The last of the offspring has now formally left the nest, so now I'm changing my name...

so we will be formally known as Darby & Joan from now on...

Entirely coincidentally, our wedding anniversary is at the end of the month.

I have finally succumbed to the Facebook Plague and acquired myself an account, which I will be sharing with $WIFE. I have put out a bunch of Friend Requests, and I guess I will accept them as well from those who may wish to Friend me...

Tats has already spotted me, she must be online in Africa...

This intrigued me - a view of a single molecule...

There’s been a bit of Rocking and Rolling down south recently...

The GNS scientist on Morning Report this morning likened the initial shake to the one that levelled the Hawkes Bay in 1931.

Not for nothing am I living in The Shaky Isles...

Last night, at 2242NZST, #1 Princess, Toodles, was delivered of a healthy 7lb 6oz baby boy by C-section. By all reports the process was safely executed, however Toodles is a little sad as she was looking forward to a home birth, but it was not to be.

A name will be announced once one is settled on - the last remark I heard was along the lines of "We'll decide on a name once we see what he looks like.".

Praise to the Almighty for the safe outcome of what was turning into a very long 9 months.

Hello folks!

For those who are concerned about climate change, you may wish to join me in signing a petition urging the world leaders to support an ambitious, fair, and binding global climate treaty -- and specifically for Canada, Russia, and Japan to sign on to a global warming goal of less than 2 degrees centigrade at the G8 summit this week.

You can sign the petition here, and the campaigners at Avaaz will deliver it to leaders in Italy:

( More details... )

I heard on Morning Report this morning that Parliament yesterday unanimously passed a law making driving under the influence of nominated drugs an offence carrying the same penalties as driving under the influence of alcohol.

When I was growing up in Adelaide in the 50s and 60s, the charge for driving drunk was always “Driving under the influence of alcohol or a drug”. And the drug could have been anything that impaired ones ability to control a motor vehicle.

The law just passed by NZs pollies prescribes a list of drugs, and apparently will need to be modified (whether by act or regulation is unclear) every time a (new?) drug is perceived to affect driving and isn’t ‘on the list’ - clever, eh?

At about 1715 NZST this afternoon it started snowing in Maoribank, Upper Hutt, and continued for long enough to leave significant traces on the drive and roadway...

At about 6pm I drove down to Upper Hutt CBD (about 6km) to find snow on the roadside for about half the journey, and the pile on the back window of the car was still there when I got to the shops...

Snow at my level (~100m above MSL) has only happened two or three times in the 30 years I've lived hereabouts, so it's a bit of a big deal. Snow regularly happens at significantly higher altitudes around here (ie above ~400m), but not down on my front doorstep...

Hey you kids! Take note!



*chuckles quietly to self*

I had to laugh at this one...

Way back in the day, I worked on CDC3200s which were 24bit word machines with a 15bit address field, so 32k was the maximum memory they could have, hence 32768 is fairly indelibly engraved on my brain.

Unlike most machines these days, 3200s were 2s complement machines, so they had the concept of +0 and -0 which were equal in value but opposite in sign, which could lead to interesting logic in some circumstances...

After three weeks in the Garden of Eden, God came to visit Eve. “So, how is everything going?” inquired God.

“It is all so beautiful, God,” she replied. “The sunrises and sunsets are breathtaking, the smells, the sights, everything is wonderful, but I have just one problem. It’s these breasts you have given me. The middle one pushes the other two out and I am constantly knocking them with my arms, catching them on branches and snagging them on bushes. They’re a real pain.”
And Eve went on to tell God that since many other parts of her body came in pairs, such as her limbs, eyes, ears, etc. She felt that having only two breasts might leave her body more ‘symmetrically balanced’.

“That’s a fair point,” replied God, “but it was my first shot at this, you know. I gave the animals six breasts, so I figured that you needed only half of those, but I see that you are right. I will fix it up right away.”
And God reached down, removed the middle breast and tossed it into the bushes.

Three weeks passed and God once again visited Eve in the Garden of Eden. “Well, Eve, how is my favourite creation?”

“Just fantastic,” she replied, “But for one oversight. You see, all the animals are paired off. The ewe has a ram and the cow has her bull. All the animals have a mate, except me. I feel so alone.”

God thought for a moment and said, “You know, Eve, you are right. How could I have overlooked this? You do need a mate and I will immediately create a man from a part of you. Let’s see....where did I put that useless tit?”

Now doesn’t THAT make more sense than all that crap about the rib?

Maybe I haven't been paying attention lately, but this morning I had to go & buy some milk for the office so I got to see just what we're paying these days for our bottled grass & sunshine...

There's gotta be something wrong somewhere when milk is $2.30 a litre and petrol is only $1.33 a litre.

Milk is created naturally no more than 500km from here and requires minimal processing.

Petrol is highly refined via a complex process several thousand km from here after being dug out of the ground on the other side of the planet by a cartel that charges what the market will bear for the stuff.

We hear a lot of noise about the oil companies not passing on reductions in the cost price of their product as quickly as some would desire...

What about the milk companies (specifically Fonterra) charging us locals the same price as the supermarkets in London, UK, when there is a huge difference in transport costs? Come on NZ Media - wise up to what is going on here...

I try not to make this a political blog, but I'm afraid there are some things that just cry out for attention...

For my money, ( the Palestinian situation. )

/end of political rant for now...

Be warned! I will delete any comments that trespass beyond reasoned debate (it is my journal after all).

The other day we were driving Dancer back to Fashionista's house in Maupuia where she is house-sitting the two felines, and she remarked...

"You know, another thing I like about Wellington is the self decorating Christmas Trees"



aka Pōhutukawa Trees, which seem to be in great form this year (reputed to be a harbinger of a long hot summer)...

Not to be confused with the Australian Flowering Red Gum, which sometimes gets called a Christmas Tree due to it's vigorous flowering this time of year...

Here is a story that will tickle the cockles of your doggy heart, diggerlicious. I saw it on TV last night, and immediately thought of you in the frozen snow way up there away from your native land...

It was impressive just how much hardware that little guy is carting around with himself!

Enjoy!

A story about a ( Bunyip )written by O. Doug Dawson, 1968.

Doug Dawson was my dad. Posting this has been on my "To Do" list for some time now, and the final impetus was provided by this entry in tatjna's journal. Maybe the NLA will notice it and add it to their list of Bunyip items on the intarwebs, or maybe not. Perhaps I could add it to the Wikipedia article on Bunyips...

Last Tuesday our office social club decided to do something for a change, ( Like this )

Overall an enjoyable evening with a hint of pride at the high score.

Over the weekend just gone $WIFE & I have been quietly celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary by having an At Home with the local members of the whanau.

notnotabouthim was planning on joining us, but was unable to complete the travel planning, however he did send us an SMS/Text wishing us all the best.

Toodles and her clan spent most of the weekend with us, so we had the twins sleeping in our bedroom which was no bother as they seem to sleep the sleep of the dead once they conk out.

Fashionista and her fiancée came out for Saturday afternoon and evening and several games of Connect Four were thoroughly enjoyed by the assorted spectators.

pagurus and fiancée were planning on joining us for Sunday, but he got waylaid by the ever present "work" which was a shame, but we have alternate plans in train as a compensation...

One of Toodles' twins is hugely entranced by trains and was looking through one of our several books of steam trains when a conversation developed. Toodles remarked that young boys seem to get trapped by either dinosaurs or trains. Several of the guys then observed that trains, particularly steam trains, always need fiddling with to get them working right, and Toodles' man responded that however much one fiddled with a woman, one could never fix them - which remark brought on much hilarity amongst the gathered adults.

Life goes on...

This morning we sent our youngest daughter off to her first day at school...

Again...

But this time as a teacher!

It’s a strange feeling to see dancer_aktd dressing up to look older than her 20 years so the 3rd & 4th formers at Upper Hutt College don’t just think she’s just a 7th former filling in. The fun bit is that she has friends who are still at the school as students. She says it’s scary looking like a grown up.

The years fly by, don’t they?

We have wheels! It's a red Honda Concerto (Jap import) with a towbar - so $WIFE is doubly happy! The whanau will recall the kitchen we had installed at 97, and we can deal to the trailer load of rubbish outside the front door before the celebrations next weekend...

And $WIFE spoke to the fuzz a day or two back and it turns out that the guy that shunted her gave the fuzz a false name, so now they're hunting the owner of the vehicle to get further details and maybe add some more charges to the list...

The insurance co have paid up for the Saga, so we can wash our hands of that vehicle now...

And in other, not so nice news, $WIFE has now been diagnosed with a fractured sternum - bed rest for two weeks (Yeah Right!) and probably off work for about a month, which isn't good. The pain killers the quack initially prescribed gave her a bad reaction so she now has new painkillers which are far more effective for her...

And tonight we are going to a jazz concert at Old St Paul's featuring the Crayford Dynasty, to be followed by a 2 hour bus journey home.

*scuttles back to work, and trying to work out how to make VBA in Orifice 2007 do what it used to in Orifice 2003 wrt file lists*