2009 to come

Almost there. Clive and June arrive from Australia on the 1st.  Very quiet New Years Eve but Elvis sums it up.

Xmas day by Sophia

All these pictures were taken by Sophia, Joe & Sarah's German student. 

 (She is incredible - they want to keep her)

 KIPP UNDER THE XMAS TREE

From the left:  Sophia,Christine,Wayne,Joe,Angela,Sarah and at the head of the table KIPP.

Rhett looking for his Xmas presents.

Kipp on the Xmas booze.

Kipp with his Nans garden sign, suitably altered to Nanan.

Holding up his sign Whoops wrong way.

Contemplation time.

Hiding behind his sign.

One of his favourite gestures.

Again.

Kipp and Sophia - painting.

Is today saturday or maybe Sunday.

Today feels like a Saturday or Sunday. It is so quiet. The TV news has basically closed down and when you (or should that be - when one is ) are not working then one tends to lose track of the days over the Xmas - New Year break. My time is also upset with the kids coming around, particularly Angela, as she is off work until next year. Normally, because she is at work, we only see her at the weekend. 

Went to a friends 70th birthday party today for a while. Saw a few people we know and had a bit of a chat.   

We got Christine an electronic photo frame for Xmas. It is quite good. Does more than I realised as in addition to showing photos in various random phases it can be an alarm clock, show a digital clock and various other things. She has loaded it up and it is now chugging away.

Wanted to upload some pictures of Xmas day, all taken by Sophia, Joe & Sarah's German student, but the Net is so slow tonight. (Tuesday - 20 to 10 PM)  that I have given up. When will NZ get fast Broadband. No matter what the promises - Not this century. 

Clive and June arrive from Aussie on Thursday. Talking Aussie and cricket - we were weren't we - Seth Effrica by 9 wickets. GREAT!!!

Have been trying to track down two songs - probably the last I would like - Big Jump, Sandy Nelson and Lonnie Donnegans The Party's Over. Now got them both thanks to people all over the world. 

Leaders salaries. This was in the papers today. I looked at ours and compared it to the Australian PM. My immediate thought  was that ours is overpaid. Reading the Oz papers they believe their guy (Kevin Rudd) is underpaid. I suppose that thinking is typical of a Kiwi - we want lower wages, the Australians higher. 

If taking the US President as the benchmark then my take is that we are overpaying, the Irish are crazy, Russia underpaid as is Bolivia. In Bolivia's case Morales took a 50% pay cut when he took office. Singapore and Hong Kong are overpaid. A factor that is not allowed for is the 'perks'.  The US President s not that well paid but while in office he has few expenses and after leaving office he can make a mint. 

Boxing Day

The day after Christmas when we ( mostly in the Commonwealth) celebrate by having as a holiday. Named for when they used to give people gifts in boxes.

Report on Xmas Day - Great day and the weather was quite fine in the end. So much so that we ate outside; great meal (thanks Joe) and everybody pretty relaxed and happy. Quite a bit different for Sarah & Joe's German student Sophia. They open their presents the night before and of course it is winter in the North.

Other, mainly computer,matters: Raffle was about $5K down on last year- and I didn't win it!!.
Have been having problems with Internet Explorer so downloaded the Google browser Chrome which seems to be alright although the odd thing is it doesn't have a Home Page button automatically present, it has to be customised. Odd.
Don't know how it will all fare when we have to download some Windows updates as I/E doesn't seem to want to open. Also changed the ink in my Lexmark printer and it is having problems. Went out onto the net and it is a fault which Lexmark can't seem to fix. Will have to investigate further.
After the PC problems have decided to move everything as a backup to the Laptop but it has Roxio as its CD burner as opposed to Nero on the desktop. Can't see how to save the names of items burnt so I can put them in a Word document.

Christmas Day

Santa has arrived - I think!! Of course it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere and the day has dawned fine. Leave soon to have lunch at Sarah & Joe's place - turkey as usual.   Kipp is still too young to really appreciate the day but his day will come. 

Xmas Eve

XMAS EVE

Yes only one sleep to go. Funny how time passes so quick now and the days seem so much shorter than when one is a child. Then it took what seemed weeks to arrive. School finished and it was, it seemed, some months later that Xmas was here. I can still remember when I first knew that Santa was not real (isn't he!!!),

I was going to stay at my grandmothers in Pt. Chevalier and told my mother it wasn't true so I took some presents to her place - for her probably - and my brother asked what was in the parcel and we told him it was a shirt. I can't remember how old I was.

Speaking about my brother; he and his wife are coming to NZ for a few days and will be staying with us. A chance for them to meet the fabulous Mr Kipp.

Joe cut his leg and had to go to the hospital - he was told the delay was an hour which was a good estimate but as he got to the front an ambulance arrived. Overall about 3 hours there in the end.

Fiji - Our High Commissioner bundled home just after they said they wouldn't. Irrational behaviour is a hall mark of all dictatorships.

Another nutty story from America. The Californian Supreme Court has ruled that 'good samaritans' who help others, such as at car accidents, can be sued if they inadvertently harm those they are trying to help. So, if you see anybody that needs help - just walk away. That is really Christian!!

Always a busy last day as the Raffle finalises itself and the weather is wet although we can do with some rain.

Cricket

Two great chases lately. India chased down England but the big one was "Seth Effrica" doing the Aussies. What a great result. As for NZ vs Windies. We certainly let them off the hook. With New Zealand 245-3, only 62 in arrears with two batsmen set, the pitch a featherbed and time on their side we ended up with a lead of 64. I wouldn't think that is enough if the Windies get going.

Got our desktop PC back today so am back and running. Will try to move to a decent backup system by transferring most items to the Laptop.

After some probably needed rain we have a great day today. Don't know what Xmas Day holds.

Six Sleeps To Go!!

Six sleeps to go.

Although generally well down on the mad spending of last year I think it is picking up. I was on Raffle duty at the Mall today and we did reasonably well.

With all the problems with the PC I decided to load my address book into my Yahoo account. Went to open it from the saved file on my flashdrive and as usual did not do what I thought. It wouldn't open the file, it wanted to import into it into Windows Mail.

So I did that and loaded in the email addresses I didn't have into Yahoo. Sent an email and I think it has worked OK. Will work upon Windows Mail when the PC is up and running again. As per usual the computer idiots seemed to have altered the names - Address Book I think is now called Contacts. What idiots make these stupid decisions to change things for the sake of change are beyond me.

Less than a week to go - and the PC again

Less than a week to go until Xmas. And the bloody desktop PC has gone down again - and it does not sound good as it refuses to boot up - just going into a perpetual re-boot. And as usual have not backed up for a couple of days. My intention now is to move everything to the Laptop as well. Mainly will have to look into Windows Mail so I can use my email. May even looking at moving the adresses to a Webmail such as Yahoo.

As for Windows Mail - why oh why do they make things always more difficult not easier, always changing names, where actions are etc. And the Americans wonder why the Japanese do it better!!

Raffle sales are down nearly $5000 on last year and $2000 on 2006 which shows how the recession is starting to have an effect.

Final Quiz night for the year and we had a team of 7 and after our decision never to move away from General Knowledge as our bonus (double points) round we did terrible with 5/10 but came 2nd!!! $30 worth. To cap it off Christine took a ticket in the meat pack and won!! Whoo hoo - a good night.

It needed to be as most of us have been sick with a 24 hour bug. I seem to have come off the best as I was just feeling queasy and very tired - no vomiting. Luckily Kipp has not caught it as yet.

Is see Barak Obama is Times person of the year. However, I couldn't gety over one quote about Sarah palin as " the bright future for the Republican Party".

Rutherford 9 December 1908

100 years ago on the 9 December 1908 Ernest Rutherford was awarded the Nobel Prize. Is he our greatest Kiwi of all time?. The Reserve Bank seemed to think so when they put him on our largest denomination bank note.

We were visiting friends last night and as we drove back we heard on the 11 PM news that former All Black and commentator John Drake had died, aged just 49. What a tragic loss. I always looked forward to his views as I considered him one of the most astute judges of Rugby.

I opened a "competitions" email account at Myrealbox many years ago but it is getting worse so decided to move to Gmail. Thought I would use our names and just add something the same to each as easier to remember - such as Waynekiwi. But as usual all taken so after much mucking about now have all as haka added on with our names except Christine with whom I have had to use her initials.

Quiz - came 3rd equal. With no Jackpot going and it must go next week, with Xmas as the theme, we should be in training.

Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke (12 January, 1729 – 9 July, 1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman,who served for many years in the House of Commons. I am a supporter of his views as to voting by MP's in Parliament. They should vote their views not ours.

"Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion."

At a recent candidates meeting one said he would canvass the views of his constituents and follow their views. Not my way of thinking - what say the majority wanted to do away with taxes!!

PC problems and street view with another win

Have had PC problems with overheating again so was forced to use the laptop and VISTA. Prefer XP any day. But back in action again.

December 2008 is here. Xmas is coming and so is Google Street View. Had a look at our place and found the exercise quite interesting. We only had a picture of our house with us not present, which would be as expected, since our house is geared with the living area facing towards the back. A friend said his picture caught him leaving his house. The privacy concerns are many I suppose, but with a picture only, I can't really see any problems.

Also had a look at my brothers place in Australia.

Busy at the moment. The Xmas Raffle is underway, SeniorNet, Probus function tonight, Xmas Parade last Saturday. We took Kipp to the Xmas Parade and of course he loved the trucks (especially the Police cars and Fire Engines) but was not happy at all with the clowns. Got quite scared of them. Planning to visit Wellington to pick up the Rotary Audit stuff next week and will take him on the train with me.

Quiz - We took out the jackpot again but as it was won the previous week and we had a team of 6 we split $104 between 6 of us. It was an all NZ question evening and we didn't do that well in the general questions.
Our mistake was taking Politics as our Bonus Double Points round when we should have taken General Knowledge which would have put us in 1st equal.

Clever clogs me knew the Jackpot answer!! I've got it twice now, Joe once and a team effort once.

The Grand Slam

The Grand Slam - England defeated and mission accomplished. Not the greatest of games however a win is a win. The England backs look terrible. Wales beat Oz which shows that they are in reasonable shape.

Don't talk about the cricket versus Oz. We are just pathetic. We make 200 odd where no team has made less than 400 for years!!

Crime - according to Radio NZ about one third of Periodic Detention crimanals don't turn up. Sentence them to have a ball and chain attached. The do gooders will say if there is a fire at home they will probably die. Tough!!

Some statistics from a letter to the Sunday StarTimes from John Minto :

Maori - Pakeha child abuse deaths were about on a par until 1987.

1978 - 97 children killed per 100,000 Non Maori 0.92 Maori 1.05

1991-2000 Non Maori 0.67 (it went down) Maori 2.40.

He blames the unemployment rate and low income (poverty).

I wonder - during the Great Depression did we kill and abuse our children??

Pacific Islanders income levels are the lowest but are they torturing their kids?

Sorry but I don't buy it. I see the Curtis boys father said

" It is the Maori way and I am proud of my boys" The man is mad!!

Is this me???

I found a website (courtesy of the bookofjoe.com blog) http://www.typealyzer.com which is supposed to analyse the personality of an author of a blog. Putting mine in I got -

Analysis indicates that the author of http://www.wayneswritings.blogspot.com is of the type:

The Doers

The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities. The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

Not too bad.

Politics and the horror of our country

With the election over and the new Government now formally sworn in, a few comments.

Again MMP shows what a great system the proportional voting method is. Still some, who don't seem to have a clue, criticise it. On talkback one idiot said it is terrible and "we should go back to FPP like the rest of the world".

As anybody with half a brain knows the proportional system is what 97% of all democracies use. I can only think of 3 major democracies that use FPP - UK, Canada and USA with the USA using the most undemocratic system imaginable. In real terms the Republicans were not that much behind Obama in the popular vote - but in the Electoral College Obama got nearly twice as many votes. Nuts.

The John Key cabinet seems satisfactory with him adopting the Ministers out of Cabinet model designed by Helen Clark. I also understand he also used the Helen Clark Coalition template.

It will be interesting to see how things develop with the Maori Party - not so much in the first 3 years, but in the second term, when things normally start to fall apart. I see only about 50% of Maori are on the Maori Roll - and then only 55% of those on that roll vote!!. I wonder how that affects our total voting on the General Roll. I would guess that the overall vote is down by 3-4% because of the lower turnout by Maori on the General Roll. Notwithstanding all the hype about a larger voter turnout, it was down again.

As for those who don't vote. Although they annoy me - the non-voters are probably the dumb and stupid which is good in the long run.

Probably still political was the horror of the Nia Glassie case.

Michael Pearson, Oriwa Kemp, Lisa Kuka, Wiremu Curtis and Michael Curtis.

The trial over the violent death of Nia Glassie ended with murder convictions for brothers Wiremu and Michael Curtis. Wiremu Curtis, 19, and Michael Curtis, 22, were found guilty in Rotorua High Court over what the Crown described as horrific ongoing abuse and beatings which equated to torture and eventually led to the three-year-old's death.

Nia's mother, Lisa Kuka, 35, was found guilty on two manslaughter charges and failure to seek medical help for her critically injured daughter. Kuka was Wiremu Curtis's partner at the time of the abuse.

Nia died of brain injuries in Starship Hospital two weeks after suffering what the Crown said were fatal kicks to the head by the brothers.

Nia's death did not just shock New Zealand, it was being reported widely around the world.

In the months leading up to her death the toddler had suffered horrific abuse while being brought up in an environment where she was often surrounded by several people. Nia's cousin Michael Pearson, 20, and Michael Curtis' partner Oriwa Kemp, 18, were found not guilty of manslaughter in relation to the death but were found guilty along with the Curtis brothers specifically relating to swinging Nia on a clothesline, and also on general ill-treatment charges. The brothers and Pearson were also found guilty of charges relating to putting Nia in a tumble drier.

Again we have heard for the billionth time all the outcryings from various groups and the politicians. But as we all know - we have heard it all before.

What is it about the Maori that they torture and kill children.

Why is it that these useless 30 plus age women shack up with teenagers half their age ?? - the Kahui's were the same.

Why don't people report the abuse??

Why weren't the neighbours not charged for not reporting it. ??

Why was the mother not charged with murder to let the Jury decide her fate.??

Something more pleasant - Munster 16 AB's 18. It was close.

Audie Murphy

Listening to Radio NZ today and they had a piece on America's most decorated combat soldier of WW II - Audie Murphy. I knew of his background and also saw the film of his life story - To Hell and Back - many years ago but what grabbed my attention was that as well as an actor he was a best selling song writer. Looking it up on Google I found he co-wrote the C & W hit "Shutters and Boards".

In June 1942, shortly after his 16th birthday (his sister adjusted his birth date so he appeared to be 18 and legally allowed to enlist) Murphy was accepted into the US Army . He was turned down by the the Marines and Paratroopers for being too short (5'5"/1.65 m) and of slight build.

But once in action he was incredible. He spent 29 months overseas and just under two years in combat with the 3rd Infantry Division, all before he turned 21 winning the following medals-

List of Decorations

	Medal of Honor
	Distinguished Service Cross
	Silver Star (with oak leaf cluster)
	Legion of Merit
	Bronze Star (with oak leaf cluster and V device)
	Purple Heart (with two oak leaf clusters)

U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, U.S. Army Good Conduct Medal, Presidential Unit Citation (with First Oak Leaf Cluster), American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (with One Silver Star, Four Bronze Service Stars (representing nine campaigns) and one Bronze Arrowhead (representing assault landing at Sicily and Southern France)), World War II Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal (with Germany Clasp), Armed Forces Reserve Medal, French Fourragere in Colors of the Croix de Guerre, French Legion of Honor - Grade of Chevalier, French Croix de Guerre (with Silver Star), French Croix de Guerre (with Palm), Medal of Liberated France, Belgian Croix de Guerre (with 1940 Palm).

Additionally, Murphy was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar, and Expert Badge with Bayonet Bar.

I never realised that he was a song writer. You learn something new everyday.

Quiz - lousy result last night. We have been joined by two of Sarah & Joe's friends for the last couple of weeks but even then we had a dismal showing - about 11th out of 15.

Its Over - thank heaven

It's all over. A real win to John Key and it would seem no real coalition problems with Act and Unted Future tagging along and maybe the Maori Party.

What surprises are hiding - especially within the economic outlook. Also I wonder (or rather I hope) if they will backtrack on their plan to take away the tax relief for research.

On the internet front I can only hope that Maurice Williamson is given the axe. Clark and Cullen going so quickly was a surprise. I think they have both done a good job but time in the job was getting against them - the electorate gets bored and the politicians start making mistakes.

NZ First gone - although the system that an elected MPP brings in their Party Vote if under the 5% needs looking at. I have never favoured that. Even though 5% is considered high I would leave it at that level.

Most people liked the Greens bilboards but I liked the Maori Party one that was in Taita that had all their MP's dressed in suits and ties and looking very upmarket. It gave an excellent impression.

In our local electorate National's Paul Quinn stood against Trevor Mallrd - which produced this billboard. Paul lost.

Back to more important things - The All Blacks did Scotland relatively easily although the Scots did have their moments and look quite good but just lacked finishing.

Found another music site that enabled me to get another song - by Ferlin Husky ?? - that I never thought I would hear again.

Oh - bama !! From around the world

Typical of Fox News (which I see as an arm of the Republican Party) that it reveals AFTER the election that they had an interview with Sarah Palin where she said Africa was a country - not understanding it was a Continent. It does not seem possible that anybody can be that dumb.

I watched President-elect Obama's first Press Conference today. What a change to hear a man who can string more than 5 words together in a intelligent and lucid manner.

Election Day (and the AB's - Scotland)

Election Day has dawned bright and fine after some initial rain. Finally made up my mind - will vote tatically and split my vote as usual - right or wrong - as I believe National will take it. We shall see.

The beauty of MMP - being able to split vote - to vote for the best local candidate and also be able to vote for the party of my choice or just to give some overall support as a coalition partner to another party.

Scotland for the so called All Blacks C (well so say some Scots). Again we shall see.

Attended a SeniorNet Tutors morning yesterday which was interesting.Saw an incredible animation program which I will have a look at - www.anim8tor.com.

It is Barak Power

This sums it up.

The nightmare is over. At long last the American people have voted the right way.

The top line reads

Millions flood streets in joyous jubilation singing "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead"

With three states yet to be decided, the electoral vote count was 349 for Obama and 147 for McCain. G W Bush, by contrast, won with just 271 electoral votes in 2000 and 286 in 2004. However in the usual quirk of the First Past the Post system the popular vote margin was not that large - to date around 52% versus 46% - Obama, 62.98 million votes nationwide and Senator McCain, 55.78 million. But this is the first time since 1976 that a winner has had more than 50% of the vote.