Pohutukawa, Folks

We did a bit of gardening this morning. Our place looks so horrible it looks like a vacant house, almost. I've been reading "To Kill A Mocking Bird" last two nights, and I wouldn't be surprised if some kids on our street thought we were the Radley House, so we cleaned up around the front door, which is at the back of the house!

It made a world of difference to us, but the improvement is invisible unless you come right up to our house. I don't know why hate gardening so much; we quite enjoy it once we're out there, but there are so many interesting things to do inside...

Now we need to go get this shower part that broke yesterday.

Hope Your Festivie Season Has Been Festive

Sorry for being so blasé, but I've been so tired this year I've just sat in front of the tube watching children's Christmas Special for a couple of days, and then the Bourne Trilogy (my Christmas Present for Ben) and all the extras another day.

I usually start blasting Christmas CDs in late October or early November, but this year I played one yesterday, because Ben complained that it didn't feel like Christmas this year. (He hates half of my selection of Christmas CDs, though, so I thought he would have been extremely relieved and relaxed!)

We're off to a short break with my sister and her herd - she's bringing her three boys, hubby, Son 7, and Son 11. It'd be a blast, as we haven't seen each other in two year.

We're not sure what the Internet situation will be, but if Ben's laptop can find a Wireless hot spot, we might be able to post some holiday pics. Otherwise, have a great start to 2008, and we'll talk when I get back.

Cheers!

(P.S. Good Lord, 2008. Remember New Year's Eve 1999?)

Out of Touch

I'm so out of touch with the real world, I went and shot a few for Nelson DP a week ago Friday, and one of them was this. I put my name on it and was going to save it as draft, and just noticed Ben's put a shot of the mall this morning, AND the blimming place is partially open! I do feel like I was somewhere else for a long time!

Earthquake?

No worries down here, thanks. I thought Ben was fidgeting while we were watching the telly, until he grunted, "Yikes..."

And speaking of earthquakes, all this time these people worried about the size of my penis, I thought, lived far, far away from here. It turns out they were in Christchurch just down the road. Ummm.... Yikes. And...

Gift Wrapped

You old Navy guys might like this one. Though I'm not sure how long this link will work - I'll go find a better one soon.

I saw "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)" last night, or just bits of it, and Alan Rickman's depressed robot reminded me of this. The photo also reminds me of when Woody Allen was a sperm all those years ago.

Tell Me What This Means

I'm mad, I tell you. And by that, I mean, for the last two, three weeks, I wake up mad, because I have longish dreams of arguments. Some mornings I even wake up to my shouting! And it can be anybody; once it was Dad, this morning it was an unknown woman who ran a Bed and Breakfast but her tub was filthy.

What does it mean? I'm sick of getting up in the morning angry!

L&P Stubbies Ad

For you, Rita. This is the other one mentioned by Kath.

While this is funny, it doesn't ring true to me, because around a barbie, men had beer bottles, not pop cans, I'm pretty sure. Even back in the 80's.

Blogasphere

Do you still call this that? I used to until about a year ago, but it started to sound old-fashioned. Just now I heard it on the radio, spoken by the Number One blog guy in New Zealand, Russel Brown. He's pretty up with technology as well, so I was a bit surprised for him to use this term. Maybe he had the "general public" in mind...

The link points to his post today. It has the Top Ten phrases of 2007 in New Zealand.

New Frontier

I was communicating with a client who ordered a baby blanket; the client is a proud nana, the baby now around 10 months old. He started crawling, so now he can go where he wants to, rather than where the grownups want him to be, and when he reaches his destination, he claps his hands. What a cutie.

He's recently discovered the hallway, the part of the house none of the grownups were interested in showing him. His new frontier. Life is full of mystery if we only open our minds and hearts.

D Minus 7 Days.

Wellingtonians of the Year 2007

Here you go, Rita. Conchords finally recognized for their contribution to the... umm... arts; they are Wellingtonians of the Year. Horrible sound quality; here's a silent article.

Wrong Target Market

This photo is absolutely a Not A Woman photo, but since we've both been terribly lax in pic-taking, it has to go on NDP. But you get the picture. I was on the hammock most of Sunday, sick and a bit panicky and very cranky because I'm behind with work. Nice hammock, though!!

Fabulous Radio Morning

We had a fabulous radio morning. I need time to mull over the media political coverage issue, but since these links are available for only a short while, I'll post them now.

Lynn Freeman, usually in charge of arts programmes, was sitting in for regular Nine to Noon host Kathryn Ryan. Lynn has an unusually unrushed manner, and she won't pretend to know what she doesn't, but is a seasoned broadcaster, well-informed, and emotionally mature. So this is her really heated up. Derek Fox, the Maori issues correspondent, is a battle-hardened broadcaster, and now a magazine editor, and he gives considered but impassioned observations every Thursday, and in today's case, my first reaction is I agree with everything he says. (Especially the part where he says most news consumers believe everything they read/hear/see.)

I like Kathryn Ryan, I couldn't stand her predecessor Linda Clark, but both are political journos. Kathryn would have started breathing heavily into the microphone and began interrupting; Linda would have had a short shouting match, and then either she or Derek would have hung up. Either case, it would have been

So, a rare treat, a well-informed, intelligent powwow on radio on the freedom and responsibilities of the media, especially pertaining to political coverage in New Zealand. Sorry, the issues are terribly local, but some of what both say have truths.

And then later we had a techie speaking about blogging. We are, or at least National Radio audience in New Zealand are, a developing country as far as blogs are concerned, and many believe this to be a purely political tool. Ah well, thought you might have a giggle.

Maori Issues (3rd last) and Technology (the very last) found here.

For podcast, click here and select:

RNZ NTN: New Technology with Colin Jackson.
File Size:6.8MB
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:45:00 +1300

RNZ NTN: Maori Issues, The quality of political journalism in New Zealand
File Size:8.3MB
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:07:00 +1300

PS. Lynn Freeman consistently gives superb interviews with authors; recently I was astounded by the depth of her thinking, and I have to go dig it up from the postcasts somewhere, but since I usually just have the radio on while I work, I have no idea who the author was!!

My Favorite TV Ad Catch Phrase

"If we don't have it, you don't need it."

Mitre 10 hardware and DIY chain. Mitre 10 stores are franchises, owned usually by local people, and though the ads are made for the entire chain, they are quirky and catchy, like a micro short film.

This is in contrast to Mitre 10 Mega Stores, which are, from what I understand, not franchises, and their ads are slightly more expensive and dwell on the prices.

When we had Wilkins & Fields Mitre 10 in town, for example, Polytech discount club enjoyed discounts there; now that that's closed and there's a big, ugly mega store just outside town, the discounts has been ceased. We have been tempted to drive 30 min to Motueka to support a Mitre 10 store.

Reflectoins

We had an OK sunset last night; it was great to watch, but not photogenic. Anyway, I noticed the camellia leaves were alight like a Christmas tree, reflecting the sunset. You can see all the smallish bushes are pinkish.

I have another shot where my hands were steady, but I like the blurred result in this one. Ummmmm... I know it's kind of "you had to be there" shot, but anyhoo...

I shot 3 non-weaving-related shots in November; must do better this month.

This Blog Thing

I posted this on my weaving blog, but it's just as pertinenet here, eh?

When my parents bought their first fax machine, my brother, who was around 17, wanted to be the first to try. He borrowed some money from his buddy that day, so he jokingly started faxing a bill to the buddy's house, then suddenly pulled the bill out, worried he might loose his money, worried the bill might actually get transfered to the buddy. Though all of us knew how the technology worked, (kind of), it was still amazing that little brother's buddy was looking at half a bill at the other end of the phone line.

That was in 1990. My parents have their third fax machine, and they can't decommission it because they decided not to move on to computers and email. Fair enough; Dad's 80 and mother close behind him, so a few years ago, we kids stopped pressing them.

So now we're nearing the end of 2007. And, say, I do something silly, like get my thumb stuck in a glass bottle, and I need your help. I can photograph or video it, upload it, and show it to you, within minutes.

And within minutes, if you so choose, no matter which hemisphere or continent or time zone you're in/on/in, you can comment or email me, and in doing so, you can type your own words, send me links to helpful websites and blogs, or even send me photos or videos.

Then theoretically, I can then take your advice and get my thumb out. And for me, who needs to see pictures and graphics in order to understand most things, it's a blessing beyond compare. And we make friends whom we get to know kind of well, even though we may never meet them.

No matter what you think of Blogger, YouTube and the rest of it, it is amazing, if you think about it. I appreciate it, because I endured years of thin blue aérograms.