A Social Event - Herne Bay Rackets Club

Anna Bonita from Datacom organised a social event at the Herne Bay Rackets Club in Ponsonby. The event was organised by the Datacom social club and was open to current, and former Datacom employees. There was an expectation that about 50+ people would be turning up. The final turn-out was far from this figure, closer to 20 or so people.

There was a buffet dinner with a lot of food available. There was a lot of leftover food in the end. I met a gentleman called Joseph that works for Statistics New Zealand. He was familiar with the Zeacom software used by Stats New Zealand as he had previously been a System Administrator, prior to becoming a quality manager.

We talked, ate, and danced the night away this evening. Anisha and I went home about 11:45pm

Useless Information: The first US Patent was for manufacturing potassium carbonate (used in glass and gunpowder). It was issued to Samuel Hopkins on July 31, 1970.

Xtreme Entertainment at Botany

As planned earlier in the week, I organised an evening bowling at the Xtreme Entertainment Centre in Botany Downs. I originally booked a lane for 7 people, however the final party size was 6 people. Scott and Amber were not able to make it that night. We bought dad along to make up the numbers. We prepaid for two games which was a total of $NZ16 each.

The final complement was Anisha, Dad, Nick, Charlene, John Innes, and myself. I performed well in the first game, having the highest score and winning the first. My second game was a complete disaster and I will not be detailing the results here!

Useless Information: A regulation bowling alley is made of polished wood and measures 41 to 42 in. (104.1 to 106.7 cm) wide and 60 ft (18.3 m) from the foul line, where the ball is delivered, to the center of the head pin (nearly 63 ft/19.2 m to the end of the alley).

Resident Evil: Extinction

Anisha contacted me in the afternoon saying she wanted to go see a movie at the theatre. Her boss had given her some movie money for Sky City that day. The movie money was due to expire on the 30th, so we needed to use them as soon as possible.

I selected the movie Resident Evil:Extinction. We went to the cinema on Queen Street at the Force Entertainment Centre. I shouted Anisha some Burger King for dinner, and we spent a bit of time in Borders prior to watching the movie. Anisha bought herself a Jamie Oliver cookbook which appeared to be very well priced.

Being the third Resident Evil movie, I was expecting more of the usual crazed zombie attacks as the human race fights for its survival. I was not disappointed. Survivors of the Raccoon City catastrophe travel across the Nevada desert, hoping to make it to Alaska. Alice (Jovovich) joins the caravan and their fight against the evil Umbrella Corporation. The movie ends in an open fashion in order to facilitate a further sequel. The movie run time was a 95 minutes in length, short by modern standards.

Useless Information: In the five years since Las Vegas was evacuated the desert had overrun the city. Yet the courteous zombies still found time to water the palm trees so they don't die.

Chicken and Rice

Today, Deepak shouted everyone the leftovers from the dinner party after his sons Holy Communion. I treated myself to some lovely Chicken and rice. There was also a selection of fruit, and other hotter elements which I decided to pass on.

The other thing which happened was a disastrous Telecom Internet outage. We lost connectivity to all international sites with only domestic traffic being available. This caused disruption at work when attempting to connect to international hosts. Fortunately, I was only working on domestic customers at the time.

I booked a lane for bowling at Xtreme entertainment for Thursday night.

Useless Information: More than 95 percent of inter-city trunk routes are fibre optic, and all customer lines are connected to digital exchanges. Broadband coverage now extends to 93 percent of New Zealand households.

St. Mark's Catholic Church - First Holy Communion

Anisha and I went to St. Mark's Catholic Church to attend a First Holy Communion. Deepak invited us to attend (For his son Niel Kulkarni). There was praying, there was singing, there were certificates being presented. St. Marks Catholic Church is located at 334 Pakuranga Road, Pakuranga. The priest was Barry Scannell. The donation baskets were passed around (I saw it pass one group of people three times!).

I took a little bit of video (available on YouTube), however it was really shaky. This was partially because I used I had zoomed in quite a bit. Any shake is considerably more noticeable when zoom is used.

After going to the church, I arranged for my faulty ADSL modem to be couriered back to Dove Electronics in Wellington for repair. I also took Anisha to Papatoeoe to pick up some of her gear which she had left at a relatives place. Anisha hooked me up with a free Cornetto from the local dairy!

Later that night, we had a family dinner. This included a relative John from Scotland who is in New Zealand at the moment.

On Saturday Night, Anisha and I went to have dinner at Pina Khans house. We both had worked with Pina a long time back on the Microsoft Services Helpdesk at Datacom. Pina is studying to be a Chartered Accountant, and her husband is a taxi driver. Ricky and Geraldine were also there.

Useless Information: Christianity was founded in the early 1st century AD, with the teaching, miracles, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Today it is the largest religion in the world, with around 2 billion followers. Especially dominant in the western world, today's Christianity has a wide variety of forms, beliefs and practices.

Om Shanti Om

In the late hours of Friday afternoon, I asked Anisha if she wanted to go see a movie tonight. Anisha has been wanting to see the Indian movie Om Shanti Om for some time now. We went to the 8:50 session at the Berkley cinema in Botany Downs. Fortunately, the whole movie had subtitles.

The movie was long, which I understand was typical of this type of Indian movie. I noted a large amount of over-acting by the actors which I understand is also the norm. Another interesting fact was that these movies tend to have a large amount of dancing and singing in them. I made the comment that they seem to jump into a song and dance at the drop of a hat.

I wont go too far into the details of the movie (okay, im just skimming the surface here), but basically this hot babe (I use the term from the subtitles) called Shanti (Deepika Padukone) get knocked-off by her husband, and a re-incarnated actor trys to facilitate the justice of her killer.

This movie contained significant portions of extreme humour, coated with passionate love, and hate. Highly Recommended.

Oh, and I better explain the photo as well. Anisha and I went to the Silvia Park shopping centre before going to the cinema. The photo was taken with my new Motorola V3x. Don't tell anyone, but I took a couple of the lollies in the basket to my right.

Useless Information: The word "moose" comes from the native Algonquian Indian word meaning "twig eater."

Fuji Teppan-Yaki Restaurant & Cafe

Tonight after work, the support department went out to dinner at the Fuji Teppan-Yaku Restaurant in Ponsonby (the exact address being Unit 12 282 Ponsonby Rd). This was a Japanese restaurant where the food is cooked in front of you. It's a combination of a meal and a show really.

The night started off with some soup, which tasted just like chicken soup. This then progressed to a small salad. I was quite impressed with myself on how I handled the chopsticks provided. I seemed to get the knack straight away. I guess I have used them on rare occasions. Must be like riding a bike.

We we entertained as the cook tossed pieces of egg at us which we were expected to catch in our mouths. We were also given bowls which we were to catch slightly smaller bowls of rice in, when tossed at us by the cook. Harpreet was sitting to my right, and made a big mess when he missed and knocked my drink over the table.

For the main, I ordered the Grilled Chicken and Beef Zen. As with the above food, this was cooked in front of us. I chose medium for my beef.

For dessert, I ordered a Banana Tempura with Vanilla Ice Cream.

I also had my performance appraisal today with Wayne, and I also helped Vikas Bhalla jump-start his car.


Video: You have to catch your dinner in this place!

Useless Information: Japan is an island lying off the east coast of Asia. Japan has 4 main islands (Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku) and numerous smaller islands.

A Period of Technology Hell

The last week has been technology hell for me. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong.

Firstly, my new Motorola Cellphone would corrupt pictures taken if they were recorded onto the Transflash memory card. After a series of formats and other experiments, I determined that I was simply taking photos too fast for it. It needs time to process the picture that's just been taken, and if I take another one too quickly the picture gets corrupt.

My website host problems. My blog.nztechie.com subdomain is still not working. I email or call my host and they say they have done it, but it doesn't work. I email again and they apologise for not doing it and promise to do it. This is as yet unresolved.

Finally, my Internet problems. Ive been suffering constant disconnections all the time and its really annoying me. As part of my troubleshooting, I plugged in my really old Dynalink RTA300 which I bought in 2003. The Internet connection appears stable so far. I uploaded a video to YouTube without a disconnection. This is looking promising.

The bad news is that the current ADSL Router I use (RTA1320) has died. Since being disconnected, it will not turn on anymore. I will have to see how the returns process at Ascent Technologies goes. I did buy the modem on 7th November 1996.

At least I have my old ADSL modem to keep me going for now. Unfortunatley, it has no support for my VoIP adapter and seems to cause problems with email over SSL. I need a replacement fast.

Additionally, there is my ongoing problems with my Windows Live! account. I have 50 contacts, yet Windows Live! Messenger is only showing 15 contacts. Adding more contacts causes them to be deleted when I log back in. Happens on any PC I use, so its a corruption (some weird setting) on my account. A gentleman called James from Microsoft Escalations in investigating for me.

Useless Information: A cesium atom in an atomic clock that beats over nine billion times a second.

Meeting Anishas Aunty and Uncle

Today I met Anishas Uncle (Waka) and Aunty (Sumiti). We met for lunch in Mission Bay at the MECCA (85 Tamaki Drive, Mission Bay). Waka works for EDS, with his current project working with Telecom on their project to move from CDMA to GSM Technologies.

Sumiti works for the Todd Family.

On the website front, I had organised with my web host to have my sub domain of blog.nztechie.com to point to Googles ghs.google.com and activate the custom domain service that Google offered. This appeared to work, but it now appears to not be functioning. I have lodged a ticket with my host to have it fixed.

I understand that it could be a propagation issue, but I am quite confused as to how it immediately did work when set up. At this stage I have left the configuration in place on Blogger, which will make this Blog inaccessible until the problem is sorted. If you can read this, then the problem has been sorted! [Update: Shortly after writing this blog, I re-enabled the original website address of pickledhamster.blogspot.com]

Anisha went to the Ellerslie International Flower Show in Manurewa yesterday.

Useless Information: Colonel Sanders original white suit was auctioned off for $80,000 in February 2002.

More changes for the blog

Today, I made a CNAME record for blog.nztechie.com so it would point to my Google-hosted blog. I was advised by my domain host that it would take 4 hours. However, it seemed to propagate instantly and my blog was now under the nztechie.com domain.

I updated the links on the nztechie.com homepage to reflect the new URL for my blog. I also updated the RSS feed which I had recently added to my website.

Since the change, my Blog title graphic is not operating as it used to. I have temporarily reverted it back to the previous text title until I resolve the problem.

On other matters, when I use my Motorola V3x and record a video in better, or best mode, it will not be accepted by Youtube. It will also not be played by Apple Quicktime, or by the Nokia Multimedia Player. Tonight I purchased a 1GB Transflash MicroSD card from Harvey Norman (NZ$35). The specifications for my Motorola V3x call for a maximum external memory of 512MB. The unit appeared to detect and utilitse the full 1GB of storage available.

The extra MicroSD card did not extend the maximum video recording time of 3 minutes. I am contemplating using one of the online hacks to extend the video time.

As appears to be standard among smartphones, including my last Nokia 6680, the V3x seems to have trouble using music on the memory card as a ringtone. I moved my ringtone from the memory card into the main phone memory.

Using the Motorola V3x with Windows XP as a mass storage device does not seem to play as well as my Nokia did.

Useless Information: When Coca-Cola began to be sold in China, they used characters that would sound like "Coca-Cola" when spoken. Unfortunately, what they turned out to mean was "Bite the wax tadpole"

Some minimal changes to my online presence

I dropped Anisha off to her aunties house after work tonight. She is going to the flower show on Friday. She has organised to get the day off work to attend.

This evening I made a few changes to nztechie.com and my blog. Firstly, I'm planning to re brand my blog so that it effectively fits under the nztechie.com brand. This will be achieved by two methods. Firstly, I have requested my hosting company to create a CNAME record to point to Googles DNS server so that a new sub domain of blog.nztechie.com will be redirected to Googles servers.

There is always the opportunity to host on my own server if I ever wished to. With 300 gigabytes of storage on my host, I'm not going to run out of space very quickly. In fact, the indicator on my websites configuration has been steady at 1% of storage usage for the last three years!

Secondly, I have rebranded the blog so it displays an image for the title, displaying NZTECHIE.COM - BLOG. This looks a bit cleaner, but there is a little concern that I might be penalised in googles search results for removing some of the title text.

Thirdly, I added the capability to subscribe to my blogs RSS feed to my main website. After a little bit of work, and one line of easy text, visitors can now subscribe to the blogs RSS feed in one click. RSS length has also been changed from full to short in my Blogger preferences. I also helped Nanar Tan set up a blog for herself on Blogger.

Useless Information: Chlorophyll makes plants green.

Insufficient Postage

Today I made some more extensive changes to NZTechie.com. I integrated the Google Custom search into the site further. I created a results page which contains the Google embedded search engine. I like the way it gives control over the page around the search results page by allowing you to insert the results code into any html page.

I built this in Frontpage and it is looking quite good. I have also experimented with putting an additional AdSense advertisement at the bottom of the search results. I also fixed the problem whereby the copyright symbol would not display correctly on some browsers.

I received my birthday card from the Bogles today with a small stamp affixed to it stating "Item may have been delayed due to insufficient postage". Postage has gone up to 50c, however only a 45c stamp was attached.

Useless Information: The United States Postal Service handles over forty percent of the world's mail volume.

Big Boys Toys

This morning Anisha and I went to The Coffee Club in Botany Downs. Not a minute went by after we made and paid for our order, the lights went out. The Coffee Club had a power-cut. When I investigated a bit further, it looks like a large selection of the shops on one side of Town Centre Drive has also been effected.

I had paid for our breakfast on my MasterCard, but due to the power outage, had to accept refund via cash. Once we left, we looked around and ordered our breakfast from Robert Harris.

After Breakfast, we went to the Big Boys Toys show. It is held at the ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane, Auckland. It is held from Friday 9th November to Sunday 11th November. Entry is NZ$18 for adults.

Interesting Highlights from the show included my opportunity to ride on a Segway, and the BMX stunt show (BMX Freestyle Team) that was held in the Arena.

Later in the day, I took Anisha to Harvey Norman in Manukau City to look at some cellphones.

One other thing, on Friday night I went to Harvey Norman in Botany and bought a new cellphone. I bought a Motorola RAZR V3x for NZ$299. I used the NZ$50 gift voucher that Charlene and Nick gave me for my birthday.


Video: Trying out a Segway at Big Boys Toys

Useless Information: It is believed that in a small town in North Eastern part of India (Jatinga) birds commit suicide in a particular 1.5 km long and around 200 meters wide strip of field area. These birds are not suicidal since their behavior may be attributed to heavy rains and floods and submergence of their natural habitat in the surrounding areas. Also the local villagers light torches which attract the birds migrating at night. They then clobber them to death with bamboo poles and eat them!

Another Year, Another Cake

To celebrate my birthday this year, Mum, dad, Charlene, Nick, Carlos and Anisha joined me for a birthday dinner at the Lone Star restaurant in Manukau City. Anisha and I went their straight after work and arrived at 6.30pm.

Before the main course, we ordered a couple of the Lone Star Loafs. Tastes really nice, but when they put the bread out they never give you any bread plates, you have to ask for them. For dinner I ordered the Cajun Chicken which I had enjoyed so much on my last visit to Lone Star. Mum organised a small birthday cake which we had after dinner.

For my birthday Anisha bought me a book on Windows Server 2003, an eau de toilette body Cologne, a mini torch light and a bottle opener.

Mum bought me the external FreeAgent 320 gigabyte hard drive that I had requested, along with a pedometer with a built in radio.

Charlene, Nick, and Carlos gave me a NZ$50 Harvey Norman voucher, along with some interesting shooter glasses, and a selection of reminder note hangers for door handles!

All my grandparents sent me money, including Grandad Tennent. Carole and Steve Shirley also sent me a cheque. I received a card from Warren and Jean.

I received birthday wishes on my Facebook profile from Geraldine, Jarod, and Lyndon. Trish sent me a text message wishing me a happy birthday also.

I am now currently in the progress of transferring all of my DivX, Mpeg, XviD movies, and my photos and videos from my 250 gigabyte external drive attached to a Linksys NSLU2 NAS Storage Link to my new 320 gigabyte external drive.


Video: Lone Star Bar and Cafe - Manukau City

Useless Information: Beijing boasts the world's largest Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.

A Major Change for NZTechie.com

I have been allocating a significant amount of resource and time to my Blog and my Youtube channel, to the detriment of my website. The site generally remains static, and acts as a central link to the rest of of content on the web.

Today I decided to modify it radically. Ive taken to copying the Google model for the layout and design of the site. This keeps the page loading quicker, and is beneficial to some of my visitors who are on narrow-band connections (read dial-up).

The homepage is now simple. It contains a link to four areas of which I do regularly maintain, and have new content. Firstly, this Blog, my Youtube Channel, my extensive photo gallery, and downloads.

I have included a custom Google search on the homepage also. This effectively searches though all of my content from all the site that I maintain. It puts the Live! search I used to have on my homepage. I found that Live! search poorly indexed my sites. I am keeping static links to the remainder of my content in the top right-hand corner of my site. Navigation and returning to the homepage from one of these pages can easily be achieved by clicking the Home navigation links placed at the top right, and bottom right of each page.

It was quite a bit of work dealing with the existing CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) which I had used in the site previously to control layout and colouring.

After this major retrofit, I have now included Google Analytics code in all my website pages to enable more efficient tracking of visitors. You will note that that there is no longer a link to the spam-attracting forum which I had. The completely unused chat is also gone.

One other thing you will notice is that my ugly mug no longer adorns my website.

The Google Adsense advert has been moved up so that all visitors can see it. In my old website design, anyone but those with the highest resolutions and/or the biggest of screens would have to see it. Hopefully I will get a few more additional clicks to earn myself some additional dollars.

Useless Information: Diamonds were first discovered in the riverbeds of the Golconda region of India over 4,000 years ago

A strole to the Mall

Last night, Anisha said that she wanted to go for a walk to the mall today if the weather was good. It was a cracker of a warm day today. After breakfast, we put on our walking shoes and went to the Botany Downs shopping centre.

Anisha had various family members that she wanted to buy presents for, so we spend a lot of time doing that. Anisha bought herself a new handbag from Farmers. Anisha told me that she had bought me some clothing for the India Diwali. I picked up something from Pagani for her, which I will give to her on the appropriate day.

I bought Anisha and myself an Ice cream from the New Zealand Natural stand in the mall. Anisha spotted some plastic bag holders at the centre. She didn't have any cash on her. I gave her NZ$10 to buy one.

I went to Harvey Norman and noticed that they had a Freeview FTA Decoder (Zinwell) on special for NZ$199. As my birthday is coming up, I'm considering buying it for myself as a birthday present.

After Harvey Norman, we went to Kmart. I am in need of some jeans, so I picked up a couple pairs of cheap jeans. They were NZ$20 each. When I buy jeans, they always end up being too long and I need to get them adjusted. That cheap NZ$20 each for jeans turned into almost $NZ80 after taking into account the NZ$36 I had to pay to get the lengths adjusted. I had 8cm taken off from the jeans.

We bumped into Alan Murray while at the shopping Centre.

After we had walked home, I went through my old jeans (ones which I have not worn for about 7 years, when I was a lot smaller) and found about 10 pairs which no longer fit me. I found one old Billabong pair in good condition. Just for fun, I asked Anisha to try them on. They fitted perfectly. Now Anisha has another pair of jeans!

Later that night, Anisha and I let off the fireworks that we brought from The Warehouse on Friday. We had bought The Big New Box, the Backyard Blast, and the Roman Candle Box. We were impressed by most of the fireworks, with the exception of the smaller Roman Candle fireworks.


Video: Setting off the Fireworks at home

Useless Information: A 13-year-old boy in India produced winged beetles in his urine after hatching the eggs in his body.