Sargeland

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know

2009-02-13T17:28:00.002+13:00

Very useful guide to some detailed stuff I didn't know about.

Brush with a fake landlord.

2009-01-07T15:19:00.004+13:00

I had previously blogged about how tight the Vancouver housing market is.

It turns out, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, that one of the people I met stands accused of being a scammer who leases an apartment then sub-leases it on to new tenants, collects the rent but doesn't bother paying the original landlord.

I must say, I'm rather glad to have avoided that one and I will now (slightly) change my opinion of how tight the housing market here is.

Evolutionary Psychology, Memes and the Origin of War

2008-12-16T17:52:00.002+13:00

I previously blogged about a misogynist view of romance in the 21st century. Here's another view of how Evolutionary Psychology approaches the idea of war. i.e. that war is a good idea for a small tribe to undertake when population pressure gets too much. This is on the basis that even if the small tribe loses thir genes will live on in the women that the winning tribe takes.

Rather gruesome but does explain some of the nastier sides of human nature.

It's also something we should consider in more depth in the years to come. I would suggest that global warning and pressure on key resources such as water and oil will lead to wars. I've seen arguments that Darfur is chiefly about decreasing water supplies. This is a bit of an issue with the overflow of 20 million Chinese men who will not get a woman of their own. Many of these men are now hitting the years (18-30 or so) where they are most likely to cause trouble. While growth is continuing one hopes they will be mollified but if growth slows down and they become angry then exactly how does the world expect to keep them under control?

Oh, and I found this sentence, "(Status is approximately attention integrated over time.)," a rather pithy summation of status. In hindsight, it certainly makes sense, no?

Fighting fires

2008-12-16T07:32:00.003+13:00

...real ones!

I was sitting in the lounge at the hostel talking with a friend when somebody casually walked in and said there was a fire. After walking out into the hallway to see somebody smash the extinguisher cabinet and set off the alarm it seemed there actually was one.

I hurriedly went back to the lounge and packed my laptop into my bag (insert joke about my most treasured possessions here), slung it on my back and then went to see if I could help.

One of the staff members was trying to fight it but the little fire extinguishers lasted about 3 seconds and had no permanent affect. A bunch of the hostellies sorted out the firehose so we grabbed that and trained it on the flames through a broken internal window. (Yes we did ask the question about whether it was an electrical fire but went ahead anyway...) I had a quick look through the window and it was fairly clear that the seat of the fire was inside the wall and the firehose wasn't going to be much use because the angle was wrong.

At this point the fire department turned up and took over so I left and went outside. A bunch of us stood around feeling rather cold while watching the fire staff do their job. It was a bit interesting when one of them purposely walked into the hostel carrying a chainsaw!

You'll have to forgive the blurriness of this photo. It was cold enough that I was shivering a little. This is Jesus in front of one of the fire trucks.

10-20 minutes later everything seemed fine but the staff said the fire captain was checking things before letting us back in so we wandered off to the local Irish pub and had a beer or two - as you do at times like these...

Romance in the 21st century

2008-12-13T13:56:00.003+13:00

A friend and I were having an email discussion about nice guys and dating. I came across this article (hat tip: Arts and Letters Daily) which seemed to rather nicely sum it up. Unfortunately, it came to no particular conclusion as to what might be done, but c'est la vie.

Now I must get back to exorcising my nice guy tendancies...

Canadian differences

2008-12-11T17:13:00.002+13:00

So what differences have I found over here?
* As expected, there is very little jaywalking but, prior to this, it was never clear why not. Vancouver is on a grid system with lights at every intersection. All the crossings in downtown Vancouver will automatically go to a pedestrian crossing phase without requiring a button to be pushed. However, strangely, if you do decide to jaywalk the cars will politely stop for you. This gives you a complete guilt trip as one presumes the drivers expect that your mission is important.
* Street collectors: The Salvation Army has collectors stationed at likely looking spots who stand there all day. So far, so fine. However, they all have a little set of hand bells which they jingle *all* *day* *long*. Maybe it's just my culture but it seems rather rude to me and I'm completely over the sound of tuneless bells. Occasionaly they send carolers out, especially in the evenings, but they often aren't very good.
* Toilets: The seats have little cutouts at the front - maybe Canadian men are lazy? The water level is also disconcertingly high. Forgive me, but I really don't want to be that familiar with my output.
* Coins: They still have pennies - and they still require pennies. It gets really annoying. Everytime you see a price you have to mentally add tax. Unfortunately you don't necessarily know if they've added both sales taxes or not (federal and provincial). Then, if you go to a restaurant, you have to mentally allow for a tip. The result of the sales taxes is that what you pay has some odd number of cents. As it's easier to give whole dollars you tend to get lots and lots of coins back. After a while, you start deliberately trying to pay the correct number of cents - or close to it.
* Sales: This might be a US and recession thing but there are a lot of sales here even before Christmas - and the discounts are steep. I was at Banana Republic today (medium-high end clothing store - think Barkers) which was running a 40% off everything sale for just one day. Sears, a similar department store (think Farmers), ran a surprise sale on Monday with buy 2 clearance items and get the 3rd for a dollar.

US Thanksgiving

2008-12-03T17:44:00.002+13:00

Just a few days after I got to Vancouver I went down to Bellingham in Washington state to stay with my friend Bradley and his wife, Susan, for a few days.

It happened that my arrival coincided with Thanksgiving so it was nice timing. I volunteerd to cook pavlova. This used to be party dish. Whenever, during my adolesence, a party invite said bring a plate I'd bring pavlova. Most of these were to choir things so the choir got very used to my pavlovas.
However, for the very first time, my pavlova dropped flat. I blame the mechanical beater I was using - I must have crushed all of the air out of the egg whites.

It was a lovely trip. We had Thanksgiving dinner with Bradley, Susan and Susan's parents. Bradley had this very cool wireless meat thermometer to get the turkey cooked just right with. However, one turkey for 5 people was an aweful lot of turkey.

The next day we did a bit of a pub crawl through Bellingham and I tried a few brews. One bar, the Boundary Bay Brewery and Bistro, had some very, very nice beers.

We also played a lot of Guitar Hero - Bradley clearly does this a lot because he was very good!

It was nice. Nice to be with friends in a place where I currently don't have any.

Why do people...

2008-12-03T17:41:00.001+13:00

...wear earphones and think that the sound won't possibly be heard by anybody else. Then turn the sound up until everybody actually can, quite clearly, hear them.
Worse: they then tap along in time or (gosh) even start singing a bit.

There was one girl (at least I think what was under the dreads was a girl) in the hostel common room listening to music yesterday while she used a computer.

Right now, there's an older gentleman doing the listening, tapping, almost singing thing. Only thing is he's not very good at keeping the tapping in time. However, to give him credit, he is listening to Dylan who's not exactly known for keeping things like timing and pitch pure.

Experience... the Vancouver housing market

2008-12-01T12:42:00.002+13:00

Firstly and briefly, I was going to keep all posts consecutive and matching what happens but I can't be bothered writing a big one for some stuff. You'll just have to put up with small, frequent posts - probably more interesting too.

So I need to find a place to live in Vancouver. The hostel I'm staying in is fine, for a hostel, but at CAD 30 a night it gets expensive quickly.

CraigsList is the flat hunters site of choice so I start working through that. I've seen two places today and it certainly is eye opening.

I turn up to one place: downtown Vancouver very near a big forested park. I had arranged to meet somebody outside the building. However, I get there, wait a few minutes and then call the guy to find the room has been taken. Grr...

I then walk across the bottom of the peninsula to my next appointment. Apartment in a nice building with a nice view. Building itself is right on the water. Turns out the tenant is Turkish, manages a pizza place and can't afford the whole rent so he's put up a cloth screen across the living room and has a sofa bed and TV setup. In the sole bedroom is the place he's letting. He plans to put up another cloth drape here to allow both of us access to the bathroom.

So, a 1 bedroom place now sleeps two people - something that doesn't appear to be uncommon on CraigsList. However, to give you an idea of how tough the market is, this room was advertised for CAD 790 (=NZD 1173) a month (all expenses included).

I politely back out of that and start walking off to the library for some peace and quiet when I get a call from the first place. The guy who took it has backed out because he doesn't have enough money and would I like to be picked up and shown the place. Sure! I say.

Get to see the place and find that it's a variation on the previous one. However, for CAD 700 (=NZD 1039) a month (all expenses included) I could have the sole bedroom of this apartment while not one, not two, but three guys sleep in the living room. Mattresses on the floor and everything.

Consider my expectations reset - I shall now look a lot further afield!

Molesworth Run 2008

2008-11-22T22:03:00.003+13:00

It's been over a year since I last posted on this blog - appropriately the last post was about The Molesworth Run so it makes a good restart post to write about this year's run.

I did the run again this year - although instead of doing the relay option I entered for the solo run. All 84km of it. So what happened?

The Molesworth Run is a run through NZ's largest farm, the Molesworth Station, which runs from near Blenheim down to Hanmer Springs in the South Island. It lies between the Seaward Kaikoura and Boddington ranges. The elevation is about 1000m and the course is a dirt road all the way. There are two main hills; one at the start and one at the end and a few hills in the middle.

I asked my friend Yvette to be my support crew for the run. The support crew was rather crucial as it was her job to keep me watered, fed and alive on the run. I'm very grateful that she agreed to help.

We went down on the ferry on Friday and drove through to the start line at the north end of the Molesworth Station where we setup camp for the night. (Thanks to Al Cook for letting us borrow his tent and other supplies.) After dinner we wandered over to talk to some of the other runners and lucked onto talking to some of the ultra-marathoners. (Actually, that bit was easier - the skinny people with the over developed legs kind of gave it away.) They were really friendly and ended up giving me tips that proved useful the next day.

The start and the first leg went well. It was quite weird to toe the start line realising that a long held dream was about to start and there was 84km in front of me to cover. The second weird thing was everybody getting to a hill and immediately started walking. Not surprising at all because ultra runners walk a lot. It's hard enough as it is without wasting energy on a hill. The first 10.9k are done without support to reduce congestion on the road so I went through my 3 of my fuel belt bottles nicely on time (each had 200mL of PowerBar Endurance).

It was nice getting through the first stop. It was good to see Yvette and other people after being on the road alone and it was especially nice to get the support of all the relay teams that were there by that time. The Scottish veteran women's team gave me some great support.

I remember getting to the end of the first stage thinking that it had gone well. I was feeling good and running comfortably.

However, by this time the sun was coming on strong and life became very difficult. My nutrition and hydration plan was to have 200mL of PowerBar Endurance every 3km or so - timed to be roughly every 20 minutes. This is a mixture of a couple of different types of sugars, some sodium and potassium and a pleasant lemon/lime flavour. It's worked very well for me in the Auckland Marathon and lots of other runs. The second part of the plan was to have a selection of food available: cooked potatoes with salt and muesli bars.

What I found was that something meant that I couldn't stand the idea of drinking the sports drink and went for unmeasured swigs of plain water. I didn't want the potatoes or muesli bars either. In fact, I ended up using mushed up banana which was a tip from talking with the ultra runners the night before.

I kept going through the 2nd leg as the sun came on stronger and stronger. Every stop I was using a wet towel on my face and wetting the back of my head with a squirt of water as much as possible. Because we were running south I turned my hat around to protect the back of my head. It was also during this time I started getting headaches ; quite a concern as they are a dehydration warning sign in me. I fixed them by getting more water down. Also, at the start of this leg I asked Yvette to change from stopping every 3km to stopping every 2.5km so I could keep the fluids up.

Getting the fluids right is quite a concern for runners. You need to keep hydrated but there's only a certain rate of emptying that your stomach can handle. You don't want to over-hydrate with just water as you can end up with hyponatremia where there's not enough sodium in the blood. Unfortunately, hyponatremia and dehydration have very similar symptoms. This means that runners are busy trying to balance how much fluid they can safely drink, what's in it and whether they're over or under hydrating.

I managed to get to the end of the 2nd leg but things kept getting worse. It started being a game of getting to the next rest stop and continuing to survive. I remember having to work my way up several hills, walking of course, and not enjoying them very much at all.

At about this point I saw the car, walked up to it as I always did, and then sat down in the passengers seat. Very strangely I found I was sitting there with quite a high breathing rate which did not go away for several minutes. I took that as a warning side and got more water down.

After that, I found that even the slightest hill required me to walk up it. In fact, even flat sections would often be done with walking and running. If I tried to go faster then I found that my breathing would just stop me. At the time, I ascribed it to hitting the limit of my fitness and just kept going.

The next goal was getting past 52km (the longest distance I'd ever run) and then to get to 58km (two thirds) and then to the end of the stage at 63.8km. I started developing a blister on the side of my heel which we patched with a band aid.

Coming up to the end of the leg I had a car come up and concerned woman ask me questions: did I need water, was I with someone, was I still alright? All a bit strange but fine. Indeed, while I was feeling rubbish I was still going...

About 100m before the end of the leg I came across Yvette so I asked her to go past the checkpoint before I stopped. At this point she told me that the official (the woman in the car) had found her and told her that I was wobbling. It was also about then that a blister in my heel popped, I found that my watch was warning of low batteries and I figured my iPod was not far off. Having the watch stop was quite a concern because the officials would leave the finish at the 10 hour mark and I'd need accurate time after that to get an official finish. At this point it was 9 hours in and I was looking at another 3 or so hours to get through the final 20km. I was definitely going to need an accurate time.

So at the end of the stage I decided to call it a day. I figured that the wobbling and concern expressed by the official was a very bad sign and the blisters on my foot would become very nasty across the final 20km. I found the official and told her I was pulling out and then we drove into Hanmer Springs.

I happened to discuss the events with my doctor who pointed out that the breathing thing was a severe dehydration sign. In fact, he suggested that if somebody had put 2L of saline into me I would have bounced up and been fine.

I've also subsequently found that the blisters were probably a dehydration/hyponatremia sign as well. i.e. as the salt balance changes more fluid goes into the intracellular space and your felt swell. This means that your shoes will cause more friction and it's easier for the skin layers to separate - hence blisters.

I still remain heartily glad that I stopped. I should be disappointed but I'm just not. I think I came damn close to quite serious dehydration and went well past the point where I probably should have stopped because of it. I covered 64km in just over 9 hours and I'm very proud of it.

I'm also very keen to do another one - and finish it - and, one of these days, I'm going to go back and complete Molesworth.

Strangely, I quite enjoyed it. I think ultra running is the thinking person's end of the sport. It's not about speed, it's about learning how to make your body work at the extremes and how to get your mind to let you keep on going.

If I'd got the hydration right then I'm quite sure I could have completed it. My legs felt just fine. However, I have to learn how to get the hydration right in extreme heat in an environment that is impossible to replicate in Wellington.

I've got lots of photos on that old-fashioned technology known as film. I plan to finish the roll and develop it in Canada. You'll just have to wait a while to see what I look like when I'm really tired.

On to the next one!

The Molesworth Run 2007

2007-12-03T14:08:00.000+13:00

I recently did the Molesworth Run which is a 4 x 21km relay. Here, courtesy of Facebook, are the photos.
Shearers' Quarters
Ferry Trips
On the Run
Prizegiving and Party
Hanmer Springs
Kaikoura

Auckland Marathon 2007

2007-11-02T11:50:00.000+13:00

I had unfinished business with this marathon; my first marathon was here last year where a number of things did not go well so I came to this marathon determined to make good.

I had run the Wellington Marathon earlier this year. Unfortunately, that marathon had a very strong Northerly wind on the day and I wasn't well prepared for that. I finished in 4:37 which was slower than Auckland (4:26). In fact, that marathon was so bad that when I was coming around Point Jerningham with about 5km to go I had two walkers check if I was alright and then suggested they could call someone to pick me up. I politely refused...

That bad race was the impetus to abandon running programmes from magazines and get a real coach. Fortunately, my running club, Wellington Scottish, has a free coaching scheme with some very good coaches so I convinced Todd Stevens to help me out.

He gave me a programme which initially scared me as it had hill runs up to 2 hours during the week and two runs around the Makara Loop. Makara Loop is one of the iconic runs in Wellington. It's 33.5km of mostly rural roads and (depending on the direction) two step hills; rather intimidating if you've never run it. However, I set a moto of "coach says, Ed does" and got on with it.

Finally I was ready for marathon day itself. I spent the day before eating as many carbs as I could manage - including litres of Grapetiser. I set my alarm for 2:30am and got up to have two slices of toast. I knew from experience that eating too much before a long, fast run would cause issues. My mother and I headed off to the ferry nice and early, had a relaxed trip over (even talked to a few Scottish members on the boat) and then settled in to wait at Devonport.

The wait took a while but was quite pleasant. Last year I'd been stressing over actually getting to the start line on time so it was good to be there and prepared. I just read the paper and waited around for Kate to turn up.

It was a good day for long distance running. The night before had had some short but torrential rain and the day itself was overcast. There was a shower or two during the race but nothing to worry about.

The plan was for Kate and I to start near the 4 hour pace team but to run our own race. However, after making the final Portaloo stop we couldn't find the balloon but did start near the 4:15 balloon. I'd done a few training runs with Kate, including the aforementioned Makara Loop, so we knew we ran roughly the same pace and didn't annoy each other...

Finally, the race started and we were off in sprint!
Er, no, the whole crowd shuffled over the start line and we got started about 5 minutes after the gun time.

The start of Auckland is always a bit annoying. There are lots and lots of walkers or slower runners all mixed in which one needs to work through. You also have the half marathoners to worry about. It makes for a bit of a mental challenge to find a useful path through the crowd without getting over excited and going too fast. The first half is also fairly hilly which adds to difficulty in pacing.

Fortunately, I had my trusty GPS watch so I knew what the pace was reasonably accurately. I was really enjoying myself; the pace felt easy, all my special drinks turned up when I wanted them, and, before long, we were over the bridge and through the halfway mark. Surprisingly I was still feeling good. One of my left glute muscles was starting to get painful but otherwise fine.

The race plan was to do the first half in 1:55 to allow room to get in under 4:00. Halfway was not marked on the course although every K was. On the watch we hit 21.1 at about 1:56.

At this point Kate had a bit of a marathon moment. Everybody gets a point where they want to stop so I tried to gee her up - however not very effectively. She told me to run ahead so I did, a little reluctantly though.

The second half progressed well. Last year the start of the second half had been somewhat depressing because of all the half marathoners who got to finish. A team mate of mine for the upcoming Molesworth Run described how he'd enjoyed the first lap of Christchurch with the half marathoners because for him it was an easy run and he could get energy from the halfers digging deep around him. I used that same attitude this time around and it worked quite well.

In the second half there was a bit of an Easterly head wind for the 3rd quarter. Compared to a Wellington wind it was very mild so I could just ignore it. My coach had suggested pacing every 5km section and trying to do it in 27 minutes or so. Even ignoring pacing benefits it was a useful mental benefit for the second half. I just focussed on each 5km section and left the rest of the race to worry about itself.

Before long, I realised I was well ahead of time and still feeling good. I kept myself in check until the turnaround at St Heliers (about 32km) and then just went for it. It was all flat except for 2 road bridges. I remember the 2nd bridge being a bit annoying as it required a rhythm change and then a pick up back to race pace. I really relied on my watch at that point as it showed 6:40 min/km after the bridge. I had to mentally kick myself up a gear to get to 6:10 min/km and then another one to get back to 5:40 or so.

When I got through the 40km mark at about 3:40 I just started having the biggest smile on my face. I knew it would take a lot to do 2.2 km in more than 20 minutes so my goal was practically done. The last bit was getting through the windy section through the viaduct. Bizarrely Brendon Johnson, the scary looking ex-marine from TV3's Money Man, was there with his family cheering people on.

I got to the finishing shoot and just sprinted along with a big smile on my face. I was coming in just under 4 hours since the gun so the announcer was revving the crowd up to cheer every one home. It was a fantastic feeling. I had chills up my spine and a huge smile on my face with this crowd just cheering wildly.

In the end, net time was 3:53:39 so my goal of sub 4 hours was well and truly smoked.

At the park we came past the NZ Army tent. I, stupidly, commented on the whiteboard advertising a press up competition. Kate promptly got down on the ground and did some press ups which forced me to get done and do at least one more than her as well. Now that was painful...

All in all, a fabulous day and a fabulous race. Wellington is a great place to train for running and full credit to my coach Todd Stevens.

Hmmm....

2007-07-10T20:41:00.000+12:00

Your results:
You are Geordi LaForge

Geordi LaForge		70%
Spock		57%
Chekov		50%
Mr. Sulu		50%
Beverly Crusher		45%
Jean-Luc Picard		45%
Uhura		40%
Will Riker		40%
James T. Kirk (Captain)		30%
Leonard McCoy (Bones)		30%
Data		25%
Mr. Scott		25%
Deanna Troi		20%
Worf		5%
An Expendable Character (Redshirt)		0%

You work well with others and often
fix problems quickly. Your romantic
relationships are often bungled.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

I.T. Offshoring

2007-05-10T20:32:00.000+12:00

This is probably going to be one of my biggest issues for at least the next ten years.

We already have signs of this starting to affect us in New Zealand. My employer recently lost a large contract, at Fonterra, to an Indian IT firm. As far as I could tell the Indians were that much cheaper that they made their case.

Interestingly, the Australians have decided to protect their services industry so my Australian colleagues are fine - at least for the short term. I happen to think this is a mistake - and would certainly be a mistake for New Zealand.

If my industry were protected then Fonterra, this country's largest exporter, would have to pay more for their IT services. This would then put them at a disadvantage against their global competition.

Secondly, such protection is essentially rascist. It says that being born in New Zealand means you get a better ride than being born in India.

Now certainly there are issues with the way countries like India have lower standards on labour and environment issues - or how China has a very poor human rights record.

However, I'm quite happy to compete with the Indians. I think it will be a fruitful challenge and I think it's about time Kiwi IT people got their act together and stopped accepting the low quality and productivity we current produce.

Fascist America, in ten easy steps

2007-05-10T20:19:00.000+12:00

I have often thought much the same thoughts as Naomi Wolf has expressed in this article. I may not agree with everything she writes on every subject - she is known for being anti-globalization but I happen to think she's dead on with this one.

Essentially, 9-11 was an incredibly successful attack which has managed to turn the US away from freedom towards a totalitarian state.

However, I have much greater hope for the US than I do for, say, Fiji. I think the civil society in the US to eventually swing the pendulum back. We've started to see signs of that with the last midterm elections and the subsequent robust fight from the Congress and Senate over Iraq.

The presidential election next year will be very interesting and a true test of US democracy. Either a Democrat will win (and the fight between a black man and and a white woman will also be interesting or, I predict, the Republican candidate will be far more centrist than Bush (although that's not exactly hard).

We'll see.

Healthy Food Journey #2: Fettuccine Carbonara

2007-03-11T20:19:00.000+13:00

Healthy Food Guide March 2007, p62

This is a useful magazine but I didn't like this recipe. It uses light evaporated milk instead of cream and adds broccoli. It came out alright but I didn't think it was tasty enough for me.

I'm starting to think that I'm not a fan of creamy pasta sauces in general. When Brian was down here I had smoked salmon fettuccine at the Hotel Bristol - tolerable but nothing special. I've also tried other healthy versions of creamy pasta - using ricotta cheese and goats cheese and I didn't particularly like that either.

Submission on Copyright (New Technologies and Performer’s Rights) Bill

2007-03-08T21:28:00.000+13:00

For your interest here is my submission on this new bill. I've never submitted to Parliament before and I've only had a couple of hours to put this together. Should be interesting. And no, I'm not going to present personally.

If anyone else is interested in submitting you can do it online but you have until the end of Friday 9 March...

Submission on Copyright (New Technologies and Performer’s Rights) Bill

By Edward Sargisson

Introduction To Author

In 2001, I graduated from the University of Auckland with a Conjoint Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Bachelor of Commerce in Operations Management. Since then I have been employed by large firms as an IT Consultant. I have also been a performer as I am a previous member of both Auckland and Wellington Cathedral Choirs and Musica Sacra. I spent a total of ten years singing English Cathedral Music and have sung on a number of recordings.

This bill is similar US Digital Millennium Copyright Act and therefore many of the criticisms of that act can be applied to this bill.

Use of Technological Protection Mechanism to build competitive advantage against public interest

With reference to S89 inserting sections 226 to 226I

Opposed

It is becoming common to use Digital Rights Management (DRM) to build products and services that provide a lock-in for the vendor. Instead of relying on producing better and cheaper services for customers such firms, to an extent, use DRM to artificially protect their profit at the expense of customers.

An example of this is the Apple iPod portable music player. The iPod can only have music loaded onto the device by the iTunes software produced by Apple. While iTunes can load freely available music formats (such as MP3) the only DRM supported is that provided by Apple. Therefore the only music that can be purchased from Apple’s iTunes Internet store can be loaded onto an iPod.

The effect of DRM in this case is that Apple owns the means to both sell, load and play music for the majority of the market and Apple certainly does not make this market available to competitors. This competitive advantage is, in part, protected by the DMCA mentioned above.

It should be noted that a large part of Apple’s success with the iPod is the combination of the usability of the device and Apple’s success in negotiating with record companies for the right to sell their music online. Part of the reason the record companies were happy with this was the protection of the DMCA. However, at least one of these record companies[1] is now bemoaning the effect of these DRM protections which indicates that the record companies may not have needed DRM at the start.

Secondly, the anti-TPM provisions can be used to unfairly protect competition in other markets. By claiming that some feature of their product is a TPM companies can attempt to protect others from making their own version of that product.

An example of this is the printer maker, Lexmark, who have attempted to protect their market in producing ink cartridges by claiming they are protected under the DMCA[2]. However, while Lexmark have lost this case[3] this would have been very expensive for the defendant.

Effect of TPM Provisions on artistic advancement

The DMCA (and similar acts in the US) are based on a proposition that works spring fully formed into an artists mind with no reference to any previous works. From that proposition it then follows that these works should be protected to ensure the income of the artist and encourage future works.

However, the creation of works, both artistic and non-artistic, does not work in this way. It is very much true that, to quote Newton, “If I have seen further [than certain other men] it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”[4] The process of creation is reliant on what has gone before.

In recent times, more explicit re-use of works is being undertaken by consumers and then re-published onto the Internet. These are often called mash-ups where existing works are modified, have new lyrics added, etc.

The TPM provisions in this bill will have the effect of removing the ability for consumers to undertake this. The only way to work with music that has been purchased is with the permission of the copyright holder. Permission that is very unlikely to be forthcoming.

Chilling effect on free speech

With reference to S53 inserting new section 92C(2)(a)(ii)

Opposed

This very small section has the potential to have a very large effect on free speech in this country. This section allows anyone to allege copyright infringement and thereby have a publication removed from an Internet Service Provider(ISP).

For example, a person may publish a website criticising some firm. Should that website contain any element with even the appearance of infringing the firm’s copyright (for example a parodied logo) then the firm can ask the ISP that hosts that site to remove the site. There is no provision in this bill to allow the original publisher of the site to contest this takedown short of legal action. Such action would be expensive and hence the speech would be chilled.

This provision is similar to the use of the takedown notice provisions of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). A large number of examples of this can be found at the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse[5], “A joint project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, University of San Francisco, University of Maine, George Washington School of Law, and Santa Clara University School of Law clinics.” A useful example is US National Pork Board shutting down a parody website[6].

Copying sound recording for private and domestic use

With reference to S44 inserting new section 81A

Changes Recommended

This section, without subsections (2) and (3), would ordinarily be a good and useful provision. It is now common practice for users to purchase a CD and then make copies on their computer (for use at work when carrying a stack of CDs is impractical) and/or on to a portable media device. These copies are generally for personal use and allow the user to listen to their music in the way they desire. Without this provision, the music companies will attempt to sell the same music to consumers several times; once for each format the user might desire. Users should be able to buy a piece of music once and then have it whichever format suits their use.

However, subsection (2) completely removes the effect of subsection (1). The music companies will simply use this subsection to return things to way they were.

It is recommended that subsection (2) be removed.

Potentially subsection (3) should also be removed in order to make this consumer protection permanent. However, Parliament may continue to desire that this section be temporary.

[1] Chicago Sun-Times, “Report: EMI in talks with online retailers to possibly sell MP3s without copy protection”, 09/02/2007, Available online at http://www.suntimes.com/technology/250463,emi020907.article

[2] CNET News.Com, “Lexmark invokes DMCA in toner suit”, 08/01/2003, Available online at http://news.com.com/2100-1023-979791.html

[3] Electronic Freedom Foundation, “EFF: Lexmark v. Static Control Case Archive”, Available online at http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/Lexmark_v_Static_Control/

[4] The Columbia World of Quotations, Available online at http://www.bartleby.com/66/18/41418.html

[5] www.chillingeffects.org

[6] Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, “Pork Board has a cow over slogan parody”, 30/01/2007, Available online at http://www.chillingeffects.org/trademark/notice.cgi?NoticeID=6418

Healthy Food Journey: Salmon Pasta

2007-03-04T16:37:00.000+13:00

I thought I'd start a new section. I've been finding and trying new recipes in an aim to find some that are healthy and tasty. It's surprisingly hard. So much of what we eat uses fat for taste so finding recipes that have lots of minerals and vitamins, a good amount of carbs and protein and maybe 30% fat by calorie is rather difficult. Having them be tasty is even harder. Hence: Journey of Recipes.

So, for recipe #1, from Runners World: Salmon and Edamame Pasta. Unfortunately, I can't find any edamame (soy beans) in Wellington so I make it without. Wholemeal penne can be found at the Mediterannean Food Warehouse or Commonsense Organics. The method of cooking salmon ends up coming up devine. The salmon itself is high in fat but it's very useful heart healthy fat.

Because most of the recipes I've been trying use fresh herbs. They're rather expensive at the supermarket so I've just planted a herb garden. I've got basil, coriander, sage, oregano, chives, thyme, rosemary and a bay tree. I even bought some catnip for my cat Sammy. Predictably he went rather silly over it rubbing it all over with his chin. He almost killed it before I could get it in the ground!

Meridian Energy Gut Buster

2007-03-04T16:18:00.000+13:00

Sometimes it's fun to prove how mad one can be. The Gut Buster's probably right up there. The course is from Karori up to Wright's Hill then even more up to the windmill before heading back down to Karori again. It's 11.8km, total elevation 400m.

It was also a lovely, lovely day. Bright and sunny with little, if any, wind. I didn't particularly intend to race it - 'twas more a glorified training run with lots of running buddies. As expected, it was fairly tough. I managed to run most of the way up to the windmill but then one of the steep sections along the sanctuary fenceline did me in and I had to start walking.

It may turn out to be my undoing but I'm considering doing most of my long runs for the marathon off road - it's a hell of a lot more interesting than going around the coast every single run.

Time?: You mean the time matters? Oh, alright, 1:26.

X Air and Half Marathon

2007-02-11T21:07:00.000+13:00

Interesting weekend. My mate Brian and his mate came to stay with me this weekend. They're both involved in the event organising business so they managed to get free entry passes for themselves. Of course, they didn't think of little old me...

Unfortunately, the Saturday session was postponed to Sunday. Given the wind that was probably a wise idea. I fed them at some well known Wellington spots and left them to it.
Later that night we went into town for dinner and had reasonable bar food at the Hotel Bristol.

Ran a half marathon race today. The race itself went okay. I think I paced it fairly well for my level of fitness. My eating plan worked fine and I felt fine through the last half. (In previous races I've turned to pieces in the second half.)

Unfortunately, my time was 1:54:08 which rather reflects my level of fitness. Training over the holidays was obviously just too difficult. The extra kilo or so of fat above my normal race level probably didn't help either...

So now to train for the Wellington Marathon in June.

Apple TV

2007-01-11T15:35:00.000+13:00

And, for the same post, on a related subject.

I suspect that this will not necessarily be quite as successful as the iPod. The main issue is that it does not support the common formats that are used for movies downloaded off the web - i.e. XVid appears to be missing completely.The iPod is useful because it plays the commonly available audio format, MP3.
However, I believe there will increasingly be a market for a TV media server. People want to be able to watch their stuff on their TV. (I'm currently looking for something that solves the problem and will probably build my own.)
For example, there are products such as the TVisto. This is a portable hard drive that can be connected to a TV to play the content.Portable hard drives are quite popular as people swap what they've downloaded. The addition of the media player and remote makes this really useful.
However, personally speaking, I would probably not want the hassle of copying media onto the drive and then physically moving it to the TV to play.
I want wireless!
You could go something like the Digital Media Gateway which will play things from across the network. However - it has no storage! You can always add a portable hard drive or a hard drive on the network but that's a bit too much effort.
So my current thought is to roll my own with MythTV.
We'll see.

DRM in Microsoft Windows Vista

2007-01-11T13:21:00.000+13:00

I made this post to the Public Address System and thought it would be interesting to post here. I even think I saw John Fouhy, Steph's boyfriend, post on the same topic...

The Microsoft DRM play in Vista is merely the first shot in a battle that will be extremely interesting to watch; namely, the conflict between the consumer and the content owners over control of the consumer's own hardware and software. It is just this battle that Richard Stallman, the leading anti-DRM advocate, has been pointing out for years.

Music
The iPod is a case in point. Before the iPod there were many competing portable MP3 players. That part of the iPod is not new. Apple added workable DRM to the iPod in order to be able to negotiate with the record companies to sell their content. Apple also applied fantastic hardware and software design along with sophisticated marketing (cool ads) to provide a beautiful and easy to use product.
The iPod is therefore the integration of something that consumers would want, and record companies would be prepared to use, in order to increase the utility for consumers.
It was these features that helped the iPod grab enormous market share, and grow the market incredibly, very quickly.
The music battle is largely over - although there are some moves by various actors to not worry about DRM at all. It does become annoying for consumers and may not be worth it.

Movies
The battle for video is just heating up. The studios are extremely scared that their income stream will be butchered by consumer piracy. This is partly because the economic models are different between music and movies.
A musical artist does not receive a lot of the purchase price for a CD. Typical estimates are around $1. The rest of the price is taken by the record company and is mostly used to offset the losses that are made from artists that are not hugely successful.(i.e. record companies invest highly in recording albums from likely musicians but only one in ten recoup that investment).
The real money in music comes from concerts. I'm not completely sure of the economics but I know that the promoter normally gives the artists around 80% of the ticket price.
Movies, on the other hand, have a different model. The cinema takings are only a small proportion of total revenue according to David Denby of the New Yorker. Most of the income is from selling the movie to television networks, DVD sales and, in some cases, merchandising.
Given this economic model you can see why the studios are scared. If their income stream from DVD sales and TV sales is cannabilised by free digital distribution then how can they fund their multi-million dollar movies?
Microsoft is therefore attempting to to re-create the Apple iTunes supply chain for movies inside Windows Vista.

Technical Aspects
I am a professional programmer with a small side interest in computer security. I read all of Peter Gutman's paper and I'm utterly amazed. The level of protection that is required is unusal and draconian. Microsoft has gone through the entire operating system looking for possible holes and attempted to plug them all.There will be enormous costs in terms of hardware development, software development, CPU cycles, memory, the works.
It will be extremely interesting to see if consumers will actually find this acceptable. The usability of their machine may be reduced and the costs will certainly be high.
Given Microsoft's record on the number of defects currently being found in their products (not unusual in this industry), and the complexity of what they're trying, they will almost certainly have made a mistake in this DRM code. It will be interesting to see what happens then. The threat to prevent previously working hardware from functioning is amazing. Will Microsoft force these updates into the operating system and prevent that from working unless updated?

Fair use
It's worth mentioning that most DRM schemes have no provision for fair use or copyright termination. Fair use is the right to a portion of a copyright work for review, study, criticism, etc. Copyrights have a limited term. This changes based on who created the work, what it is and what country but is generally 50 years.

Skyline

2006-12-04T20:14:00.001+13:00

No, not the car, the track!

Wellington Scottish, the running club I'm a member of, has setup some club runs during the summer. Sure the Harrier season is during the winter so not many turn up but I finally had legs that weren't killed from marathon running, I was well and had time.

It was a great run. We started in Ngaio, went down the Ngaio Gorge a little way then took some shortcuts to get to Wilton Bush. Then it was a fairly solid climb to get up to near Mt Kaukau before heading back to home base. It was a somewhat grueling 2 hour run. My legs are dead the day after.

It was very pleasant to relax back at the Harper/Manchester and have some morning tea.

The photo above was taken very near the highest elevation. Thanks to Paul and www.scottishathletics.org.nz.

Broadband update

2006-12-04T19:51:00.000+13:00

So... it turns out that our friends TelstraClear can't put cable in without digging a hole every ten metres down the drive. For those that might care the feeder pole halfway down the drive is too short for them to put cable on. Since the landlord doesn't wish to allow any digging my dream of cable goodness is no more.

So it's time to try ADSL. On my friend Adam's recommendation I've signed up with World Exchange. In theory, it's on at the moment but as I've only just ordered a modem. Hopefully that'll arrive tomorrow or Wednesday and I'll get everything going.

As far as I can tell ADSL must be on. I just attempted to dial up with an ADSL filter on the line. I got the fabulous speed of, wait for it, 2.4kbps. Yep, that's right, we're back to 2400 baud.

Of course, inserting the ADSL filter in line gives a nice speed of 40kbps.

To follow up the PC Online Shop story: it took a bit but my wireless router did turn up safe and sound so good on them.

I had a bit of fun configuring it. I wanted the security to be WPA2 because that has proper grown-up encryption. Then I discovered that running WPA2 on Windows XP requires a special patch; the Intel wireless adapter on my laptop required whole new drivers. Working this out took a bit of research because there were no useful error messages. However, Google is your friend and once everything was installed it all went swimmingly.

I've also found that, in NZ at least, hooking up an external modem to an existing network is a little bit of a challenge. Telecom use a protocol called PPPoA to do authentication. The interesting thing about that decision is that the authentication has to be done on the modem. A seperate router does see the frames to do PPPoA over. Most wireless routers, including mine, include a firewall and other useful security between the Internet and internal sides.

I was originally going to buy a fairly simple ADSL modem and rely on the router to do the security. There's lots of discussion on the net about trying to make it work - mostly unsuccessful.

However, consulting the oracle that is Adam, comes up with the simple solution. Ignore the Internet side of the router, get an ADSL modem with appropriate security and let the router just spread it around.

So roll on Mr. Modem.

Or should I say oboe?

So now I'm breathlessly waiting for my modem.

Adventures in broadband

2006-11-16T19:23:00.000+13:00

So I finally decided to get broadband. Seems that I can't keep up my geek cred without it. Oh and I'm simply getting annoyed waiting for dial up.

A quick blat through a number of websites showed that TelstraClear cable seemed to have the best deal. 2Mbps both ways, 1GB cap for something like $20/month. I'm being vague because the various package deals make the numbers a little difficult to compare. Going from a Telecom+Sky package to a TelstraClear phone+internet package is just strange.

Because I also wanted wireless I ordered a LinkSys WRT54G from an online store, PC Online Store. Strangely, two days later a LinkSys ADSL wireless router turned up. Definitely not a WRT54G and no use to me. I rang up the supplier, told him the problem and he told me he'd switched the orders with someone and asked me to send the router back to him. Which I duly did last Friday.

Haven't seen anything come back yet. Sent the guy an email today. No reply.

Hmm...

This saga continues mind you. I rang up the helpful people at TelstraClear and they said that yes, definitely, they could supply me.

Cue Tuesday. Helpful guy comes round with his two offsiders. First question is whether I already have TelstraClear service. No, I say. Oh, he says. Turns out that TelstraClear thinks we already have a connection yet we don't. So now I'm waiting for the underground crew to show up and tell me if I get to have cable or not. I'm told it's not likely.

So, I'm not doing very well on the broadband front...

Auckland Marathon!

2006-10-30T17:56:00.000+13:00

Since I've spent this year preparing for the marathon it's time I told you how it went.

The day started when my alarm went off at 4am. Actually, it was a bit of a relief because I didn't exactly sleep well. The first problem I came across was being unable to complete my breakfast. I had planned to have 4 spicy fruit muffins with honey - and that was what I trained with - but I could only get about 1 1/2 down. I thought I'd vomit if I had any more. I quickly put together another lot of my carb drink so I could get some more carbs down later.

It took a bit longer than I'd planned to get organised so at about 5am Mum and I drove off. The whole way in to town I was busy trying to control the butterflys in my stomach. We did get in on time and lined up in the huge line to get on the ferries. Fortunately, the ferries were well organised, the line moved quickly, and very soon we were on our way across the harbour.

Fortunately, we got there in good time so I took off my warm up gear and lined up for the start. There were very many people there: 6410 for the half marathon and 1061 for the full distance. The start area was chaos and I couldn't even see the start from where I was waiting. Fortunately we started fairly quickly at 6:30 so I wasn't left waiting nervously.

The large amounts of half marathon runners made the first half quite difficult. I found that I wanted to run faster than most of them (first mistake) and spent a lot of time and energy dodging around people (second mistake). The first half was fairly hilly as we worked our way through the North Shore. I had bottles of Leppin Enduro Booster that I'd given the organisers to place at the drink stations. Unfortunately, at the first station at about 5km I couldn't find it (third mistake). There was a vicious climb up Northcote Rd before we turned off to go the bridge. It was somewhat amusing and chastening to see the buses lined up for the people who wouldn't manage to get to the bridge before 8:30. All in all the run to the bridge was a fairly technically challenging run: dodging runners, picking the best line, and changing strides to go up and down hills.

Crossing the bridge was fantastic! The bridge is normally closed to pedestrians so you take your chances when you can. The climb is not as daunting as you might think and the view at the top is amazing. After that it was a fairly flat grind through the Westhaven marina until the half marathoners turned off to finish at Victoria Park.

I finished the first half in about 1:57 which was 3 minutes ahead of where I wanted to be. At this point I was reasonably heartened about my pacing even though I'd done the first couple of kilometres far too fast. My heart rate was about 175-180bpm through the first half (fourth mistake...).

The second half was a whole different kettle of fish. At this point I could actually see who the other marathoners were so it was easier to pace - but that didn't help much. The second half of the course was almost flat out along the waterfront to a turn around at St Heliers Bay. At this point the wind kicked in: while there were lots of complaints in the media about it I didn't find it too bad. I would class it as a mild to moderate on shore wind but because the course was across the wind it didn't really affect me much.

However, I slowed right down - a whole lot more than I expected or wanted. I'm still not quite sure why. I didn't hit the wall because I was managing a heart rate of about 145-160bpm and I know from bitter experience that when I hit the wall my heart rate will not go above 136bpm. At the first drink station in the second half I managed to get two bottles of my drink down to top up the carbs but that didn't help much. It took a fair bit of determination to get out to the turnaround point and I was very glad when I finally got around it.

But things got harder still. That 5km after the turnaround (about 32km - 37km) was just revolting. At one point I walked about 20 metres just for a rest. I had to make a couple of pit stops and then found I couldn't get my carb drink down. My body told me, quite clearly, that it didn't want any more of it and all I could do at the drink stations was a couple of sips of the drink with a bit of extra water.

At about 37km I passed a young woman walking up the road bridge and then heard a questioning "Eddie?" behind me. Turns out that is my school friend Jacqui, who, as it turned out was also doing her first marathon and suffering about as much as I was. We ran together for about the next 3km while I tried to encourage her along. This actually helped me get going a whole lot better too. After a while she decided she wanted to walk again so I gutsed it out to the finish.

I kept aiming for the ferry building and it's nice big clock tell myself that I could get there and then it would be only about a kilometre to get to the finish. Getting off the waterfront and turning into the Viaduct was just fabulous. There were quite a few people lined up watching and, more importantly, cheering us along. Mum was there and gave me a cheer - she even tried running beside me but the bags she was carrying rather slowed her down. I finally got out of the viaduct and could see the finish. There were a massive amount of people waiting there and cheering. A final turn into the finish chute and I could see the marathon time ticking up towards 4:30 so I put as much as I could into it and got across the line.
Those cheers at the end and the feeling of getting across that line was amazing. Quite a high!

Final stats: 4:29:53 since the gun went off, 4:26:37 since crossing the start line.

Result: one very tired Ed - a little bit frustrated about not getting under 4 hours.

Running, volleyball and more running.

2006-10-19T19:34:00.000+13:00

Time for another update.

Two weeks ago I went up to Palmerston North for the National Road Rely Champs. I originally wsn't going to go up but the nice people at Scottish talked me into it. Turned out to be really good.

A road relay is about the only time a runner really gets to be part of a team. Given how upbeat most runners are it makes for quite an experience. The relay itself started at Manfeild Park in Feilding and, for seniors, had 7 legs of about 10km each. The course stretched up around the rural roads up to and round Halcombe.

I was in Scottish Mens D. To give you and idea of the pecking order we had a Scottish Mens A, B, C, a P, and then D. The P team were in our division and the P stands for a 4 letter word to do with drinking...

We started out pretty well. Our illustrious leader, Adrian, got us off for a very good start and we continued that quite well. There was quite some inter-team competition. The Mens P team were fighting it out with the Womens A team with quite some honour on the line. We were fighting it out amongst the Scottish Womens B team and the Mens 50+. For my leg I was up against a friend, Jasmine Brown. I knew she was faster than me across 5km but I had the lead at the start.

Everytime I glanced behind I could see two yellow singlets behind me (yellow being Scottish colours) which I thought included Jasmine. Eventually those two singlets caught up and turned out to be a Bays girl and one of the Scottish Mens 50+. Not Jasmine. As it happened, Jas caught up a huge amount but not quite enough to get past me.

The run by the next runner caught us up some more time but from that point we went downhill. The runner on leg 6 injured his hamstring and had to walk much of it. Our last run used to be an extremely good runner but had been off with injury. He'd done a 10km in 65min so he did very well to do his leg in 55min.

In the end, well, we were dead last. Someone has to be...

Scottish did quite well. Our women's veteran team won, we got second in all the mens divisions and the other teams did well too. We ended up being the first equal team. Full results here.

After that we all relaxed. Being kiwis that meant drinking and eating. Good crowd to hang out with.

The next day I went for a 32km run in Palmie. The final very long run in my schedule and I got to go around much of Palmie. It's quite a nice town, leafy suburbs, riverside trails, and the course I laid out worked quite well - except for a long boring jaunt across the north of the town on Tremaine Rd.

Then I hung out with my lovely sister Cat and her flatmates for a little while before driving back.

Last week, we had the business games volleyball tournament. For whatever reason we were seeded in a pool of death. Any one of 5 teams in our pool could have one the other pools, and therefore moved into the semis, but we all ended up in one pool. Our team even had the winner from 2004 up as our very first opposition.

It was a tough tournament. We lost the first game against Statistics New Zealand and thought we were out. Strangely enough it ended up that Wellington City Council beat them, by one point, and that we beat WCC reasonably well. Coming into the last game there were 3 teams, including us, who were in first equal position. It was rather amusing, Stats completely whipped their opposition by something like 43-20 (because the points difference might matter) but we lost to Te Puni Kokiri by 3 points. Because WCC beat Stats they got to go through.

It was all a bit unfair really. WCC ended up winning the tournament but Stats deserved a second chance. Because the organisers didn't seed the pool properly and because the progression system had no second chances the result was rather warped.

In other news, my PB for the 5km is finally coming down after all this training. Took about 37 seconds out of it to get to 21:35 in the Scottish series. Very happy!

Marathon Running

2006-08-28T21:06:00.000+12:00

Well, after my little incident up the mountain, my knee is finally back in service. Not quite perfect yet but good enough that I managed the planned 25km run on Sunday. I'm very happy because now I'm back on track with my training plan! The last time I had an injury it knocked so much out of my plan that I couldn't run the Wellington Marathon as I'd planned. Hence, I'm really happy to be back training fully!

Anyway, I've often see race directors for things like the Wellington Marathon or the Round Taupo Cycle Challenge include information about raising money for the Heart Foundation by getting sponsorship for the race. Since the Heart Foundation is one of my favourite charities I thought I'd give it a go.

So, here's a nice webpage where, should you feel so moved, you can donate some money to the Heart Foundation.

Using Google Maps for my favourite running route

2006-08-21T20:24:00.000+12:00

I've mucked around with Google Maps to set up my favourite running route. I then happened to find, in the latest Runners' World, some references to some website that do the job. I've now added my route to the USATF site. . FYI: there are other sites at www.favouriteruns.com and www.gmap-pedometer.com.

I now have some new marks.
8.5km: Shell bitumin tanks
12.5km: Small point 100m before short gravel crescent on right hand side of road
13.5km: Small gravel car port just past cable warning sign by building.

Orpheus concert

2006-08-17T21:34:00.000+12:00

I recently joined the Orpheus Choir. A friend of mine talked me into it and I decided it wouldn't hurt to do at least one concert.

It's called Venetian Splendour and it's at 7:30pm Wednesday 13 September at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul. If you're interested then look me up for tickets. I can do them for $25 ($15 for students) instead of $30 at the door.

The music is loud, showy, brassy baroque. Lots of 8 part stuff - even a 12 part Magnificat. The brass players from the NZSO are coming along so it will be quite loud, exciting and somewhat ethereal in that acoustic.

The blurb:
"The programme includes masterpieces by three leading composers of the Italian baroque period – Andrea Gabrieli, his nephew Giovanni, and German composer Heinrich Schütz, who spent several years studying in Venice with Monteverdi.

The music was written to be performed in St Mark’s Venice, known for its awesome atmosphere. Wellington Cathedral has a very similar acoustic, so you will be hearing glorious choral and instrumental sounds in much the same way as worshippers at St Mark’s must have four hundred years ago.

Orpheus Choir is joined by eight vocal soloists and by New Zealand Brass, who will also perform pieces for brass ensemble. "

Skiing

2006-08-17T20:56:00.000+12:00

So I went away skiing last week with my friends Adam and Char. Wandered up to Ohakune on Sunday and found our chalet. It was rather bizarrely decorated in all the worse excesses of the '80s. The overriding colour was red - not quite bright red but pretty close.
If it wasn't red then it was red and white - including the duvet covers. The kitchen was tiny and the toilet was so small that if you wanted to shut the door you needed to fit yourself in beside the bowl itself.

It was also surprisingly cold for a chalet. Normally, they're designed so the pitched roof catches the heat generated below so the beds are nice and warm. For some reason this didn't work very well - especially during the day.

Monday was a fairly crap but at about lunchtime we decided to head up on the off chance. The off chance was pretty good so we went skiing.

As we expected Tuesday was a snow day so we stayed in the chalet and all did our respective geeking. Charlotte designed some invites, Adam did some strange things with WiFi and I kept working on my GWT books database.

Wednesday was a pretty good skiing day and we got lots of runs in. I discovered that Char and Adam have a penchant for finding fresh snow and skiing fairly quickly. Which, at the end of the day, somehow left me stuck right up the top of Turoa without being able to get my skis back on for powder. Every single time I went to put my ski on it would either turn over or it would sink into the powder or there would be so much snow caked on the bottom of my boot that it wouldn't bind. I was up there for at least 40 minutes before I got everything back together and I could get down. Of course by that time the visibility had packed in, my sunglasses fogged up, my glasses would fog up inside my goggles so I had to ski down with just my glasses.

Thursday, of all days, got worse. Adam and Char went ahead so I did a run by myself - then we went up the top and they took off like they were sliding off the mountain. I followed along at my own pace and then came to a spot where I didn't know which way they'd gone. They might have followed the piste or they might have gone into the powder.

Being stupid, I chose to go into the powder. Fell once - got back up - skiied a bit more...and then my ski caught and turned into the mountain very quickly. As it went I felt it rip something in my knee and I promptly fell onto the snow.

Then of course I had to get out of there and it looked like heading down the hill would be disastrous. I spotted the bottom of the Jumbo T-Bar and decided to walk to it. Unfortunately I was about fifty metres up hill through powder.

After that I just went home, iced the damn knee and went home the next day.

Of course, I fooled myself into believe it would heal quickly enough that I could get back into running on Tuesday. Heal quickly it did - but not that quickly. I went to the physio today and found out that it was my medial ligament (on the inside of my knee) and that I might be off for a few weeks. He did give some exercises to accelerate things so here's hoping...

Photos from Wellington Half Marathon

2006-07-03T20:05:00.000+12:00

For your viewing pleasure here are some pictures from the half marathon.

Harbour Capital Half Marathon

2006-06-26T18:50:00.000+12:00

This year I ran the half marathon in Wellington. I had been planning to run the full marathon on this occasion but an injury early this year took me out of training for four weeks which was just enough to knock the training schedule too much.

Unlike last year, the day dawned fairly clear and rather still. Last year was very cold with a strong southerly which was horrible. I'd predicted that I'd do about 1:52 or so based on a rather disappointing 5km time trial performance at the beggining of the week.

This event has the rather useful feature of having pace groups. Experienced runners go out with a coloured balloon and attempt to get as close as they can to a fixed time. Last year I went out with the 1:40 pace group - I eventually dropped off but got 1:44:45. This year I went out with the 1:50 pace group. Perversely he went out at about 5 minutes/km instead of 5:12. We ended up about a minute ahead of time at the turnaround point.

Coming back through the second to last drink stop, at the corner of Cobham Drive and Evans Bay parade, the pack slowed down but I kept going to try and get ahead. That worked alright until about Point Jerningham where the pack came past me.

The last quarter was fairly tough but not as bad as last year. Basically a case of relaxing and trying to ignore the pain.

Finished off in 1:48:57 since I crossed the start line. 1:50:01 since the gun.

All in all I was fairly pleased. The best bit was having Cat at the end to lean on.

Life Update

2006-05-18T20:39:00.000+12:00

The more observant of my readers will note that I haven't made a post for quite a while; sounds like I should do a big update.

I was playing volleyball and managed to land on someone's foot and badly wrenched my foot. Rather painful - indeed painful enough that I took the next day off work. I figured if I couldn't walk to the bathroom then walking to work would be rather silly. It took a few weeks but the foot's all better now. Unfortunately, it took enough time out of my training timetable that I can't do the marathon in June. I'll do the half marathon in June and do the full marathon, my first!, in the Auckland one in late October.

Oh, and in other news, I met a girl. A rather special lovely one...and she's now my girlfriend.

Her name's Cat, same as my sister and aunt, and she's great.

Distances around Wellington Harbour

2006-05-18T20:02:00.000+12:00

One of the more useful things about Wellington harbour is the plates that have been set into the footpath every 500m from Ferg's Kayaks on Queen's Wharf. These are very useful for runners but they don't really go far enough: they only go as far as St Pat's (6.5km). So, a couple of weekend's ago I went out in my car and found land marks for all the 1km distances past that. I also happen to know where a couple of other marks are based on either my bike computer or Conor's. Also note that, according to one of the marshalls from Wellington Scottish, the first couple of marks are inaccurate - they only become accurate past Point Jerningham. This list should be accurate within about 50m. If anyone wants to make any more updates then give me a yell.

For your running pleasure the landmarks are here. This course is from Ferg's Kayaks following the harbour to the lights at St Pat's, then continue to follow the harbour around to Shelly Bay. Go up Shelly Bay and continue following the harbour around. Continue following the coast all the way around until the final point on this list.

1km: corner of raised planting bed directly to the west of the kiosk in Waitangi Park.
7km: fence just past Placemaker's
7.5km: A. E. Tilly
8km: pedestrian refuge opposite gates just past second roundabout
(turn up Shelly Bay Rd)
8.5km: garage doors
10.5km: just past guard shack at sout of RNZAF Shelly Bay. Chained off drive to sea.
11km: chained drive on right at north of RNZAF Shelly Bay.
12km: orange and black arrow just before Point Halswell.
13km: Kau Point (big rock used for turnaround in triathlons and duathlons starting at Scorching Bay)
14km: point at North end of Shelly Bay.
15km: #415, wooden garage door.
16km: #253, just before Worser Bay clubs.
17km: Ferry St intersection.
18km: Where road narrows at North end before top of Pass of Branda.
19km: #103.
20km: Whale on fence by #176.
21km: Middle point of 3 points before dog pound.
22km: #35

The Return to Patriachy?

2006-03-16T14:52:00.000+13:00

Denis Dutton's wonderful site Arts and Letters Daily recently added this intriguing like to a story titled The Return to Patriachy?
In it the author, Phillip Longman, posits the thesis that a patriachal society was successful because it produced more children and that today's societies will probably become more patriachal and right wing because parents who are right wing are having more children.
It makes the point I've made in a post below, that the patriachal systems exist because they work, better than I have.
However, Mr Longman's article seems a little light on evidence. It essentially only relies on ancient Greek and Roman history and has little in the way of numbers to back it up. It also relies on the assumption that the ideas and beliefs of parents are passed on to their children (an assertion I happen to agree with but let's see the evidence).

I imagine this might get some of my gentle readers het up so discuss away...
I might add that I'm not sure I would support a return to patriachy but I don't think our current social system is going to be terribly successful and I think we will see it change within my lifetime.

Feminism is the best thing for blokes

2006-03-06T21:26:00.000+13:00

I was listening to Maureen Dowd talking to Kim Hill on Saturday morning (4 March). Audio here. Maureen Dowd is a rather well known feminist columnist in the US.

Her comments, especially saying that women are competing to have the same slutty look, caused me to think something. Feminism has been much better for guys than it's been for women.

First two disclaimers: this is a thought I'm only just developing and I do generally believe in feminism - or rather the greater point that people should have the opportunity to live the life their talents allow.

In the much romanticised 1950s we had a fairly simple contract - marriage was for life. This contract led to a whole set of subsequent decisions. Essentially women could have children with the security that their husband would help support them - at least that was the claim. Marriage was taken a bit more seriously and, I believe (maybe foolishly), that more was considered than just looks.

However, nowadays, love appears to be far more facile, and far more desired. Women are competing to dress more revealingly because that is what they need to do to get guys. They need to do this because commitment is optional and temporary. A man can always go out and get another woman.

Women, however, have the worst end of the stick. Now they have uncertain marriages, generally keep the children, often have diminished earning prospects because of time spent working in the home and, if they are have children they attempt to be supermom - mother, wife and worker.

An Australian on free speech and cultural relativism

2006-02-23T10:49:00.000+13:00

Here's an Australian, Keith Windschuttle, on cultural relativism. He manages to say a lot of what I've been thinking in a far more pithy way.

I'm starting to think we have a serious battle on our hands and we haven't yet realised what the danger might be.

Free speech

2006-02-22T20:00:00.000+13:00

I think the Catholic Church in New Zealand is flat wrong to take offence - but I defend their right to say so.
The Catholic Church are taking offence at satire - well they've been taking offence at, and attempting to silence, anyone who disagrees with them for millenia - and this includes scientists like Gallileo Gallilei.
We went through all this with the Enlightenment - where Western culture decided that free speech was a far more vital plank to happiness than attempting not to offend the local shamans.

But now that freedom is under threat from Muslims, Catholics and the President of the United States.

The Catholic Church's stand runs the risk of being a chilling affect on free speech and encouraging uncertain self-censorship. Editors are not clear on where they should draw the line and are more likely to draw the line too narrow by mistake. But we have a way of agreeing on what the boundaries on free speech are - it's called Parliament where all the people are represented. We have laws such as the Film, Videos and Publications Act 1993, the Defamation Act, and the act that set up the Broadcasting Standards Authority. In enacting these acts Parliament consulted with all the public using the Select Committeee process. The resulting legislation can then be held to be the will of the people.

But the Catholic Church, and the Muslims who protested, wish to impose their own opinion of decency and offence on the rest of us. They should be resisted.

Patrick Quin of Macs Recruitment has decided to remove his advertising from CanWest's radio networks in a boycott. That's his right. Can I suggest that those of us who desire freedom of opinion boycott Macs Recruitment in turn.

The Muslim cartoon incident is a little different - and my opinion has been seesawing on this for a while. There are good points made on both sides. The problem is two-fold. The cartoons in question have little value beyond provocation. They weren't funny. The second problem is that they were published in newspapers where it is hard to avoid them and Muslim shopkeepers have to choose whether to sell it. Because South Park is on TV people can quite simply avoid watching it. It will be shown with warnings in front of it. If the show will offend you, choose not to watch you. But do not impose your sense of offence on the rest of us.

[US] Late night TV comics target Cheney

2006-02-15T12:40:00.000+13:00

Very funny - highly recommended.

So you want to see what a real computer security expert does?

2006-02-08T12:29:00.000+13:00

Take a look at the cool stuff my good friend Adam does with wireless networks and visual mappeers.

Nice...

7s parade going past now

2006-02-02T13:25:00.000+13:00

Colourful and noisy. Each country represents itself with whatever of note it gave to the world. The Fijians are noisily partying with big warrious out the front, the Canadians have an ice hockey team while the English are merely giving the crowd the royal wave, The Kiwi contingent has Tim Finn singing from the back of a truck. The Americans? What did they give the world? Colonel Sanders and, in a convertible, three Presidents and a blonde.

Seemed cogent somehow.

To add to the Narnia debate

2006-01-27T19:20:00.000+13:00

I came across the following link on Dennis Dutton's trust Arts & Letters Daily page. It's a review from the New York Review of Books of Andrew Adamson's first go at Narnia and of two books of literary criticism.

As in depth a review as anyone could hope for.

On happiness

2006-01-26T20:58:00.000+13:00

The following essay from Paul Graham, How to do what you love, was posted to Slashdot recently. It's a really well written, pithy journeyman explanation of what's turned up in happiness research. In many ways I think it shows Paul's genius that he got so very close to what can be found in Dr. Martin Seligmann's Authentic Happiness. Both Paul's article and Marty's book are very highly recommended and well worth reading.

Although I must note that all this research on happiness seems a very 21st century, very middle class thing to do. I suspect that we didn't have the time nor money nor opportunity before.

Actually, I came across the blog of my friend Alasdair. He's an interesting fellow who's done almost the same thing as my sister Steph. He is/was an engineer who got a bit bored with it and decided to do an arts degree. His blog is very interesting because it's interesting seeing him apply his intellect to the arts.

Makes me wonder if I should go off and do something random. Work's rather boring and frustrating at the moment but hopefully that will pass.

On Sport

2006-01-26T20:48:00.000+13:00

Raced in the second ever Scorching Triathlon on Monday - good chance to see how things are going. Distance was 500m swim, 20km cycle, 5km run and splits were 10:52, 54:39, 28:41. The same distance last time had splits of 12:06, 48:25, 26:34. Given that there was more wind this time around I think those results are fairly much the same. Nice to see the swim improve so much though.
It appears the biggest problem I have is my cycling. I came out of the water roughly in the middle of the pack and then everybody passed me. I had an interesting conversation with the running coach Jim Kerr. He mentioned that I should probably work on the pull up of my pedal stroke more. I think he's right. Time to work on more technique I think.
Overall results? I wasn't the last man home but I was last in my division. Second to last in my division finished in 1:28:33 compared to my 1:34:12. Looks like I've got a lot of work to do, huh?

Last night was the first volleyball game of the season. Thanks to Mashugenah for filling in to make our team up to 6. It was a close game: we won the first set closely, then they won the next set. We won the third set and thought we could relax until they won the fourth set. Fortunately we were ahead 7-3 at end of play so we get the win - rather important for grading.

Narnia, Hitch and other stuff

2005-12-11T19:26:00.000+13:00

Had a great night on Friday night. Went round to Kush and Justin's place and simply had a nice relaxed time. It was nice to be able to drink quietly without having a race in the morning as well as just relaxing with friends.
We watched Hitch on DVD. It's an ok movie. Fairly pleasant watching with Will Smith doing his normal funny thing.

Saturday night we went to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I was quite surprised at how good it was. The acting from the kids was quite believable, the emotional highs and lows of the film actually worked even when you know what is about to happen. The bloodless battles were rather strange and the thing that rather bugged me was the tactics in the final battle. The defending troops had picked their battle ground (good) and had a nice steep hill behind them (even better). They then proceeded to setup their lines in the flat in front of the hill instead of getting on the hill itself. Sure they they then retreted up the hill but in a real battle they wouldn't have gotten that chance as they would have been cut down in the retreat. If they'd stayed on the hill they would have been able to funnel the attackers into a small space pick them off one by one.
Oh and why the hell was the attack led by the cavalry? Keep them in reserve and use them to outflank the enemy and cut them to pieces.

Had an interesting experience on my Saturday long run (12km this week). Met up with a guy doing exactly the same thing and we ended up doing the run together. Random... It was rather hot with full sun and a very slight northerly. I think I might have gotten slightly dehydrated because I started getting the chills up the back of my neck. Not good.

Which makes me think of some more useful present ideas (if anyone needs any more - but these are cheaper). A nice Orca run cap would be great for keeping the sweat out of my eyes. Tends to sting quite a lot... The other really useful thing would be a Fuelbelt. These useful things attach a number of bottles to a comfortable belt so that you can carry your water while you're running. The Endurance 4 bottle version is the one I'm after. Looks I'd take a large size (hmm, that makes me feel fat).

Christmas Wish List

2005-12-08T21:13:00.000+13:00

Hmm, well, I feel a little bad doing this but one of my sisters has one so why shouldn't I?

For those wishing to find me the perfect gift there is always my wishlist on Amazon.Com.
Alternatively, Civilisation 4 has just come out and looks like a terribly tempting way to waste a lot of time.

I've started training for a marathon in June next year which involves a lot of running in training so decent running gear would be great. I only have set and it gets pretty smelly and sticky at the end of a week. Nice tracksuit pants or jacket would be nice too. Would make going to triathlons a little easier.

Some volleyball kneepads would be really great. Should be fairly cheap. :-)

Or, get me something chosen with love and I'll be the happiest guy around!

Two results for the price of one

2005-12-08T20:51:00.000+13:00

Alrighty then, let's get to it. Had a sprint(ish) distance triathlon on 20 November. 600m swim, 24km cycle, 5km run. Fairly easy distance, in fact it marks the 1 year anniversary of the start of my triathlon career (such as it is). Quite nice to come full cycle and do twice the distance I started at.
I did rather stuff up the start a bit. While I did get in the water before the start and attempt to get nice and cold I clearly didn't do enough because the first 100m of the swim were very difficult as my breathing paralysed because of the cold. A little bit of dog paddle and finally things got underway properly. All rather frustrating because by the time I finished the swim I finally got my technique flowing nicely.
Got kicked in the cycle as normal and had an okay run.
Final result: 2nd to last in Open Men with a total time of 1:42:57. T1 exit at 17:35 and T2 exit at 1:42:57.

Last weekend I did the very first Scorching Triathlon. I did the sprint distance option (swim 500m, cycle 20km, run 5km) because I was so not prepared for standard distance. Felt a bit slack about it but that's life. Results here. I was rather pleased with it actually. I was in a really good position coming out of the swim and managed to stay roughly there through the cycle. Sure I got passed a bit but not too much so I was still doing okay coming into the run. Since this is normally my best discipline it was quite nice to start running people down. Had one guy who was staying on my tail through most of the run until I got past the final turnaround, upped the tempo on him and dropped him... Nice feeling... Final result: well into the middle of the pack with a total time of 1:27:04. Splits of 12:06, 48:25 and 26:34.

Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge

2005-11-27T20:35:00.000+13:00

This weekend my flatmate Conor and I did half each of the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge - 160km in all. His partner Steph (no relation to my sister) came along for support.
So the day started out very early. As we were staying in Ohakune with a 1:40 trip to Taupo we left at 5:20. Early start but we saw a nice sunrise.

After some mucking around at the start in Taupo I eventually found the correct bus to get on and off I went to Kuratau. It was a very cold day so I spent time sorting my bike out and reading my book. Conor had told me he was expecting to do his half in 3 hours so I was just starting to get ready when I started seeing riders come in the gate. So I hurry my preparations and see Conor coming in the gate while I'm still only halfway ready and a long way from him and my bike.

After a bit of rushing around I got the transponder, got to my bike and got on the road.
The first half went fairly well. I was passing lots of people (mostly solo challenge riders who started a lot early than the relay riders). There were a few nasty hills but getting the top and getting the view across Lake Taupo was amazing. The resulting downhill ride down to Tokaanu was very fast. I got 55km/h at one point!

From that point it was pretty much flat going but I got left by my lonesome without a bunch to call my own - which was pretty hard work especially when my shoulders and neck started telling me how hard they were working... It was at about this point that Conor caught up with me, and then took off at great speed.

Fortunately I found a nice bunch I could keep up with and drafted off the back of them for while until I decided it was time for me to do some pulling so I went up the front and dragged the lot of them into the next bunch along. Using aero bars at the point was really useful.

The next part was the dreaded Hatepe Hill. That thing is well known in the Taupo course as being the hardest hill. The thing is basically the steepest hill that is actually cyclable and goes on for 2.5km of pain. At one point I was doing 6.5km/h and wondering if I would actually fall off. I heard from a fellow rider that he did see a guy simply stop and fall over into the grass!
Fortunately I managed the hill without stopping and then had the downhill to worry about. It starts easily enough which was alright but I was in a lot of pain and going rather slowly. Eventually things recovered and at the bottom of the hill I was going 63.6km/h (no really!). Then it was just pure pain and determination to get to the end. The last 16km were rather rough - somewhat leavened by signs that said "This is the last hill." Then the next hill along said "This really is the last hill." Then the rise just before the finish line had a sign, "This hill is a bitch.".

It was very, very nice to finish. Final result: 140/546 male relay teams, 230/1804 all relay teams. Conor's time for the first 80km was 2:20 (unofficially) and he finished in 5:01. I did the second half with a ride time of 3:18 (ignoring the small amount of time my speedo wasn't working). The official time was 5:45:31.

Overall, it was a great event. The support you receive from people literally just sitting on the side of the road cheering you on is amazing.

Quoted without permission

2005-11-13T20:15:00.000+13:00

(Yes, I know, I'm even quoting my own sister's blogs without permission.)

I've been reading Bill Clinton's biography, My life, recently and I came across this quote which I thought was useful.

I had also learned that winning elections as a progressive requires great care and discipline in crafting and presenting a message and a program that gives people the confidence to change course. Our society can absorb only so much change at a time, and when we move forward we must do it in a way that reaffirms our core convictions of oportunity and responsibility, work and family, strength and compassion - the value that have been the bedrock of America's success. Most people have their hands full raising their kids, doing their jobs, and playing the bills. They don't think about government policy as much as liberals do, nor are they as obsesed with power as the new right conservatives. They have a lot of common sense, and a desire to understand the large forces shaping their lives, but can't be expected to abandon the values and social arrangements that at least enable them to survive and feel good about themselves.
From Clinton, William: My life: Alfred A. Knopf: New York (2004)

I think that passage quite well describes why the Labour party almost lost the last election. Labour has implemented a large amount of social change fairly quickly and the curious thing is that people who it is meant to help are starting to complain about it. This is what I say in talking to various people before the election and I could never understand it. However, Clinton's words seem to explain it rather nicely, don't you think?

I found an interesting quote on David Slack's blog, Public Address, attributed to Llew at Sunnyo.

Women are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree. Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they just take the rotten apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy to pick up...

The apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing. They just have to wait for the right man to come along - the one who's brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree.

Share this with other women who are good apples, even those who have already been picked.

Now Men...

Men are like a fine wine. They begin as grapes, and it's up to women to stomp the shit out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.

Oh, and when is The Amazing Race: Family Edition actually going to get out of the United States? We're two episodes in and we've made it, what, 200km? Repeat after me: The U.S. is not the entire world.

Concert, cycling and Serenity

2005-11-13T19:47:00.000+13:00

The concert, you'll be pleased to know, went very well. The cold I'd had, on and off, for a week managed to hold off and not stuff my vocal chords up. I was a bit tense at the start but everything relaxed after a while so things were good. In rehearsal, I decided that doing Le temps des lilas from memory was probably not a good idea so I did it from music. Weirdly, that seemed to make it worse as the counting problems seemed to increase. Nonetheless, my accompanist and I covered it up so no-one noticed - I think...

Some friends and family joined me for dinner at Juniper (great restaurant) which was very pleasant. Turned out that my friend Alex Hood was there as well. Wellington is a very small town.

Unfortunately, come Friday my voice all but disappeared - and it's still not back as I write. I suppose the 80km bike ride I did on Saturday didn't help. However, I really needed to do it as it was the last chance to get a long bike ride in, and a ride at target distance, before Taupo. Next weekend I've got the first triathlon of the season. It was a very hard ride because Wellington decided to turn on a very strong northerly. Riding north up the east side of the Miramar Peninsula going at about 15km/h was very painful. Getting home was great! Of course, then I had to do a quick turnaround, pick up my sisters and get to Courtenay Place in time to meet friends, eat dinner and see Serenity.

Eating a pile of food at Khmer Satay House in the food court was just what I needed. In fact, it's quite nice being able to eat a pile of food after a hard effort.

Serenity is great! Go see it. No really, do, you'll like it. Just trust me.
It's best described as a sci-fi western but that sound bite doesn't do it justice. It's about a small group of people who happen to crew a ship which transports goods around the universe. Those goods might or might not be legal so they tend to get chased a lot. In this case they have a highly trained operative chasing one of their crew.
The movie is interesting because it's mostly character led. Instead of the grand heroic gestures of movies like Star Wars the characters often face fairly difficult moral dilemmas and have to ask themselves some deep questions.
For those that may not care for such philosophical questions the movie does have attractive actors (well.. very.. the engineer can come visit me anytime...) and lots of action. Seeing a slim girl taking on a whole heap of really evil bastards is rather heartening. Being a former prima ballerina is certainly an advantage for stunt work.

So, with my voice still dead, I've spend most of this lovely Sunday inside. Such is life...

Okay, okay...

2005-11-08T20:51:00.000+13:00

..so I've been really lazy and haven't made an update for a month.

So, what's happened since my last post? I played with my volleyball team in the Business Games. We did better than last year - which wasn't hard considering we didn't win a set last year. In fact it was rather frustrating. If we'd got our heads in the game, and if it weren't for some bad reffing, we might have come second in our group, or even first.
But that's what sport's about so roll on next year!

The weekend after that I went up to Auckland for a few days for my mother's birthday. Wouldn't you know that she's 21 this year? No, really! Caught up with most of my Auckland friends and then flew from there to Queenstown.

We had our annual work conference in Queenstown this year. The last two conferences were in Rotorua so it was nice to finally see Queenstown. And what an amazing town it is. A huge blue lake nestled between mountains on all sides and with development at only one end. The conference sessions were so-so. As always they tend to focus more towards sales than delivery. However, it was great to catch up and relax with friends in a beautiful place.

Anyway, the next exciting thing is the concert on Thursday night. I just spent the last hour or so revising the songs and attempting to ensure they stay in my memory correctly. At my music teacher's suggestion I recorded my singing from memory and played it back with the sheet music. It's actually the first time I've done that and I'm not all the pleased. The bits that are supposed to be smooth and legato really rather aren't.
More work for me, huh?

Poster for November 10 concert

2005-10-06T10:32:00.000+13:00

The poster for the upcoming singing concert on November 10 is now available thanks to my friend Charlotte. And my, doesn't it look fabulous!
A high quality PDF version suitable for printing is available here. If you feel so inclined feel free to put copies up wherever you like. The more the merrier!

Scorching Duathlon 02/10/2005

2005-10-03T13:23:00.000+13:00

Did another Scorching Duathlon yesterday. Feeling rather sore today - I really need a softer seat as my current one doesn't work very well in the aero position. Oh well.
Times seem to have been a bit better this time around although there was very little, if any, wind. It was a lovely sunny day. So, for a 7.5km run, 45km cycle, 2.5km run my splits were 40:41, 1:43:28, 13:06. I wasn't last, I was second to last with only Aaron Fleming behind me. Still got kicked in the cycle leg. :-(

Annoying things, cars

2005-09-22T08:55:00.000+12:00

So I was busily swapping my car for my flatmate's car so I could get out and go to my singing lesson. We have a fairly steep drive with a corner on it. When we have four cars parked there getting out is a bit difficult. When I back out differently to the way I normally do it I forget to look in one particular mirror until I hear the sickening crunch of car hitting tree.

:-(

Just got back from the panelbeaters - it wil cost me $450+GST to fix.

:-((

Just enough to be really annoying but not enough to justify lodging an insurance claim.

Concert on November 10, 2005

2005-09-07T13:34:00.000+12:00

You saw it here first. There will be a singing concert on November 10, 2005 at 6pm at St Andrew's on The Terrace. This will be a chance to hear the exam pieces of myself and some of my singing teacher's students.
I'll be doing Brahms Die Mainacht, Chauson Les Temps de Lilas, Britten Nocturne and Gilbert & Sullivan A Wand'ring Minstrel I. I may do Brahms In Native Worth - we'll see.

The cost? A mere gold coin donation at the door.

See you there!

Scorching Duathlon 03/09/2005

2005-09-05T08:33:00.000+12:00

So I did the Scorching Duathlon yesterday - the long option which was a 7.5km run, 36km cycle and a 2.5km run.
Guess where I came - yes, that's right, last!
Splits were 41:45, 1:32:05, 14:13. I really need to work on my cycling. I think I had the slowest cycle split of everybody...

Insider's view of New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina

2005-09-02T20:44:00.000+12:00

I just came across this on Slashdot, http://mgno.com/. It's a first hand description of what's happening in New Orleans from a (Army?) network tech trying to keep some Internet access. It's amazingly scary to hear just what's happening there. So much for the most powerful nation in the world, huh?