Another thing that will cause a little delay is a shift in web-host. I'm getting my own domain too. But it might be a week or two (or more) to get Radio to point at the new site and get all the templates working right.  
8:59:37 PM    [comment here ()]  

With my slow old Mac it takes an age to crank up Radio UserLand and so I don't get posting as often as I once thought I would. This is supposed to be a web log...   
8:57:08 PM    [comment here ()]  

In The Onion today, Bush Seeks UN Support :

UNITED NATIONS[~]In an address before the U.N. General Assembly Monday, President Bush called upon the international community to support his "U.S. Does Whatever It Wants" plan, which would permit the U.S. to take any action it wishes anywhere in the world at any time.

Sometimes the Onion is so right on to it that it's easy to understand that some people think the stories in it are gospel.   
10:22:31 PM    [comment here ()]  

The first row of spuds went in this afternoon. Very rustic of us (especially the bit where I dug out our very sulphurous and rat infested compost heap for fertiliser), but come December or so it'll be well worth it, sweet yellow Desirees and a salad with a barbecued steak on the deck as the sun sets... ahhhh...  
10:28:05 PM    [comment here ()]  

It's a nice time of year. Several days in the last week have had that sort of spring warmth that makes me feel optimistic again. Our cherry tree put on its usual fine display.
It's past its best now (the picture is from last week) and at the moment the lawn is covered in a blizzard of downed petals - "rough winds doth shake the darling buds" of September and all that.   
10:16:36 PM    [comment here ()]  

In the tradition of people who blog (we seem to need lots of external validation), I offer here not one but three links to news stories in the local (NZ) media about blogging.

We have two main newspaper groups in this country, and both of them chose this week to take notice... of a sort.

"Bloggers are everybody" says Stuff. It's not a bad article by one of the Dominion Post's journos.

Meanwhile the New Zealand Herald blathers on about people silly enough to mention their work life in their 'blog [coff!]. An earlier article on the Herald site also does the roundup of usual 'blog suspects. Somehow I suspect both articles were not written entirely by Herald staff.

A start I suppose.  
9:59:12 PM    [comment here ()]  

The big event of today was this:

There's more to be said over on Bella's pages, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the concert.

The Wiggles are just fantastic: consummate professionals, ace musicians, and generally top blokes. And my daughter loves them. Good enough for me any day.

Interestingly, pre-school fandom doesn't seem to be much different from teenage fandom (or older fandom for that matter). There's the screaming. There's the tears. There's the irrational desire to be close to the object of your worship.

And there's the gifts: in the case of the Wiggles the kids bring roses for Dorothy the Dinosaur (she's a vegetarian flower-eater)... it reminded me of post-adolescents giving Morrissey daffodils... or even late middle age women throwing their panties at Tom Jones. Some parents went to ridiculous lengths to ensure their kids had the best offering - purchasing or making elaborate bouquets of roses. (We found a tiny rosebud in the garden for Bella, but it didn't quite make it to Dorothy...)

For once though, I can't be bothered being cynical about all this.  
11:00:57 PM    [comment here ()]  

I've been spoiled.

At work we need to test a variety of platforms and browsers for our customers, and to that end we recently rented a new iMac for a month.

I've always wanted one of these and now... well... let's just say that my existing Macintosh doesn't quite cut it anymore. MacOS X is beautiful, and there is untold hours of potential geeky tinkering with all that underlying Unix stuff. I gave up Linux because it was just too hard... but with OSX none of the stuff I learned in my months of toil using Linux goes to waste (hell, I can even get some recompiled Debian packages running on the iMac courtesy of Fink - Gimp, anyone?).

And the hardware...! I haven't lusted after a material thing this much in years.

Must be patient. Must be patient. Must be patient. Save. Save.

In the meantime it's hard to be bothered cranking up the old Mac at home anymore. I just can't get enthusiastic about OS9. I know I'm being sickeningly childish...

...but at least Becky gets to talk to me some more now.   
10:17:34 PM    [comment here ()]  

Back now from down south... and no, it wasn't too cold. We had a pretty good time, even if travelling with a (nearly) two-year-old is not meant to be the ultimate in relaxation. Bella has made lots of new friends, human and animal, and is still talking about her experiences days later.

For example, everytime she sees or thinks about a sheep she starts talking about all the activity she saw in the shearing shed. The blade shearers were on the farm while we were there, and, the blades being very quiet compared to the machines I was able to get quite close with Bella and introduce to her to one of the shearers (one of the same guys, Jimmy, who used to sew me and my brothers moccasins out of old woolpacks as kids 25 years ago). Now she talks about how Jimmy "takes the wool off the sheep".

In the meantine the kitchen is looking good (thanks to all Becky's effort in organising everything) and it won't be long until it's completely finished.   
10:19:45 PM    [comment here ()]  

..busy busy...

But we are off down south for a week and a half on the farm in less than 36 hours. Maybe while we're down there it'll snow, and Bella will be so amazed she'll go all silent for a good half minute and just stare at it, the way she did with last night's bubble bath.

But for now it's all a bit stressful, getting the kitchen ready for redecoration, packing, and a heavy cold.

Still, Central Otago awaits.

  
10:33:09 PM    [comment here ()]  

Well, I actually resisted talking politics. Pretty easy actually, there didn't seem a lot that was really that interesting. And now that the election is over it's all a bit of an anti-climax.

I voted, as usual, for diversity. In all three MMP elections I've split my vote too. It's nice having more than one vote - being able to vote for a good local electorate person and the political party you want often impossible pre-MMP. Not any more.

Vote-splitters like me are the dispair of political parties. Witness the performance of National this time round: while their candidates often did well relatively (e.g., in Otago, and also in Wellington Central, two electorates of interest to me), the party vote went elsewhere. But perhaps this was simply the sign of a situation where voters liked the people but not the organisation...

Democracy in action is a beautiful thing. Sometimes the results can be weird, but it's what The People want, so it really cannot be less than We deserve.   
9:45:56 PM    [comment here ()]  

Walking to work this morning I was reminded of a morning nearly two years ago. It was a similar sort of day - an indeterminate mix of cloud and clear with the sun starting to make some real progress over the Hutt hills. (Perhaps that day also turned on some glorious winter sun, like today did.)

It was the month before Isabella's birth, and I was stuck in a state of joyous expectation tinged with (I admit it) fear. Between house and work walking then (as now) provided useful think time.

Passing the Rose Garden in the Botanic gardens I rounded the end of the playing field. I looked to my left, and there, perched in a row on the goalposts above the goalie's rutted puddle were three kotare (NZ kingfishers). They were all looking over their shoulders in the same direction. There they sat for what seemed like ages, until finally one flew away and the spell was broken.

It was supremely weird moment, and seemed to be significant somehow. It felt like a good omen, and I carried on to work feeling much lighter.

In the next few days I thought about it a lot, maybe too much, and even thought seriously about Kotare as a second name for the baby when it came. After a while though the impact of the moment wore off, and by the time Bella finally arrived I had all but forgotten about it.

These days perhaps Piwakawaka would be more appropriate anyway... small, cheeky, cute, and hyperactive...   
9:46:58 PM    [comment here ()]