Whispering Inferno

Crazy Offspring

2009-08-01T17:58:00.000+12:00

Going to start putting my random conversations with my kids over here:
http://mr-reasonable.blogspot.com/

I'm using StripGenerator for the cartoons:
http://mrreasonable.stripgenerator.com/

No idea where this'll go but it entertains me and the girls so I don't care!

Bargains Everywhere? Not that I can see....

2009-03-02T20:44:00.005+13:00

So we're in a recession, officially. Stores are under pressure and there is evidence of heavy discounting on large electrical goods. These are all big ticket items and in most cases it would seem, old models and clearance stock. I don't see any evidence of what I'd term "real deals"; the true "everything must go" sales. Mitre 10 had a sale this weekend and it was the same vouchers as last year; normal prices appear to be the same, or slightly higher.

So what's going on. Well, we know for a fact that it is biting in the UK. Jobs losses both there, and in the US, are incredible. Big stores are folding; bargains are to be had and there is very little discretionary spend. Discretionary spend is essentially the bit of cash you have left over after all the bills and essentials (rent or mortgage) are paid; it is the bit you can choose to save or spend.

In NZ, discretionary spend over the last few years has all been borrowed i.e. you had nothing left after you paid the bills but felt so good about your house value and your job was safe, so you happily borrowed from the bank of Harvey Norman.....incidentally, I notice that the current rate on a GE Crediline Card is a truly ruinous 25.65% - as cash rates dropped (and borrowing rates), they haven't dropped a cent which is scandalous, greedy and perfectly legal.

So what to do? There are very few real deals, and staple goods (food etc) are still expensive it seems; wage inflation is kept in check by the employee fear of losing their job (and so not making much fuss with their 2-4% pay rise) and apathy/arrogance by the dominant retail players.

The only way to force a bargain is to actually take a more conscious decision about how you spend your discretionary dollar and to shop around. Alan has written a great summary of Powershop which offers a new way to control non-discretionary spend (which I'm also in two minds for the effort vs the risk) but your spare cash, which tends to be for the higher margin stuff, is where you have the power and can demand better pricing. Power prices will always be dictated and the effort to manage this (as Alan points out) is high.

Since I've been in NZ, I have been bemused by the pricing of electrical goods and the absolute lack of stock; trying to buy an item and then refusing the "show model" which is the only one available has made me walk out of quite a few stores. My latest hunt was for a Wii Remote so that the girls would stop fighting when we play a family game and have to share. TradeMe Prices are in the $80 to $90 range, and Dick Smith offer $99.87 for the remote or $109 if you buy Wii Play which comes with a Wii Remote. The Nunchuck comes in at an extra $49.87.

So what to do? Well, since none of the Wellington stores (DSE, JB etc) have any, and the waiting list is "maybe a few weeks", I checked out eBay, ordered and today received a brand new Wii Remote and Nunchuck combo for the total cost, including shipping of $26, for NZ$90.78 from a lovely bloke in Hong Kong; that's only 60% of the price I'd pay here including the actual shipping.

Vote with your wallets and get smarter on discretionary spend; it's the only way to force down the high margins on those bargains that ain't. The sad downside is such a tactic will undoubtedly cause at lease one retailer to fail, but that's greed for ya....

Guilt Upon Accusation law "Section 92A"

2009-02-22T19:19:00.001+13:00

All blacked out: Stand up against "Guilt Upon Accusation" for New Zealand http://creativefreedom.org.nz/blackout.html

Google Street View Nailed Me.....

2008-12-02T20:50:00.002+13:00

.....but I got them back.

Back on 8th August, we took the family across to the Wilton Bush Reserve as it was a lovely Sunday afternoon and we fancied a walk. When we pulled into the car park, the Google Street View car was parked there and the poor fella was changing his tyre. He was an Aussie over in NZ doing the mapping and he had been through a fair number of tyres. He wasn't too happy owing to the shitty coverage in Wellington which was making mapping a damn hard job. He told me that the satellite signal kept fading in and out because of all the "bloody hills". I wondered if we'd get snapped by him, so I pulled out my iPhone and snapped him first!

Our car is the gray Hyundai and the Google Car is to the right, if you scroll below. Preserved for ever, ah, the power of Google.

View Larger Map

2G iPhone on Version 2.0

2008-07-26T23:08:00.000+12:00

Well, I thought I'd better check out all the new cool iPhone stuff on the Apple Store. Now, this was gonna be a bit of a challenge for me as I'm using a jailbroken 1.14 (2G) iPhone and the only way to get to the store is by upgrading to version 2.0 which will immediately brick my "non-approved, pre-vodafone deal" phone. Not happy with paying through the nose to Vodafone for a new 3G and getting locked into some ludicrous contract, I set out to upgrade the good old fashioned hackers way.

It is a somewhat nervy process and you're never far from tears as you go through a few steps that basically brick your phone and then reopen it. It took me about an hour all up and now I have version 2.0 nicely installed and all applications working. I've even bought my first application at the Apple store.

To be honest, it took a bit of effort to get everything back up and running and you'll need to have SSH installed (and WinSCP if you're a PC user like me) to be able to get into some local folders to tweak stuff. I'm missing some of the really neat applications that the dev community put out on the 1.14 but I installed the Cydia installer as part of my custom built v2.0 and it is only a matter of time before they are ported I'm sure.

I've noticed that a lot of the stuff that was free and well refined for jailbroken 1.14's is now in the Apple Store. I think that the iPhone versions up to 1.14 were nothing but a giant global beta test of how people would use the device and where Apple should concentrate........all the good stuff is worth paying for and I'm happy to shell out some dollars for a good ebook reader and RPN calculator.

Ponoko Rocks

2008-07-17T22:18:00.001+12:00

I'd been a bit nervous of trying out the very cool Ponoko and then I met a Ponokoite and he gave me a two minute overview. Deeply inspired I went home and with Miss R (age 6 3/4) we drew up some designs together and I loaded up Inkscape.

After about an hour we were ready to upload our designs to the Ponoko web site and began the exciting wait to see how they would come out. We got update e-mails as the design was turned into our goodies and I went into their offices today to pick up our test run.

We got out the beads tonight, some leather twine and hey presto, personalised jewellery. Can't wait to try out some more complex stuff now we've mastered the basics. One more thing that technology lets me and my daughters learn together; nothing beats turning a paper design into a real world item!

Brrrr

2008-07-10T11:11:00.000+12:00

It is officially the coldest morning this year for me, brrrrrr. It is also one of those spectacular winter days in Wellington that we all talk about. Absolutely crisp and still outside with the sun shining and the spring flowers coming through. Perfect day to take a flight to Nelson which is what I'm about to do......got to love this country.

Girl Levitates on Fifth Birthday!

2008-06-29T15:12:00.003+12:00

I can't believe she is five already; I read the post from Alan the other week when he talked about his youngest daughter turning five and all that it means. Well it was my turn today when Little Ms R hit five and catapulted herself towards being a grown-up and starting school. She is an explosive child and is turbo charged with energy; they have no idea that the tornado is coming and she will hit the class running tomorrow. Her report from her pre-school stated that life would be quiet without her as she announces her arrival in any room with great gusto.

We had Nigel Kennedy the magician (again!) as he is such a hit with the kids (and Fairy Trina was in the family way with twins last time we saw her) and I think even he was taken aback with the energy of this new birthday girl. In fact, he was so amazed that he managed to levitate her during the show. Amazing; most magicians pull a rabbit out of the hat, but the energy radiated out of my little bundle and she vibrated herself upwards.

I'm sad that she is growing up but I know that she will hit life full-on and then some as it is the only way she knows how. Pity the fool the tries to stifle such energy; let's hope the school system can cope with this nuclear kid.

Go on, make a difference

2008-06-09T20:31:00.002+12:00

Here's some questions for you. When you leave this world, will you have left behind a better place for you having lived? Will your children grow up to be happy and content in their lives and will they strive to make a difference also?

It doesn't matter how small, go on, do something that makes a difference today and leave a legacy to be proud of. It needn't be much and doesn't need to cost anything; a smile to a stranger, loose change to a charity, a shoulder to a friend. Once you've done it once, repeat until satisfied.

If you can't make a difference doing what you're doing and believe that you never will, move on, change your frame of reference, and start again. Be brave, stand straight and aim high.

So ends the sermon of Mr Reasonable today. Normal service resumes tomorrow. Oh, and I've changed jobs which was kinda brave and exciting and stupid and brave and exciting.......

iGet better and better

2008-06-01T13:55:00.003+12:00

Am I an addict? A night does not pass when I don't pick up my iPhone and check out my feeds, latest Installer apps or to read a chapter using the eBook reader. This truly is a life changing device. Prior to buying one I got sucked into the hype and then got over it. Then I bought one and got all excited again and again got over it as I thought I'd discovered everything but wait, there's more.

The number of applications available is growing by the day and is truly staggering in the variety. My latest install is Nemus Sync which lets me sync any of my Google Calendars to the native iPhone Calendar. This means I can keep an eye on interesting things going on around town through my subscription to the Wellingtonista calendar feed, and Mrs R knows where I am and where I am going to be as it is a two way feed and she can access it from home!

I've just been watching TV with one eye and listening to snippets of the Top Ten on iTunes on the iPhone. Number four is "Sweet About Me" by Gabriella Cilmi and a double tap gives me the whole album to peruse. Some great tracks so a few taps later and I've bought it; easy. Weirdly enough, some of the tracks remind me of Tears For Fears, whose tracks fill a large slug of my iTunes library; strange how your music tastes slowly alter but the theme is never far from your youth.

Now I don't mind paying for music (a musician's gotta live and talent don't pay the bills) and I remember back a few years when Napster was the rage. A lot of people wanted free music but the power of Napster was the enormous variety and common meeting place for file sharing of often non-mainstream music. Forget the big record labels, file sharing is the home of the long tail and this is the model that helped to make Amazon the success it is and clearly Apple knows this.

I remember having a conversation with my father in law back in 2001 and he had been trying to find a single track by a humorist called Victor Borge that he had heard many years before. I found it in minutes on Napster and would have happily paid a premium for the track if the model had existed back then. So fly forward 7 years and I'm sitting on my sofa, I type Borge into iTunes and in seconds can preview a wide collection of his work and can pay for any tracks or albums I want, right there, no delay, no fuss. Amazing really; record stores can't possibly last another 2 years.

iPhone Update 2 of 2

2008-05-03T15:12:00.002+12:00

Lets get down to business, why should you jailbreak an iPhone. Well, you just should. It's yours and you should be able to do what you want with it!

An absolute must is the Installer application. This gets you connected to the community of developers who are writing apps that can happily sit on your iPhone and add value to it. I have installed, and uninstalled, a good number and there are a few absolutely essential items and more every day. Unless you have WiFi don't consider this though as your data charges will kill you.

One of the essential apps is a good e-booker reader. I travel almost every week on a plane to Auckland and back and this is pretty much my only down time to read. I tried out two different options, one in the cloud and one locally installed and both are good. With the former, Readdle, you upload books to your web space, either as a file upload or by e-mail (which can be multiple files and with tags) and with the later, you move TXT or HTML files to your iPhone. The only downside of Readdle if of course the relatively slow data connection through Vodafone although the free WiFi at Wellington Airport is handy. I much rather have everything on the web but until NZ gets EDGE or blanket free WiFi, I'm snookered and store my books locally. Once connectivity is sorted though, then mobile devices will really take off and become mainstream. The later, (books.app) is great but does require you to know how to get files into the right directory on the iPhone.

If you're a PC user, like me, there is a question mark over how you get files transferred to the iPhone. It is not like a flash drive that you can just plug in but there is a very simple method using SSH. I use WinSCP, an open source SFTP client and have installed OpenSSH on the iPhone and tie the whole thing together through my wireless network. There are loads of sites with really detailed instructions on how to do this, just Google it.

The benefit of the SSH connection is that I can now store any file in any place and can manage the directory structure myself. Certain apps require a bit of poking around to work but there is nothing too advanced.

There are a good number of cool games to trial out which make use of the tilt features but the old favourities are still the best and there are a number of emulators such as the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo and buckets of ROMs around (although there are some legal issues with ROMs if you don't own the original licence). Good if you're stuck in a airport lounge and want to kill something in the style of Atari.

I should mention that the iPhone is also a phone. I'm not too impressed with the Vodafone connection having been used to Telecoms rock solid coverage; there do appear to be some black spots and calls do drop more often. Nonetheless, the SMS is great and the on screen keyboard is excellent once you learn to trust it; I can now type a message significantly faster that my old phone.

So there you have it. Even when the iPhone gets here legally, you need to break it to get the most out of it, at least for the moment anyway. This device is going to set the standard of design and function for many years to come; in the same way that the Audi TT defined a generation of copy-cat sports cars, this phone will spawn a whole army of increasingly sophisticated models but will stand above them for a good few years still.

iPhone Update 1 of 2

2008-05-03T13:50:00.003+12:00

Thought it would be useful to talk about my iPhone, now that I've had it a wee while. Whilst it is a very neat device, it does have some minor shortcomings but these are few and it is clear that a ridiculous amount of thought went into the design of the interface and usability.

There is an article in The Dom Post today which gives a reasonable commentary but misses some key points I think. I have been a user of a PDA for about 8 years, starting off with a Cassiopeia E-105 before moving on to a Dell Axim X51v, which was a quantum leap, and now the iPhone, which, again, is a massive leap forward.

Ignoring dimensions, battery life, memory and processing power, some would say not much has changed but you'd be so wrong. What has changed is quite simply the world and how we expect to interact with it; lets leap back in time to 2000.

I used my E105 at work and it was useful as a diary, some fun games and my contacts list. At the time I thought it was compact but I've just dug it out of a draw and it is a monster:

Lots of buttons and I could play music and, at the time, it was a good introduction to mobile computing. Of course, the big difference between then and now is the widespread use of WiFi and ubiquitous cellphone connectivity, but the major change is the simple fact that everything and anything can live in the cloud.

When I first started work in in 1990, I worked for one of London's major investment banks and sat in the equity dealing room with a green screen terminal that was hooked up to a whopping great mainframe computer somewhere; I vaguely recollect it was called Sperry or something and these things were indestructible. During my time, we moved away from the dumb terminal to a IBM PC set-up with a Rumba terminal emulator to connect to our host and a more classical mouse driven interface away from the hundreds of short-codes that we had to know to navigate around screens.

With this change came the requirement to run lots of applications at the same time and so faster PCs were needed and more and more memory. We've now come full circle. Here I am with a powerful Windows PC with oodles of memory and storage yet I upload my life to the cloud with Flickr and use Google Docs and it is the speed of my connection to this world that is important.

The reason this works for me is simple; I don't live my life at home yet I still want to be connected to my home life. There is no need to actually connect to my home PC as I just go to where the information is and voilà. It is this ability to connect to my personal data, from anywhere, that has revolutionised the mobile device. Whether it is my calendar, my contacts, my documents or my photos, I want, and demand, access to it from anywhere but I don't need to actually carry it with me.

Think of money. You used to have to carry it with you and then came plastic. You could leave you cash in the bank, earning interest, and still access it from a shop. Data is the same. Why carry it with you when you just need to be able to get to it when you want it. Like money, data in the cloud earns interest but the interest is the way in which disparate pieces of information clump together to be more useful; think of adding geolocation tags to photos and looking at them in a map view or pulling contact address details into a street map linked to a GPS device.

I don't want to have to remember to synchronise, I just expect everything to be connected and available to me whenever I want.

The iPhone gives me this, just. There still isn't enough good WiFi coverage in Wellington but the power of the iPhone comes from the literally thousands of sites that have popped up to support information sitting in the cloud. I'll cover off some of these shortly and why a jailbroken iPhone and home wireless network are a must.

Never thought I'd say this, but....

2008-04-15T19:08:00.004+12:00

.....thank you to young and knowledgeable sales assistant in Dick Smith. Someone slap me. Did I dream it or did the young guy actually know what he was talking about. I'm not exactly a techie but I know bits and pieces and my general tactic is to appear ignorant and assess the quality of the sales advice. If I'm being scammed, I walk out claiming a silent moral victory.

Today I wanted a wireless router to replace my crappy old D-Link 302G freebie that I'd been using since Telecom dumped it on me a few years back and which survived the switch to iHug. I'd never got round to changing it and I know it has loads of faults, least of all it's inability to cope with any torrent and web connection at the same time; it is dated mind you and I wanted an excuse to have a wireless network for my iPhone.

Well I knew what I wanted, at least 2 wired connections and an ability to connect a couple of wireless devices. There are a few options, all very similar (and probably the same under the skin), so I asked a few questions and got intelligent answers. $129 later and a LinkSys ADSL Home Gateway (4 ports and up to 32 wireless devices) is mine. Cheap as.

Took all of 2 minutes to configure, and now I'm running a torrent at over 280Kb/s which is better than the sub 50Kb/s from before, and I have my iPhone motoring and surfing. All together. Damn, the only bandwidth restriction is only having ten fingers.....

Zoo Food

2008-04-12T13:44:00.003+12:00

When I heard the news about the Eve Dixon cafe closing at the Zoo, due to some ridiculous decision about revenue and blah blah Spotless Catering blah blah, Mrs R and I agreed that we would not step foot in there again in silent protest. We used to enjoy a good coffee and a brunch prior to taking the kids around the zoo and would plan the trip that way.

Well, it looks like we're not alone. We were at the zoo today; went in at 10:30am and the cafe was pretty empty. Left the zoo at 12:15pm and there were empty tables everywhere. I expect at some point, a bean counter will suggest that the zoo just doesn't need a cafe as clearly people are not eating there. At some point in the future they'll work out that the old cafe was a meeting place and that most parents with young kids were looking for 45 minutes of peace prior to heading into the day and that the Zoo benefited as a result. I suspect that those people have found another spot now and they have taken their cash with them.

At least the lioness was hungry.

They Don't Like It Up 'Em

2008-04-05T12:52:00.002+13:00

Had a bit of a party this week. First off was the appointment of two new oncologists to Wellingtons Hospital which has been a personal crusade; second up was the announcement that the Children's Hospital would be moving into better premises which will give the kids a much better environment and provide the staff with better working conditions.

And the cherry on the cake?

A bitter sweet victory as a lot of people will lose money but the failure of these utter shits (in my personal opinion) after playing with other peoples money for far too long. May the earth swallow them whole. Sadly, I'm sure they'll have money spirited in cross-company loans to keep them fat and in good wine for a while but hopefully any future enterprises can be shunned when they are exposed as the backers or shareholders. It took a few years, but I knew they'd get it in the end and revenge is a dish best served cold.

Workin' too hard

2008-04-05T11:35:00.002+13:00

Friday night. Arrived home and it was still light and the girls were still up. Kinda rare over the last few weeks with travel and work and other commitments.

Little Miss R "I know who YOU are!". Such a small statement and very innocent, yet I'm saddened to hear it. Time to reassess what I'm doing I think.

Truly Mobile Blogging

2008-03-15T10:44:00.006+13:00

In March 2006 I conducted an experiment with the help of Alan. I had recently bought a Dell Axim X51v, a very neat little device which had both Bluetooth and WiFi and ran Windows Mobile 5.0, and I wanted to test the mobile abilities. I spent a week blogging from different cafes around Wellington to test the WiFi coverage and conduct some coffee reviews.

What I found was that MoJo was the best coffee (which validated what Alan and I already knew) and that the CafeNet connection at Rise on the Terrace was the fastest by far. So that was exactly 2 years ago.

Now I have an iPhone; bought from "man on street" in Auckland with a handover of folding stuff in exchange for a tiny black box with a shiny new iPhone inside, all ready for a Vodafone Sim. I plugged it in and bam, everything works. No set-up, no mucking around, it just works; "Man on Street" did the breaking and this baby is truly revolutionary.

I have spent a week now and I cannot put it down; I'm on a massive data plan, thanks to my employer who (quite recently and finally) recognises the value of keeping on top of this stuff, and have been installing (and uninstalling), oodles of apps across the Vodafone network and any convenient WiFi spots.

What I find most incredible is the amount of apps available. It strikes me that we have entered a new era of collaboration where individuals with a desire to develop cool stuff and share it with the world have found a common place to do this.

On my Dell I bought a lot of extra stuff to make it more useful; one of these was a HP 12C emulator which is something I used to use pretty much every minute of every day, less so in my life in NZ, but old habits die hard. I just downloaded a HP12C for the iPhone and, as you can see below, both the Dell and the iPhone are exact replicas. The only difference is that one cost me dosh and had to be installed and one is obtained by magic with no fuss.

My Dell had my calendar. My iPhone has my calendar. Syncing Outlook through iTunes is easy; using ActiveSync was fine and gave a bit more control between my work laptop and home PC but I don't miss it. I do miss the Bluetooth sync as I'll have to buy another docking station but whatever.

The other big use of my Dell was the eReader for a vast library of eBooks that I had been ploughing through. I travel a lot and it was very convenient to sit on a plane and read in down time. With the iPhone I found Readdle where I can upload my books and retrieve them online from anywhere; I can even just e-mail the files to my Readdle account and store my library in the cloud; how cool is that.

The best advantage of course is that I now have live e-mail from GMail and my Pop mail server with iHug and can respond to anything. I'm working on how to tie this into my work exchange server and I have heard that there is a man over the ditch who is doing just that. I have abandoned Telecom (who are the major provider of services to my employer), ported my 027 to Vodafone and will be roaming in Australia on Tuesday; Telecom offer a loan phone for those travelling overseas and that sucks when you want everything in one device.

All in all, the iPhone is a quantum leap in integration of technology. The changes in two years are simply staggering and a good comparison is my two daughters who are about 2 years apart; a lot changes in two years, don't you think?

Bookhabit Launches

2008-03-01T15:49:00.002+13:00

Saw a post on Rod Drurys blog last week about Bookhabit, a neat new way to get published if you are an author wanting to get your book out there. Through a new relationship at work, I managed to get an invite to the launch party from Stafan of WebFund and got to see what it is all about first hand.

The idea is brilliant and just to get you interested, the lovely Clare, who is the smarts behind the concept, is running a competition with a prize of US$5,000 (yep, real dollars). Go see. Go write and good luck.

The Queen Leaves

2008-02-17T21:08:00.003+13:00

A short stop for her and what a day. The town was packed, the weather was great and Wellington sure showed off. She was glorious up close and simply towered above the wharf.

She made her way out, just after 6pm tonight.

Out of the harbour.

Past the airport.

On her way to the Cook Straight.

The Queen Arrives

2008-02-17T08:41:00.004+13:00

The Queen Victoria is here. With a loud blast on the horn, at 7:30am this morning, she made her way through the early morning mist towards the berth by the Westpac Stadium. She is simply huge, like a skyscraper on its side and dwarfs the stadium. We're going to head in to town later to get a close up tour.

Just discovered there is a live web cam on-board, link here.

Seatoun Light Show

2008-02-11T21:42:00.000+13:00

Wow, Seatoun is getting a light show extravaganza! Just sitting here watching a couple of planes racing the storm in and the lightning is incredible, just like fireworks. Wasn't quick enough on my camera but I got some video footage that I'll stick on YouTube shortly once I've edited out the oohs and ahhs and general mayhem that is my house. [Found an old Alphaville Track to stick over it to cover over the screams and cat meowing!]

There is a serious storm building out in the Cook Straight but it is remarkably calm outside, with not a breath of wind. Sky Weather gives a feel for what is close by but it does seem to have completely bypassed us so far.

Glad I'm not flying through this one. The little dot that comes right through the middle of the storm is probably the 8pm from Auckland. I took 15 minutes of footage and squezed it down to 3ish; lots of flashes in that time!

Not a Native Bird methinks

2008-02-10T15:44:00.000+13:00

I was in Auckland on Saturday. I spoke to Mrs R on the phone back in Welly and she said there had been a strange bird on the deck. We often get the odd Tui enjoying the flax and sitting on the deck to have a sing but I'd never seen anything "strange". I asked what kind of strange and she said parrot strange. I said Kea? She said no, Cockatoo. Don't be silly says I. She said, I knew you wouldn't believe me so I took a photo for when you get back. Whatever, thought I.

Bugger. Looks like a Cockatoo to me. Anyone lost one in Khandallah? I'm pretty sure they're not native birds.....

You really can't beat Wellington on a good day

2007-12-02T17:45:00.000+13:00

Met up with an old friend, Pippa, today when we all turned up at Houghton Bay Park for a picnic. A spectacular location surrounded by natives and with a long grass meadow looking down to the bay. Some sandwiches, football, kite flying and lots of sun (and sunscreen). It really is true; you can't beat Wellington on a good day.

This is the reason I moved here. Forget the fact that I can't always buy what I want straight away and that wages are stupidly low, my kids are having a great childhood and they don't even know it. I hope one day they'll look back and talk about the things we did as a family and recognise what a special place New Zealand is and what a terrific city Wellington is. Sadly, I'm sure they'll have to go overseas first to realise this fact.

Wellington Phoenix Vs LA Galaxy - 1st December 2007

2007-12-01T21:51:00.001+13:00

A great night for football. Wellington turned on the weather today and David Beckham proved to be a real crowd puller.

There was lots of singing and a bit of shouting, but all in a pretty friendly game.

David Beckham delivered some amazing passes from across the field and he is clearly incredibly gifted.

The Phoenix defended well and in numbers and there was plenty of activity around the goal.

For some reason, the blokes seemed to enjoy the pre-match entertainment from Batucada.

Funny that.

Internet Banking

2007-12-01T12:12:00.000+13:00

I rarely write about my work and I'm not going to now except to say that I'm now more involved in Internet Banking than I've ever been and I've recently been given a bit of authority to do some "stuff" in this space. I mention it now as I just had an awful on-line experience with my UK bank, RBS, and it does highlight just how far ahead we are down here, despite what people think.

The New Zealand model is particularly customer focused and there is a lot of thought that goes into how interactions with customers are handled. This is true right across personal face-to-face dealings through to remote/on-line channel interactions. This person had a lot to do with the shape of the internet banking platform where I am today and the papers that exist are full of customer friendly concepts.

Now today I needed to use my online banking on my UK account to make a transfer. I have never used it before, being happy with touch-tone phone banking which was all I needed to check balances. It was only launched after I left the UK in 2001 and was excitingly called Digital Banking. I had tried to register a few years back but had got nowhere and given up.

Phone Banking has a customer number which is conveniently your date of birth followed by two more numbers. Easy to remember. The PIN is a standard 4 digit code and I remember it well as it was a derivation of my old work extension that I had for 10 years. That is all I need to access my account by phone.

For Digital Banking I need a password to and I have never had one so I rang the Digital Banking Help Desk to ask them to assist me. I want to be clear that I do not blame the staff for any of the following but the people that don't think about the systems that they build.

"Welcome to RBS. Can I have your customer number?"
"Wow, a person, didn't expect that. My number is xxxxxx-xx"
"Can I have the third digit of your PIN?"
"x"
"Can I have the fourth digit of your PIN?
"x"
"Thank you. Who am I speaking to?"
"John Robson"
"And your address?"
"blah blah, Nelson" [my in-laws who still get my bank statements!]
"What can I do for you today?"
"I don't have a Digital Banking Password and I'd like to access my account online"
"I'm sorry, you need a password"
"Yes, I know, but I don't have one"
"Yes you do."
"I do?"
"Yes"
"What is it?"
"I don't know"
"Oh, how do you know I have one?"
"Because the system is asking for the second letter of it. Do you know the second letter?"
"I don't know any of it as I've never had one. Can you give me a clue?"
"Sorry, we can't tell you any of it as the system doesn't tell us"
"Oh, can you reset it and e-mail me a new one?"
"No. I can send you a new one in the post though"
"The what?"
"By mail"
"Oh. How long will that take?"
"It is sent out within 4 days so you'll have it by next weekend"
"To New Zealand?"
"Oh, I don't know, probably not"
"But I know you have my e-mail. I just need to make a one-off payment"
"A what?"
"Sorry, a bank transfer.
"Oh, yes I can do that for you"
"Really. OK, can we do that now?"
"Yes, what is your password?"
"Excuse me?"
"Your password. It's the same as your Digital Banking password"
"The same? You mean the same as the one I don't know?"
"Yes"
Silence
"Do you want to guess?"
"Like hangman?"
"Yes. What's the third letter?"
"Look. Isn't there a security question or anything else I can do to verify who I am? I've given you my customer number, my PIN and my address. I know where my account is registered, I know the balance, I know the statement number, I know when I opened the account, I know the account number, I have my cash card, my credit card, my expiry dates, I know everything about my account. Is there no other way to make a transfer?"
"Go on, guess the third letter"
"F?"
"No. Try the fourth"
"U?"
"No. How about the sixth"
"I'd better not. Just post it to me please"
"OK, what is your sort code?"
"Hang on, I'll just find my cheque book........xx-xx-xx"
"And your actual account number?"
"xxxxxxxx"
"OK, that's done and an Activation Code will be sent out to you in 4 days"
"Whoopdee"

Internet security is very important and I can understand the rules, but this must happen every single day and to rely on post in an age when people expect instant response is madness. I can't think of a single other on-line system where there is not an option to send your password to your registered e-mail address or to offer some form of instant help; maybe I expect to much........

It's in the Genes

2007-11-04T17:46:00.000+13:00

Been a bit of a cold and wet day and Little Miss R and I went over to my mothers new place and looked at old photos that are all now neatly boxed up and in albums. I look at both my girls and see a mixture of Mrs R and me in there in varying degrees. Despite being a Kiwi, Mrs R comes from an Italian background and her old family photos have that classic style that is undeniably Italian; slick backed hair, dark suits and moustaches, and that is just the women......

My side are classic English. I found some photos of my Grandmother, Great Grandmother and Great Great Grandmother (from my mothers side) and put one of Miss R against them. I can see an interesting generation thing with my Great Grandmother who has the same shape face and kind eyes as Miss R and is, in my opinion, was a very beautiful lady. It will be interesting to see how Miss R grows up; photos of my mother at this age have some similarities but my brothers daughter is a dead ringer.

My Great Great Grandmother

My Great Grandmother

My Grandmother

My Daughter

In this age we store all our photos electronically but there is nothing like going through old boxes and seeing history and smelling it with the musty odour of old pictures. It is kind of sad that my kids will never look through old cardboard boxes at photos but will flick though hundreds of images in seconds on a screen. I hope the old photos survive another few generations for them so they can be amazed at the people from long ago who undoubtedly dressed in their best clothes for a once a year picture.

BabyDelicious

2007-10-22T18:14:00.000+13:00

"Where are we going?", asked Little Miss R.
"To visit a shop", I said.
"Will there be toys?", she squeaked.
"Probably", I cautiously added.
"Yay, I'll get my pocket money".....

"What's the shop called?", I heard from the back seat.
"I think it's Babylicious or Wanda Harland".
"Baby Delicious?"
"Yuh, that'll do".

We parked and wondered the wrong way down Jackson street for a while, my sad old memory ain't what it used to be and I had convinced Mrs R that this time I was right. Oops.

We jumped back into the car and Mrs R shouted "Wanda Harland", as we headed past number 148 Jackson Street, the new home of Babylicious goodies and other delights.

We met Glen on the new till, and the girls were unusually quiet. There was no fighting, biting and I suspect that this was as Little Miss R had set her eyes on a Sock Monkey and was working on her timing. She knew I'd at some point say something stupid like "see anything you like?". I was gently guided to the Sock Monkeys and those big brown eyes worked their stuff. She chose a little yellow duck for Mini Miss R (duck mad) and we got some v.cool t-shirts for some friends who have just begun the journey that is parenthood, and a small knitted mouse for Gizmo, our insane cat.

As we were leaving, we met the (now) famous Martha Craig and young Malo. It is always weird to meet people that you think you've met as you know so much about them yet have never actually been in the same room. This is my fourth actual "real life" meeting with someone who I only know from stalking them online! My "first" was Alan (but he sat next to me so that doesn't count), followed by Mike and only last week, Llew (it's true, he is just like Viggo Mortenson) and now Martha.

Anyway, it was a beaut of a day and we're now home with our great purchases taking pride of place in the girls bedrooms and some wrapping to be done. I should have grabbed a business card or flyer to put with the t-shirt gifts but I've a sneaky suspicion that I'll be back at Wanda Harland for more great stuff very soon.....such a neat shop and oodles to buy. Bloody great job....now, if you can find a spot for the Francis Francis, I'll be back next weekend.

When is a lightbulb not a lightbulb....

2007-08-26T08:41:00.000+12:00

Mrs R got a piece of junk mail the other day. It is a promo from "Ecobulb" but is sponsored by Fly Buys, Shell and the Electricity Commission, or at least those are the logos on the letter. It is a good offer actually. It comes with a voucher for 5 Ecobulb lights for $10 and conveniently tells me that the normal RRP is $4.99. Good deal all round.

What is interesting to me though is the why. As a person immersed in the dark art of economics for many years, I see strategies and business rationale behind everything. I sadly can't enjoy a discounted piece of cake anymore without wondering the reason for the discount; is the bakery in debt, was the cake not a seller so has to go cheap, is it old cake, is it cheaper to discount than dispose of or is the baker just a good guy? You get the picture.

Anyway, the bulbs. The pamphlet says save up to $650....cool. Actually your immediate saving, based on the RRP, is $14.95 but you could save the rest based on a calculation using an Ecobulb for 3 hours a day at 18c/kWh over the next 9 or so years in place of a standard 100 Watt bulb, oh using all 5 bulbs. A reasonable model in economic terms but a long pay back in real dollars. But wait, there's more and the real reason for the promotion (in my opinion) is Carbon Credits.

So the answer to the above question of when is a light bulb not a lightbulb is when it's a strategy for collecting carbon credits. In the small print you'll find the following text:

"In purchasing or using Ecobulb lights, you agree that CO2 emission reductions resulting from their use are the property of Energy Mad Limited".

Fascinating. So you buy the bulbs. You pay to use them. Energy Mad collect Carbon credits. In fact they appear to be able to collect them irrespective of whether you use the bulb or not as just purchasing the Ecobulb is your agreement. No signature, just passive consent. I wonder if buying clean burning fuel at a petrol station provides the same consent to the seller?

One thing is sure. Carbon Trading will be huge but full of dubious ways to collect credits and dubious statistics about emission reduction that don't actually help the environment one bit. There is some good information on Carbon Offseting at the New Zealand Carbon Exchange. Bet you didn't know we had one.....

Forgive me talking numbers but lets examine the Ecobulb Model.

You buy 5 Ecobulbs and use 3. You stick 2 in the back of your cupboard and forget about them. (I have a graveyard of bulbs and batteries in the back of the cupboard and can never find them when I need them!) Energy Mad Limited (somehow) claim their Carbon Credits from this sale of 5 Ecobulbs. If you repeat this scenario over a large population you end up with some big dollars based upon flawed data. In my scenario, you have an efficiency of 3/5ths i.e. the sales data is 60% accurate against the actual usage data; not a reliable model.

In collecting erroneous sales data and applying it to the real world, you are making a basic error that every good economist understands. You must factor human behaviour into every model. Economics is 1 part fact and 1 part voodoo. The voodoo comes from understanding how people will react to data that you don't yet have and then allowing for it in the facts that you don't yet know.

My assumption is that Ecobulb knows this and the model that is in place to allow for the collection of Carbon Credits has an input for voodoo for all those bulbs sitting in the back of cupboards. Tui moment or fact? Still, a good deal, 5 bulbs for $10 so I'll be off to Shell to get mine.

Ooh, I got Schmap'd!

2007-08-11T20:07:00.000+12:00

Bless the Gods of Flickr! One of my photos from Wellington Zoo got picked up by Schmap and is now here. Neat little widget available too.

Wellington Invaded and under Martial Law

2007-07-29T12:28:00.000+12:00

I was up early this Sunday morning (as I was going into work...grrrrr) and as I wandered into the kitchen I noticed the invasion force coming into the harbour.

Yikes, were we being taken over. Had Helen C offended some far off country who had decided to take on the Queen Beehive in her home patch. Had Winston provoked some other minority and their naval might was sent to dispatch him.....maybe it was Benson-Pope (although I notice his Wikipedia entry is now out of date) calling in a favour from a foreign dictator he had given employment advice to....or maybe Warren Buffet come to collect his profits in betting against the Reserve Bank and their foray into currency trading? Or something else? Comments welcome........

Fairy Trina does it again

2007-07-21T17:35:00.000+12:00

Jeez, my posts are getting a bit infrequent. I've been up to my ears in it recently and the birthday party for Little Miss R was a few weeks back and I've only just sat down to write about it. We had Fairy Trina last year for Miss R's 5th Birthday and Little Miss R wanted her for her 4th. She delivered a great show again and kept the many many little fairies entertained with her stories and face painting. Worth every penny and cute too; not sure if its appropriate for a Dad to think about those things where fairies are concerned but I believe I share the fantasy with this person.

It was a great party and only reminds me that the kids are growing up so fast, an issue shared with Martha. They both seem so sophisticated and just know so damn much about the world it scares me. I am getting increasing "Oh Dad! Everyone knows that...." type comments.

I've not only been busy with the kids and work but recent developments at the Capital & Coast District Health Board for my night job with the Child Cancer Foundation. Watch the news tonight and you'll see what is going on and why Wellington has a rather worrying situation on its hands.

Our beloved cat

2007-06-24T16:06:00.000+12:00

Death is so cold. It is odd how we humanise pets but we've had two cats for almost as long as we've been married and now we are down to one. We were married in 1995 and rented in a few places before we bought our first house in West Sussex in 1996. Within days of moving in we adopted two stray kittens that were born at the bottom of a garden not far away and were destined to be wild cats. We named them Harley (Davidson) and Gizmo; the former on account of his large size and loud purr and the latter due to ridiculous ears and a natural terror of everything on account of being fairly crazy.

Harley adapted well to being a pet and has been a loving companion for the past 11 years. Gizmo never quite got over his fears and has been a loving but skittish pet so desperately wanting to be cuddled but always looking for an exit, just in case. Both would always be together and Gizmo clearly needed Harley. They survived the trip from the UK well and Harley, as expected, adjusted nicely to life in New Zealand and Gizmo remained crazed.

We moved lots here and every time, the two cats settled into a new house and enjoyed the lifestyle as much as we did. When we moved into this house as our permanent home, they both took to it immediately; the decks, the log fires, the sun and the quiet location made it perfect for us and them.

Sadly today, I walked out onto the deck and said hello to Harley who appeared to be sleeping and got no response. His usual style was to come running and nuzzle but today nothing. He had been fine when I went off into town at around 10:30am today so I went closer and patted him. He was still warm but had clearly died in his sleep and was not breathing. I called Mrs R and we had a cry as he had been with us since the beginning of our lives together.

I know he was just a cat, but he was such a part of our lives and meant so much to us. There is nothing we have done over the last 11 years where we haven't considered the cats and now poor old Gizmo is all alone. Funnily enough, last night they slept against the safety guard by the log fire, slowly cooking, and Mrs R took this final picture of them. Harley, as usual, stretched out and his little brother nestled against him and almost on top of him, just in case.....

We will miss him and know that Gizmo will miss him more.

If this doesn't bring a tear to your eye, you have a heart of stone

2007-06-13T20:03:00.000+12:00

I think I'm hooked on this show. If this 6 year old girl doesn't make you cry....

Kind of proof of reincarnation I think; how can someone so young do what this kid does without having lived before?!! Incredible.

Simon Cowell Smiles

2007-06-11T21:19:00.000+12:00

This guy makes even cold hearted Simon smile. Taken from the new show "Britain's Got Talent" which is a spin on Pop Idol; incredible voice and a likely winner of the show.

Boy, is he in the wrong job.

Recipe for Disaster

2007-06-10T20:39:00.000+12:00

An easy recipe to follow. Simply leave two 5 year olds alone in a tidy room with a ball of wool or two. Mix and leave for an hour and return after ominous silence. And voila, this is what you get:

There is audio on the clip, it is just that I can't speak and end up staring out the window wishing I was at the airport.....I didn't even dare to turn the television off in case I got trapped and was found hanged three days later with the cats nibbling my extremities.....

Most Scenic Playground in the World

2007-05-13T13:46:00.000+12:00

We went to the playground today but not the usual place where we go over at Nairnville. This time Mrs R suggested the park just down the road that was recently cleaned up. I'd never been there and had no idea what a treat it would be on such a beautiful Wellington day.

I'm fairly sure that this has to be the most scenic playground in the world. The kids ignored the view but the bench pictured below is perfectly positioned to watch the harbour. You could even enjoy the view as you bounce up and down on the see-saw.

Being a nervous parent, we kept the ball games away from the rather unsettling cliff edge; not sure whether it is too smart to build a playground on top of a cliff and not put up a barrier of sorts but the views sure are great.....

Tana Umaga says Goodbye to the Hurricanes

2007-05-05T22:34:00.000+12:00

I'm not gonna mention the game except to say it was a good crowd and a great farewell to Tana.

Also, it was the last game for Lome Fa'atau who is still electric when (if) he gets the ball.

Miss R came along too and also waved goodbye to Tana, something to tell the grandkids; he is one of the greats.

Lots more pictures on my Flickr page.

The House That Jack Built

2007-04-28T20:23:00.000+12:00

Finished. It arrived a few weeks back and sat idle leaning against the side of the house whilst I got up the courage to build it. I must admit to being a bit scared, being a Pom and all that. I know that Kiwis are genetically programmed to build houses and to be honest, this was a house. "Play" house just didn't do it; this thing had a freakin' deck and windows that opened.

The base was seriously heavy and at over 2.5ms was hard as hell to lift. I had prepared an area for it but the instructions warned (in bold type no less) to make sure that the ground was level else things would be nasty. Not a good idea to ignore bold type; I had done that before and I can still remember the screams....

I plodded off to the hardware store, bought some posts and cement, fired up the laser level that I'd used once before to put up a border, and off I went, all Kiwi bloke like. I used real Kiwi words like bugger, YehNoYeh and Damn these are my best pants and after a day had a great looking set of foundations fit for a palace.

The next day, Mrs R and I through sheer will power managed to move the base into place and I couldn't really believe that it actually fitted perfectly. Construction began in earnest and to be honest the instructions were real simple and once we had two walls in place, Mrs R left me and my hammer to it.

A few hours later and....

Since this photo was taken, armed with a renewed sense of manliness, I put in three more posts and a railway sleeper step at the front, and then a fence. The little R's now have their very own Bach and I will eventually get a Sauna......

Highly recommend Woodworx and this product. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't hard work 'cause it was but it wasn't hard to put together and everything was well labelled with every nail and bolt included; good instructions, an accurate hammer arm and away you go. I got a few cuts and bruises but there is nothing like the feeling of building your own house!

Bad Day at the Office

2007-04-21T17:39:00.000+12:00

Ever thought you had a bad day at the office? Well I bet it is nothing like the day that these guys had judging by this sequence of 4 photos, courtesy of Worksafe Victoria. An archive of other dodgy workers can be found at Shockers of the Week.

Photo One shows a typical foundation excavation with a small water leak (kindly highlighted with a big yellow arrow):

Photo Two shows a bit more water but don't worry lads, we've got a pump, soon be nice and dry in there:

In Photo Three the extent of the leak becomes clear and it is anchors away:

And finally in Photo Four, a lovely new recreational lake, just don't get you fishing line caught on the crane.....

Matt's Back.....Soon

2007-04-14T21:17:00.000+12:00

I first saw the Where The Hell Is Matt video a few months back on YouTube. It is brilliant in its simplicity and the music sets off the whole thing beautifully. He's not claiming to save the world, he's not even out there spreading the word of God, he's traveling the world (something most Kiwis are genetically programmed to do) and he is accidentally raising issues of importance in his journal.

He is on the move again and he'll hit New Zealand sometime this year. His web site is tracking his every move and his journal is great reading and well written. It is through his writing last year that you get a sense of what is really going on in the world as he is not jumping from 5 star hotels but really travelling, the hard way, with a budget, and walking places. He was in Mali two days ago but the map now shows him in Ethiopia, a country with a tragic past and I suspect the ongoing trauma of that country will come across when he writes.

I think those fine folks over at Wellingtonista Towers could organise a great Blogfest welcome for Matt if he gets to Wellington; a mass dance at the top of Mt Kaukau maybe? Go on, register on his site and get him to our fine city; he doesn't mention us once in his NZ journal so we need him here. Maybe he could dance with Queen Helen......

Petrol Head? Nah, I ain't that smart.

2007-04-10T19:18:00.000+12:00

I drive an Audi and I like my car. I'm not a petrol head as I know very little about engines but I know what I like. I like reliability and power and I kind of get both from my car. It always starts but I do often get little flashing lights which seem to suck money straight from my bank account. I dread to think how much I have spent over the last 5 years since it arrived in a container from the UK.

It was a car we bought pre-children when we lived in a nice country town in West Sussex and is not very sensible these days having only two seats but I could not part with it. It took part in a daring 3am fog smothered rush to Worthing hospital in the winter of 2001 when Mrs R was in labour and has some fun memories.

These days, it isn't financially viable to sell it as it has depreciated to a level that it will probably sit at for another 10 years or so with little movement. A lot of the problems I've had relate to the salt corrosion from the UK roads even though it only spent one winter there and I suspect that the car dealers secretly love this little UK anomaly. The last bill was for over $2k because once the corrosion sets in, it is hard to stop, nevertheless, it is great fun and makes me smile on my drive to work, all 8 minutes of it....

Anyway, there is a famous love hate relationship between Audi drivers and BMW drivers. Audi drivers believe they are real drivers and like to feel the car on the road and become part of the car; they feel that BMW drivers are simply sitting in the car and moving from A to B. BMW drivers look at Audi drivers as "nearly made it" and "couldn't stretch to a Beemer, huh?". The rivalry was probably ignited further with these ads that I got e-mailed today [cheers Nic G].

First up, the BMW dig at Audi:

And the response from Audi:

Not to be outdone, the bling boys got in with:

And, not sure if this is genuine, a car with real class comes up the rear as it were:

Ouch.

I know nothing

2007-03-31T19:17:00.000+12:00

The older my kids become, the dumber they think I am. I am now regularly chastised for my simplistic nature and lack of understanding of the world around me. By the time Miss R is 6 and Little Ms R is 4 (both this year) I will have regressed to the intelligence of an amoeba; it will be unlikely that I'll be able to spell amoeba by then let alone write on this blog.

I'll be alright though 'cause Lil' Ms R can turn on the PC, sign-in and launch IE7 and maybe I can dictate to her; I will be a proud Dad once she works out that Firefox is more superior browser and can navigate to anywhere but Nick Jr or Disney......

Dropping by to see Martha

2007-03-18T20:30:00.000+12:00

Well it was a windy old day here in Wellington, just the kind of day you are glad you are not flying in a small coffin shaped chunk of metal.....

We were at Te Papa, it being wet and windy. My cellphone rang and a friend, who happens to hold a pilots licence, lets me know that the weather is due to clear up and he'll see me at 2pm at the Wellington Aeroclub. He says it might be a bit rough but she'll be all right...

He was right. It was an interesting take-off, a bumpy ride and a great landing (although every landing when you touch down on the wheels and not in a ball of flame is a good one). We flew over Marthas home town of Petone and waved; not sure if you were in but we waved anyway! There were some boats in the harbour and we got a great view of the South Island but it was hard to hold the camera steady by that point.

I'm trying to post the video from You-Tube but it might defeat me this evening....it'll appear below if I can get it working......

Damn, Wellington is a neat city even if it is windy.

Bravery Beads

2007-03-15T22:26:00.000+13:00

Check out the fund raising website, www.braverybeads.org.nz.

2007 Child Cancer Foundation Appeal

2007-03-10T17:03:00.000+13:00

Those who have followed this blog over the years (jeez, doesn't time fly) know that I have an association with the Child Cancer Foundation. The foundation is gearing up for the annual street appeal in a few weeks time (23rd March in Welly) and I have just had a preview of this years Television advertising. Now, you'll probably remember the Lexi dancing commercial of 2005 for its beautiful simplicity, and the Fight the Monster of 2006 for its use of animation and web advertising.

Interestingly, the Fight the Monster was loved or hated and I think this years will be the same but it isn't an easy message to tell and there ain't no niceness about cancer. This years is less fluffy and will punch people in the stomach. Be prepared. It is extremely simple but sends a very powerful message about the journey that a child and their family go through when undergoing treatment. The harsh reality that is cancer treatment is startlingly brutal and unless you happen to be a health professional or have had to sadly deal with this yourself, it is hard to understand just how long a journey it is and just how many needles and tests the poor kids go through.

I haven't been down this journey personally, for which I am so relieved, and I am constantly amazed at the strength of the kids and parents who face down the horror. CCF are there to provide support wherever needed and I am privileged to be able to help even if in only a small way. My life is hectic, busy and crazy and I struggle to balance my own family and my work along with the commitment to CCF but there are some things you cannot ignore. For some it is animals, for some it is poverty; for me it is families and the kids and whilst I am tired, others are in a far worse place.

This years face of the appeal is Sam Turnwald and her story is here.

Look out for me in Lambton Quay on 23rd by Whitcoulls with some of my work collegues and if you're a fan of local community radio, you'll catch me on Access Radio (783AM) at 4:30pm on Tuesday 13th March on Youth Zone being interviewed about the CCF and this years appeal.

I'd be real interested in your view of this years TV advertisements. They kick off on Wednesday and if you hate it or have any comment, please let me know but be prepared, it is pretty intense.

New Template and Life

2007-03-10T16:54:00.000+13:00

'bout time I changed my template. Alan's done it, Martha's done it, so I thought I'd best get on board.

Haven't written for a long time owing to "other commitments", oh and a shit load of work. My every waking hour (and some of my sleeping) have been spent trying to keep on top of things whether they be work, house, family, garden, mother, and the general business that is life. I will try and be better into the rest of 2007 but I can't promise. The only constant in my life has been Mojo where I can be found at least once every day.....

Holy Cow

2006-10-11T20:56:00.000+13:00

"What did you learn on your second day of school?", I asked.
"Urrmm, The Father", she touches her forehead.
"The Son", she touches her chest.
"The Holy Spirit", she touches her shoulders.
"How Many". She smiles triumphantly.

"Errr, what did you say?", I ask.
"How Many", she replied.
"How many what?", I asked.
"It's what you say after The Holy Spirit. You know, How Many", she said.
"Oh", I say. Amen is not a word used in our house, obviously; never been one for religion me.

Lost Again

2006-10-08T22:22:00.000+13:00

Just watched the first episode of Season 3 of Lost. Think I'll change my name to Henry and just stare at people. Bless the Gods of Torrent....oh, and we are just about to get into Season 2 of Prison Break - we've had episodes 21 and 22 for a few months but have been sooo busy (which explains the big gaps in time between entries on this blog), just haven't watched it. Watched 21 tonight (before Lost, kids in bed early!) and it was great. 22 tomorrow and then a marathon session next weekend I think.

Let them eat cake....

2006-09-23T18:23:00.000+12:00

We are just recovering from Miss R's 5th Birthday Party. A resounding success if noise is any measure to go by. We had the very talented Fairy Trina to entertain the kids and I, erhmm, enjoyed her performance too; nice bone structure for a fairy. This years cake was a bit easier than previous years with a severed Barbie serving as the topping. Mrs R hired a cake tin from Golding Handcrafts for a few bucks which made the whole thing pretty straightforward.

It was certainly easier than the effort for Little Miss R a few months ago when this creation was nearly an all-nighter. An interesting choice for a 3 year old girl but she was adamant and who are we to impose our views on her!

5 is an interesting age. Miss R seems to know so much and I am now feeling mortal. There was a time when 21 seemed a long way away for me and now I'm worrying about her 21st when I'll be the wrong side of 50. Shit and double shit. At least I still have my own hair.

Good Samaritan or Dirty Fuckwit

2006-09-18T20:29:00.000+12:00

If you remember back to the start of this Blog and its sole purpose...to highlight the dangers of dealing with building developers and in particular the developer Paul Hewitt and his one time partner Andrew (David) Monro...I have an interesting update for you.

First a recap.
Met Hewitt & Monro courtesy of LJ Hooker. Got fucked by all.
Met Lombard Finance. Got screwed again.
Met Tommy Heptinstall of Tommys Real Estate. White Knight and bloody good bloke and all round hero. Personally helped us out and enabled us to rebuild our future in the lovely house that we now live in. Best Real Estate company in Wellington in our view.

We lost a packet because of LJ Hooker, Hewitt, Monro and Lombard either through stupidity but in absolutely no way related to fraud, greed, lying cheating bastards, bent real estate deal, tax dodge, dubious practises, outright theft, stuff the New Zealand public, let me bend you over and take you for a ride, who's your Daddy?

And here we are today.

We just got a letter from Mr Monro. He has another company. This one is called Nicholson Road Developments Limited. He's had it a while and whilst he is still a director of the company that is in liquidation after our disastrous deal (Beyond the Obvious), he is also a director of this one. He wants to give us some money. Great you think. He wants to repay us back 2 1/2 cents for every dollar that we lost. That works out at $1,950 in exchange for the $78,000 sunk into the house pictured below. Not looking so hot these days, ay? Nice view still though and great indoor outdoor flow.....landscaping is nice, good use of natural grasses I think.

Not a bad deal considering that the original company has absolutely no assets and the liquidators report (kindly reproduced for us by Monro) states that "there are no monies available for unsecured creditors from the company". Whilst not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but why oh why would he do this? He doesn't have to pay anything and it sure as hell ain't because he's a nice guy. So tell me, what does he have to gain by effectively buying the debt of a company in liquidation? Is it:

a) He can't sleep at night owing to guilt and is worried about burning in hell;
b) He's an all round fine fellow and just wants to do the right thing;
c) He's looking for a tax fiddle and this is the only way to get it;
d) He has been having fantasies about me and is looking for my undying love;

What do you think? It makes no sense....

The Real Value of Money

2006-09-03T14:39:00.000+12:00

I don't really know a lot about my family history. I believe my Grandad went some way back into the family tree on my fathers side but I have never seen it and he died before I was old enough to be interested. On my mothers side I have a copy of the tree going back to 1781 but by far the most interesting aspect is that one of my great great (great...) grandparents was a Miss Venus. There are some great names and it is weird to think that I have a Patience Bumstead in my line (born in 1800 and who lived to the incredible age of 84 years at a time before central heating and modern drugs).

I have been given a whole pile of old coins from my mother who has had them in a box for years. They span back through the family and include a Queen Victoria One Penny dated 1897, through Edward V, George V and VI, some African coins from my heritage, and some coins so aged as to almost illegible but certainly early 1800's. One particularly odd one is an American Indian Head Nickel which is so worn I cannot read the date but it is between 1913 and 1938, according to Wikipedia.

I have no idea where it came from and my guess would be either during the First World War but sadly I cannot ask. I see these things trade at reasonable prices with collectors looking for mint examples in vacuum sealed cases but I think the value is in the story attached to such a coin. I'll imagine that a young relative travelled on a great journey and brought this back as a memento. Certainly something to hand down to my grandchildren one day.....who'll probably pawn it and dance on my grave!

Either way, hopefully they'll wonder at the 1968 Kenya Ten cents and the Tanzania Five Shillings from 1972 and be curious about my life; they might also wonder at the New Zealand 1962 One Florin (that I got in my change the other day) which feels like real money (unlike the new coins). After all, those loose coins in the back of your drawer are like a piece of personal history recounting the places you've been and things you've seen. I guess plastic will take over the world eventually but until then the real value of money is in the journey made to get it.

You gotta be kidding me

2006-07-25T20:41:00.000+12:00

OK Alan.
A joke is a joke but this time you have gone too far. Just what the fuck is this and why was it in my laundry room? It is big, and red and very hairy.
Can you give me a good reason not to shoe it?

The "Hey we are all Gods creatures and it'd be murder" doesn't cut it as I've just enjoyed a beef curry and poor old daisy was an innocent too but tasted damn fine thank you very much.

Don't try the "It's OK to kill to eat; you have to live Man" as I'll BBQ spidey and feed him to the birds.

Th clock is ticking.....and the shoe is ready.

The Ghost Ship

2006-07-02T16:32:00.000+12:00

Wellington has damn interesting weather. If is ain't blowin' a gale, it can be as still as a grave; there doesn't appear to be anything in between. Yesterday was 1st July and Wellington was shrouded in a mysterious fog. Steven King himself couldn't have painted a more spooky day on the harbour. Driving around the 'burbs went from spectacular sunshine with people enjoying the day on their decks to dense cloud cover and the distant moan of fog horns on the harbour.

During the afternoon, a large container ship came into port and very slowly made its way to the dockside. The sun was shining brilliantly by then and you can see the beach over at Oriental Parade and the Fishermans Table Restaurant; what you can't see are the two tugboats that were helping the ship to berth. Must have been real spooky out there.

What an interesting place to live; I could happily have sit and watched this all day but time was running out. Little Miss R's 3rd Birthday Party was due to kick of at 10:30am on Sunday and there was sooo much still to do.........

Lilongwe Area 12

2006-06-25T18:53:00.000+12:00

Area 12
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

No matter how amazing you think Google Earth is, it still blows my mind how they have done it. The whole freakin' planet, damn. In the last couple of weeks they've upped the resolution on Wellington and they have also done the same for Lilongwe.

I was looking for my old house in Area 12 of that fine country a few weeks back and I reckon Sergey and Larry must have read my blog to see my quest and suddenly Lilongwe is in glorious high res. Now all I need is a ground shot. From above it looks like the grounds have gone a bit wild and the drive is a bit of a mess but I can see the bare land where I played football and the church where we would walk to at the end of the road and the houses of our friends who will have also long departed. Here's hoping that Mangaliso can help me out with the picture.

I now need to hunt down the two house in Nairobi which is a harder task owing to its size and fainter memories.....

Welly in all its glorious detail

2006-06-19T20:56:00.000+12:00

The Westpac Stadium
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

Google Earth finally covers Wellington in High Res! The fabulous Westpac Stadium can now be shown off to the world.....

We live right here:

Did she really say that?

2006-06-13T20:36:00.000+12:00

My girls got a giggle today from being in The Dominion Post. Something for Miss R to talk about in "News Day" so I am now called a "very special Daddy" which will last until I fall out of favour the next time I ask her to clean up/go to bed/clean her teeth/do anything that involves physical movement.

It has been a week for interesting comments from the two little Reasonables.

In at number 3:
After a conversation with our very friendly neighbour as Mrs R walked away, in loud voice - "Why did we talk to the silly man, Mummy?".

Followed by:
In the supermarket buying milk, again in a loud voice - "I know where milk comes from." Me, pleased with her intellect, "Do you?". " Yes, the farmer puts on a glove and gives the cow a squeeze and milk comes out of its bottom."

An my favourite:
To Grandma - "Look at my nipples, they're as big as door knockers".

Earth, swallow me up.

The long road

2006-06-01T19:32:00.000+12:00

The blogosphere covers the world. Following my own little mobile blogging experience the other day I found myself wondering how real travelling bloggers coped. I then started to think about the isolated places in the world and the places that I grew up in, such as Lilongwe in Central/East Africa (as beautifully shown above from Google Earth). I grew up in Nairobi in Kenya and then Lilongwe in Malawi before moving back to the UK as a teenager for the 80’s and then finally to my new home of New Zealand a few years ago.

I have fond (but distant) memories of Lilongwe and I often wonder about the friends that I left behind whose names I cannot recall but whose company I remember. I wonder about the gardener whose name I do remember as Friday (I kid you not) and his son, whose name was appropriately Son. I remember that Son had a limp due to Polio and that he was a genius at making fully working and steerable cars out of wire coat hangers. I remember that they were very kind people and lived a peaceful existence in a country, on a continent with so much violence in its past. [edit: Thank you to Mangaliso and Austin for highlighting the peaceful existance of Malawi as The Warm heart of Africa. I have nothing but good memories of the country and its fantastic and friendly people].

My mother recently moved to New Zealand to be near me and her grandchildren (and to escape the harsh life that is the UK) and she has boxes of photos. I found the above pictures which were of our house in Lilongwe, area 12 and a road with no name. I think the house was simply called "Lot 1" and was on the corner of a long road that led towards town. I have very happy memories of that house and of birthday parties in the garden. We would go to the Capital Hotel for lunch on Sundays (now the Le Meridien Capital) and the photo of the swimming pool here is exactly as it was despite the over 20 years that have passed. I even remember where we used to sit and the menu of scotch eggs and salad! Our dog, a Great Dane, was called Sloopy and she was crazy.

I wondered if the house was still there and I did a search on Lilongwe and Area 12 and damn if I didn’t stumble into my original question of bloggers around the world and this group. I have posted a link to this entry on one of their sites with some questions.

Is this house still there, sitting proudly on the corner? I expect the hedge has grown and the road is probably more developed but I guess it would be the same;
Who is the woman in the photo below and is she still there? Her name was Tricia Morris and she was married to Alan and they lived down the road about 50 yards and I remember that she had kids about the same age as me and my brother (Sophie and Daniel and one other) and a rabbit that once bit my nipple (a story for another time).

I would dearly love to see a photo of our house today. It would be amazing to know if Friday, Son and his family were still living next to the house and still looking after the lovely garden. One day I’ll go back and explore for myself but that day is a long way off and another 20 years might ruin my chances of ever knowing the answers to these questions.

Motorola HT820 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones

2006-05-25T19:47:00.000+12:00

It's been a while since I bought a gadget, well at least a month anyway, but this latest toy is bloody amazing and is simply magic. No, honest it is actually magic - I'm talking David Copperfield flying around the room stuff here.

Picture this:

You are walking down the road, you're wearing headphones and listening to a bit of some funky old track such as the 1991 remix of Tainted Love (that came in a very camp little leather pouch). You reach behind your left ear and turn it up a bit. Then you decide to skip to the next track. You reach behind the right ear, press the little button and in kicks an old favourite, Sugerbox from Then Jerico. Nice but nothing clever there, hey? But wait, there's more. Closer inspection reveals no wires here mate. "What's that?", you say. How is the music getting from that little Dell Axim X51v (that appears to have been surgically implanted into your hand) and across thin air and into the rather neat looking little chrome and black wrap-around headphones.

Ah, the power of Bluetooth and a Stereo Wireless Bluetooth stack (whatever that is). Turn on your PDA, activate the headphones, and within seconds they are "talking" and through the power of magic, beautiful music is in your head. Simple. No fuss, no mess, no wires. You can shake your head, or wiggle your butt (as taught here by Martha), either way, the music keeps pumpin' and the quality is brilliant. Nothing short of magic.

Simply OK

2006-05-17T21:31:00.000+12:00

After 20 years, Simple Minds were back in Wellington. It was time to recapture my youth and we went, along with a whole lot of other 30-somethings, a few 40-somethings and a scattering of 50-pluses. Attire was firmly jeans, casual top and comfortable shoes for guys - the middle age uber-cool. For the women, it was mostly stylish with the occasional victim of the 80's who hadn't quite got over the era. Women are genetically better at dressing than men and know how to look good as they age. Us guys seem to let it go, as if we ever had it....

The first surprise was that this was not a sell-out. There were plenty of spare seats but at $120 a pop, this was not a cheap concert. A lot of people turned up after the support group but there was plenty of room for more. The support band (whose name I have no recollection of) were interesting and unknown and are likely to remain so. They had a couple of catchy tunes which could make it and the lead singer enjoyed himself with a few mild mannered hecklers. Their last song was their best and at least got the crowd a bit excited.

When the main event started, there was a buzz, and Kerr captured the mood like a pro with the it's been 20 years and it's great to be back and we'll do our best opening. A couple of avid female fans ran to the front of the stage and just managed not to throw knickers - this was pretty fortunate as I suspect that there were girdles involved. This inspired a whole sea of wannabees to head to the front - huge similarities to my last concert at Michael Fowler which was Hi-5 when all the "cool" kids get up to dance. Sadly, I suspect that some of those groupies had to get to the front as they couldn't see so well from the back as their eyes weren't quite what they used to be. I think some of them had forgotten why they were there and wanted to simply find the toilet.

Kerr banged out some good tracks and the dancing group (about 150 by now) waved their arms and bounced around. By the 4th track, the arm waving noticeably slowed as age took hold. They were a resilient lot though and kept going all night up there. This could have been down to the fact that a) they had lost feeling in their legs b) they couldn't quite remember where they were sitting or c) is this the queue for the toilet?

Kerr had enormous energy and hit the notes. Burchill strolled around the stage chewing gum and occasionally mimed a few words but he appeared to be a song behind. He played great all night though and is a happy fellow having played the big number two for so long. The light show was classic 80's flashes and strobes glaring out into the crowd. Nicely done and good for the paramedics to find their way around. The occasional reflection off of a bald head would cast nice mirror ball effects around the hall which was nice. You could feel the energy off the boppers, and the static charge building up from so many acrylic sweaters rubbing together could have lit up all of the waterfront.

There were two encores and we got treated to some more good tracks. Kerr kept the crowd eating out of his hand with some good banter and by swinging his mike around for a chorus. It was a good night but I came away a bit disappointed for some reason. Don't get me wrong, it was a good concert, and musically it was everything that you would expect, but it just didn't hit the mark for me. There were a lot of people dancing about but way more sitting and shoe tapping. It took you back a few years but it didn't blast you there and shake you into a frenzy. I guess 20 years is a long time and the memories are sometimes better than the reality.

I know I shouldn't but I couldn't help comparing the experience to David Gray from a few weeks back - this is a bit like comparing a modern rugby player like Jerry Collins with a star of 20 years ago. In their day they were the best, but somehow, they breed them bigger and stronger and more talented today and side by side, there is a world of difference. This doesn't take anything away from the stars of yesteryear, it is just that the world has moved on and we've got older and more picky. Still, a bloody good night out without the kids and my comfortable shoes tapped for most of the night.

Broadband Busted

2006-05-09T10:04:00.000+12:00

We are webless, without net, that net is dead. Sometime on Monday our connection vanished and we are no longer connected. We have spent hours now on the phone to ihug and it appears that good old Telecom have disabled our line to iHug. This means that we have no e-mail (oh the humanity) and since I cannot log into my web mail at work (I think it interrupts our productivity) I find myself in a cafe picking up my mail via wireles CafeNet and enjoying a coffee. Now that is how to screw productivity! Oh, I have an e-mail from iHug asking how their customer service is. Pretty good actually, once you get through. Sadly, we have to rely on Telecom to get off their arse and check the line which they appear to have blocked in their latest "urgent upgrade at the exchange". So much for unbundling the local loop then........

Simple Minds - New Zealand Tour of 1986

2006-05-07T17:59:00.000+12:00

20 years is a long time. Things change. People change. Music changes. Good music lives forever.....

It was November 1986 and Jim Kerr and the rest of the band "Simple Minds" were in Wellington, New Zealand. The newspaper clipping pictured above (courtesy of a work colleague with an allergy to geeks - tar RD) has a great quote from Jim: "It would be naive of us to think we'll always be around. Simple Minds might be nothing next year." Whilst the band has featured many new faces over the years, Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill remain and the old tracks are such a part of my growing up in the 80's that I can still remember the release of "Don't You (Forget About Me)" and then watching The Breakfast Club of which I am so not proud.

A lot changes in 20 years - for a start Kerr was 28 years old in 1986 so that makes him closer to 50 now (and me closer to 40!). Still if the Stones can still do it, I'm sure Kerr can. I have also got a copy of a full page spread from The Evening Post dated Saturday 8th November 1986 which gives a good insight into Christchurch back then. There is mention of a "new" nightclub, The Palladium, and I wonder if it is still around? Perhaps Mike could check it out for us? Kerr also has long hair and I guessing that these days it might be somewhat shorter...

Either way, I am sure the music will be a great time machine for me and I'm looking forward to the night on 15th May 2006 in Wellington when Kerr and Burchill get back on stage and I can dance like I did when I was 16. I am worried that Mrs R will think I'm having a senior moment and before I know it, two paramedics will be trying to hold me down whilst they zap me with a defibrillator.....

What have I learnt this week....

2006-05-06T17:48:00.000+12:00

I learnt a lot this week during my mobile coffee experiment.

I learnt that it is very easy to surf and blog on the move in Wellington. Connecting to a wireless network with a wireless enabled PDA is a breeze. There is nothing to it at all; just press a button, sign-in and you are done. As to whether this is useful is another matter. Maybe for maps, and local information, but an essential service? Nah, I don't think so but damn useful at times I'm sure.

I learnt that CafeNet offer really fast connectivity and Telecom don't. Telecom also bill for time connected, by the second, rather than data traffic which is ludicrous. It takes time to write a posting yet not a lot of traffic moves around whilst you are writing. They charge $9.95 per hour to dial-up users or pre-paid cards (nothing to broadband users until 31st August but I couldn't get this to work when I was with Telecom Broadband). CafeNet will give you a whole 24 hours access for $10. CafeNet also offer a more sensible option of a data allowance and $20 gets you 70Mb but $80 gets a whopping 350Mb.

I learnt that all the coffee in Wellington is good and some is excellent. Prices vary slightly but are almost exactly the same with overtones of a price cartel! Price is not a measure of quality and $3.60/80 is a good range to keep in your head.

I learnt that I am the only person to have ever logged into CafeNet or a Telecom Hotpsot in Wellington EVER. It just isn't done. I had many stares and it makes me wonder if people even know about wireless access; it certainly isn't promoted too well. I guess that once mobile devices start becoming cheaper and more functional, people will begin to use them more and more. In the meantime, it is a brave investor who spends cash supporting a start-up wireless company but it could become a goldmine.

So who was the ultimate winner in this experiment? It has to be Mojo I think. Consistently good coffee and a great location. They also offer a pre-pay Mojo VIP Club card which gives users a 10% discount on not only coffee but coffee beans too. Nice touch. Mine is now loaded up in advance so I am actually saving money when I buy coffee........

Fresco

2006-05-04T12:28:00.000+12:00

Fresco
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

4th May 2006
12:11pm
Here I am at Fresco....

Fresco is on Lambton Quay, above The Body Shop. There are a lot of tables and despite the time, it is easy to find a place to sit. Some of the tables are these small round metal numbers which are wobbly, but if you're early there are plenty of decent wooden tables over by the window. I am perched above the escalator and it offers an interesting perspective.

The place is very busy but not too noisy - the big open area in this atrium absorbs a lot of sound and I could have a deep and meaningful conversation with someone if i wasn't all alone! Billy no mates me...

My coffee arrives in 7 minutes 34 seconds - not bad given the time. It is a beaut. Well made and with a bit of art or at least an attempt at a pattern. First taste confirms that it is fresh and well made. I also ordered a panini and it is well presented and tasty. Total cost was $11.00 and it is good value with a bit of dressing with the food.

The connection to CafeNet is quite fast and makes for easy surfing. The artwork is good but a bit boring. I guess you just have to get lucky when you visit. Today has a fruit theme which does not interest me in the least. I'd much rather see boobies or at least something a bit more interesting.

Overall, the coffee rates as a 8 1\2. I notice that the toys that used to live in the corner are gone and I understand that they are not coming back. Pity as they used to keep the kids amused whilst Mrs R and I ate lunch.

Mojo

2006-05-03T21:41:00.000+12:00

Mojo
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

Following our excellent lunch at Pod, we decided to go for a second cuppa to help with digestion. This time we headed over to Mojo. This is our usual cafe and there is never any question about that. If you are after consistent quality, Mojo is your best best. They supply beans to a few of the cafes around town and are known for their quality.

We are usually take-out customers but in the interests of good research, we were "innies" today. Mojo is located at one end of The Old Bank Arcade. For those of you not in Wellington, this building is a piece of history. The tiled floor is simply amazing and it retains the atmosphere of an esteemed financial institution. Conversations occur in hushed tones and footsteps echo down the banking chamber as shoppers wander down past the boutiques.

Our coffee arrives very quickly and it looks good. Great head and lovely body (gee, that'll get the Google hits) and in a tall glass. Some of the cafes in town superheat the glass in a small blast furnace prior to delivery to you - this results in burnt fingers and it takes nearly 4 hours to drink. This one was perfectly hot to drink and easy to gulp with no skin scorched to the glass. As usual, a great flavour, with a smoothe creamy consistency. We are in 9 territory and Alan took this close-up on his wizzy camera phone.

There was one disappointment in that I couldn't connect to either CafeNet or a Telcom Hotspot. This is despite being smack in the middle of town. However, there is a Starbucks at the other end of the arcade and I would suggest that you buy your Mojo and then wander down there to connect, if you must. Take a look at the great clock whilst you are down there.

Despite the lack of connectivity, a great cafe and a neat place to sit and drink and watch the world go by. A firm 9 and the leader of the pack so far.

Pod

2006-05-03T20:44:00.000+12:00

Pod
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

First up Pod.

We were there for lunch so it would have been impolite to type away at a small screen and ignore the group, particularly as the lunch was in honour of the esteemed Alan. I did however test the wireless functionality of my Dell Axim X51v and was disappointed that I couldn't connect to CafeNet. This might have been due to the fact that we were behind a large concrete wall but nonetheless you still expect a connection. I did manage to connect via a Telecom hotspot but as in all things Telecom, efficiency is not a priority as pages loaded with a less than satisfactory speed.

It was unfair to time the coffee delivery after lunch as it was a large order but all of the drinks arrived promptly and by that time we had drunk a small amount of wine and time was no longer an issue; in fact slow would have been just fine thank you. The waiter took 6 (maybe 7) hot drink orders and without the need to write anything down got everything to us perfectly.

The coffee was good. Nice and strong, clearly fresh beans and very smoothe. I have been a bit disappointed so far not to have encountered any coffee art and again none here. I have noticed that the best art is strangely over at the airport where they always come up with great patterns but that is a bit far to go in a lunchtime. There was no bitterness at all and all-in an excellent drop of black gold.

I have no idea about price but the meal was bloody good, the service excellent and the environment clean, functional and discrete. There are lots of tables that can give privacy and it is easy to have a conversation without shouting, unlike some of the more cosy cafes about town. I have been to Pod many times and have never had a bad cup yet.
This has to be an 8.

Pod

2006-05-03T09:44:00.000+12:00

Todays cafe will be Pod but due to unforseen circumstances cannot be live........

Rise Cafe

2006-05-02T12:24:00.000+12:00

Rise Cafe
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

Alan: While Mr Reasonable wolfs his beef roll, I shall pontificate on Rise, the cafe of today.

Initial impressions were not that good: a coldly cavernous space; concrete floor; a bit dark and cold and lacking in ambience.

Coffee's not too bad though, and it arrived reasonably promptly, as did our rolls. I won't do a detailed description: that's up to Mr Reasonable. However, I thought my latte was a little bland to my taste, although well-constructed.

Over to Mr Reasonable.

MrR: Agree with Alan, it is cold and a bit unwelcoming. Coffee arrived in 5 minutes and 32 seconds and looked good. Initial taste was reasonable, and certainly better than yesterday. Not fantastic though and a little short of some establishments about town. Beef roll was good and the bill, at $10.50, for roll and Latte was OK.

Second taste of coffee as expected - a perfectly good cup, nice mix of top and body, no aftertaste and very smoothe if not a bit weak. I could've ordered an extra shot and will know to do that next time.

The cafe is sparse, nice artwork but it is cold which means that we are going to eat, post and leave......
7 1/2 overall.
__________________

We had a few technical difficulties today for some reason. The connection to CafeNet is FAST, much faster than I expected and faster than other portals I've used. Response times are as quick as my home connection through iHug at 2.5mbs and it is a pleasure to surf here. Couldn't get Blogger to accept any updates though although the text of the post was saved. Maybe I need to get myself an offline writer. Flickr upload was a breeze and even sending the large photo file took way less than 1 minute. Impressive stuff. Cold though, damn cold.

Espresso Republic

2006-05-01T12:01:00.000+12:00

Espresso Republic
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

Review in Progress

11:54am
1st May 2006

12:03pm
Well a good start as I am connected to CafeNet and have uploaded the above photo!
Espresso Republic is located on Featherston Street, just opposite the Hotel Ibis.

I walked into the cafe at 11:40am accompanied by Alan and as there was no queue, went straight to the counter and ordered a Latte and a Panini. This was at 11:41am.

The coffee arrived 3 minutes and 26 seconds later.....

Hmm, colour was a bit on the thin side although the top looked creamy enough. First taste was a bit disappointing (damn I miss that Google task bar for spell checking). It is all in the milk and this was clearly not up to the usual standard here.

The nice throthy top covered a reasonable brew though and whilst a tad bitter very drinkable. Since I would actually drink coffee from the used bowl of a bulldog, not in itself a recommendation but not a bad cup nonetheless.

Quick look around. Alan has left me to go do some "work" and I am a lone geek....

There is a great piece of art in front of me. It is by Bill Burke - Using Opera lets me open a new tab and check out his web site. This piece is of a woman on a beach and strangely makes me think about Caroline. Everything else about the cafe is classic simple decor, lots of suits meeting with suits and an absence of kids. Not one. Good, I think having spent two days with mine!

12:31pm
Coffee finished. A small aftertaste, again a bit bitter. This is my benchmark coffee and is sadly a rather weak 6 1/2 out of 10. I have had clear 10`s here in the past so I am shocked. The panini was delicious though and the price for one latte, one Earl Gray Tea and the Panini was $16.00 which ain't bad. The delivery of the coffee was excellent and the food not long after. Alans tea arrived in about 2 minutes which is a great achievement. They clearly gear up for lunch with the aim of getting you in and out quickly. Just what you want really.

12:41pm
I'm ready to leave. My table has been cleared and I am guilty of taking up space with no food! I am amazed that everything on the technology side worked so well. I only had one issue when the wireless network from the Hotel Ibis rudely tried to take over my connection but in terms of speed and connectivity, this is almost as good as being at home.

We live in an extraordinary age - fully connected wherever you go (in and around the CBD) and with research portals and search engines like Google at your disposal there is nothing that you cannot know/do/find out. All we need now is a screen 3 times the size that can fold away and we are there.....

Tomorrow, Rise on The Terrace
________________

A few edits now completed for broken links etc. Also, I have copied some of the review here.

A Hot Spot

2006-04-30T20:59:00.000+12:00

First up in the taste challenge to find the best mobile coffee in Wellington is Expresso Republic in Featherston Street. I'll be there from 11:45ish on Monday 1st May '06 and will place an order for a Latte and test the result. I'll be posting a photo of the brew as I taste it and writing a review in-situ. If it's good (and I quietly expect it will be having been there many times) I may order lunch and become a mobile lunch critic too.

Feel free to join me; two cups are better than one!

Your mission, should you choose to accept it

2006-04-26T22:33:00.000+12:00

A mobile milestone was reached today. I have successfully taken a picture with a very sexy Casio Ex-Z55, popped the SD card into my Dell Axim X51v, uploaded it to Flickr via my iHug e-mail account, which I logged into via Opera, (GMail wouldn't let me attach files for some reason), then went into Flickr and wrote a blog entry and successfully posted it. Quite a lot of work actually in signing in to the different accounts but a pretty good experience.

So how to test this "in the wild" as it were. Well here is what I propose. I am going to visit a different Wellington Cafe every day next week, order a decent Latte, take a photo of said lovely drinky, upload the photo of the cafe and the coffee, and write a live tasting session of the liquid heaven and the surroundings. I am fully charged with a CafeNet account and some Telecom Hotspot credits and I'm ready to go. The question is where?

This is a list of all of the CafeNet covered sites.
This is a list of all the Telecom Hotspot covered sites.

I'll start at Espresso Republic as the benchmark as I know the coffee quality is consistently high. I am going to measure on price, presentation, speed from order to delivery, of course taste, ambiance of the cafe and whether or not I am abused for being a geek typing on a dinky keyboard whilst gargling and gurgling coffee in my mouth. I shall resist the temptation to check the bouquet and spit it out onto the floor....

I'd prefer to stick around Lambton Quay/Willis Street but will travel further if the coffee recommendation is good. So how about it? I have Monday sorted, where to on Tuesday onwards? I will aim to be in each cafe at 11:45am before the lunchtime rush and can hopefully get some comparative serving times! I'll put the name of each venue cafe the evening before I go and feel free to join me! I'll be easy to spot as I'll be swearing at a wee screen and trying to connect to invisible wireless forces, all in the interest of science!

The Road to Hell...

2006-04-16T12:00:00.000+12:00

The Road to Hell...
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

I’ve just spent a few days up in Taupo with my brother who was over for a flying visit from the UK. We set off at 6:30am on Wednesday, had lunch on the way, stopped at the Army Museum in Waiouru (to remind us how stupid war and humans are) and then headed over the Desert Road.

I am a pretty courteous driver and as a father of small kids absolutely never break the speed limit through towns. Seriously I don’t. Life can be cruel and one rare unfortunate event can lead to an accident that nobody could foresee.

However, the open road is a strange drug and it is very tough on the fabulous straights to keep it down. The regular little white crosses on the side of the roads are a good reminder though and some of the sign-posts are simple and direct.

Having driven for many years in the UK I became very used to bright orange speed cameras and the many signs advising of upcoming cameras or speed check zones. No such courtesies appear to exist in NZ where there is an art to hiding cameras and unmarked Police Cars. The strategy in the UK is to warn drivers so that they do actually moderate speed in the areas where it is vital and/or dangerous such as schools or accident black spots. The motorway speed limit is 70mph but most drivers (and I do mean most) will hit the fast lane of the motorway and travel an entire journey between 80-90mph. This is tolerated as everyone is driving fast and there is an understanding about where it is safe.

The big difference in NZ is that the cameras appear to be simply there to derive revenue and boy are they well hidden. They are unmarked and cleverly concealed and rather than regulate speed in dangerous areas they simple seem to make drivers take risks in areas that they know a camera simply couldn’t be, like a very short but straight bit if road leading to a sharp corner. I witnessed many acts of madness.

But I remain confused. If I am travelling behind a vehicle at 85kph in a 100kph zone, am I permitted to exceed the speed limit to safely pass? Can I accelerate past the limit, zip past the caravan/car and then just drift back under once I am a safe distance past? Or am I supposed to get to 100kph, slowly pass the car on the wrong side of the road and then immediately get back into the left lane?

I actually opted for the latter. The car we were in generates 225bhp or 165kw, is turbo charged, has an intercooler and a 0-100kph slightly more than 6 seconds. It also has a top speed of over 240kph and so can really move. Needless to say, I have never approached these speeds on NZ roads; really, I haven’t.

We were on a long straight and up ahead there was a caravan which was travelling at a pace. It would have been around 30kph on the bends and then up to 95-100kph in the straights and looked very unsteady. I opted to blitz past. The road was clear for miles ahead; I could see several dips but nothing had been on the horizon for some time. 3rd gear (of 6) was selected and I moved out, pressed down and was gone. I pulled back into the left in a flash, the caravan a long way back, and came over a rise my foot easing off the go juice pedal but not braking, preferring to drift back down to a more reasonable speed. And there he was. Just down the rise, and invisible until the last second. A white van, dark windows. Smug.

So, am I guilty or innocent? The entire journey was made within the legal limits, yet when you overtake in a safe manner to limit the time on the right hand side of the road, do you opt for a slow lumbering overtake manoeuvre or a rapid in and out? What would you do?

Is it me or is there something odd about my kids?

2006-04-10T21:36:00.000+12:00

Is it me or is there somehing odd about my kids?
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

I have noticed some subtle changes in my kids behaviour. I suggested to Mrs R that we cut back on the chocolate as they get a bit hyper at night but she thinks that it is just a phase. We've had to hide the phone as the little buggers keep wanting to call home which is odd. We haven't seen the cats for a while either; every since Miss R said she thought the cat looked a bit "fat and juicy".

Forever Young...

2006-04-08T22:51:00.000+12:00

alphaville
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

I rarely listen to the incessant ramblings of DJs on the radio at weekends although I do strangely enjoy "The Morning Crew" on ZM during the week as it lightens my drive to work but everything else just interrupts the music. Today I was driving along when a track I recognised as a classic from my early 80's collection began to play. The very second I heard "Let's dance in style, Let's dance for a while..." I was transported back over 10 years. The DJ raved what a great new track it was by a new group and what great song writers they were; I nearly went off the road.

Sadly, it has been covered by a band called Youth Group - the song, Forever Young, was a masterpiece by a little known German group, Alphaville, and was hot on the heals of their iconic ballad, Big in Japan. This was all back in 1984 when the world was a different place; damn do I feel old! Big in Japan and Forever Young (from their first album of the same name) were the major hits and although they continued to push out some great stuff, they never really made it in the UK after that.

A few years later, they released their second album, "Afternoons in Utopia" quickly followed in 1987 by "The Breathtaking Blue". I managed to stumble across the second album in the back streets of Amsterdam in the late 80's and grabbed the third from a store in London in 1990 and it too has some great tracks. It also was "the first compact disc to be encoded with CD+Graphics" (so says the label) but I have never been able to get this to work and have tried on every computer I have owned since 1990! Any ideas how to view these greatly received.

My music tastes changed shortly thereafter and I lost touch with the group but continued to listen to the various tracks over the years on Walkmans, Discmans and MiniDiscs. This cover version has got me to dust off the discs and wizz them over to WMA so that I can enjoy them once again. I have also just ordered my latest toy, a set of Motorola Bluetooth headphones so that I can wander around the house/office and enjoy my music with no wires. Strange to think that these tracks were released shortly after the very first Walkman and in the year that Sony launched the Discman.

I remember having coils of wires inside my old car from the cigarette lighter and into the Discman and then back across and into the tape deck. Running over a small pebble resulted in a skipped track and the batteries lasted nearly a whole album. And here I am, an entire CD collection on one music player with no moving parts and that broadcasts the music to a pair of headphones with a rechargeable battery that could put a man on the moon or power a small village in Darkest Peru.

The original of Forever Young is substantially better than the new cover. The best part of the new release is that it helped me step back in time and has given me back some long forgotten memories. It also stirred me to track down the band and I'll be damned if they ain't still going. Looks like I'll be going onto Amazon soon......

Dell Axim X51v - Mobile Blogging

2006-03-19T19:37:00.000+12:00

Dell Axim X51v - Mobile Blogging
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

Having joined the excellent CafeNet I can now read my favourite blogs (like the above) as I wait for that perfect cup of coffee. Most of Lambton Quay (can you believe that is on Wikipedia?) is now covered and there are no shortage of good cafes. It is as easy as turning on your PDA, turning on the wireless feature and away you go. The experience is crap unless you are using Opera as your browser - IE Mobile just doesn't cut it. With a bluetooth wireless keyboard, you can even write your latest blog entry in relative comfort.

I expected this all to be a bit complicated and I admit I had some issues with installing the keyboard (which I expected to just turn on) but all in all, it was a positive experience and I am fully connected when out and about. I don't know why that is important as if I want to know something, I'll use my phone and call Mrs R but hey, maybe one day, I'll just have to get that important e-mail and simply cannot wait the 10 minutes it would take me to get home.......

Mine, all mine

2006-03-16T20:43:00.000+13:00

Mine, all mine
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

Is this the one?

Is she what I am looking for?

Does she offer me everlasting comfort?

Picture her in chocolate leather.

Should I?

Would you?

Whitetail

2006-03-15T22:02:00.000+13:00

Whitetail
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

The only good spider is a dead one. This big beastie lived in my house 'til I skewered him. He wasn't very big so I enhanced him a wee bit in PhotoShop......

Hand in Mouth

2006-03-09T19:12:00.000+13:00

"How are you today?", said the man in the mask.

"Awwwll Rwghhtrtsh", said I.

"Good. Does that hurt?", he asked.

"Flwgking Jyesesus Awlgbbrty", I said.

"How about that?", he interrogated.

"Yawlll Mumwas aee Whreoree", I cried.

"I'm going to scan you with a laser to check for any small holes.", he explained.

"Yuip gredi ownen wid itsh nwum ntsus", I said.

At this point I am laying with my legs about a foot higher than my head whilst a young fella has his hands in my mouth with a long pencil like thing that makes a melodic chime every few seconds. I was just expecting an examination and a clean-up of my teeth but I trust the man who is holding my tongue. I have no choice really.

When he's finished after about 15 minutes he sits me up and explains that he has scanned my teeth with a laser to look for microscopic holes that might contain bacteria that will cause holes. "Oh, really?", I said thinking what about just a clean up but assuming that this bit is coming next.

He explains that two of my teeth are a bit worn down from over zealous brushing and will need some repair work to protect the dentine. "Fine.", I say thinking at least it ain't a filling. He goes on with an explanation that there are 6 teeth where the bacteria have invaded the enamel that could form holes that will need to be filled. "Oh" say I thinking Bollocks.

But he goes on. There is (apparently) a new procedure that will kill the bacteria and so prevent the holes from ever forming; it is called HealOzone and is very effective. As it is new, it is a bit costly but is better than having fillings as it is pain free.

I leave after 25 minutes and $45 worse off and having made an appointment for a weeks time for a whole hour to treat 6 teeth with HealOzone and have 2 protective covers for the sensitive teeth, oh, and a clean-up. The estimate is way over $1,000.

As the day passes I start to wonder about this new super treatment. Knowing a bit about teeth (having achieved 'O levels and 'A levels in Biology many many years ago) I understood that once enamel was damaged, it had to be filled as it didn't just grow back. I also started to wonder what killing the bacteria would do because the thing about bacteria is they multiply and unless you have your entire mouth sterilised and never open your chops again, won't it just jump off another tooth and back to where it was?

And so the power of the interweb comes to use. I check out HealOzone. I try many searches for "HealOzone Scam, Fraud, issues, problems" but find nothing much except a few very interesting articles from dentists which are basically PR for the company concerned. I do find one very interesting article titled "British Experts Question Value of HealOzone Treatment".

It also appears that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the UK have not recommended the use of HealOzone unless it is part of a clinical trial. When you read the report it sounds like the treatment is useful for serious cases but ordinary brushing and mouth washes are as effective. It also highlights that bacteria would repopulate the area treated and be "well-established" about 2 weeks after treatment. It is well worth the read if you are thinking or have been convinced that this is the treatment for you. They are pretty damning on the evidence in favour of the product, which was supplied of course by the manufacturer and the key statement that "On the basis of the current evidence, the place of HealOzone in the treatment or management of dental caries is not proven. "

I don't know about you but at over $100 a tooth, I want something that absolutely guarantees that my teeth will be around long after I'm dead and buried. For $100 a tooth, I want future generations to dig up my grave and find a perfectly happy smile. I noticed that the UK prices were about £20-£25 which ain't no where near $100 boys and girls.

Since the only way to make a stand these days is to vote with your feet, I have cancelled my appointment and will change dentists. My next visit to a dentist will be a nice clean-up with no flashing lights and beepy toys; can anyone recommend a good dentist in the CBD who are not the "gentle" kind........?

The Diffusion of Innovation

2006-03-05T09:34:00.000+13:00

It is always odd to be labelled. You think you are an individual and you might have some quirks that you think are yours and your alone but the internet soon puts you straight. The power of Google is a good example. The fact that you are able to find what you are after is because so many other "individuals" have searched for exactly the same thing using exactly the same search string that you used. Ignoring the searches for the obvious (i.e. Britney and Hooters smelly feet) even the most obscure search usually turns up a hit because someone else wanted to know about "internal workings of the lower intestine related to acupuncture". We are all sheep really.

Todays label for me is "Early Adopter" but bordering on "Early Majority". I would label Alan "Innovator" as he is always on the edge of new stuff and has access to more data that Orac. I am referring to the Everett M. Rogers "Diffusion of Innovations" model with these labels. He said that you could divided consumers into 5 groups and it is never nice to be a "laggard" in anyone's book!

Being an early adopter does tend to cost you dollars. Being an innovator is somewhat better as you are usually able to obtain what you need pretty cheaply as you just "know" where/how to get it before the poor early adopters get a sniff. In fact, the innovators can usually buy up the stuff and sell it on for a profit on TradeMe I would guess!

I bought a Plasma TV about 3 1/2 years back. This was in the days that they were a new item and the price tag was equivalent to a car. We were newly arrived from the UK and hadn't yet suffered at the hands of a certain guy and a dodgy real estate deal. At the time, a plasma display was just that, a display. It had no TV tuner, no Picture in Picture, no Teletext, no speakers, no stand - everything was an extra. Nonetheless, we bought it and it has been marvellous but only because of all the accessories that we have.

To avoid the spaghetti of cables in the back, and there would be at least 8 big cables, we have everything routed via an A/V system and have a wireless remote controller extender and 2 wireless a/v senders and receivers. This means that we can broadcast the signal from Sky TV to the other TVs in the house and, more usefully, from the PC to the plasma display. This is great for watching all those US TV shows sucked from BitTorrent in glorious detail and via a great sound system rather than the dinky PC speakers.

The advice to anyone looking to buy a plasma tv today is go for it. The technology is proven now and much more efficient than 3 years ago. These days you will get built in speakers, at least one TV tuner and increasingly 2 and clever little PiP functions and Teletext, none of which I have. Also, the unit life is longer which is not something that I had considered when we bought ours.

The alternative is LCD. There is very little to choose between a high end LCD and a decent plasma but there are many many different qualities in between. Our plasma is a Panasonic with a contrast ration of 3000:1 - this is important to ensure that you get good blacks. There is nothing worse than watching a movie with hazy greys when what you want is black. Also, you need a good resolution and fast refresh rate to avoid the jaggedy edges during an action scene. Both of these are better than 3 years ago but I do notice a bit of pixel lag particularly with explosions with lots of orange and red. It is not too obvious but it is there. Fortunately we have a composite video input for DVD which is rock steady.

The great thing about plasma is the very wide viewing angle and brightness. The picture is fine even in full sunlight and to the side of the screen. The newer LCDs do have a wide viewing angle but some of the cheaper models are very limiting. Nonetheless, LCDs are supposed to last a heck of a long time and are much lighter than the massive glass panels used in plasmas. If you're going to hang it on a wall, you need freakin' big screws for a plasma.

To sum it all up, there isn't anything to choose between them and it really depends on where you are going to put it. Plasmas do come in bigger sizes and our 37" is about right although I think LCDs overlap at their top size now. The plasma is also bloody hot to touch at the back whereas the LCDs don't generate as much heat. If it is going in a front room and is the main TV, I'd opt for a plasma any day as it can sit undisturbed. If you plan to hang it on a wall or move it around or use it in a kitchen/family room, then go for a decent brand LCD with a good viewing angle with lots of bells and whistles; they even come with radios these days.

Me? I'm waiting for the next "big thing" in picture viewing. Maybe an ultra slim photon-foldable image system with built in coffee grinder....either way, I just know I'll be behind Alan who will have one installed and working a good 6 months before me that he would have got from a mate in China who works for Sony for $4.68 and a pair of old socks....

You can't make me

2006-03-04T11:47:00.000+13:00

I've been outside this morning with the girls and now I'm home. I'm not going out again and you can't make me. I'm having sausages and baked beans for lunch and I have a glass of Rongopai Reserve Merlot '03 in my hand and it is only 11:50am. Did I mention I ain't going outside again today? It is lovely and warm in here and the little R's are quietly watching Rolly Polly Olie (buggered if I know how to spell that). When it finishes I shall find another such thing for them to watch whilst I keep drinking my wine, eating some cashew nuts and happily downloading all sorts of stuff using the neat little bitTorrent software that Brena put me onto some time ago.

We watched episode 15 of the second series of Lost last night which was broadcast this week in the US - I downloaded it along with a few thousand others in record time when I got home from work. It was a corker and some pieces are really falling into place with some cool new characters. We are also up to episode 6 of Prison Break and happen to have episodes 7 to 13 primed and ready to go. It is by far the best US export we have seen. Ever. It has really gripped us and it is real hard not to watch more than one at a time as the art of the "cliff-hanger" end has been captured beautifully. We were on the edge of the sofa on Thursday night and it was a real struggle to choose to watch Lost or Prison Break last night. We no longer watch TV, except for the news, and I feel kind of bad missing all those adverts for stuff I don't need. Never mind.

By the way, I am not going outside anymore today, in case you didn't know. The wine is making me a bit sleepy and it must be time for a DVD movie to be stuck on.......

Infuckinflation

2006-02-28T21:05:00.000+13:00

In another life inflation was a major measurement to me. Every decision revolved around world economics and trends and we would spend the day watching GDPs, current account deficits, commodity prices, interest rates, bond movements and other such meaningless stuff.

During that time, I had the pleasure of working with one of the finest economists who had more letters after his name than I have ever seen and had the distinction of not being a fuckwit like many other people with letters after their names! He was that rare breed of smart people that can actually apply their smarts to solve shit. He had a PhD in econometrics and during the years that we sat next to each other I absorbed a lot about the dark art of having two hands and not being afraid to use them both at the same time (this is an economist joke, and about as funny as they get sadly; I would explain but it would be even less funny.)

Having spent all those years pouring over data and making decisions that you could justify were the rights ones at the time you made them (and why they were wrong the next day) I now cannot help but read a newspaper and apply economics to stories. Whether it is the price of petrol (supply and demand of the raw commodity, oil, mixed with distribution and taxes) or a sale at Pumpkin Patch (goods manufactured in China and brought to NZ with some level of currency hedge to protect the retailer) right down to cheap LCD TVs (over manufacture leading to glut of stock that need to be shifted fast before it becomes obsolete) I simply cannot help it.

Inflation is a really easy concept. It is simply a measurement between the price of a basket of goods that you bought a wee while ago and the price of the same basket now. Goods tend to go up and so the value of your dollar appears to buy less hence the old, "When I was a lad, I could buy a bag of chips, a small house and three horses and still have change from a dollar..." kind of talk.

Some things go up more than inflation and some less. Today, a particular commodity that is a huge part of Wellington life went through the roof. I'm taking about coffee of course. The establishment that supplies the daily dose for me and a whole bunch of the guys and girls around me, shifted the price of the black nectar from $3.50 to $4.50 for a takeaway - that is a massive 28.5% and has broken through my personal tipping point. As a result, we have had to source a new cafe and the jury is still out. Either way, at nearly $5 a cup, it just seems like a luxury item and not a daily need.

The economics here are pretty simple but the decision to hike the price so much is a bit flawed. Put up the price by 28% and you can still lose customers and make more money is the argument. The price hike is probably linked to wage pressures, rental increases, raw goods costs and a bit of greed thrown in for good measure. The flaw is in how many customers can you afford to lose before your staff are standing around idle for long periods or you have a large stock of beans that are approaching their best before date. It is a very fine line between profit and loss and if you lose a solid customer base, it will cost you more to acquire new ones. This is particularly true in Welly where some of the smaller cafes, just off the beaten track, are making primo coffee at reasonable prices. We are a fickle bunch us coffee snobs and whilst we are addicts, we can choose who our dealer is.

Perhaps they are using Kopi Luwak beans? These particular beans sell for up to US$175 a pound and get the unique taste and aroma from the simple fact that they pass through the arse of the Palm Civet, a native of Indonesia. The little beasties eat the ripe coffee cherries and the beans are collected from the droppings. Don't believe me? Check out this site for some pretty graphic images of the process - it explains why some coffee actually tastes like shit.....

Lurking

2006-02-26T09:30:00.000+13:00

Whilst I have been posting sporadically over the last two months, I have still been reading all the blogs in my "links" list and although I haven't commented, I have been lurking and enjoying your blogs.

It had also been some time since I had been into my StatCounter so I decided to have a peruse this morning. It is a good insight into the search work and I am pleased to announce that the searches for "Hooters Feet" is slipping down the charts but "Hooters Pantyhose" is still firmly in place at #1 by a massive margin. It strikes me that you could dress up a chicken in pantyhose and people (exclusively from the US according to the analysis) would get-off on it.

Disturbing recent searches are:

Very young in pantyhose
- It is the word "very" that lends a creepyness to this search.

Mr Pantyhose
- An unfortunate surname; might I suggest a hyphen?

Pantyhose butt action
- I'm not sure what sort of action a butt would get up to or why it would be more fun in pantyhose.

Pantyhose sex
- Surely they are the ultimate protection.

How to make your sack bigger
- Why? Maybe you have large potatoes I guess....

Pantyhose sex ideas
- Yeah, here's one: Put them over your head for that bank robber fantasy session....

Smells of nylon feet
- How the hell did you ever get to this site when the #1 Google entry is "smell-my-feet.com"?

Remove nipple hair safely
- At least is wasn't remove nipple hair unsafely; for that I would suggest a flymo

Why men love hooters
- If you have to ask, you are clearly a butt man

The Yummy Mummy Handbook
- A best seller I imagine. Hopefully a cookbook....

8 legged freaks

2006-02-22T20:11:00.000+13:00

I like to think that I'm a bit blokey; I am a bloke after all. Admittedly, I have done some things in my life that some (who shall remain nameless but sit very close to me at work, but would never read a blog so I could name him...) feel is a bit on the less blokey side shall we say. I played Badminton at a high level until a few years back, I drive what is considered to be a gay icon car, I use wax in my hair and, God forbid, have been heard talking about bodices. Not very manly at all; I guess I'll never be a true Kiwi bloke....

However, there is one thing that turns me into a gibbering wuss and I don't care. Call me a baby, kick sand in my face, give me a Chinese burn, I don't care. If it makes me less a bloke then kiss my little girls arse (damn that'll get some Google hits!). Sadly, it appears that the subject of my fear is a specialist subject of Alans.

When we first moved to NZ, I was assured that there was only one poisonous spider that lived on beaches and was very rare. I have no idea if this is true so facts would be nice, anyone? Little did I know that there is a freakin' house dwelling version that appears as common as net curtains in Essex (very common to those of you who have not been there). Not only is it common, it does have a nasty bite. How nasty appears to be up for discussion but I would quite like to know. All I am told is "it's not fatal" but that doesn't reassure me much as there are plenty of things in life that are not fatal and that still bloody hurt i.e. it's OK the bullet went right through you and damn that shark, at least you have another arm.

My fear appears to have grown over the last years. It all stems back to some bad experiences as a child in Africa but they had been largely forgotten until several years back when something must have triggered them. I have never been fond of the critters but now I get a bit on the cold and sweaty side when confronted. Ms R regularly shouts out "Look Daddy, a baby Charlotte" but no sooner do I hear those words, I start looking for the nearest shoe/newspaper/book/brick. This usually ends in tears as she is a fan of the species and their complete destruction is out of keeping with her thrill at finding one.

To say I give them a wee tap would be a bit of an understatement in much the same way as saying that "That Jerry Collins, he's a bit hard he is". The house shudders when I nail one of the fckrz. I don't whack it so much as obliterate it. If Garfield could see me, he'd be so proud. And this was before I realised that the little bugger could actually fight back.

I am assured by Alan that the little jumping things with the bloody long front legs (that they would use to prise open my ear canal and enter my brain) are completely harmless. I say, you can't be too careful and if you have to get that close to look, you are opening yourself up to some trouble. I say whack now and ask later....I don't want to wound it and piss it off.

Oh, hey a spider.
WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK
Did it jump?
Which bit?

Stegosaurus - Little Ms R (Aged 4 and a bit)

2006-02-12T10:24:00.000+13:00

Stegosaurus - Little Ms R (Aged 4 and a bit)
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

Not one to brag, but that girl is an artistic genius! If she says that the mighty Stegosaurus had 6 legs, then 6 legs is what it had. I have added a picture of what "scientist" think it looked like. I think you'll agree, 6 legs is better - what do they know? Ever seen one? Nah, didn't think so but apparently the one that lives in the garden looks just like this one so there.

The A to Z of my last two weeks

2006-02-07T22:10:00.000+13:00

Ms R, ready to go!
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

A is for Axim
It was my birthday and I got a cool Dell Axim X51v - I downloaded Episode 8 of the second series of LOST onto it and it is damn fine (we have just watched Episode 11 and it was a real corker! Bless the Gods of Torrent and those lovely people at iHug for the 2mbps line)

B is for Blog
I have ignored this blog for 2 weeks and feel oddly guilty. This entry should help and I have loaded a pile of photos onto Flickr to those interested enough to click through.

C is for Canoe
Spent lots of time in one on the beautiful Appleby River outside Richmond with the whole family. Massively impressed with the natural affinity with water that Ms R and Little Ms R have - I have no skills at all and swim like a wounded Iguana, however that is.

D is for Driving
The 2 hour stint behind the wheel from Picton to Nelson was made easier by the use of a portable DVD player with two screens which kept the noisy backseat monsters amused.

E is for Eel
If you catch one, don't try and take it off your line as they are revoltingly slimy and will wrap around your arm and make you feel like a Ghostbuster.....

F is for Four by Four
This was needed to access the river for the canoeing. Great fun - we noticed on our second visit that someone else had decided to use the facilities but had got stuck. The rising water was over the bonnet when we got there and over the roof when we left....F is also for f*cked it appears.

G is for Garden
Installed a wizzy irrigation system into our garden so that my poor plants might actually stand a chance this year.

H is for Hell
Definition of Hell: Deck 2, Kaitaki Children’s Play Area. Visit at your peril as every disease known lives down there and a few yet to be named.

I is for Island
Snorkeling around the many bays and islands in the Marlborough Sounds surrounded by seals in water as warm as a bath was a fabulous experience. Picking up Kina to use as bait for Herring was a blast. Do people really eat that snot?

J is for Joy
Catching a big fish and letting it go back along is way is a good feeling. Not as good as sticking a sharp knife into it’s head, pulling out it’s guts and then throwing it onto a BBQ with a bit of lemon mind you.

K is for Kaitaki
A big boat with food at prices to rival Harrods. Don't by the Hot Chocolate unless you enjoy eating with a spoon - if you do, go for it but if you can eat it all, you will have a suger rush akin to four Cokes skulled with a Mars Bar or two to line your stomach.

L is for Lambretta
Still the funkiest café in Nelson. Great coffee and good for kids.

M is for My TradeMe
Wherever you go, you can bid and when you get home it is like Christmas with every parcel like a mini surprise.

N is for Nelson
Damn fine living, if you can afford it.

O is Oasis
A new café by the river in Nelson. Nice food and reasonable coffee that would be tastier I’m sure if the staff smiled a bit.

P is for playground
The Lions Playground at Tahunanui is right on the beach and tires even the most boisterous of kids. Mr Whippy on hand adds to the experience.

Q is for Quiet
There is nothing like the sound of running water and wind without and cars or industrial din. I have mastered the art of filtering out the screaming of small children, an accomplishment that is not recognised as useful by Mrs R.

S is for Sunburn
How easily I forget how harsh the sun in NZ can be. I never ever let the kids out without sun screen on yet continue for forget myself. Not bright or clever.

T is for Treat
Try the Chateaubriand at Appelmans Restaurant in Richmond for a treat for two. Mrs R and I first had this dish back in 1994 when the restaurant was in Nelson - we had it the night we got engaged and have been back nearly every year. You will never get bored of this dish.

U is for Umbrella
Needed twice. Not a device that can be used in Wellington, so a novelty for us.

V is for Victory
England beat Wales (sorry Mike) but actually I don't really care as I am now a true AB fan. I will be going for my citizenship this year and will learn to pronounce yoghurt in a strange way and no longer worry when people ask if I have new pants.

W is for Wanker
Paul Hewitt, Failed Developer and arsehole, has had his house sold at a mortgage sale to repay his debts I guess. I feel very sorry for his family but the guy ripped off many people along the way so fuck 'im. I only know this from an anonymous comment posting on an earlier entry so thank you whoever you are and I hope that you were able to recover from whatever losses you suffered at the hands of this jerk.

X is for X-Rated
Beware of sickly white pommy legs on a rare outing into shorts....not for those of a weak disposition.

Z is for Zoo
Not a lot beats Eva Dicksons at the zoo for a pre or post visit snack.

And there you have it. A great 10-days and now I need a holiday.....

SoMuchToTellSoLittleTime.....

2006-01-15T21:55:00.000+13:00

Phew, what a hectic couple of weeks. It all stops soon though. One more manic week at work and then off to Nelson for a well earned break.

The important news is I've popped my TradeMe cherry and have a massive 4 stars now. We have bought and sold and, by eck, it is bloody addictive. Mrs R and I have been sitting counting down the end of auctions, pressing refresh and high fiving wins and cursing the losses.

Other news is we are more hooked on Season 2 of Lost than we were on Season 1. I downloaded Episode 1 a few weeks ago and we watched it at 11:30pm one night once we had sat down after a particularly long day. The conversation went something like this:

"Cuppa Tea?"
"Yeah, tar."
"Shall we watch 5 minutes of Lost and then head off to bed?"
"Yup."....45 minutes later.
"Shall I download Episode 2?"....

At the time we were on Telecoms "wanker" plan with only 1Gb of up/downloads. This was used up by 3rd January as sadly when using Bit Torrent, you upload, it seems, about half of what you download. We are now on the 10Gb plan but only for two weeks until we flip Telecom the middle digit and jump over to iHug and a whole 20Gb with no upload counter. Nice. We have just watched Episode 5 and number 6 is torrenting as I type...77.6% complete, yippee, but mighty close to the 10Gb limit.

Other news: It is my birthday in 10 days time and Mrs R and the girls have bought me a rather sexy Dell Axim X51v. It is in a box by the bed and whilst I have held it in my sticky little mits, I haven't plugged it in. Mrs R tells me that as the children have to wait for their presents, so do I. In a moment of weakness she did say that as I wasn't a child any more, I could open it if I wanted but deep down I know that I am a child, so I will wait. It'll be fun watching Lost on it in beautiful 640x480 via an Intel 2700G multimedia accelerator chip - it is nearly as good as the amazing PSP in picture quality. It has a bluetooth (for the cool folding keyboard which is a work of art) and built in wireless for browsing (using Cafe Net) whilst I wait for a coffee at the excellent Espresso Republic.

My plans for Nelson include fishing for Snapper, snorkeling and having breakfast at the bloody marvellous Lambretta Cafe. The kids will be entertained by my lovely in-laws who are bolting down everything as we speak.....down time time with Mrs R will be great. We can snuggle up under the duvet and watch Lost together...I heard that Episode 8 is the best one yet.....

Oh, my head.

2006-01-06T20:49:00.000+13:00

In honour of the end of the Christmas drinking season, some things that are difficult to say when drunk:

Innovative
Preliminary
Proliferation
Cinnamon

But sometimes you drink more than you should so a list of things that are very difficult to say when drunk:

Specificity
British Constitution
Passive-aggressive disorder
Transubstantiate

And then there are the times when you are simply shitfaced, so a list of things that are downright impossible to say when drunk:

Thanks, but I don't want to sleep with you.
Nope, no more booze for me.
Sorry, but you're not really my type.
No kebab for me, thank you.
Good evening officer, isn't it lovely out tonight?
I'm not interested in fighting you.
Oh, I just couldn't - no one wants to hear me sing.
Thank you, but I won't make any attempt to dance, I have zero co-ordination.
Where is the nearest toilet? I refuse to vomit in the street.
I must be going home now as I have work in the morning.
Look, it would be great to have a shag but I hardly know you and we will only feel really embarrassed and awkward in the morning.
That guy is looking at my girlfriend but I am sure its just because he knows her or something.
That chair looks wobbly and dangerous and I certainly wouldn't try balancing on it with this short skirt on in case I fell off.
I must get to my bed as I could never have a really good sleep in that hedge.
I honestly don't think the rest of the city center wants to see my bare arse.
No..you are not my bestest mate in the whole world. I've only known you for a few hours.
I'm sure those young women are extremely intelligent and have wonderful personalities.
Im sure my feet would be damaged for life if I take my shoes off and walk all the way home.
A creamy cocktail followed by 4 shots of tequila....surely that would be no good for my insides.
Me? go for a pee in the mens room because the ladies queue is too long? I don't think so.
I'll just have a big glass of water before I go to bed so I don't have a hangover in the morning.

Thanks you my pals, fang and eezie.

Santa sure has a big Sack...

2005-12-30T21:00:00.000+13:00

Miss R in mid air
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

Damn it is nice to get something right and full credit, once again, goes to Mrs R. A few months back she suggested we get a trampoline for Christmas for the girls and I nodded and moved on. Little did I know she had this baby in mind and she is a beaut.

It arrived in three boxes and was delivered by two big dudes who had muscles on their muscles. It took some serious work to move the boxes to their hiding place under the house until Christmas Eve. One box in particular was almost impossible to move and we resorted to dragging it down the steps, puny little white guy that I am.

Once the kids were in bed on the night before Christmas, I sneaked down to the workshop under the house and, piece by piece, emptied the contents of the boxes and took them individually up to the garden. I expected this construction to be a bastard to be honest but was pleasantly surprised as not only were there enough bolts to rebuild the F69, there were easy to follow instructions with, get this, clear diagrams and step by step stages which were in order. Big kudos to those clever people at Supertramps who had obviously written the instructions having actually tried to build their own product.

I won’t pretend it was easy as it did require some serious stamina and some strength to put each little carbon rod into each of the several thousand (so it felt) holes. But in the end, every single piece fitted, every part was the right shape and size and went into a hole of the same shape and size. I didn’t even have to get out my hammer, which usually appears whenever I am making anything – just a little stroke with “Old Smacker” gently teases even the most difficult bolt into place! But not this time; the whole thing took less than 1 ½ hrs by which time it was almost full dark. We were tired by triumphant and very excited for the next day.

At about 10:30am after Santa’s pressies had been opened and half destroyed, we announced that there was one more present outside and the kids ran for the back door at a pace. The bruises and scratches (when the instructions say “wear gloves” they do mean it!) were worth it as both girls’ faces lit up and they leapt into the air. Miss R was amazed at the behemoth sitting on the lawn having definitely not been there when she went to bed: “How did it get here, Daddy?”, she asked gobsmacked. I could have told the truth and told of the heroic battle of mind over matter with each little devilish rod but, hey, this is Christmas and that’s all part of the magic. Santa sure has a big sack….

Did the earth move for you, Darling?

2005-12-13T21:42:00.000+13:00

Did the earth move for you, Darling?
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

I have lived here for over 3 years now and I will never, NEVER, get used to my house shaking. About 5 minutes ago [Tuesday, December 13 2005 at 9:09 pm NZ Time], whilst eating a very late dinner (having decided to put the kids to bed first and try and have a quiet meal for a change), a little shudder moved through our place, followed by a wee shunt and a grumble. Now Mrs R, who for many years lived and worked in Napier, does not even blink but carries on talking/eating/watching TV.

She once told me that unless something fell on her she didn't even bother getting out of bed in Napier. I am the opposite. I am not happy with the earth shaking. It isn't natural. Well it is, but you know what I mean. The earth is meant to be solid and people shouldn't live in places that aren't.

Welly is such a fine city but why did you have to build it on a fault line? I am told "it'll never happen" but we have a nice disaster kit with water and food just in case. It is safely stored in water tight boxes under the house.....hey, it just occurred to me that putting the emergency supplies underneath the thing that will fall on them should an emergency occur, isn't very smart - in fact about as smart as building a city on a fault line really. Still, it'll never happen, right? And the coffee here is too good to leave. She'll be alright. Right?

Merry Berry

2005-12-04T09:01:00.000+13:00

November 2005 057
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

Mrs R and I have murdered many plants over the years. Whenever we moved house, someone would usually give us a plant as a new home present. After a few such moves, we arranged for a priest to be available to administer the last rights whenever anyone handed over a poor innocent shrub. We took some relief in the fact that they usually died a quick death; they didn't suffer the weeks of just hanging on in dry soil to then be drowned. They just gave up on entry to the kitchen window sill where so many had gone before then.

This has all changed now. I am at one with nature as I have a garden with veggies in it. This has been topped off by having a planter with some Strawberries ripening. Up until last week there were some lovely juicy red ones, just waiting to be picked. Alas they are gone, a very brave Blackbird had a feast and they were rather nice I assume from looking at the evidence.
I now have a net, but the little fella just wanders up to it and pecks through the holes. His bravery is witnessed by our two cats who can oversee the entire operation and offer advice from their comfy spot in the sun on the roof. It would take a small explosion to move them and they probably enjoy the live entertainment of me running across the room to shout and flap my arms about to scare the little bugger away.

There are plenty more berries just ripening so I need to find a solution. Any ideas?

Shave Your Lid for a Kid

2005-12-01T21:38:00.000+13:00

Today was a fabulous day in Wellington. The sun was out and many, many people from all over this fine town turned up in Midland Park, next to the excellent coffee house of Astoria. Over 40 people had their bonces shaved by the rather attractive crew from Weltec and all for the Child Cancer Foundation and they stood in line, in the hot sun, patiently waiting their turn to do their bit for the kids and the families of kids suffering from cancer.

First in line was Ron Mark, the NZ First list MP. He doesn't have a lot of hair but his sacred tash is no more. There were many others, both men and women, who came for the chop and all went away shiny headed and proud.

I was lucky enough to spend some time with four really nice blokes who had come along to support the day and two of whom got scalped by their colleagues. They were good natured and relaxed and great fun to chat to. They were Ross Kennedy, John Schwalger, Tamati Ellison and Shannon Paku and they posed with kids, signed autographs and just sat around enjoying the sun. 2006 will be the year of the Hurricanes, no doubt.

2 1/2 hours later and it was all over. The last head was polished, the hair swept up, and scissors put away. I had a great coffee from Astoria and departed full of pride for the cool people of Wellington who had come together to support the community in which they live. Similar events were taking place in Christchurch, Nelson, Auckland and the NZ base in Antarctica. I'm sure they were all fantastic, but I know that Welly put on the greatest show.

I get knocked down but I get up again

2005-11-29T20:21:00.000+13:00

If you didn't already know, I am a committee member of the Central Division of the Child Cancer Foundation (remember the Lexi campaign?). I am an anomaly there, as both of my girls are healthy and have never suffered from cancer, whereas most (but not all) of the other committee members have been through some terrible experiences and are giving back time and effort to helping others.

Some of the people I have met have lost children and some have children who will forever live with the scars of this terrible disease. Some are out the other side but all are affected forever. It has made me appreciate my family and life and has opened my eyes to the great courage of children and of the power of positive attitude. I have met some truly remarkable yet staggeringly normal people - I am not sure how I would live my life should one of my children ever become so ill but these people offer friendship and hope to families going through such horrors and they give of their time and experiences with no question.

I ended up on the committee through a willingness to help and through a friendship with a man who lost a daughter many many years ago. His openness and joy at remembering his daughters short but full life inspired me. He taught me that you shouldn't ignore death and pretend that a loved one never existed but to remember them often and with love and to cherish those memories. The pain never goes away but the recollections enable you to hang onto the good things and to celebrate that persons life. That is love.

There is a fund raising event at Midland Park this Thursday lunchtime (1st Dec). It is called FunRazor and involves people simply having their heads shaved for sponsorship. A small act yet it is a poignant link to the poor kids that enter the circus of chemo and drug treatments. I am not a supporter of street collections but it is a necessary part of any charity to get in the faces of the public - like any business, you have to be seen to survive and this charity is one that ranks highly on my list of worthwhile causes. I know where the money goes and how careful they are with it (I should 'cause I chair the Finance Sub-Committee where every penny is counted and accounted for) and I know first hand how the funds help others in so many ways.

We have a wonderful lady here called Marg who is the Family Support Councillor. She works incredibly hard and is always ready to give; she recently sent me this link to a blog called Shannons' Leg - he is a young guy here in Welly who is writing a blog about his leg, chemo and what is going on in his head as he battles. Have a read and say Hi. This guy's been knocked down, but not only is he up again, he's real pissed and he's fighting! That is life met full on and death has no place here.

Normal Service Will Resume Shortly

2005-11-23T22:03:00.000+13:00

It is 10:00pm and I have just sat down with a cup of tea. I have been working flat out these last two weeks and I have just stopped for the night, ready for 7:00am tomorrow, when the circus of life begins again. I have neglected my family but things will be back to normal by next weekend. Mrs R and the Rlettes are off to Nelson this weekend for a nice break with the Grandparents and some guaranteed sunshine. They will have a nice break away from the terse and moody Mr R and they deserve a holiday.....

What is it about feet?

2005-11-13T21:12:00.000+13:00

Ever since I posted that piece about Hooters coming to New Zealand, my web stats have gone crazy. I am constantly amazed by the things that people are looking for. Most of the searches are for "Hooters Outfits", but a close second is "Hooters Pantyhose". Weird, here are the rest of the top searches, in order:

hooters girls' feet - They must be very special tootsies
hooters girl feet - very
hooters girls pantyhose feet - very special
hooters girl pantyhose - tootsies
hooters birthday cake - nipple anyone?
pantyhose for hooters restaurant - would have to be a big pair to fit a whole restaurant
ms. hooters 2005 - Oh, the honour.
hooters employee of the month - You make your Daddy proud, Ricki-Lee. Who's your Daddy?
hooters employee handbook - Ah, a positive hit as the post was called this exact name
rate a hooter girl - why?
hooters, girl of the month march 2005 - Very specific, me thinks it was she that was searching
guys in hooters outfits - Ewww, don't try this at home kids
girls of hooters, showing pantyhose - OooKkkay.
do hooters girls take test - My favourite.

Some people are very specific in what they are after. I present the "I've just gotta know" list:

ballet tights slippers sex, how - what size slippers?
how many people work in the car salesman field - None of them, boom boom
silver spandex kylie minogue - Grrrrrr, yummy
pantyhose sex business - Is there one? Wow.
butt bunnies - Watership Down?
how to get your wife to wear pantyhose - Try asking, pal.
what makes a sewage smell come out of your drains - I believe, and I could be wrong but stay with me, that it is the sewage, down your drains
daisy dukes with pantyhose - Good idea, might try this one myself
sex sells defense - Really?

I expect this list will only add fuel to the fire!

The Kindness of Strangers

2005-11-12T20:57:00.000+13:00

The smallest act of kindness can mean so much. Someone I don't know just did a kind thing for me. It is a very small thing but it isn't size that counts! Let me explain...

I recently wrote to my father in the UK. This would not normally be unusual but I haven't had any contact with the guy for some 10 years or so. Mrs R has met him twice in our 13 years together and neither time was particularly memorable.

I didn't actually write for me, nor was it for the kids, whom he has never even seen, written to, or indeed sent a birthday or Christmas card to.

I didn't do it for my mother, who is now happy established in New Zealand. She has never discouraged me from writing nor ever said anything to stop me.

I didn't do it for my brother who still has sporadic contact with him, usually brought about by action on my brothers part. He asked me to contact "dad" some time ago and I refused. His reasons were not convincing and he didn't believe them himself.

So why did I write? Well, truth be told I did it for my Grandmother who is now very old. The last time I saw her (which will probably be the last time that I ever see her) was over 3 years ago and she asked me to do it. I said I would but never had up to now. This may seem odd and a bit selfish but I actually have no real compassion for the man and my letter was quite dry and factual. I kept it to the basics about his grandchildren, our life here in New Zealand and the things we had done and were doing and included about 40 photos of the kids. I sent it via my Grandmother as I had no idea where he lived and that way I knew he would get it and she would know that I had kept my promise.

There are a myriad of reasons as to why we fell out of touch. The main one was his refusal to acknowledge that he was wrong and for the way that he treated my mother. My brother had left home by the time my parents split and so was insulated from the dramas that followed. I left home soon after to go to university but whilst I was there, our family home had to be sold and I had to leave university to get a job and some cash to support my mother.

My father never paid a penny to my mother and in the following 15 years there was never a letter or card. He was invited to my wedding which was in Nelson - whilst we never expected him to come, a response would have been nice. A cheque would have been nicer but nothing arrived! We had a blessing back in the UK so that some of my family could party up. He never responded to that invite either.

It has been the same since. The births of two grand daughters and leaving the country never stirred him. My bother would say things like "He's too proud". I'd respond "He's a dick". I put it down to guilt but who knows.

Anyway, I got a response. He was clearly happy to have the letter and pictures. It was a suitably unemotional letter and invited me to write back "if I wanted". With the hectic life that I lead I haven't got around to this and my brother tells me that "dad" is worried that he has upset me!? According to my scale, I don't actually have to write again until 2016 or so but I guess I will get around to it soon.

My main concern was that my Grandmother hadn't written back. This was unusual as she is usually very prompt and I had expected her to put pen to paper real quick this time. And then, this Friday an envelope arrived in my PO Box in her distinctive handwriting. Inside was a short note, a complement slip and another envelope. She had in fact written back immediately but she had sent it to the wrong PO Box (since we had been so mobile since we arrived in NZ, we had kept a box number to avoid having to keep changing addresses).

The owner of the other PO Box had opened the letter in error and seen that it was a deeply personal letter. Instead of just ignoring it, this guy had written a note on a compliments slip and sent it back with an apology as he didn't know how to contact me. My grandmother must have got this last week, realised her error and re-posted it the same day. The joy in her letter is very clear - she was so happy that I had written and it will prompt me to follow up with some more ramblings and photos to my father.

I feel false writing but it is her son after all and in her eyes, he can do no wrong. Who am I to take that away? So thank you to Mr John Morrison, Barrister, your act of kindness will be followed by another.

My kingdom for a chair...

2005-11-06T17:24:00.000+13:00

Found it! At last, after much searching I have found the perfect chair. There were a few false starts, and a lot of polite "no thanks" as many different sales people tried to steer me into their idea of the perfect chair, but today, Eureka.

A work colleague suggest 5thAvenue but I looked on-line and couldn't see anything that did it for me. Nonetheless, she is famous for her ability to shop and pick style (ask alan, who was introduced to this by the same person) and so I ventured in and there it was.

There are many things you want from a chair. Comfort is of course one, but you don't want to sacrifice style for the sake of softness. The trick is finding both - I sat in many chairs that looked great but just didn't cut it in the butt hugging stakes. I tried loungers, big armchairs, sofas, strange hybrid chair bed things, but nothing had captivated me. Yet here in front of me was a range of stunning looking loungers but the big question was would they be as comfortable as they looked?

I tried the first one. Nice.

I tried the second one. Oooh baby.

I tried the third one. Hallelujah, I heard angels as my butt was hugged by quality leather (not something that happens everyday.....) The Stressless range from Ekornes - those clever Norwegians - the Mayfair or Dream chairs, nice.

The downside? A price tag of over $3,500.....Still you only live once and so my Trademe account is about to pop its cherry. Roll-up roll-up, one kidney for sale, hardly used.....

Oooh, Ahhhhhh

2005-11-06T17:04:00.000+13:00

November 2005 125
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

What a great night we had. The main fireworks were great but what made it for us was the hundreds of mini-displays all over the waterfront from Te Papa right around to the point. The whole of Mount Vic was ablaze and it was impossible to know where the next barrage was going to be.

The highlight of the night? It has to be the dozens of boats that raced across the calm waters of the harbour once everything was over. It was full dark again and all that you could see were the navigation lights as they powered their way from Welly across to Eastbourne or Petone.

Dial-up Hell

2005-10-31T20:54:00.000+13:00

When I first got Broadband I was using about 300mb a month - I chose the Telecom "Everyday" plan which gave me 1Gb per month with a download speed of 1mbs and 192kbs upload. If I went over the 1Gig I got bombed back down to the sluggish dial-up speed of 64kbs for the rest of the month.

I never thought that I'd use so much and, what the heck, there was no charge if I did. Little did I know that there is no pain quite like hitting that limit wall and sliding bleeding back into dial-up hell. Waiting for pages to load with monotonous slowness with the images even t u a l l y l o a d i n g. Actually in ain't that slow but damn it is annoying.

The cause of my angst was the introduction by alan to Flickr and using the wonderous Frogprints to print the most impressive 7x5 matt pictures. Before long I was up to 750Mb and then over the 1Gb for the last two months in a row....and I still have so much to find...and 3 hours until the 1st of the month and back to 1mbs......arrrgggg

From what I read, Telecom are one of the few broadband providers in the world that put a cap on usage. Twats. At the time I signed-up there was no real competition and the fact that they control the services still strangles competition. I got a free D-Link modem from Telecom and a contract for 12 months at $44 per month and they stung me for an installation fee of $100 (as we have an alarm system that apparently interferes with broadband...yeah right).

However, I notice that iHug have got a lovely new offer. They do a 2mbs connection with 20Gb off-peak plus 20Gb on-peak and (this is the best bit) uploads don't count to your totals. This means that I could actually drop down to their 1Gb plus 1Gb offer as it is my uploads that suck up my allowance. I'd have to be downloading movies or something to need the 20+20Gb but now I'm thinking of bit torrent and the next season of Lost...........and the pretty cool Threshold that an unnamed source has been pulling down for me....

When my 12 months expires, I am outta here and jumping to iHug. I notice from my web site stats that nobody uses iHug that comes here. If you are an iHug user and you're just stopping by, any feedback on their service would be appreciated. My stats also tell me that there are a lot (and I mean a lot) of people looking for pictures of Hooters Girls in Pantyhose and Hooters Girls Feet. I hope you find them but you won't find them here. To the person looking for "Do Hooters Girls take tests?", you are overqualified.

Happy Halloween!

2005-10-31T20:52:00.000+13:00

Witch
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

Not my picture but it is doing the e-mail rounds today. Made me laugh at any rate.

Fresh Veggies

2005-10-29T22:50:00.000+13:00

October 2005 022
Originally uploaded by Mr Reasonable.

Having never grown anything in my life, I decided this year to get back to nature and plant a veggy garden. By the time we moved into this house, this area was a jungle and after many many hours of digging and pulling, I planted beans, broccoli, spinach, lettuce and potatoes. I also planted carrots but they have vanished - I think I may have planted the seeds a bit deep - maybe they'll come up next year!

I have rebelled against the organic style of growing and have used every chemical known to man to eradicate every creepy crawly for 3 miles. They hear me open the shed and scamper away before I napalm the area. Get your little teeth away from my broccoli, squirt.....

Ms R was with me when I bought the slug pellets.

"What are they for Daddy?"

Wanting to shield her from the whole death conversation thing I said "it's food for the slugs so they won't eat our veggies."

"Will they die?" she said looking horrified.

"Errrr, yes" caught out.

"Good" looking happy.

At least she likes spiders or Baby Charlottes as she calls them. Slugs and snails are fair game though and rightly so!

Lazy Boy Credit

2005-10-24T09:07:00.000+13:00

People that know me know that I worry out economics and the associated evils of easy credit and consumer debt. I don't worry about it for me 'cause I like to think that I can balance my income and expenditure - this doesn't stop me wanting gadgets and occasionally pushing the boundaries or indeed using interest free credit whenever and wherever I can. In fact, you'd be real dumb not to, so long as you have the cash right now to pay for the goods. I actually worry about people who are misled and almost "tricked" into easy credit because they are the ones who can least afford it and have the most to lose.

If you buy something today that you cannot afford, and you rely on the interest free period to save up for the item, then you cannot really afford it and the chances are you will end up paying interest. You are a finance companies' best friend and you are in the trap. The logic is good but there is no free lunch. If you are happy with this arrangement, then go for it but do the math and check the amount you are gonna pay at the end. If you don't like the numbers, save up your pennies and do what our parents did...wait until you have the dosh.

If you can't afford it now, you can't afford it. Your lucky numbers will not come up. The promotion isn't just around the corner. That wealthy elderly relative who is 97 isn't popping her clogs anytime soon, believe me she is going into the Guinness Book of Records in 20 years time and only then because she fell off a ladder cleaning her windows.

Long term readers of this blog know my story and how much I hate scams and crooks. It is real easy to get done and there are many ways. You think you are smart and it won't happen to you but in reality, sometimes you close your eyes to the truth as you so want to believe in the fairytale ending. If you go into debt for that little thing you just gotta have, don't believe the salesman, he isn't your friend. An example from yesterday:

Me to Mrs R "I really want a Lazy Boy, I just gotta have one, Leather, Mocha Colour, Rocks backwards, footrest - I'm happy to forgo the fridge and vibration thing. I just want MY OWN Chair."

Mrs R "OK. Labour Day sale at Harvey Norman?".

30 minutes or so later

Me to Mrs R "This is the one. Soft enough for me to sink into, yet big enough for me to see the TV with Ms R on one side and Little Ms R on the other". A fact proven by the trial of this arrangement which must have looked interesting to passers by.

Salesman "Nice leather set this. Big 3 seater and 2 Lazy Boys. Reduced from $6,199 to $4,999".
Mrs R "We just want the one Lazy Boy, how much would that be?".

Salesman "Oh. It is on special for the whole package. If you want just the one chair it'd be over $2,500. Its cheaper to buy the whole set."

Me "?"

Mrs R "You can't sell just the one chair?"

Salesman (avoiding the question) "You could buy the whole lot on Interest Free Credit and then sell the sofa and spare chair on Trademe dot com" - never trust anyone in New Zealand who doesn't know that Trademe is a "dot co dot nz" domain - you are either living in a bubble or stupid and do not know to zip up your trousers after you pee. Harsh but fair.

Me "?"

Mrs R "Really?"

Salesman "Oh yeah. I had a friend who bought one like this and he sold it for over $600 on Trademe".

Mrs R "Oh."

Me "?#*$^&% kidding me. NO."

And we left. Now, there is nothing really wrong with this. Actually, it was a nice set but we have 2 lovely two seaters and the point is I just want a cool Lazy Boy. My issue is that there I am with two small children and without knowing anything about me or my finances, this salesman just dangled a carrot with a, when you think about it, ridiculous idea.

I'd pay $4,999 and then try to sell two "second had, as new" items on Trademe with buyer collects. Maybe I'd get $1,000 for the spare seat and sofa, maybe I wouldn't. Either way I'd have a debt of $4,999 and even if I got my $1,000 maybe I could use that cash to buy something else. After all, the debt is interest free, nothing to pay for a few years and by then I'd have the cash, right? Right?

Think I'll follow the Trademe Queen and enter MarthaWorld™. Flog off my genuine second hand hand stuff and just buy what I want with cash......but not from Harvey Norman. Anyone know where I can buy just one Mocha, soft, big leather Lazy Boy at a great price?