idea of the day
2008.07.25
this is what you like to hear when your customer is commenting on your application's diagnostic messages:
not quite that, but pleasantly rude nonetheless!"
2008.07.24
i'm not impressed that someone is busy or important because they always have to cancel or reschedule meetings.
i'm disappointed they aren't capable of the rather simple task of managing their calendar.
2008.07.23
the automobile association "aa" of new zealand rated the
top 101 must-do kiwi
experiences.
turns out we've had a lot of those experiences so far and all
of them were worth doing.
# experience been there
done that1 Mitre Peak & Milford Sound 2 Doubtful Sound 3 Bay of Islands 4 Fiordland National Park 5 Abel Tasman National Park 6 Aoraki Mount Cook 7 Coastal Kaikoura 8 Hanmer Springs 9 Camping Country 10 Tutukaka / The Poor Knights 11 Marlborough Sounds 12 Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers 13 Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro 14 Waitomo Caves 15 Southern Scenic Route 16 Otago Rail Experience 17 White Island 18 Stewart Island 19 Arthur's Pass National Park 20 Tongariro Alpine Crossing 21 The Blue Pools of Haast Pass 22 South Westland 23 Waipoua Forest 24 Mount Taranaki 25 Lake Tekapo 26 Ulva Island 27 Otago Peninsula 28 Canterbury Plains Hot Air Ballooning 29 Punakaiki 30 Cape Reinga 31 Auckland Gulf Islands 32 Kicking the Autumn leaves 33 Akaroa and Banks Peninsula 34 Glenorchy and Dart River 35 Farewell Spit 36 Queenstown Adventure 37 Hokianga 38 Whanganui National Park 39 Cape Kidnappers 40 Fine Wine 41 Lake Waikaremoana 42 The Queen Charlotte Track 43 Lake Matheson 44 Arrowtown 45 Orakei Korako 46 TSS Earnslaw 47 Rotorua Geothermal 48 Dunedin City 49 Winter Mountain Fun 50 Mount Maunganui: Mauao 51 Karangahake Gorge 52 Eastland 53 Animal & Crazy! 54 Hollyford Valley 55 Hot Water Beach 56 Auckland's West Coast 57 Rotorua Luge, Skyrides and Skyswing 58 Marlborough Wine Trail 59 Kapiti Island 60 New Chums Beach 61 Christchurch City 62 Mount Tarawera 63 Te Papa 64 The Bridge to Nowhere 65 Coromandel Township 66 Lake Taupo's Top Water Attractions 67 The Pinnacles 68 Te Mata Peak 69 Rotorua Rafting 70 Be A-mazed! 71 The Forgotten World Highway 72 Moeraki Boulders 73 New Plymouth's coastal walkway 74 Seafood City 75 Castlepoint 76 Wainui Beach 77 Ahipara and Shipwreck Bay 78 Buller Gorge 79 Taranaki Gardens in Paradise Tour 80 Cape Palliser 81 Auckland War Memorial Museum 82 Raglan 83 Takaka Hill: Rameka Track 84 Whakarewarewa 85 Waitangi Treaty Grounds 86 Rere Rock Slide 87 Spa and well-being destination 88 SkyJump & Sky Tower 89 Devonport and North Head 90 The Interislander Experience 91 Auckland Volcanoes 92 Central Otago Curling 93 Port Waikato 94 Golf in an Alpine Amphitheatre 95 Hundertwasser Toilets 96 Wellington Writers' Walk 97 Cross-country skiing 98 Stonehenge Aotearoa 99 NZ Rugby Museum 100 Beehive and Parliament buildings 101 Attend a Must-Do Event...
2008.07.22
a professional photographer came to our apartment yesterday because the landlord is getting ready to rent the place after we leave. on his way out he said:
"i rather like your glasses. they quite suit you."
i rather like the source and content of this remark and since my inbox isn't overflowing with praise so i might as well echo the little bit i get myself.
2008.07.21
last month the gym i belong to began a promotion and gave away two weeks free trial memberships. it was like january second in the u.s. when all the 'lose weight' resolution lemmings flock to the gym. well, we're to the end of the promotion and just like the end of january the migratory lemmings have come and gone.
all gone but one that is. one incredibly large woman started coming during the promotion and long after her tribe came and went she has kept coming. she comes every day, works her tail off, turns a frightening array of colors, leaves and comes back the next day to do it again.
truth is, i'm highly motivated by this woman. she's obviously pushing herself hard and according to the book i just finished, the hate directed at a fat person is nothing compared to the hate directed at a fat person exercising.
i'd really like to tell her that i think its awesome she has made the cut when everyone else washed out but unfortunately my most sincere compliments always come off insulting (just ask the relatively small group of people who still put up with me). so i'll just give her props here and hope someone else closer to her recognizes all the efforts she's putting in.
2008.07.18
watch these videos in order, the first is from new zealand travel and business, the second is 100% truth.
100% pure new zeland
100% truth
2008.07.17
last night, and i couldn't make this up, carolina made dinner from a recipe in a kids book about rationing in england during world war ii.
the verdict, you'd have to be starving to eat it.
2008.07.16
i recently had to evict some folks from a property i own and instead of leaving behind any of the back rent, they left behind a large box of these scam letters from prepaid "r" us.
in case you've read through the 'business plan' and still aren't convinced its a scam i can assure you by the debt my tenants racked up these letters made them no money and of all the garbage they did move out, these letters were one of the fews things they didn't think worth while to take...
2008.07.15
i recently watched the john pilger documentary "do you remember vietnam". and as if i needed any additional evidence that the whole iraq premise, war and reconstruction wasn't complete bullox this would have been enough.
through almost the entire documentary you can replace the country vietnam with iraq and the remainder of the story is the same. the same collection of blue blood, privileged draft dodgers that avoided that war, increased their sin by repeating history without having learned a thing from the past, except maybe that privilege and power are best hoarded and everything else is expendable...
and somehow yet again, we all went along for the ride...
2008.07.14
wisdom seems unequal compensation for the infirmities of old age.