The Sunday before the Trip

Anisha and I went in to Manukau today to find an AA (Automobile Association) that was open. We picked up some maps of Wellington, Christchurch, and Greymouth. The AA on Cavendish drive is open until 4pm on a Sunday. Given that we didn't sleep in much this morning, we had ample time.

We caught a quick glimpse of Joseph Paki (One of my former managers in Microsoft Services), as we parked up. We briefly exchanged pleasantries from within our respective cars.

After that, I took Anisha to Moshims (Herein called 'The Indian Store') so she could collect some groceries (including enough rice to feed a small army) and other supplies.

On the way back we went to the Botany Downs Shopping Centre so Anisha could buy some clothes. I also got dad a card for Fathers Day.

I was almost run over on the pedestrian crossing between The Warehouse and Dick Smith Electronics by a retarded Asian lady driving at 100km* per hour in her blue people-mover. This really pissed me off. The lady just drove straight through the crossing while I was in the middle of it. I really wanted to give her a piece of my mind. Unfortunately, my arms were empty of items I could use as projectiles.

When we got home, we did some more finalising of our trip. I dropped Anisha off home as she had some housework and bag-packing to do.

I installed Morange on my cellphone as an experiment. Morange is a well-featured Email, Chat, RSS, and Social Networking tool, while the eBuddy that I also have installed is simply an Instant messaging client. I will stick with eBuddy as it allows me to log into Windows Live! via my cellphone easily.

I have found to distinct problems with eBuddy since trialing it:

- It runs as a full screen Java application on my cellphone. Being a Java application, it does not integrate into the main screen. This means that If I am going to use it, I need to leave it open and running full screen. This is in contrast to the Microsoft Instant Messaging client included in Windows Mobile, which allows the application to run in the background, utilising popup bubbles and the like.

- A slight screen drawing issue on start up, which resolves itself after a chat session is initiated. This occurred on my Nokia 6680 and I have also reproduced this on a Nokia 6630 as well. A noticeable section of the main Nokia screen is not drawn over correctly by the application on start up. I do not believe this is necessarily and application fault, but more an underlying problem with the implementation of the Symbian OS on this series of Nokia phones.

Additionally, I have been unable to connect the application on a Nokia 6225. I have also installed it on a Nokia 6234 where it also refuses to connect. I imagine these problems relate to configuration settings on the affected phones. Fortunately it is working fine on the one I wish to use it on! The Nokia 6225 is a work phone and it is quite possible there are some restrictions preventing the connection.

I also checked to see if there was a firmware update available for my Nokia. Unfortunately there was not.

* Estimated speed only

Useless Information: 27% of female lottery winners hid their winning ticket in their bras.