redemption, how there is hope for us in Christ and then pray with the child. Obviously this is not always possible depending on where you are.

But the thing I am really struggling with is smacking. I mean, Tripp says that only way to discipline children under 4 years is by giving them a smack. No such thing as time out, grounding, naughty mats etc.

Tripp says a smack always involves first explaining to the child what they did wrong (can use scripture) and get the childs acknowledgement of their disobedience, then tell them how many smacks they will get and then after give them a big hug and tell them you love them (and never bring it up again). Sweet, sounds simple... right?

So if Toby starts struggling when I change his nappy and i tell him no. Then if he does it again, he gets a smack, right? I find that so hard, can Toby understand why I am giving him a smack? Then, sometimes Toby squeals and it is hard to tell if he is just playing with his voice box or complaining or squealing with delight. I want him to stop squealing but I can't really tell him off because if I do what God does and try to look at Toby's heart, I don't know if he is actually complaining or not. So what do I do then?

I would love to hear from you guys what you think about all this. How did your parents discipline you? Do you think it worked (by working I mean, did you understand your disobedience in the light of Scripture and did you understand that Mum and Dad were in authority over you and they were in control of their discipline tactics etc.) What about a wooden spoon, rod (!) or other device? Or is using your hand the best?

So many questions.....

Have a great day everyone

Time...

2005-10-24T19:42:00.000+13:00

...apart from when it's making a wine, is a very peculiar thing. I find that in some cases, it's entirely possible to estimate it correctly, and yet in some instances, particularly when preparing to do some work on a car or a computer, it is nigh impossible to apportion beforehand.

And yet I completed this.

Politics Test

2005-09-28T13:21:00.000+12:00

Since everyone else is doing it...

You are a
Social Moderate
(41% permissive)

and an...
Economic Moderate
(55% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Centrist

Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Wasted votes.

2005-09-19T10:27:00.000+12:00

Labour won.

And they didn't lose any support. They are just as powerful as they were last election, if not stronger.

Just 40 people voted for CHNZ in Manurewa and 323 voted for Destiny. That is a joke.

To put this in perspective, CHNZ received 509 party votes in the 2002 election. The 2005 CHNZ and DNZ party votes combined still don't add up to last election's support for CHNZ.

What happened?

For those who may have once voted CHNZ, but instead voted National (or otherwise) in the hopes of ousting Labour, your gamble didn't pay off, your vote was wasted. National is no better off for having your vote.

I guess we get what we deserve. This coming term will see a concerted effort by Labour to introduce anti-smacking legislation, hate-speech legislation, possible moves to allow euthanasia. We'll suffer the continuing decline in police performance and public confidence in the justice system as a whole. We'll see more CYFS kidnappings, more child abuse. We'll pay more tax. We'll see lack of electricity production cause crippling power outages, as the Greens block any move to build needed powerplants, and as Labour blindly clings to its anti-nuclear policy. We'll see our education system drown in it's own pool of political correctness.

I could go on and on.

This next term would be a difficult one for any government - we've been blessed with a good economy, and solid employment opportunities. But I believe this will change - we had our 'season in the sun', and Labour's continuing culture of fat bureaucracy will inefficiently consume our tax money - sucking the country dry.

What now can we do?

Urgent prayer

2005-09-15T07:50:00.000+12:00

I have just heard that our good friend Carl has been in a car accident, and is in intensive care. I don't know of any further details.

Please pray for Carl, and let us know of any further news as it may come to hand.

Update 08:21:
Carl has some broken ribs, but all else is good.

Update 08:38:
Carl has ~~five~~ six fractured ribs and a collapsed lung. He is still in intensive care (Middlemore Hospital), but should be okay.

Update 15:12:
Carl is still in ICU but should be moving to Ward 21 this afternoon.

Update 15:45:
Carl is now in Ward 21, Middlemore Hospital.

Update 16/09:
Scotty visited Carl yesterday.
Jono has carnage coverage here.

News

2005-09-14T07:37:00.000+12:00

Something I've been dying to tell you all but am only now able to disclose, is that I have a new job!

I'm leaving the fair fields of tvnz.co.nz for the plentiful pastures of clone.co.nz, where I shall reside as 'Interface Engineer'.

Toby is now crawling and clapping and dancing and waving and saying 'uh oh' when he drops things. It's amazing how fast he learns and grows; he is the man.

This Saturday gives us the opportunity to chose a new government for our country. I have no doubt that we will get what we deserve, and am looking toward the future with mixed interest and trepidation.

I hope you are all well, and I trust that I will have more news for you soon

Stop the Rock.

2005-08-25T17:49:00.000+12:00

Just the other day a young driver was killed instantly by a 8kg chunk of concrete dropped through the windscreen of his car by a 14-year-old kid from a motorway overbridge.

And then today I read this article that tells of a passenger knocked unconscious by a rock hurled through the window of her bus. The thrower in this case must either not keep up with the news, or be incredibly stupid.

Bus drivers report that they are getting more and more objects thrown at them. I used to commute to work by train and I recall having the odd object thrown at our carriage.

It's a tricky one. I'd guarantee that most of these people would have no idea of the physics involved in their act of stone/rock throwing, or I'm sure they would think twice.

I remember being told off for throwing stones (little ones of the size used in chip-seal road surfacing) at passing trucks on my way home from primary school. I think to some degree, it's in a boy's nature to throw stuff, not maliciously, but just for fun, and largely without thinking. But I've since completed a fair amount of physics education, and realise that it doesn't take great speed or mass for an object to be potentially fatal, or at the very least cause damage to others' property.

But to deliberately carry - with some difficulty, according to a witness - an 8kg chunk of concrete from a construction site onto an overpass with the express purpose of dropping it on a car is not at all within the realms of the unthinking little boy.

What is going wrong here?

Cool things.

2005-08-25T06:56:00.000+12:00

Google Talk. Google's answer to MSN Messenger. It also has IP telephony capability. Requires a gmail account; let me know if you want one, I have 49 invites left.

This Spartan Life. An online talk-show with a difference. The difference being it is filmed entirely within a Halo2 multiplayer game. Interviews, dancing, current issue debates, you name it.

WebOS. Jason Kottke takes a good look at the web as an application platform. A good read if you're a bit of a geek.

There is hope!

2005-08-24T13:17:00.000+12:00

Just wanted to let you guys know that sending in a complaint letter does pay off... sometimes (thought you might be interested Alex after your encounters with insulting billboards).

Dan and I have decided to be really careful what we watch on TV, movies etc, even more now with a curious little toddler - only watching G's and PG's. So after not having been to the movies for a very long time we decided to treat ourselves. So we went to see the movies and decided to watch 'Wedding Crashers' with some friends. We read the rating at the movies which was 'M' - medium level violence and decided that wouldn't offend us or our friends too much. We found out though, after just a few minutes of watching,that it contained a lot of swearing, some nudity and only a little violence.

We were very disappointed and decided to write a letter of complaint to the censorship fellas. Here is their reply:

Dear Daniel,

Following complaints, the Labelling Body have issued a new descriptive note for The Wedding Crashers. The film is now rated as M Suitable for Mature Audiences 16 years and over with the descriptive note 'contains violence, offensive language and sex scenes'. This new descriptive note has been distributed to all New Zealand cinemas.

If this had been the rating at the time we would have not chosen to see this movie. Oh well. I am so very glad they chose to change the rating. So go Alex, get those billboard baddies.

They're both Brash...

2005-08-24T07:11:00.000+12:00

... one by name, the other by nature.

Read this article on tvnz.co.nz and this article on stuff.co.nz.

Dr Brash feels it is wrong to yell at and behave aggressively toward people in general, and women in particular. So we do have some politeness and respect in the upper echelons of NZ politics.

Ms Clark, on the other hand, considered Dr Brash's chivalry to be insulting and "patronising", scoffing at his weakness.

So we have Prime Minister who thinks that politeness, courtesy and respect are signs of weakness - no wonder our society is becoming such a shambles.

Valued readers, I'd been keen to hear your thoughts on this matter.

Faith.

2005-08-20T09:26:00.000+12:00

I just had a thought while I was watching Helen Clark's interview on agenda this morning. It's merely a refinement of what I've been thinking all along.

In this election, we have more chance of getting a Christian MP into parliament than we do of voting out all, or even any, of the immoral, anti-Christian influences in parliament.

In this election, we're not out to change the world, or even NZ, politically. That is nigh impossible in just this one election. What we can do, however, is vote a strong Christian voice into parliament; a voice that is founded on strong biblical policy, and cannot be silenced or stifled by other elements in its party (unlike UF, or Christian MPs in other parties, for example).

That leaves CHNZ or Destiny.

And of course I'm biased, but even the difference between CHNZ and Destiny on the issue of abortion (there are other issues, don't worry), as Scott has drawn out, should make the choice pretty easy for any Christian.

Christians, this is a test of our faith. If we are faithful to God, He will be faithful to us, and as a nation, we will reap the blessings of having a clear Christian voice in parliament.

The Election.

2005-08-19T17:39:00.000+12:00

I don't want to go into the up and coming election in too much detail - much is covered in the following articles and their ensuing comments:

It is hard, as a Christian, to read this and then consider voting Labour, National, or any of the parties that aren't founded on Biblical principles.

It's not necessarily about making your vote count. It's about voting right.

Jeremy Clarkson on the iPod

2005-08-18T07:31:00.000+12:00

"Why in heaven's name would I need a device which has the capacity to store half a billion songs when The Doobie Brothers have only produced 68?"
- Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear NZ magazine.

Quality and Care.

2005-08-12T06:54:00.000+12:00

Once upon a time, one could buy a cheap product that perhaps didn't look as flash as the more expensive ones, it had fewer features, but it was built just as well as the more expensive ones, and was just as reliable.

Today if one buys a cheap product, it will generally have just as many features as an expensive one, but instead it is poorly assembled, made of cheap inapproriate materials, and is practically unsable. It either falls apart or just doesn't do what it supposed to do.

Where is the manufacturers' pride?

Where is respect and care for the customer?

Where is the good, cheap, simple stuff?

Flushing justice.

2005-08-09T06:55:00.000+12:00

How wrong is this?

Being Ill

2005-08-08T08:46:00.000+12:00

It's no fun being ill.

Michelle was stricken with a stomach bug last week, and I thought "...how bad can it be? Get over it!"

... until I contracted the same bug on Saturday night.

So now I'm home from work. That will teach me for being unsympathetic.

Violence, Abuse, Discipline.

2005-07-29T21:54:00.000+12:00

Pick the odd word out.

Template

2005-07-28T16:39:00.000+12:00

~~I've changed my blog template. Let me know what you think of it. And let me know of any bugs.~~

Update: I've reverted back to the old template because the new one was too buggy; IE didn't like it much. I'll keep working on it and hopefully have something solid for you to see soon. Some pink? Maybe...

Gesundheit

2005-07-28T06:57:00.000+12:00

Since I've returned from Switzerland, I've decided I need to be more disciplined, and I'm starting with physical discipline. I'm back into running at least once every other day, and I'm performing 'x' number of push-ups and sit-ups morning and night. I'm also disciplining my eating habits. Healthy food only, and that in moderation.

An immediate side effect of this has been an improvement in the discipline of other areas of my life. It's almost too easy.

I guess there must be an element of truth in one of Les Mills gym's slogan 'Free the Body and the Mind will follow.'

In other news, yeah, I'm a petrolhead. This from the "The Good Oil" column in the New Zealand Herald:

In the time it takes to read this sentence, a Top Fuel dragster will have gone from zero to 490km/h (300mph) . . . From a different perspective, a flying start over a quarter-mile (400m): You're on a Honda MotoGP bike doing 320km/h (200mph). The dragster blasts off the line the instant you draw level with it. In three seconds it has passed you.

maori culture and violence.

2005-07-25T20:05:00.000+12:00

I had the opportunity to attend a Maori cultural group performance during my lunch break today and even though I'm a New Zealander and have seen many such performances before, I was struck once again by the raw aggression, violence and defiance in each of the various items in the performance.

Now it is no secret that Maori are over-represented in New Zealand crime statistics, but I'd never really considered the fact that these statistics may be driven by the very nature of the Maori culture.

The woman who was explaining the various items of the performance stated that all male Maori are dedicated at birth to the Maori god of warfare, and receive training in the use of the taiaha and patu. Now I know that this is quite probably not true for all male Maori, but there is certainly clear provision for this in their culture.

The performace was certainly intimidating, and worth of respect, but I would not consider it beautiful, nor something to be proud of if I were a Maori.

Why should we celebrate and glorify aggression and violence? Why should we intimidate our guests before we've even had a chance to meet them properly, as with the haka? Warfare is sometimes necessary, but why should it be the dominant aspect of a culture?

Is this cultural focus on violence and intimidation the reason why there is a higher proportion of Maori in our prisons than of other ethnicities?

I've always been cautious of accepting different behaviour and truths on the basis of the fact that it is 'cultural' and do should be respected and not questioned.

Just because something is 'cultural' doesn't mean it is right, or should even been accepted or tolerated by society, especially if it is anti-social and destructive.

I'm not intending to sound racist, and I don't mean to single out the Maori culture, as there are many other cultures that celebrate and hold to things which are not helpful.

I'm not suggesting either that these aspects of a culture should be forgotten or covered over (as the Japanese attempt to do with their actions in World War II) - they can be written down as history, and can be carried down through the generations - but in today's context, especially where violence is a growing problem in New Zealand society, I believe that these aspects should not be encouraged.

survey

2005-07-19T02:22:00.000+12:00

circus

2005-07-16T21:29:00.000+12:00

Went to the Swiss National Circus last night.

They have seven elephants.

They had lots more stuff too. I might have to make up a bit of a separate journal to tell you all about our time away. It's hard to blog.

link

2005-07-16T21:27:00.000+12:00

Simply brilliant keyboard!

I'm still here!

2005-07-04T00:15:00.000+12:00

I've been missing out on all the blogging action!! Jono, Anita and Scott seem to be having some great discussions!

Switzerland is great - beautiful weather; 30 degrees, but none of that sticky humidity you get in Auckland.!

Plenty of swimming and salads and fizzy water. This place is great! The trains run on time, and don't catch fire like the Auckland ones.

Anyway, as usually I don't have lots of time, so I must go; catch you later!!

Hello from Singapore

2005-06-26T01:48:00.000+12:00

Howdy!

Right now we are in Singapore airport, waiting for the next leg of our journey to Zurich.

Toby was a little over-tired for the first few hours of the flight, and was rather noisy and grizzly. Thankfully he slept for the rest of the leg, and we could relax - 'we' being Michelle and I, and the dozen or so passengers in our immediate vicinity!

Well, Hope you're all having a great sleep (those of you in New Zealand, anyway!

Talk to you again from Zurich!

One more sleep!

2005-06-24T06:58:00.000+12:00

Tomorrow we fly out for Switzerland! Yay!

I'll try and blog while we're over there, and I'm taking my Canon, so will try and upload some photos, too!

Look after the place for us while we're gone, won't you?

These are trying times

2005-06-22T19:18:00.000+12:00

Jono is blogging again.

After a long absence, Jono is back posting again - with a new template and some new posts that are well worth reading.

TradeMe Property

2005-06-21T19:03:00.000+12:00

TradeMe are now offering the listing of property sales/auctions online.

It costs $49.95 to list a property - very nice to use.

link

2005-06-20T10:54:00.000+12:00

Kiwi Michael Campbell wins US Golf Open. Congratulations!

pregnancy is not a disease

2005-06-15T13:24:00.000+12:00

I am sick of people and various media giving a message that you should have safe sex to insure that you don't get pregnant. Direct or indirect. That is what is being told to us over and over. Aren't you supposed to have safe sex so that you don't get diseases? Is pregnancy a disease?

So, I am looking up statistics and come across this information on abortions. Have you ever read this? Here is what our law states: The Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act, as summarised by www.soul.org.nz.

Abortion is legal, when performed by a doctor, if:

your life, or mental or physical health is in serious danger from carrying on the pregnancy

there is a great risk that the baby would be severely physically or mentally handicapped

your pregnancy is the result of incest

you are under the legal care or protection of the man who fathered your child

you are severely mentally handicapped

Your age, or whether the pregnancy is the result of rape, can also be considered if your life, or mental or physical health is in serious danger from continuing the pregnancy.

And do you know that 98% of abortions that take place are using the reason that their mental health is in serious danger!. Do you know that when an abortion takes place woman must go for counselling? Do you know that many women who have abortions have serious mental problems after they abort but didn't have any before? Did you know that the suicide rate among women who have had abortions is high? All scary facts. Here are some more:

Annual Total of New Zealand Abortions in 1999: 15,501 (much much higher now around 18,000 last year I think)
Percentage performed 8wks gestation onwards in 1999: 95%
Ages of women having abortions in 1999:
- 20-24 .......... 28.9%
- 25-29 .......... 22.2%
- 15-19 .......... 18.3%
- 30-34 .......... 15.7%
- 35-39 .......... 10.6%
- 40-44 .......... 3.6%
- 12-14 .......... 0.4%
- 45 + ............ 0.3%
That means 50% of women having abortions are between the ages of 20 - 30. Ok?

And some more facts - worldwide (www.abortionfacts.com): Approximately 22 million legal abortions were reported in 1987. That is only legal ones....

Have you ever seen photos or video of an abortion taking place when they rip off the limbs from a baby that is 20 weeks old (half way through pregnancy) and see the baby screaming inside the womb. I have. It is so horrible.

So many questions...

All I know is that when you are pregnant and feel this child growing inside of you, you know that it is alive from day one. I thank God each day for my beautiful boy.

Update 16/06: Here is a link to a Maxim Institute article on abortion.

link

2005-06-15T08:46:00.000+12:00

Jono on 'girls'.

michael jackson

2005-06-14T09:19:00.000+12:00

Michael Jackon has been cleared of all charges against him.

I was watching the Sky News live coverage - man, some Americans are crazy! There was a woman outside the court releasing a dove for each of the ten 'not guilty' verdicts.

link

2005-06-13T16:44:00.000+12:00

I would like to have a mint, but they're not ready yet.

link

2005-06-13T16:42:00.000+12:00

Shaun Inman has redesigned. Nice work.

Web monkeys

2005-06-10T16:05:00.000+12:00

...via Rachel.

Nice new Kottke!

2005-06-10T14:13:00.000+12:00

Veteran blogger Jason Kottke has just recently tweaked the design of his blog. Small changes - still clean and minimal. No official word yet, nor any indication of whether this is the full extent of his rework.

link

2005-06-10T12:01:00.000+12:00

Scott K on religious discrimination in our schools.

link

2005-06-08T13:21:00.000+12:00

Nokia 6680: the hotness.

link

2005-06-08T12:04:00.000+12:00

Drunk driver kills 3 family members; sentenced for 3 years but released after serving only 1 month.

A new feature

2005-06-08T07:10:00.000+12:00

I thought of a cool thing when I woke at 1am this morning to go to the bathroom. And I have subsequently implemented 'the cool thing'. Read on...

You will see below that there are a couple of simple links. Some people refer to these as 'remaindered links'. You see, I've tooled around with the CSS so that if I write a post with the subject title 'link' then the title, date/time/poster details, ~~and 'Comment' link~~ are hidden. It means that I can simply post a link without all the unnecessary details taking up extra space on the page!

Update: I put the comments back for the links.

link

2005-06-08T06:50:00.000+12:00

Breathe underwater without oxygen tanks. [via slashdot]

link

2005-06-08T06:20:00.000+12:00

Extra cool optical illusion! [via Jason Kottke]

Good day.

2005-06-07T06:57:00.000+12:00

Ah well.

This post is written primarily to displace the preceeding post from its top spot. Crazy Nigerian spam. Crazy me for publishing my blog-posting email address - an address which I have subsequently disabled.

In work-related news, our new website backend is going live late tonight/early tomorrow morning. It is the culmination of 10 months work, and all things going to plan, no-one should notice a difference, which is a shame really. It will be transitioning from spidered flat HTML to a dynamic pages-built-as-you-view-it site. There is some added functionality and enhancement, but on-the-whole, tomorrow's site will be no different to today's.

Well - better get back into it. Take care and I'll try and talk to you all again soon.

MR SCHMITT NEXT OF KIN NEEDED URGENTLY.

2005-06-06T03:07:00.000+12:00

I hope this letter finds you well. While this email will definitely be coming to you as a surprise, please take a moment of your time to read this. It is very important. I am MR.KELLY WEEKS, working in a finance company in the Netherlands. However I got your address through the International web directory online. During our recent reconciliation and auditing of our bank accounts, my department discovered an over dormant account with a huge amount of money valued at Euro 4,600,000.00 (FOUR million, six hundred thousand, Euro Only) that belongs to one of our late customers; a Mr. Schmitt, from GERMANY. He has passed away (dead) leaving no beneficiary to the account. So the funds have been dormant in his account with this bank without any claim or activity on it for quite some time. Due to our bank regulations, It is only a foreigner that can stand as a next of kin and it is upon this discovery that I decided to contact you to collaborate with you to reactivate these dormant funds. So to avert any negative development and chance losing these funds forever. On behalf of my bank colleagues we now seek your permission to have you stand in as next of kin to our late customer so that the fund will be released and paid into your account. You would become the beneficiary's next of kin to release these funds into your charge. I could have done this deal alone but because of my position in this country as civil servants, we are not allowed to operate a foreign account and that would eventual raise an eyebrow during the time of transfer. I still work in this bank, this is the actual reason why I required a second party or fellow who will work with me forward claims as the next of kin (you) and also provide either an existing bank account or to set up a new bank account immediately to receive these inactive funds. However, on conclusion of this transaction, you will be entitled to 40% of the total fund, while 10% will be set aside to take care of expenses on both sides that may arise during the time of transfer and also for telephone bills, and the remaining 50% will be for our bank as a finders fee and processing fee. What I want from you is for you to act as the deceased next of kin. I have in my possession, all the necessary Documents to successfully accomplish the operation.Further information will be given to you as soon as I receive your positive response. I suggest you get back to me as soon as possible stating your wish. We don't have alot of time to correct this unfortunate situation and I am afraid that without your help it will all be lost forever. For confidentiality please contact me on my personal email address; wekskelly@netscape.net I look forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards, MR.KELLY WEEKS wekskelly@netscape.net

Sex

2005-06-01T07:02:00.000+12:00

A tvnz.co.nz article and a nzherald.co.nz article are bemoaning the fact that teenagers just aren't getting the 'safe sex' message. Statistics show that of the teenagers surveyed, half of them are having sex, but only 44% of those having sex are using a condom. Teenagers find the 'safe-sex' message boring and are ignoring it.

Some are pointing the finger at schools, saying their sex education is inadequate, particularly in boys' schools. But really, who is to blame?

You simply cannot blame sex education in schools, nor can you blame the excruciatingly lame television campaigns run by the Ministry of Health.

The most important factor in the issue of sex education is ignored, or worse, deliberately played down. Sex education largely removes the physical act of sexual intercourse from the context of an emotional interpersonal relationship. This is why I believe that children/teenagers are ignoring the message of school- and television-based sex education; it makes them uncomfortable, uneasy, and/or 'grosses them out'. The physical act cannot be divorced from the emotional act, and children/teenagers understand that what they are being taught doesn't make sense, and is of such an intensely personal nature that they shut it out.

So why do they have sex? Surely, given my argument above, you would expect that children/teenagers would shy away from sex. But this is not the case. It is the very same emotional factors that mean children/teenagers do have sex.
Girls are desperate for the love of a man, and errantly see sex as a way of acquiring such love.
A boy desires respect - from particularly from his peers, but also from a girl/girls.
These two emotional needs are natural, and are God given. But the amount of pressure and freedom given by the media and society in general these desires are stirred up and encouraged to be used outside of the context for which they were intended - an exclusive heterosexual marriage.

So how do we effectively educate our children about sex? Parents, as Scotty has said, are responsible for the education of their children. Parents should have cultivated a strong, trusting relationship with their children, and hence are in the best position to discuss with them such an emotionally sensitive issue. Parents are also best able to demonstrate the loving marriage context in which a sexual relationship is intended.

I lay the responsibility for this nation's teenage sex problems squarely at the feet of parents.

Admittedly, today's environment is not parent-friendly. The government is seeking to move responsibility for children from parents to the state.

This is why teenage sex problems in New Zealand are increasing in parallel with the break down of the nuclear family unit.

The best thing we can do to ensure our children receive adequate and appropriate sex education is to build healthy, strong family units - showing love, respect and honour to our spouses. That places us in the best position to educate our children on the issues of sex when we feel they are ready to hear it. We cannot rely on, or even allow, our precious children to be miseducated by a state that is so far removed from reality as to be dangerous.

Owaka's Finest

2005-05-27T14:33:00.000+12:00

Carl be getting the blog on right here.

Chur.

More Remote Blogging

2005-05-25T08:50:00.000+12:00

<p>This time, I’m blogging not from my phone, but from a standard email address.</p><p>Sorry about the boring stuff –I’m just playing around.</p>

You have a PXT from +64211682108

2005-05-24T08:04:00.000+12:00

Blogging from my mobile phone: I can't remember if this works

To: dwillis.diary@blogger.com
Date: 24/05/2005 at 08:04:26 NZST

You?ve received either a PXT or video PXT. If your message is a PXT any media player should be able to open it. If you?ve received a video PXT (this will have the ending ".3gp") you will need to install a special media player to play it. Please see www.vodafone.co.nz/vlive/about_video_pxt.jsp for further details to download the right media player.

Visit PXT World to find out all about PXT and create awesome picture messages!

Am I helping or leading?

2005-05-12T21:38:00.000+12:00

So, off I go to my first lecture at Grace Theological College on 'Women in the Bible'. I learnt tonight about the role of woman as a helper, about evangelical feminists and complementarians. I (re)learnt how the man has headship and authority over his wife, how we are created equal as male and female but have very distinct and different roles, Genesis Chapters 1 - 3 were discussed in detail.

Now this is very cool. I know all this in my head. But, the worrying thing is that before I left tonight to go to the lecture, I wrote up a list of things for my husband to complete. I told him he had to complete three things tonight. Feeling rather guilty at the lecture I had to examine my heart, was I helping him or was I leading him? I then realised that the list of things he had to do were responsibilities he had to fulfil - one for church, one for work and one for our household. They were all things he had a leadership role in, so I figured I was helping him lead. Does that make sense? Was it the right thing to do? Considering that if I hadn't helped him lead, then he may well have forgotten to lead. Or is it a chicken and egg thing? Does he need to lead first so I can help or do I need to help so he can lead? Now I am very confused. I will stop here.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

The tree of life.

2005-05-11T13:39:00.000+12:00

<life>
    <otherStuff />
    <graduand>
        <otherStuff />
        <lotsOfMuckingAround />
        <me here="no" />
    <graduand>
    <graduate>
        <me here="yes" />
        <aHoleInMySockThroughWhichMyBigToeIsProtruding annoying="yes" />
        <otherStuffYetToCome excitement=yes" />
    <graduate>
    <otherStuffYetToCome />
</life>

Finally!

2005-05-10T07:02:00.000+12:00

This evening I graduate from a course that I started in 1995.

I'm very glad that I decided to finish my degree; ten years late is infinitely better than never

Much has changed since 1995: our home PC was a 486 (DX, even), we'd only just gotten a dial-up account and I was spending more time on BBSs than on the internet. The content of the most recent papers I've studied (2004) covered things we could have only dreamed about in our first year of the course.

My career has entailed both PC support and more recently, web development; things are only getting more exciting.

Anyway, this is the end of an era for myself. I can say "Good bye!" to the cloud that has been hanging over my head for the past decade and step into the world anew, as a qualified engineer.

Thank you, and good-day.