Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Ewwwww... icky pants

There's sewerage or something running down half of the driveway and pooling up on the grass by the clotheslines and at the end of the driveway. Ick ick ick ick. The smell almost made me sick this morning and there are flies everywhere. The first two units have avoided it :( The rest of us are not so lucky but at least it is on the far side of the driveway.

I'll say it again - ick, ick, ick, ick, ick

I heard tools being used in the weekend hence I will blame the neighbours. Excellent... Always need someone to blame it on.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Comet Hunting

When I heard Comet McNaught was in town I just had to see it. Don't ask me why... Besides the fact that such a chance doesn't come around all that often. Being in Auckland with the crappy, non-summer weather lately there has been so much cloud cover I was worried I wouldn't get the chance. So last night Toru and I took our chances and went to the Mt Eden summit. We soon realised that everyone else had the same idea. I don't think the summit has ever seen so much action. Luckily my super parking skills were in full force and I spotted someone leaving. No reversing or three-point turning for us. No, no.


We found ourselves a good spot and got my camera all set up on the tripod. It was time to try out all those extra scene modes (in particular 'Starry sky' mode). After making some girls happy by confirming that yes that spot was in fact Venus and pointing out to some other guy the general direction in which the comet would appear, I took the chance to take many, many sunset photos and night shots of Mt Eden etc.


Then finally, as Venus disappeared into the smog and evil, dirty, looming clouds, it appeared! Yay! I hadn't just huddled under a blanket for a good 30-45mins for nothing. Maybe if the clouds hold off another night this week Toru and I can drive away from the city to get a better look. Light pollution is not our friend in such situations.



And since you have made it to the end of my very geeky post, here's a picture of Auckland City at night. It's my present to you :P



Oh and for those of you who want to let your inner geek out - there's more photos on flickr.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Sucky pants

So I have tonight and most of tomorrow to myself while Toru and his brother do geeky stuff, hence it was the perfect opportunity to convert a pile of stuff from VHS to DVD. All was going well and then I put in one video and all I get is a black screen. After a short while I decide the video is totally gone and oh well I'll live. So I move onto the next one and the screen is still black. So I put in one of the newest videos I have, just to be sure, and same thing. I have sound though? It doesn't matter whether I have the VCR going straight to the TV or through the DVD recorder.

So sucky pants!! It's already going to take me forever to convert stuff and now the VCR won't work properly.

Oddly enough I can still have tv going through the VCR fine. Maybe the heads need cleaning? But then why is there sound????

*edit*

Okay taken from Netguide.co.nz
"
WARNING: Depending on age and how well they’ve been stored, some of your VHS tapes may have deteriorated to the point where they are unplayable. The metal oxide on the tape surface detaches with age or damp storage, and may clog the playback head of your VCR You’ll know if you get sound but no picture. Cleaning this gunk from the head may be a professional job, and therefore costly. Before playing tapes, look through the window in the top of the cassette. If a white mould-like substance appears on the tape, it’s probably unplayable."

I don't remember seeing mould? And I had other videos play in there that were older than that one :( I want to cry... I guess I'll be going for a long walk tomorrow to find a tape cleaner - that is, if anyone still sells them

First the damn flies... now the spiders

Thursday, January 18, 2007

The lazy way

I finally got around to starting my big mission of converting all my old VHS tapes to DVD (or some sort of digital format). I tried Toru's gizmo thingy which was supposed to let me record onto my computer. But alas, it doesn't seem to work anymore. That was pretty much the only excuse I needed to be lazy and go out and buy a DVD recorder. Yay for the lazy way. Now I just need to find all the many hours I need to convert everything.

My knee didn't like moving offices. But my new office has a much nicer view, more room for me and less room for annoying visitors. But room for the nice ones :P

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

My search for hot chocolate is over

Anyone who knows me knows I drink hot chocolate. Anyone who knows me well enough knows I love dark, bittersweet chocolate the most. Today I had a meeting with the caterers to discuss menus for the year and was asked if I'd tried their new hot chocolate. When I said no they insisted on getting me one. It's pretty strong so I was asked if I wanted milk in it to dilute it down, which of course I refused. It's one of the best hot chocolates I've ever had. I've told them to expect me in there on a daily basis.

Mmmmmmmmmm... *snap back to reality* I will be on a sugar high for the rest of the morning

I have found my new obsession

Monday, January 08, 2007

More stupidities

So some idiot teenagers decided it would be a good idea to go down Baldwin St at 150km/h. Seriously?? Who in their right mind thinks that's a good idea. Then again many years ago someone thought it would be a good idea to go down Baldwin St in a wheelie bin. They did not live to tell the tale.

And oh yeah... soon every one of your fingers will be scanned when going to America and then made available internationally to intelligence agencies. Awesome. I will most certainly be finding another route to Canada, more so than before.

I will try to sit and enjoy my breakfast now... If that is possible.