TGIF : What a week!

Today was PJ's last day in the support team. It was also Angela's and Davina's last day at Zeacom.

After work Anisha and I went for drinks at Galbraiths with Datacom and ex-Datacom employees (JR, Mark, Jonathon, Jay, Jolene, and Kari). It was Mark and Jonathon's last day at Datacom.

Interestingly, I bumped into Davina and other people from QA at Gailbraiths.

Useless Information: Influenza caused over 20 million deaths in 1918.

PJ's Leaving Shared Lunch

Tomorrow is PJ's last day in Support, before she gets a promotion to go work in QA. We had a shared lunch today.

Deepak spent all morning trying to eat my club sandwiches which really got on my nerves.

Sanjay made a wonderful butter chicken. As we were short on plates, you can see the massive plate which Matt used instead.

More photos of PJ's Leaving Shared Lunch (Requires Password): Click Here

Useless Information: It costs more to buy a car today than it cost Christopher Columbus to equip and undertake three voyages to the New World.

Fire! Fire! Fire!

Today was a really busy day at work. I logged a lot of calls for customers, and I will have a bit of a backlog to complete this week.

We had a fire drill in the middle of the day. At least it wasn't raining, but its still really cold outside!

I went to Anisha's house for dinner. No photos today, arnt I getting slack?

Dad went to Australia this morning to watch the rugby. He is due back on Monday.

Useless Information: It has been calculated that in the last 3,500 years there have been only 230 years of peace throughout the civilized world.

A Conventional Day

Today was just another Tuesday. Nothing really exciting happened. I wasnt even sure I had enough to put in my blog.

I had lunch with Anisha today in the lunchroom. Both our OutSource IT (IShelp) and the guy from HP arrived to fix my PC at the same time.

My DVD Drive had never worked, and he brought a replacement. The problem ISHelp was there for was to install a version of PCAnywhere which was compatible with Windows Vista.

I signed-up for a Bebo page. It is available at http://pickledhamster.bebo.com. I had tried to setup an account with MySpace, but the setup came up with an annoying error message. Im going to submit my Bebo page to Google and Windows Live! Search.

Tony Namulo went overseas today. I really should have given him a call to wish him well. I did leave a comment on his Windows Live! Space However. I added a link to my Bebo Profile to my Blog.

Hayden Tennenthttp://pickledhamster.bebo.com/

A really cool "NOT" Web Badge!

Useless Information: Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson and Farrah Fawcett played the original Charlie's Angels.

Auckland Domestic Terminal

Today I dropped Anisha of at the Auckland Domestic Terminal at Auckland Airport. She has been sent to Wellington by Cogent for the Day. I made the ultimate sacrifice of getting up at 5.15am to drop her off.

When she came back, I was presented with an "Emergency Chocolate Bar". A novelty which I will truly enjoy :-)

I have a "Catchup" meeting with my Manager and Team Leader tomorrow.

Useless Information: Karate actually originated in India.

Super Duper Weekend

In the morning, Anisha watched one of the DVD's that we rented called "Material Girls." Not really my type of movie!

Anisha and I made some popcorn. Later that night, we went to Kim and Nigel's house as its Nigel's birthday on Monday "Happy Birthday Mate".

Kim can cook, the food was great, need to re word that... equally as great as Anisha's cooking.

The evening was a great success we played a Kiwi Quiz Card Game and Scruples, which got people into heated debate.

On Sunday, Anisha wanted to see "Shrek the Third" so we went to the Hoyt's in Silvia Park. The discount card we have is not supposed to be valid for "No Complimentary" movies, however for about the fifth time we got our $9.00 tickets.

I found the movie quite funny. Anisha seemed to love it. We also bumped into Tony Wilcock from Zeacom at the theatre.

After we came back, we made ourselves some home-made Pizza. After that, we watched the "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" DVD. We went to bed early, as Anisha needed to be dropped off to the Airport as she is going to Wellington tomorrow.


Video: Nigel and Kim's House

Useless Information: Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States in 1789.

Structural Rust

Thank god its Friday! After work Anisha and I went to Blockbuster to hire some DVDs. We got:

- Attack Force (My Choice)
- Material Girls
- My Super Ex-Girlfriend

After work, I dropped off my car to Nick. There is some structural rust in the boot of my car. The WOF guy said that it would not pass the next warrant. Nick is going to fix it for me on Saturday morning.

Useless Information: Olive oil was used for washing the body in the ancient Mediterranean world.

The sun is far from the Earth

Today I went to lunch with Anisha at the FM Cafe. This Cafe stuff is becoming expensive. Maybe I should make my own sandwiches!

I added my Blog to a couple of dozen directories to see if I can get any better exposure. It will be interesting if I get more hits on my blog compared to my website.

Useless Information: On 13 June 1944, a single Tiger tank headed by Capt. Michael Wittman stopped the advance of the entire British 7th Armoured division (the famous 'desert rats') in the town of Villers Bocage, Normandy. This had been the deadliest single action in the entire war and stopped the British offensive, planned by Montgomery, to break through German lines. Wittman died later in August fighting against 12 Canadian Sherman tanks.

The working week is coming to an end

Today was a moderately busy day at work. Nothing of great significance occurred.

The weather was awful today. It was cold, windy, and raining throughout the day. Anisha wanted to meet up at the FM Cafe for lunch, but I did not relish the idea of going outside.

However, I was treated to a wonderful dinner at Anisha's apartment. Impressive as always. We watched Shortland Street, and then Fair Go. Fair Go had an episode about a Wilson Parking roller-door coming down on somebodies truck and damaging it. It got me thinking. My car was in a Wilson Car park.

Ive used my replacement Radar Detector for the last two days, and it seems to be performing adequately. In fact, its falsing less then my old one. My Navman GPS is staying permanently at home now unless I need it for a trip.

Photos of Bel and Navman (Requires Password): Click Here

I also added some links to specific albums within this Blog to allow people to go directly to photos that relate to my scrawls in here. I have a requirement for a login/password to get entry into my main photo gallery.

Useless Information: Over 150 people were tried as witches and wizards in Salam, Massachusetts in the late 1600s.

Freezing to Death

Went to lunch with Anisha at the FM Cafe. Went with her to the Post Office as she needed to post of a parcel.

After work, we went to Subway for dinner with Ricky and Geraldine. I ordered my usual favourite Chicken Fillet. The new trainee there screwed up my order by putting on salt AND pepper. That annoyed me.

I got really annoyed when the other guy came over and was just about to do the same thing and put pepper on. I'm sure this is the guy that always screws up my Internet orders or SMS orders.

Ricky's brother Tony is leaving the country on Tuesday next week. If I can i will see if I can drop in on him.

Today was freezing! Man was it cold! I'm seriously considering investing in some thermal underwear!

My replacement Radar Detector and GPS unit have not arrived yet. I intend on calling Cindy Payne from my insurance company tomorrow morning if they don't arrive in a timely manner.


Video: Dinner with Ricky and Geraldine

Useless Information: Pilgrims ate popcorn at the first thanksgiving dinner.

A cellphone and some coke

Today, Anisha wanted to go to the Teddy Bear Factory. It was down our way so we went there for a bit, Anisha did some shopping at the local Grocer.

I went to get some petrol and the Shell station was really busy. The petrol was cheap today! I also went through the car wash. Anisha and I watched as the guys in front had their aerial broken as they had failed to put it down.

After that we went to Silvia Park and saw Oceans 13. I must remember that Anisha wants to see Shrek 3 as well. I saw Vaughn from school at the Borders bookshop. He was out with Jeremy Fong. I tend to run into Jeremy at shopping centres.

At the movie theatre there were two people in our allocated seats. The people wouldn't move until asked by staff. I snapped a picture of them. Anisha wouldn't let me get a good one.

I was sending a few text messages just before the movie started, and this real anal lady to the right aggressively told me to turn it off. I told her I was going to send one message and that was it. Unfortunately, she went on and on about it. I responded with an equally tort choice of words.

At the end of the movie, it appears that I had 'accidentally' spilled my remaining coke all over her pants and shoes. I was not around to verify this, as we had abruptly left the theatre when the movie was over. The only way I knew that the woman was covered in coke, was when she pointed this out to me outside of the theatre. Priceless.

Useless Information: Pirates thought having an earring would improve their eyesight.

An episode of Hot Coffee

Anisha and I dropped around and had some coffee with Nigel. I left my portable hard drive with him and asked him to put some music or movies on it.

Nigel said he was considering taking a year off work, and studying for his Diploma full time. After that, they were considering going to Australia.

After that we went to Silvia Park, followed by Repco and Super Cheap Auto. I didn't have a tow rope for my car so I got one. I got one of those jumbo size Tic Tac containers from The Warehouse Silvia Park.

We were going to go see Oceans 13, but decided to stay in for the Night. Anisha made some lovely toasted sandwiches.

Useless Information: Pope Paul IV, who was elected on 23 May 1555, was so outraged when he saw the naked bodies on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel that he ordered Michelangelo to paint on them.

ZeeClub Movie Night

It was a busy day at work on Friday. We were one person down. One of our big customers had some trouble, but we got them back on their feet again.

When I came back from lunch, I saw a bum making himself comfortable on a couch on the corner of Grafton road and Carlton Gore Road.

On Friday evening was ZeeClub Movie Night. We started off with a game of Foosball, followed by a game of Who Wants to be a Millionaire on DVD.

After that, we watch "The Pursuit of Happiness". I brought Anisha, Nigel, and Kim. They seemed to enjoy themselves. We had Pizza for dinner.

More photos of ZeeClub Movie Night (Requires Password): Click Here


Video: ZeeClub Movie Night

Useless Information: Snow Angels originated from medieval Jewish mystics who practised rolling in the snow to purge themselves from evil urges.

Lunch at the FM Cafe

With Anisha's new job, its been hard to get out an have lunch with her during the week. Today we managed to have lunch at the FM Cafe.

We had a short walk afterwards and then back to work. One of the CSR's at Cogent (Lisa), was also there so Anisha briefly introduced me to her.

Looks like double dining sessions with Anisha today. Went to Khyber Tandoori after work. Lovely dinner as always.

Got my insurance sorted, with a settlement that I am quite happy with.

Useless Information: Spain declared war on the US in 1898.

Dinner at the Sinclairs

Went to dinner at Charlene and Nicks tonight. Had chicken, which is one of my favourites.

Nick told me about a really rude customer at his work. Charlene told us about the guy fixing their house swearing.

Cindy Payne from AMI called me up today regarding my insurance claim for my GPS and Radar Detector. Looks like they didn't have a clue about the GPS as she tried to tell me they might not cover it because its not a car accessory and can be used elsewhere.

I explained that the unit is an "In-Car" GPS and is only used in a vehicle. She changed her tune from there, but I still have to see and wait for their response. My excess is $250 apparently.

Ive also just noticed that my Google AdSense ads are showing adverts for Nuclear and Dirty Bomb detection. Really relevant ads! LOL


Video: Carlos playing at the dinner table

Useless Information: Sumerians (from 5000 BC) thought that the liver made blood and the heart was the centre of thought.

My Lucky Day

Today I won the astounding amount of $NZ20.00 through my Bonus Bonds. I guess every little bit helps! Ive have these bonus bonds for 20 odd years and they finally paid off. LOL.

PJ's computer at work kept on crashing, and she borrowed my digital camera to assist with documenting the problem.

I have also put up a profile on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/haydentennent

Useless Information: The Ancient Etruscans painted women white and men red in the wall paintings they used to decorate tombs.

I hate Mondays!

It was Anishas first day at Cogent Communications today. We went out after work and had dinner at the Mediterranean restaurant (Casablanca) at Silvia Park. I had my usual Fish and Chips.

I had to fill in insurance forms for my GPS and Radar Detector. I put down that my Radar Unit was imported by a licensed importer and was AUNZ spec, and not a "Parallel Import" product.

I did pay a couple of hundred more for the AUNZ Spec then it would have cost to get the detector from "Parallel Imported".

Useless Information: The Civil War was the first war in which news from the front was published within hours of its occurrence.

Theft Ex Car

Car got broken into last night. Between 11:00pm and 2:00pm. Smashed my front passenger window. Looks like we arnt going to the Birthday party today.

Insurance covered the window, and I ended up driving to Smith & Smith Autoglass, and "Tony" put in a replacement window.

I made a Police report for what its worth.

My Bel RX65 Radar Detector and my Navman iCN630 got nicked. I have to claim for them separately at my local AMI branch.

Well, that really screwed up my weekend.

Useless Information: The first man ever to set foot on Antarctica was John Davis on 7 February 1821.

Cardrona Speights Ale House

Last night I went to the Cardrona with Anisha for a Datacom Social club event. I had quite a bit to drink and it was all on Datacom.

I guess it was fair after all the fortnightly contributions I had made to the social club in the past.

After drinks, we dropped in at Datacom to see Alan. He was on the graveyard shift with Amon.

On the way home we saw Gerald on City Road and had a quick chat with him.

More Photos of Drinks at Cardrona (Requires Password): Click Here

Useless Information: The first American in space was Alan B. Shepard Jr.

Anisha's Leaving Drinks

Today was Anishas Datacom leaving drinks at the Cardrona Bar. The following people were there; Mark, Jolene, Jay, JR, Alan, and Jonothan. A couple of people that play Eve online were there as well on the invite of Alan.

After drinks, we dropped into Rickys apartment for a bit for a quick visit.

More Photos of Anisha's Leaving Drinks (Requires Password): Click Here


Video: A surprise visit for Ricky

Useless Information: The origin of the most used four-letter word: In Irish police stations in the 19th century - when public indecency was a serious crime - couples were charged with being Found Under Carnal Knowledge. Police abbreviated it to its initials and called it a F U C K charge.

Problems with MSN Live! Search

Im thinking that using Live! search on my site, despite its wonderful window pop-up capability, is a bad idea.

When the window opens up, any YouTube embedded videos will happily jump in front and block part of the window. The includes the all important 'X' at the top right. This is going to force people to refresh the page to close the search window. I have reproduced this in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Oh no!

I have mitigated this for now partially by centering the YouTube videos I have in the Blog. However, users with lower screen resolutions and sizes are still going to be effected.

I added the Windows Live! Search box to my main homepage, and it appears to be behaving itself there.

Useless Information: The first people to arrive on Iceland were Irish explorers in 795 AD.

Custom Google Search!

Added a Custom Google Search box to my blog. It is supposed to be set up to index my nztechie.com website, this blog, and my YouTube Channel.

My website comes up in results, but this blog has not been indexed by Google yet. Don't know why my YouTube channel content has not appeared. But the feature where Google indexes YouTube videos is a new feature at this time anyway.

Update: Looks like the main Channel page of my YouTube site does get indexed by Google. Looks like I will need to work on it's description!

Okay, at the last minute I decided to drop the whole thing and go with a Live! Search box from Microsoft. The code for the Google search is still in there if I change my mind!


Video: Stuck in traffic on Khyber Pass Road in Auckland

Useless Information: The first Police force was established in Paris in the year 1667.

Pasta Pasta Pasta!!!

Just a typical Wednesday. I'm glad that Monday was a holiday, as it is making the week go so fast!

I went and had dinner at Anishas after work. I watched a bit of Fair Go on TV. I convinced Anisha to set up a Pago account for our P2P transactions. Its Anisha last day at Datacom tomorrow. She starts at Cogent on Monday. She tells me that she is really nervous.

Three people added me as a "Friend" on Oldfriends (Angel Cheng, Claudia Ormond, and Mark Paterson). Some people from High School and The Warehouse. I found a supplement in the New Zealand Herald, giving some information about the Governments KiwiSaver scheme. Sounds like a good idea so far.

Added some code to my Blog to display a counter. I like the way how Blogger lets you insert your own code! I know its not going to really be a useful indicator of visitor traffic.

Useless Information: The Hundred Years War lasted 116 years.

Queens Birthday Weekend

I didn't get up to much over the weekend. The weather was crappy. However, I managed to slot in some bowling and some indoor Mini Putt. Met Anishas brother for the the first time too. He was up from Wellington.

I played an absolutely stunning game of Monopoly, having my butt kicked as usual by Anisha. Bought three Polo shirts from The Warehouse and mucked around in Botany Downs.

More Videos of Botany Downs and Bowling available on my YouTube site at http://www.youtube.com/pickledhamster


Video: Mini Golf in East Tamaki

Useless Information: The first telephone book ever issued contained only 50 names. It was published in New Haven, Connecticut, by the New Haven District Telephone Company in February 1878.