Interesting Day

Was watching the AA torque show and informative as it is (and well suited to NZ road conditions), it just doesn't compare to top gear, which was on last night. They compared the Evo VIII FQ300 vs an improved STi, and the laptimes told the whole story, with the STi still slower than the previous Evo timing (ordinary VIII), while the FQ300 was a good 3 seconds faster than its predecessor! Holy cow, now i know what FQ stands for! (clue: q=quick)

On a totally unrelated note, i came across this website which i simply had to post. Its the Annotated Pratchett pages which makes reading Terry Pratchett just that much more enjoyable with explanations into the obvious and not-so-obvious phrases and themes that he weaves into his storylines. I actually got to meet him in person, and had my copy of Going Postal autographed by him. Cool bananas.

Flygility

After the term break of a couple of weeks, we headed back to the NZKC at Porirua for flygility and jeanie did extremely well, doing the agility jumps with ease and retrieving the ball from the box.

The flygility course consisting of two flyball jumps at each end, a couple of bounce jumps and a tunnel (an easy start for the term to re-introduce the dogs to flygility).

Jeanie at full flight on the course (apologies for the picture quality).

A tired but happy jeanie heading home in the car after a session of flygility (aren't the headrest cushions cute?).

Airfix Dogfighter

I played this game once and had been searching for it for sometime now. Finally managed to get it and it's as great as i remembered it. It doesn't try to take itself too seriously (with medals like "Dad's medal of car insurance") and just brings me back to the days of building model aircraft. I think i read somewhere that there are two kinds of people who have such hobbies: One who painstakingly gets all the details right and displays it afterwards, and the other darker side who build the thing just to see it blow up or see if it can fly from the second floor. I was the former, but this game explores the other side sufficiently to leave a grin on my face.

the unflappable official

A protest has been ongoing in Waikato regarding the proposal to put up pylons and one sentence from this report just stood out for me.

After the meeting Mr Phillips acknowledged the increased tensions were being reported to Transpower bosses.

"It (tonight) just changes the adjective I use when I report back. I change 'They are very angry' to 'They are extremely angry'," he said.

Ooooo...... that should impress any angry mob.

A thoughtful jeanie during her Cook's Strait crossing. Gosh, i'm gushing with pride. =)) 

my clever Jeanie!!

I'm so proud of my princess! Carrying on the trend of tests, I conducted this test and her score was an incredible 29 out of 30! I always knew she was intelligent and this confirms it.
Her score is broken down as follows:
Test 1: 5 no problems here at all, she flipped over the can immediately and ate the food.
Test 2: 4 I got a little worried when she just sat there doing nothing, because i didn't say anything, but thankfully after 6 seconds she shrugged it off.
Test 3: 5 she did look puzzled for abit, wondering what i was up to until i smiled and she came over with her tail wagging.
Test 4: 5 she surprised me with her deftness in flicking away her scarf and getting the treat.
Test 5: 5 her cat-like qualities really came to the fore here. =)
Test 6: 5 the strange thing was that i didn't read the points so i was trying to get her to come to me by calling her "refrigerator" or "movies". I read the third bit and called her and she immediately came and sat by my side as usual, and i was so happy when i read the points! (yes, i have to concede that she was smarter than me then)

Star Wars episode III

Really laughed my ass off watching the spoof movie found here, and it might take awhile to load but its well worth it! The hype is building up and personally, i can't wait! I note that there are spoilers out there already and the producers must be freaking out.

Quiz

Did this quiz and came up with this facinating result (thanks to tvp for the link):

Your Brain Usage Profile:

Auditory : 57%
Visual : 42%
Left : 63%
Right : 36%

zeenie, you are mildly left-hemisphere dominant while showing a slight preference for auditory processing. This overall combination seems to indicate a well-working blend of logic and judgment and organization, with sufficient intuition, perception and creativity to balance that dominance.

You will at times experience conflict between how you feel and what you think which will generally be resolved in favor of what you think. You will find yourself interested in the practical applications of whatever material you have learned or whatever situation you face and will retain the ability to refine whatever knowledge you possess or aspects of whatever position you are in.

By and large, you will orient yourself toward intellectual activities and structure. Though not rigid, you will schedule yourself, plan, and focus on routine and continuity of operations, rather than on changes and disruptions

When changes or disruptions occur, you are likely to consider first how to ensure that such disruptions do The same balance is reflected in your sensory preference. You will tend to be reflective and measured in your interaction style. For the most part, you will be considered objective without being cold and goal-oriented while retaining the capacity to listen to others.

Preferentially you learn by listening and maintaining significant internal dialogues with yourself. Nevertheless, you have sufficient visualization capabilities to benefit from using graphs, charts, doodles, or even body movement to enhance your comprehension and memory.

To the extent that you are even implicitly aware of your hemispheric dominance and sensory style, you will feel most comfortable in those arenas which emphasize verbal skills and logic. Teaching, law, and science are those that stand out among the professions, along with technical sales and management.

I'm gonna miss Welli, and i'm sure she will too (this view is from the top of Mt Vic). 

I'm famous! (in a limited sort of way)

I noticed the recent spikes in the counter, thanks to linking from other blogs. Cheers for that! As opposed to being browned (mb- i'm still thinking of a really good witty article to write about, keep a space for me!), does this mean i have been "mr miyagi-ed"? LOL I feel a tad em-bear-arsed that i have nothing interesting or even vaguely funny to blog about.
Oh well, here's something i picked out from basic jokes......

A Dog's Telegram

On a slow day with few customers, a clerk at a telegram office looks down from her counter and sees a dog waiting in line.
"Oh, aren't you cute?" she says. "What would you like me to put on your telegram?"
"Bow wow wow, Bow wow wow," the dog replies.
The clerk says in a cutesy voice, "But you can add another 'Bow wow wow' for the same price."

The dog responds, "Now wouldn't that sound a little silly?"

Classic Clinton

I read this article about Dubya smoking pot, and the second last paragraph cracked me up. Repeat after me "I did not [insert deed here] with [insert name/object here]"... LOL

Asked about the tapes in an interview with CNN, the president's father said he was not aware of them and declined comment.
Sitting next to Bush was ex-President Bill Clinton, who admitted to smoking marijuana when he campaigned for the White House but said he never inhaled the illegal drug

.

crazy ringtone

Just read about the Crazy Frog (warning, click on it at your own peril!) ringtone fad in the UK on BBC online. So that's the sound that's been bugging me whenever i play games on fetch fido. Bloody irritating, and i can't believe these poms actually use it as their ringtone, thankfully back home we have better tastes, like the techno version of Lemon tree, in mandarin. Personally, i just set my phone to 'vibrate only', so i get that lovin feeling whenever someone calls or messages. LOL

Blogroll

A quick note about the blogs listed on my right.... er, your left... right then, these are blogs that are either funny or informative, and seem to capture my deficient attention.

• Days were the those highlights contributions by guys who served national service in Singapore, mostly the funny stuff, although the usual debate of "yes its good and makes men out of boys & no its bad its a waste of time" reigns for a couple of posts. I made one contribution and hope to write somemore.
• I was linked to from an NZ blog called Ewen's garden and woah, that's a big garden! By strange coincidence, he was just in the Wairarapas recently and visited Cape Palliser, while I was at Lake Ferry. Ok, so it doesn't very coincidental at first glance, but to find out a guy from Waiheke Island linked my blog and passed by the same area (Cape Palliser is at the bottom) with me from Singapore within the space of a few days does spell out how small the internet has made the world.
• The famous (and probably only?) Singaporean lesbian Mac evangelist writes some deep stuff on her blog, Life in mono. Her writing details vivid descriptions of her feelings, emotions and general going-ons in her life and it captures the essence of blogging in a nutshell. Being a closet Mac addict myself, its good to be kept updated on stuff that i wish i could afford.
• Ahhh, mr brown, everybody's favourite clown, whose satirical approach to stories about life in Singapore makes me want to move back home just to experience what he writes about. His stories can move you either to tears or laughter and is an inspiration to everyone, highlighting that to every parent is a hero is some way.
• Sharing the same surname as yours truly and other famous people, Mr Miyagi seems to have a lot of interests, from food to love, army stories to sports ones. A simply facinating read with something new happening each day. How do these fellers come up with such stuff, such that it reduces me to talking about their blogs in an effort to sound interesting? LOL
• SMLXL is a recent addition which i came across from Mr Miyagi's surf stop (thanks for the past linking, got a few hits for that!) and i share a name with him too. But from there on, we're pretty much on opposite poles, with his hip and happening life just filled with interesting events and people. Cool stuff.

Lake Ferry

We went to Lake Ferry for a day trip, as there was a gathering there thanks to the Wellington Singapore Club. One of the members has a bach (basic accommodation cheap holiday) there and the views from his place were lovely. Jeanie looked like she really enjoyed the beach.
The drive over the Rimutakas were a bit of a pain and coming back, i received a bigger pain in the form of a ticket for 'failure to stop at a stop sign'. I thought the roads were deserted, but nope, a cop was waiting on the corner for me. Bugger.

It was funny to see her prancing about in the sand with a silly grin on her face, despite having to endure a 90 min trip in the car over the windy hills.

Now its the 'R' word

First we had the 'D' word, now we have the 'R' word by the same guy. Somebody please hand him a dictionary.

Updates from land of the long white cloud

Quite an interesting week here in Aoteroa, with the gah-men coming under heavy flak.

There's the 111 fiasco where police have been accused of
1) being too busy writing traffic tickets to respond to urgent call outs
2) telling a woman who got sexually assaulted to make her own way to the police station 600m away, with the culprit still in the house with her
3) taking 90 mins to respond to a call by two women who felt threatened by some guy trying to break into their house, and when the cop finally got there, he had nothing to do except take down notes
4) a couple had to restrain an intruder for about 20 minutes while waiting for the police to arrive

Reminds me of a story of a guy who caught a burglar and locked him in the garden shed. He called the police and was told that there would be a long wait (couple of hours) as there were no police available and he would have to be there to watch over the would-be thief. He then called back and said that "there's no need to come now, i just shot and killed the guy" and shortly after, the police were at his doorstep.
"I thought you killed the guy?" asked the cops.
"I thought there weren't any cops available?"

And then there's the flap over the scholarship exams run by the NZQA, with top students from all over failing. What a mess. Can't imagine our PSLE, O and A levels getting in such hot water, since they appear to be run by colourless people who strive for perfection and consistency and are always reliable. lol.

250 million to run a 'university'?? Geeze. Why am i not surprised. Money corrupts doesn't it?

Funny stuff

This list is really funny, especially the first entry. Got it off mr brown. =)

Assma - Severe rashes around the mouth caused by kissing too much ass, the No. 1 disease in Malaysia. Civil servants are unusually at risk.

Ode to my dog

Complete faith she entrusts in me,

that i'm worldly wise and knowing.

From the food she eats and enjoys,

to her bed, treats and favourite toys.

when injured, i'm the one she looks,

free smells, food whenever i cook

here i am, emotions showing,

because i have to set her free.

Disgusted

I read this article and can't help but feel disgusted at the actions of the council and its officers. What's gonna stop them from entering my fenced up property to shoot jeanie? Heartless needless cruelty. Shame on them.

V-day shock

For my valentines day, jeanie gave me a big shock. We went to a park for walkies, but moments after jumping out of the car and into the field, she pulled up with a whimper. After numerous inspections (and her yelling in my ear), i couldn't find anything wrong, so the walk was off and we headed home to look for an after hours vet (i heard another whimper....oh it was my wallet). I had to carry her into the car and getting home i had to carry her out too and i got real worried when she limped up my front steps.
Taking a real close look at her right paw under light, i still couldn't find anything and noticed that she didn't pull her paw back everytime. So i decided to test it by asking her if she wanted to go for walkies and kinda jumped around (a little more tentative than usual, but at least she was jumping) so i had to bring her out. I drove past the nearby vet but it was closed, so i just brought her to the nearby rose garden when my fears were allayed when she was running about, right as rain again.
The funny thing is when we got home, she started limping again, and i said "oi you, dun give me that, i know you're just trying to teh me. i saw you running and prancing about just now." And she was alright again. Stoic border collies? Yeah right!

Am currently in a pensive mood, 'cos of this look i get from her. The absolute trust she has for me that stems from her undying loyalty, and yet i may have to give her up. I might be going home and there's just no space for her. Seven years of sticking by my side, cheering me up when i'm down, entertaining me with her antics, providing companionship.... and all i can do is send her away and hope she understands that we'll probably never meet again (and i'll probably never have another dog either). Decisions decisions.
I think the amazing thing is that despite my blue funk of a mood, when i try to tell her about it, she just gives me her silly grin and a "why are you so unhappy, let's just be merry and enjoy today! (blue or not, you can still give my tummy a rub...)"

Clarkson No Limits

This show just started today and it begins by Jeremy's listing of top 100 cars of all time. So what's the best, beating even the 355 and 911 (3rd and 2nd respectively)? The E-type Jag. LOL. Too old school for me i think.
Clarkson No Limits | TV ONE PROGRAMMES | TV ONE | tvnz.co.nz

jeanie likes to show off by doing wheelies. =) 

My majestic looking princess. =) 

Brat camp

Just watching the last episode of Brat Camp, its a show where troubled (too much drugs, cigarettes, alcohol or anger) teenagers from Britain are sent to this camp where they are made to spend life in the great outdoors somewhere in the wilderness of the States. They don't know how long they have to spend their time there and it must have been a great shock for them to have to hike mile after mile with their barang barang (belongings), sleep on the ground in a sleeping bag and live in close contact with people their hardly know.
All i can think of is, "we have the same thing back home called NATIONAL SERVICE!"

Another weird story

Flying chickens! Police suspect fowl play...

Happy Chinese New Year!

Wishing all our readers a happy and prosperous Rooster year ahead! Woof woof, grrrrr aroooo, ruff!

CNY reunion dinner for the last night of the year of the Monkey.  

Odd stories of the day

There is an interesting compilation of odd stuff and includes a referee who sent himself off, a passionate rugby fan who wanted to show his manhood, and my favourite (Stellar Award contender) two girls who had to pay damages to their neighbour for leaving cookies on her front step. Facinating.

Am on the way to a 'reunion' dinner with a couple of friends, YUM!!

Coincidence

There was a stark reminder today about being an immigrant, when an aussie girl was put into an aussie immigration detention centre for 10 months before they realised that she's a missing person. She suffers from Schizo, and took on the identity of a German girl, hence the mistaken incarceration, but the shoddy treatment by immigration merely highlighted the plight of the immigrant and the attitude of the government is quite disappointing. What was vaguely interesting was that in the same news report, there was a quick report about an immigrant who did good. He tried to raise the profile of Cambodians by attacking Prince Charles (who was on a visit) with blanks, he has served his 500 hours of community service and is a model for corrective (corrected?) behavior, and 6 months ago, he was admitted to the bar. Interesting how they see the need to balance potentially explosive news with "hey, he did good" kind of story. Unfortunately, i can't find an online version of this.

I read the other day about a Singaporean who was jailed for 4 years in Malaysia, on the verge of death row because of some drugs that the police found in a flat that he rented with another guy (who had since disappeared). The judge who freed him called it a piece of shoddy investigation. I wonder if the poor chap was given an apology at the very least? Wankers.

Dunlop targa

Watching the Dunlop Targa rally on the telly right now and its really interesting how there are many different types of cars for different classes. I just saw Neil Allport in his Evo VIII trying to catch Jim Richards in a GT3 and he's making good time, until he spins twice and later crashes out. A pity really, since at that time he was catching up at a rate of a second a kilometer. =)

Chinese New Year parade

Wellington celebrated CNY early with a parade and fireworks.

There's a funny story regarding this dragon, because they did a movement akin to "Dragon twisting in mid-air" and we all found out why, because it was in pain from the twisted body it suffered (methinks someone was slacking off)

The traditional lion dance in parade form (i like the car!)

The guy pushing (or pulling) the truck exhorted us to give him a hand. No one moved because we all thought he was joking. LOL

The parade ended at Frank Kitts park where a stage was set up for the various performances. The Chinese acrobats from Beijing in particular took everyone's breath away.

Did i mention that Jeanie was by my side and looked like she thoroughly enjoyed the day. There was alot of attention on her, with young and old alike asking if they could pet her. Of course our friend just soaked up the atmosphere with her "look at me" strut and prance.

Jeanie was knackered after a day at the Wellington CNY parade.

An interesting observation for me was seeing people swimming in the sea. This particular picture shows a bunch of teenagers jumping off the wharf into the sea. Something we wouldn't see back home unless there was a sign allowing it. NUTS syndrome strikes again.

The 'D' word

So, some student questioned MM Lee during a Q&A and used the word "despot" and the furore over it is quite amusing, with quite a few critical comments made to the guy. The New Paper interviewed him, and from it he did seem quite earnest. One thing this highlights is the changing times in Singapore, but somehow one feels the pack mentality is still there. MM Lee appeared candid in his replies to the various barbs thrown, even his rebuke is hardly a shade of what it would have been ten years ago and has been toned down quite abit. Instead, he left the chastising to everyone else, while maintaining his respect and moral high ground. Afterall, it wouldn't make sense to come down to a different level and duke it out with some student.
This reminds me of a story:

Long long time ago, in the southern province of China, there was an emperor with a facination for monkeys. The only problem with keeping them is that they would never listen to him, and constantly break into his prized orchards to steal fruit. So he devised an experiment which consisted of 5 monkeys and a bunch of fruit at the top of flight of stairs. Each time a monkey approached the fruit by going up the stairs, his men would dowse the whole group with water. Since monkeys really hated that, it got to a point that whenever one of them even approached the stairs, the rest of them would pull it back into the group and deny the fruit by force, without any more dowsing needed.
Then one monkey from this group was taken out and replaced by a new one. Monkey instinct would dictate that the newcomer would proceed up the stairs upon seeing the fruit, to which the group would pounce and beat the crap out of the newbie, who learned that the fruit was not to be eaten, upon pain of pain. A second monkey of the original 5 was taken out and replaced and then, as nature would dictate, proceed up the stairs. The group would set upon it and pull it back, beating it close to death. The interesting point here is that one of the four monkeys doing beating has absolutely no idea why its doing so.
The original monkeys would be replaced one after another, until the original group had all been replaced. At this point, should a new monkey be added, the 5 monkeys present would prevent it from doing so, without knowing why.
Facinating this, Self policing.

Summer bloom in the entrance to the riverbank park

The view from the river "I can see my car!"

Jeanie at the Hutt Riverbank