Elizabeth had her operation today. She was scheduled for 7am this morning so we left home at 6:30am thinking that we'd miss the Auckland traffic but no, the traffic was already thick. A journey which would normally only take about 15 minutes, took 35 minutes. Elizabeth was in good spirits and quite excited about the whole thing. She knew what… Continue reading Princess teeth
Category: Journal
Oops, sorry
Sorry, folks! I accidentally made a post to my 'real' blog that should have gone to my test blog. It was just text from a recent post and I deleted it almost immediately but it got sent out to my email followers (all three of you :)). I have lots of test blogs which I use regularly… Continue reading Oops, sorry
Cockroaches, visas, and the Copenhagen wheel
I've discovered there's something called the Madagascan Hissing cockroach. These are big mother-fuckers and there's absolutely no way I'll be letting Elizabeth adopt one of these as a pet. Fortunately they're not found in New Zealand. We've begun the UK visa application process. There's an online form that needs to be filled. At the top of… Continue reading Cockroaches, visas, and the Copenhagen wheel
Flossing a four-year-old’s teeth
Elizabeth went to see the dental nurse recently who told us she needed a filling. I decided to take her to the dentist to have the work done because of a bad experience with my own teeth and the dental nurse when I was a child. We went today and the dentist says she needs… Continue reading Flossing a four-year-old’s teeth
When the moderator gets moderated
Recently a new moderator starting helping out at the blog I moderate. On his very first day, he moderated me. ME!!!!!!!!! How dare he! I was so furious that I emailed the blog owner and told him I was taking a break from moderating his blog and then I turned off all comment notifications from… Continue reading When the moderator gets moderated
The world needs all kinds of minds
Temple Grandin is an American autistic woman who, through her work as a consultant for the meat industry, has made significant improvements to conditions for animals at abattoirs. According to PETA,"Dr. Grandin's improvements to animal-handling systems found in slaughterhouses have decreased the amount of fear and pain that animals experience in their final hours, and… Continue reading The world needs all kinds of minds
Hawaii
I'm going to Hawaii this week and I have to say I'm not looking forward to it at all. The reason being that I don't want to leave my kids. I know I'm going to bawl my eyes out the whole way there so I pity the poor soul who ends up sitting next to… Continue reading Hawaii
Cross-stitch porn
A Brisbane artist has merged pornography with cross-stitch in a way that has improved both things considerably more than if they were separate. The cross-stitch lends an air of respectability to the pornography while the pornography offsets the fuddy-duddy image of cross stitch. The artist's name is Leah Emery and she explains how she got started in cross-stitch porn… Continue reading Cross-stitch porn
Modern technology connecting people in uplifting ways
This is really wonderful: young Brazilians who want to learn English chat online to elderly Americans in retirement homes. There's more about this here: Perfect Match: Brazilian Kids Learn English by Video Chatting With Lonely Elderly Americans
On censorship
There have been some complaints about the moderation of comments in my previous post, It's a conspiracy! This happens every time Skeptics' comments get moderated. Moderation is not censorship. If I write a letter to the editor of my local paper it may or may not get published. If it doesn't get published, is it… Continue reading On censorship
Monster machines, serial killers and bugs
I haven't written anything on my blog in almost a week which is a long time for me. But I've been really busy this past week and this is going to continue for about another month or so. It's a very enjoyable and challenging busy though, so I'm not complaining. This morning we overheard Elizabeth,… Continue reading Monster machines, serial killers and bugs
A warning to all bloggers and commenters
Joe Karam, a former New Zealand All Black, has just been awarded over half a million New Zealand dollars in a defamation case. The defendants were two individuals who posted defamatory comments about Mr Karam on Facebook and another website. A bit of background: Joe Karam is a long-time supporter of David Bain, who was… Continue reading A warning to all bloggers and commenters
How food labelling can make you fat
This is an interesting clip about how food labelling can influence our metabolism. The basic gist is: if you think you've eating something fattening, then you will think you've consumed more and this could affect digestion. By contrast, if you eat something labelled as low fat or fat free, you'll feel like you've eaten less… Continue reading How food labelling can make you fat
Volunteering at British schools
I loved everything about the state-funded school my son attended for 6 months when we were in the UK and have written about the experience here. In most respects, I preferred the English school to the New Zealand school he attends now. I say most respects because there was one thing about the English school that was… Continue reading Volunteering at British schools
I’m so excited
Lots of good things happening in my life at the moment. I'm so excited, I just can't hide it. And that's all I'm saying!
How many times can I embarrass myself in one week?
This morning at 6am I had a job interview; at least I thought I did. My instructions were to be online at 5pm GMT on March 26th. I spent so much time checking and double-checking that 5pm GMT was indeed 6am New Zealand time that it didn't occur to me that 5pm on the 26th… Continue reading How many times can I embarrass myself in one week?
Opinions are great, except when I disagree with them
Opinions are great. I love listening to people's opinions more so than the boring nothings of fence-sitters. Ok, so I'll be the first to admit that sometimes people's opinions rile me but there's something challenging about that as it forces me to question what I think. For this reason, I like listening to RadioNZ's The… Continue reading Opinions are great, except when I disagree with them
Delayed gratification, spiders and bikinis
Elizabeth was watching a TV advertisement this morning with two children on it who were both offered a chocolate fish and told that if they waited a short while before eating it they could have another. It was the classic marshmallow experiment of delayed gratification except using chocolate fish instead of marshmallows. Ben decided to… Continue reading Delayed gratification, spiders and bikinis
Lilly: long may she rampage and ravage around the universe!
I've just discovered (thanks again to my lovely aunt), the Marmalade files which is a collection of early diplomatic correspondence held at the National Archives of Australia. One tale in particular is very funny so I'm going to transcribe it in its entirety here. This is a true story about an Australian woman called Lilly… Continue reading Lilly: long may she rampage and ravage around the universe!
A funny letter to DFAT
My aunt sent me this funny letter which was apparently sent to the Australian DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) office about a passport application. I have since discovered that there are British and American versions of this letter as well. I can't comment on the process in Britain or America but I can… Continue reading A funny letter to DFAT
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