Corrections

I am not sure why this happens, but the last few times I have posted it has contained errors - and I can't seem to rectify them. Going back and editing them seems to not make a difference - the errors are still there, even thought when you re-edit, the changes were made. Pass ?

Sorry for the hassle of trying to understand what I said....

Keep the faith . . .

Changing times and places and people.


These things seem to dominate our life to a large extent and we have little control over them. And don't always leave pleasant effects or thoughts.

Yesterday after working in the morning, I arrived home cold, wet, grubby and grumpy. I pressed the door remote thingy . . . and again, and again and again - and nothing happened. I new spat my toy out the window in frustration. But while answering a friends text, the neighbours daughter came over and asked "do you have electricity ? We haven't had any for like two hours." Ohh hell. Nope - no light on the door bell. This is not good

So I put my key in the front door and ohh darn ! The key on the inside meant I was locked out ! No hot shower, no dry and warm and clean clothes, no hot drink, no lunch, no computer and no email . . . ok - I'm freaking out now !

Fortunately, the back door was accessible . . . but it begs the rhetorical question . . . Are we too reliant on electricity ? The simple answer is yes ! The complicated answer is probably yes !

I would be lost without electricity now. I still like reading books, but my choice is limited - and my library is thin. And anyhow, my computer is my hobby, my life. My three are my dependants . . . my children. And I yell at them, beg them, admire them (and the people who wrote the programs - sometimes) and the things they can do for me, and I wonder at the images and blogs (like this one) that people post on them.

I spent hours looking after and constantly modifying websites (oneiguy.com ashhurst.org & parishofpohangina.net) that I am seemingly never happy with how the look and feel . . .

So if and when the power goes off, I'm almost lost . . without a clue. Is this the way most NZ'ers feel ? Are we really set up to handle a long period of "off". How would we cope with the likes of people in South East Missouri recently - without power for weeks, with snow and ice and bitter cold . . . the thought of days without power leaves me wobbly like a good Kiwi Jelly . . . . .

But there are good things . . . things that keep you firmly planted on the ground. This morning at our Parish Camp in Pohanginas' Totora Reserve, some of the children brought a Weta inside . . and the poor wee things was beginning to "stress out" a bit . . so he was carefully encouraged onto my hand and after a few moments he (or she) settled down and sat quietly enough for him (or her) to be shown off to the group. Some people handled it well, others admired him - from a distance, others were not so sure.

Personally, I think he (or she) is beautiful - perfectly designed for his (or her) environment . . . as we should be. Reliant on just those things the surround us that are certain . . . the sky, wind, rain, friends, food. The rest are luxuries, meant to enhance rather that dominate . . .

Maybe I should listen to what I say . . . and learn to live that way too . . . not soo easy, but one day maybe, it might be necessity . . . not sure how I would cope . . .

Would you cope ?



Keep the faith ! It's a good thing to have !

This week I am stepping of "soft ground".

Soft because it could, in an extreme circumstance, be libel. As of this evening, my thoughts toward "soft"ware developers and companies are not very nice . . .

A few weeks ago, after verbally assaulting my PC on numerous occasions, I bit the bullet, saved as much data as I could think of, and reformatted the hard drive.

Great ! Wonderful ! Amazing ! Problems be gone ! Almost. . . . In reality, they were just beginning.

Windows went in easily. All the drivers loaded ok. But then the applications . . . . oh hell . . . . . .

A map program - out of Registrations, but the solutions only required an email. Others resolved easily too - mainly requiring the writer to dig deeply through papers and folders - why are things NEVER where they SHOULD be ?

But MS Office ? Oh my. I emailed them (MS) a week ago . . . . and no reply. I am still getting a MS Genuine Office Notification - this is pirated, or stolen . . . . But Hang on - I own this . . don't I ? It arrived sealed in a box, genuine literature and manuals, genuine DVD . . so whats the go ?

Read the fine print and MS says that WE (the users) don't actually OWN the software . . we only own the RIGHTS to USE it. Expensive rights . . MS offered me a NEW GENUINE (I thought that was what I have?) version of Office for $1700 . . . yeow ! Me . . A simple home user. WHY would I wan't to pay THAT much for something I believe I already have ?

Maybe it is time ot look at alternatives . . . except that I know (sort of) and previously liked the MS suite . . . I still do . . . but $1700 ? I can't justify that . . . might as well be $5000 . . or maybe I just have to migrate BACKWARD to 2003 . . and hope that doesn't fail too ?

Wouldn't that just take all ? Would like other peoples thought on this. Send us a comment ? Maybe ?

Cheers ! Keep the Faith! Mine's lagging a bit . . .

What to say ?

It's been one hell of a week.

Our hearts go out to all those in Victoria - fire is such a devastating thing - so much more so when it is arson. What sort of depraved lowlife would torch an area without KNOWING that there would be loss of structure, and probably loss of life ? Does this "person - and I use that in very loose terms - have any conscience ? Does he understand what he has done ? Possibly not.

Luckily we have very few of that type of violence here - but having said that we have. And last night we heard of the fires on Mt. Ruapehu . . there is no explanation other that arson. And several fires in PN - pettiness . . .

Had a wee trip today up to Pohangina, Tea at the County Fayre and a look at the old photos on the walls there. Was interesting to see some relatives. The had a look see at the wetlands - swampy land once farmed returned to it's natural statre of wetland. Great to see it all, the bonus being the spoonbill. Guess he didn't like ma n me, coz he gracefully flapped over to the other side of the pond. Maybe he didn't like his photo taken . . a few photos here

Anyway, a shorter post this week - back to another week of work . . .

Cheers !

Waitangi Day

This week is supposed to be a celebration, with today marking the founding of this country "New Zealand" - oh so long ago. On the TV News tonight, we saw that Australians are seemingly over the top when it comes to Patriotism and their national day - just like the Americans, yet it seems that unless we are watching or participating in a "national sport" against a team or individual such as Australia, we seem to be rather low key, or modest about it. Why is that ?

Also tonight, we saw the kiwis getting beaten in the Sevens. Hard to take, the defeat. Who will we blame ? The coach ? I hope not. The players ? Maybe. Fate ? Probably. But we did get beaten. Maybe the Poms just wanted it a bit more than we did. So in the spirit of sport, we should say "well done England" and get over it. But will we ? Will we accept that the better twam won ? Maybe. We need to stay one step ahead of bitterness. One step ahead of bad blood, of anger and ugly stuff that has been seen by many teams/nations. Lets just move on.

It was a good weekend. Good things have happened. The weather was hot and mostly fine. Be thanksful for the good things. Life life.

Keep the faith !