How To: Install Solitaire on Vista on a MacBookPro

Yet more apologies for my slackness at updating this. I got round to installing tracker software last month so I can see if anyone visits and surprisingly someone did a couple of weeks ago, so hello to you. I'm updating now not because I have any massive new revelations to report but because I feel like the blog might die if I don't. I'm changing the tone of it though. So now there may be more reflection and less day-to-day, 'whatI did' diary type stuff. This means changing from the present tense, all-action style to a past tense, more thoughtful style. I hope you enjoy it. What am I talking about? It's not like anyone ever gets beyond the first paragraph.

It's been a busy month at work. I've been working pretty much non-stop on a website with crazy deadlines dictated by the Rugby World Cup final as the site is all about 2011 in NZ. If you are remotely interested in Rugger go here: www.newzealand.com/travel/frontrowrugbyclub.

Have got older and actually went to a pub quiz and drank ale. There are anti-smoking laws here so I couldn't sit at the back smoking a pipe in a tweed jacket, with a whippet lying by my feet and I think the moment was poorer for it. The first week we came second I think, although that may have been because we got the weakest team-member to do the adding up. The second week and we'd cut away the dead-wood and the three remaining brains won. It wasn't all celebrations though as the quiz master was Welsh and I took it upon myself to insult his heritage to his face leading to a swift exit by me as he warned my other team mates he was seriously thinking about smacking me in the face. So, no more pub quizzes for me, but that's probably a good thing.

Most weekends have been imposed quiet time, with the occasional brunch on a saturday morning. I have been getting more and more comfortable with the lifestyle here as summer draws in and the days get longer. I can't imagine living in London again now, which is a worry as at some point I think I will have to. But of the things that I miss, the big one is saturday/sunday afternoon sport on tv. No one follows football here so it's difficult to get excited about the game. And even if I had Sky TV it would be on in the middle of the night with no repeat. F1 is also on Sky. The only sport I've watched has been rugby and that has been at 8am which takes the edge off it.

I was invited to see Auckland take on Wellington at Eden Park in the final of the Air New Zealand Cup. It's surprisingly similar to what I imagine watching a rugby league match in Bradford must be like in that the rain was coming down a treat, a freezing gale was blowing in and there were some poor cheerleaders standing out in it trying to show enthusiasm for some of the worst rugby I've seen played since I was at school.

Of the time I've spent in NZ so far the highlight has to be a Hangi down in a place called Mango (that's a colloquialism - I can't remember it's proper name). A Hangi is a traditional Maori meal where the men dig a hole, cut a tree down, burn the tree to heat some rocks, put the rocks in the hole and add some meat, then cover in soil and drink beer for five hours. When suitably drunk you dig the food up and eat so much that all the alcohol in your system gets soaked up and you are ready to drive home. In amongst the food preparation are various things like kicking a rugby ball about (good), watching the mound of soil for signs of steam escaping (bad) and shooting potatoes over a kilometer with an acetylene powered spud gun (very very good).

The guys at Shift would like me to work permanently, which is something I need to think about over the next couple of days, That means getting a proper work visa which kind of leads the way down the path of a certain amount of permanence to my residency. It slightly concerns me since I had never planned to stay here forever and i worry about my ability to move on if comfortably settled. Think of me as London (that'll make sense if you watch the clip below) except that rather than moving on when I need to make a new friend I move on when I've pissed off most of the friends I've already made. It surely can't be long now before I have to leave NZ.



Well, it's half past two on a sunday and I've got the rest of the afternoon to try and understand how to manipulate google map data at the pixel level in flash. There is no reason for this, but in the absence of conversation I have to keep the brain busy. If anyone wants to write me an email please do, I've even removed my spam filters just so I have mail to read.

Decided against the cat idea. Chris at work got three kittens and whilst they are cute, there is the constant possibility they might die - I don't need that sort of worry.