Hi,
I rode home via Ngaio Gorge again last night. It was so windy - and a head wind at that. At one point at the bottom of the gorge, me and the bike in front copped a gust that blew us off course by almost a metre as we both fought to keep control. Scary stuff. Fortunately it was a spot with a decent shoulder to ride along so I wasn't blown into traffic.
Mind you, as I got to the top, I saw a council recycling bag of rubbish lying on the road in front of me. I saw I could get around it easily without getting into traffic. But as I approached it to its right, a gust blew the bag right under my front wheel. I remember thinking I was going to come a cropper. But my cleats unclipped and I managed to stay upright with this bag wedged under my wheel. I fished it out and carried it to the kerb and stuck it behind a wheelie bin. It made my heart beat a bit faster.
Despite the horrid conditions, I got home only a minute slower than the night before. Can't wait to time it when there is no wind! Or a southerly!
Mike was out and about, working late and then tramping club to get lodge keys. The weekend is shaping up to be really awful weather-wise. Mike is typically grumpy about the Ruapehu gods that hate him. I told him it was a weekend to relax and eat. With the slim prospect of some skiing. Maybe. The season is looking a bit pants really. Even Mt Hutt hasn't had snow since mid July.
What else has been happening? I packed for the weekend (well, me and Toby). Cooked tea. Did laundry (being away for the weekend means no laundry done).
I wonder how my parents are getting on gadding about in Alaska and Canada. I bet they are loving it. Last time they were away somewhere exotic, they ended up in the middle of a tsunami warning. It seems they have escaped any natural disasters this time. They need a smartphone so they can stay in touch while overseas. I miss their communications.
Have a lovely day!
Love,
Angela
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
The Tuesday with a school evening
Hi,
We arranged Benjamin to babysit Toby due to a school evening that we only just found out about. Term 3 has a big component of Toby's learning wrapped up in something they are calling "The Exhibition" and it is something different from what they have done in previous years. It's rather exciting. Now you know as much as me. All I know is that Toby is excited by it and Mike wishes he'd gone to Scots College! Hahahah.
We came straight home and I dropped Benjamin home. We managed a few tasks for the evening but pretty much straight to bed.
Busy at work like usual.
Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela
We arranged Benjamin to babysit Toby due to a school evening that we only just found out about. Term 3 has a big component of Toby's learning wrapped up in something they are calling "The Exhibition" and it is something different from what they have done in previous years. It's rather exciting. Now you know as much as me. All I know is that Toby is excited by it and Mike wishes he'd gone to Scots College! Hahahah.
We came straight home and I dropped Benjamin home. We managed a few tasks for the evening but pretty much straight to bed.
Busy at work like usual.
Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
The Monday of finding things
Hi,
I rode home the longish way - up Ngaio Gorge for a change. I'll try and make that my regular route home for a few months. I'm also going to ride home via Ngauranga Gorge once a week. That should be better than my usual short but steep ride home.
Yesterday (Monday, that is) was the day Aidan handed in her thesis. That doctorate is so close now! I was lucky enough to get lunch with her and Josh and she looked so relaxed I thought she might slide off her chair. Yep - it was a pretty good day yesterday.
When Mike and I got home, we cooked dinner and then it was "Find the missing things" evening. Toby's cellphone had been missing for a week. As were the Corolla car keys. And my wee micro USB charger. We started tidying and I found the missing car keys super fast. After tidying a few places around the house, I declared the phone not in the house and went up to the car. I found Toby's cellphone in the car seat pocket (good place to put it Toby - shame you never remembered it was there though) and found my charger under the car seat where Mike dropped it.
Mike mopped out the storage area under the stairs and cleared away the stuff by his bed. And he did his homework. We had a very satisfying night of tasks done. I even got a CD made for the drive up on Friday night to Mt Ruapehu. Yep - all came together nicely.
Toby had a good first day back at school. He is calling his teacher the best teacher in the world. So that's a good first day.
Have a wonderful day today. The weather is lovely this morning here. I enjoyed my ride into work. We have a Scots College parent evening tonight.
Love,
Angela
I rode home the longish way - up Ngaio Gorge for a change. I'll try and make that my regular route home for a few months. I'm also going to ride home via Ngauranga Gorge once a week. That should be better than my usual short but steep ride home.
Yesterday (Monday, that is) was the day Aidan handed in her thesis. That doctorate is so close now! I was lucky enough to get lunch with her and Josh and she looked so relaxed I thought she might slide off her chair. Yep - it was a pretty good day yesterday.
When Mike and I got home, we cooked dinner and then it was "Find the missing things" evening. Toby's cellphone had been missing for a week. As were the Corolla car keys. And my wee micro USB charger. We started tidying and I found the missing car keys super fast. After tidying a few places around the house, I declared the phone not in the house and went up to the car. I found Toby's cellphone in the car seat pocket (good place to put it Toby - shame you never remembered it was there though) and found my charger under the car seat where Mike dropped it.
Mike mopped out the storage area under the stairs and cleared away the stuff by his bed. And he did his homework. We had a very satisfying night of tasks done. I even got a CD made for the drive up on Friday night to Mt Ruapehu. Yep - all came together nicely.
Toby had a good first day back at school. He is calling his teacher the best teacher in the world. So that's a good first day.
Have a wonderful day today. The weather is lovely this morning here. I enjoyed my ride into work. We have a Scots College parent evening tonight.
Love,
Angela
Monday, August 5, 2013
A simple guide to burning an MP3 CD with iTunes
Everyone knows that Apple's core strength is its design ethos reflected in the user experience. They're a true software company that places design elegance above everything.
iTunes shows this perfectly. Compare for instance the experience burning a CD:
In Windows Media Player:
1. Start Windows Media Player
2. Select the tracks you want to copy.
3. Click 'Burn'.
In iTunes:
1. Start up iTunes
2. iTunes notifies you that a new version is available and you must install it before you proceed.
3. Install the new version of iTunes.
4. Restart your computer.
5. Find the album you wish to burn to CD, and purchase it on iTunes.
6. Enter your iTunes password
7. Reenter your credit card
8. Attempt to buy the album again
9. See a 'The connection was reset' error when a track tries to download.
10. Click 'download' several times, not because it does anything but it relieves your frustration a little.
11. Google the problem and find that the solution is to reconfigure your router to point to a random DNS server on the other side of the world.
12. Screw your eyes up and try restarting your computer, router, and modem for luck. It sounds easier than reconfiguring your router.
13. Try to download again.
14. Hooray! The 'connection was reset' error has gone!
15. But, you now get a 'Your computer is not authorised' error.
16. Look around for a way to 'authorise' your computer. Fail to find it.
17. Google the problem and find that this is a new feature of the version of iTunes you just had to install, and that option is under a menu that is hidden by default and reactivated by an obscure button about 10 pixels wide.
18. Enter your iTunes password again.
19. Now start building up a playlist for the MP3 CD you want to burn.
20. Select 'Burn playlist to CD'
21. See error - some of your tracks are in a foreign format.
22. Look in Windows Explorer and see that the album you just downloaded has come down in m4a format.
23. Stare in perplexity at the screen.
24. Check the 'download as' setting that you set ages ago to ensure you never had to deal with m4a format songs again
25. Discover that this setting has reverted to m4a with the new version you just installed.
26. Go to every song you just downloaded, and select 'create mp3 version' for each song
27. Now, you have two copies of each song, with no way of telling which is mp3, and which is m4a.
28. Delete the m4a songs from your playlist, then randomly pick a song copy to put back in.
29. Use 'View in windows explorer' for each song, to see if you picked the right song. You have a 50:50 chance, after all, so the odds are okay.
30. Repeat steps 28-29 until all your songs are in mp3 format.
31. Now realise your playlist is completely mis-ordered. Vainly try to put it back how you meant it to be.
32. Now select 'Burn playlist to CD'
33. After a short time the CD will finish burning and be ready to play in your car stereo.
Simple!
iTunes shows this perfectly. Compare for instance the experience burning a CD:
In Windows Media Player:
1. Start Windows Media Player
2. Select the tracks you want to copy.
3. Click 'Burn'.
In iTunes:
1. Start up iTunes
2. iTunes notifies you that a new version is available and you must install it before you proceed.
3. Install the new version of iTunes.
4. Restart your computer.
5. Find the album you wish to burn to CD, and purchase it on iTunes.
6. Enter your iTunes password
7. Reenter your credit card
8. Attempt to buy the album again
9. See a 'The connection was reset' error when a track tries to download.
10. Click 'download' several times, not because it does anything but it relieves your frustration a little.
11. Google the problem and find that the solution is to reconfigure your router to point to a random DNS server on the other side of the world.
12. Screw your eyes up and try restarting your computer, router, and modem for luck. It sounds easier than reconfiguring your router.
13. Try to download again.
14. Hooray! The 'connection was reset' error has gone!
15. But, you now get a 'Your computer is not authorised' error.
16. Look around for a way to 'authorise' your computer. Fail to find it.
17. Google the problem and find that this is a new feature of the version of iTunes you just had to install, and that option is under a menu that is hidden by default and reactivated by an obscure button about 10 pixels wide.
18. Enter your iTunes password again.
19. Now start building up a playlist for the MP3 CD you want to burn.
20. Select 'Burn playlist to CD'
21. See error - some of your tracks are in a foreign format.
22. Look in Windows Explorer and see that the album you just downloaded has come down in m4a format.
23. Stare in perplexity at the screen.
24. Check the 'download as' setting that you set ages ago to ensure you never had to deal with m4a format songs again
25. Discover that this setting has reverted to m4a with the new version you just installed.
26. Go to every song you just downloaded, and select 'create mp3 version' for each song
27. Now, you have two copies of each song, with no way of telling which is mp3, and which is m4a.
28. Delete the m4a songs from your playlist, then randomly pick a song copy to put back in.
29. Use 'View in windows explorer' for each song, to see if you picked the right song. You have a 50:50 chance, after all, so the odds are okay.
30. Repeat steps 28-29 until all your songs are in mp3 format.
31. Now realise your playlist is completely mis-ordered. Vainly try to put it back how you meant it to be.
32. Now select 'Burn playlist to CD'
33. After a short time the CD will finish burning and be ready to play in your car stereo.
Simple!
The weekend with lovely weather and stand up paddle boarding
Hi,
What a wonderful weekend. I had a ball. I wish every weekend was as much fun as that one. Well, actually, a lot of weekends are that much fun. But for different reasons, I guess.
Friday night we got Benjamin in to look after Toby while Mike and I went go karting with work. Turns out Mike's team came first and my team came second. We had a blast!
Saturday morning Mike got up and made Toby and me breakfast in bed. Very nice it was too. Then we hurtled out of the house in a rush. We had to be in Lindale for a 1pm Paintball session with the Tabors. We hadn't been there since we lived here last many years ago. We ordered lunch at the cafe there and I had a great iced coffee.
They forgot our order and eventually Mike reminded them. But it meant we were a bit late getting to the paintball about 50m away! After being so early too!
The boys all suited up and ran around for the best part of 2 hours. It went really fast for me because I chatted to Aidan over tea.
Everyone loved it! They had such a good time. A few bruises to show where some got shot. But they all loved it! Thanks for such a good time!
We went back to Aidan and Josh's place and I said yes to heading to the estuary to try stand up paddle boarding. I borrow a shirt from Mike and shorts from Aidan and away we went. Emerson came along too. I had a ball paddling Josh's board. Emerson also loved it. I'd give that a go any time, thanks, Josh!
Aidan and Mike came a bit later with fish n chips and we ate on the beach. Such a lovely evening. Toby had a turn paddle boarding too. He wants another turn one day as well. Josh may have given us all a lovely new hobby.
Aidan and I escaped outside once back at their place and had a look at the wonderful night sky. I love the sky from their place as it has a great western perspective we don't have at home. I showed Aidan Scorpius and I hope she can find it on her own whenever she gets the chance to look up on a glorious winter evening. Toby wrangled a sleepover for the evening so Mike and I left him there enjoying the hospitality and drove back home. We had a great sleep and woke late to again hurtle out of the house. Back to Waikanae with lunch in hand. Had a look at Aidan's CV. Josh sanded his new board (it looks so great!) and the boys played.
Back home to get ready for the week. Toby is back at school. Minus his socks apparently.
Have a wonderful week.
Love,
Angela
What a wonderful weekend. I had a ball. I wish every weekend was as much fun as that one. Well, actually, a lot of weekends are that much fun. But for different reasons, I guess.
Friday night we got Benjamin in to look after Toby while Mike and I went go karting with work. Turns out Mike's team came first and my team came second. We had a blast!
Saturday morning Mike got up and made Toby and me breakfast in bed. Very nice it was too. Then we hurtled out of the house in a rush. We had to be in Lindale for a 1pm Paintball session with the Tabors. We hadn't been there since we lived here last many years ago. We ordered lunch at the cafe there and I had a great iced coffee.
 |
| Lovely weather |
They forgot our order and eventually Mike reminded them. But it meant we were a bit late getting to the paintball about 50m away! After being so early too!
The boys all suited up and ran around for the best part of 2 hours. It went really fast for me because I chatted to Aidan over tea.
 |
| Toby in his kit |
.JPG) |
| All ready |
We went back to Aidan and Josh's place and I said yes to heading to the estuary to try stand up paddle boarding. I borrow a shirt from Mike and shorts from Aidan and away we went. Emerson came along too. I had a ball paddling Josh's board. Emerson also loved it. I'd give that a go any time, thanks, Josh!
.JPG) |
| Me standing up and paddling. Look at the weather! |
.JPG) |
| Mike and Josh and Lulu |
Back home to get ready for the week. Toby is back at school. Minus his socks apparently.
Have a wonderful week.
Love,
Angela
Friday, August 2, 2013
The Thursday with busy work
Hi,
I had a work meeting (a training session really) until late, so Mike went home with Toby and cooked a scrumptious dinner. I am very lucky. I rode home after the session and sat and chatted to Mike while I ate his tea. Yep - pretty lucky.
Because I was home so late, the evening disappeared. Before I knew it, I was in bed and reading. And it was late as well. Slept like a log. Mike was woken by a decent wee shake at 1am, but I didn't notice a thing. Earthquake? Where?
Certainly felt the one just past 11am yesterday though. A Thursday morning surprise. I was in the act of leaning against the kitchen bench at work when the earthquake happened. I thought I'd somehow broken the bench when it moved as I leaned my hip onto it. Then I tensed to figure out if it was going to get worse and I needed to leap to my turtle position. But, no. Over before I could process it really.
My work event this weekend has been postponed. So I am available for the social events happening now. Go karting with work tonight. Paintball with Duncan and Emerson tomorrow. Mike and Toby are keen to play and I think Josh might lend a hand. Well, actually, truth be told, I am hoping Aidan would prefer a cup of tea somewhere around about that time. Fingers crossed.
My ride in this morning was great. The southerly is strong, but dry. The roads were as dry as they ever get, even in the middle of summer. So I pedalled furiously down the hill. Loved it! Saw 55km/hr at one point on my wee bike computer speedo. Nice. The southerly meant I couldn't go much faster.
Have a fantastic weekend.
Love,
Angela
I had a work meeting (a training session really) until late, so Mike went home with Toby and cooked a scrumptious dinner. I am very lucky. I rode home after the session and sat and chatted to Mike while I ate his tea. Yep - pretty lucky.
Because I was home so late, the evening disappeared. Before I knew it, I was in bed and reading. And it was late as well. Slept like a log. Mike was woken by a decent wee shake at 1am, but I didn't notice a thing. Earthquake? Where?
Certainly felt the one just past 11am yesterday though. A Thursday morning surprise. I was in the act of leaning against the kitchen bench at work when the earthquake happened. I thought I'd somehow broken the bench when it moved as I leaned my hip onto it. Then I tensed to figure out if it was going to get worse and I needed to leap to my turtle position. But, no. Over before I could process it really.
My work event this weekend has been postponed. So I am available for the social events happening now. Go karting with work tonight. Paintball with Duncan and Emerson tomorrow. Mike and Toby are keen to play and I think Josh might lend a hand. Well, actually, truth be told, I am hoping Aidan would prefer a cup of tea somewhere around about that time. Fingers crossed.
My ride in this morning was great. The southerly is strong, but dry. The roads were as dry as they ever get, even in the middle of summer. So I pedalled furiously down the hill. Loved it! Saw 55km/hr at one point on my wee bike computer speedo. Nice. The southerly meant I couldn't go much faster.
Have a fantastic weekend.
Love,
Angela
Thursday, August 1, 2013
The Wednesday in Auckland
Hi,
What a hectic day. I went to the gym and rode my bike again. Got nice and hot and sweaty. Showered and checked out.
Had a busy morning at work then drove the car to Henderson and had an afternoon of meetings at the client. I changed my client password, which was the most important thing to do as it has to be on-site.
Then we were off to the airport. Easily done and safely at the gate to read for a while before the flight.
Mike and Toby met me off the plane which was a lovely surprise. Because there was a work colleague, we had an exclusion zone around kissing and hand holding. But once he was gone, I got smothered in cuddles and kisses. Well, Toby had no qualms about Alvin being there and Alvin did comment on how someone must have missed me a lot.
We went out to dinner at Original Thai in Island Bay. Then we dropped Toby off for a sleepover at Isaac's house and went home. We watched some TV and then fell asleep. Your own bed is so nice after being away.
Busy few days and I have late night work to do Friday for a migration (from one system to another - out of office hours).
Happy birthday to wee Karen today! She'd be happy with the weather here today.
Love,
Angela
What a hectic day. I went to the gym and rode my bike again. Got nice and hot and sweaty. Showered and checked out.
Had a busy morning at work then drove the car to Henderson and had an afternoon of meetings at the client. I changed my client password, which was the most important thing to do as it has to be on-site.
Then we were off to the airport. Easily done and safely at the gate to read for a while before the flight.
Mike and Toby met me off the plane which was a lovely surprise. Because there was a work colleague, we had an exclusion zone around kissing and hand holding. But once he was gone, I got smothered in cuddles and kisses. Well, Toby had no qualms about Alvin being there and Alvin did comment on how someone must have missed me a lot.
We went out to dinner at Original Thai in Island Bay. Then we dropped Toby off for a sleepover at Isaac's house and went home. We watched some TV and then fell asleep. Your own bed is so nice after being away.
Busy few days and I have late night work to do Friday for a migration (from one system to another - out of office hours).
Happy birthday to wee Karen today! She'd be happy with the weather here today.
Love,
Angela
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