Moving

Hi there. 

After years (has it really been 4? WTF?) of blogging here on Blogger, I've finally registered a domain and moved everything over there. 

So you should go to: c2plusl.com/cameron/blog to read my thoughts on stuff and things and politics and education and design and New Zealand. 

Let's be realistic, there will probably be more stuff and things than any of that other stuff, but it will be entertaining. 

Or at the very least brief. 

Well that's a lie as well. 

Just come. 

Near epic fail (but still a fail)

So this morning, I'm all stunned with sleep and stressed about the day etc (as is my want), I got up, got Lucas downstairs and went to make breakfast.

So I got the loaf of bread out, chucked it onto stove top, got the tea water going (there wasn't enough coffee for two cups) and then went away to the computer to check the news and the weather...

A minute or so later I smell something, pretty much simultaneously to this the smoke detector goes off.

I'd turned on the wrong element. So the water wasn't heating up, but hte plastic wrapped bread was quite... well gross (and toasty).

Now the house smells of, I dunno, what I imagine toast for robots smells like.

The most astounding thing...

... happened to me the other day as I was leaving to go and pick Lucas up from the daycare.

This late 20's guy came up to me at the door and said "Are you the owner of this house?"

I was prepared for "yes I am, but seriously I don't want your cleaning service/painting service whatever". But he surprised me, he said "I'm here to applogize and to try and make amends. It was my birthday last night and I got drunk and then one of my buddies gave me a can of paint. Like an idiot I painted my name on your wall. I'm so very sorry, there is no excuse for my doing that." (I'm translating here, very roughly). I was so stunned I didn't know what to say.

Well actually, let's be realistic here: The wall is a mess. It needs brick work (which will be done in May) and there were already some tags on the wall that I should have taken care of in the Fall. Also, and this is maybe just me, but I really can't stand watching people squirm with embarrassment. It kills me inside. So I thanked him for his honesty, accepted his apology and sent him on his way.

Leaving me behind utterly shocked and stunned.

Bad web! Bad!

Sometimes you see design so stupifyingly bad that you wonder if it was done on purpose... to that end I present you with this.

I would suggest you wear goggles, but they will probably do nothing.

Beats

So about two weeks ago Lucas started making rhythmic sounds with his mouth.

I asked him what he was doing and he looked up at me, and said, with a great deal of incredulity "Daddy, those are my beats. I have lots of new beats."

He's not going to be giving Biz Markie a run for his money any time soon, but it's fun none the less.

Back from TO

But first, at breakfast today Lucas asks "Mama, what's the French word for snotz?".. sadly I was laughing to hard to hear the answer.

Dumber?

In January Apple released the January Software Update for iPod Touch. Let's leave aside the fact that you have to pay $20 for it, and talk about the update stream.

They're using iTunes to push it on you, so that you can then buy it through the store and update right away. This is smart, this is easy etc etc. I'm all for it.

The problem is that, for a number of reasons, I just don't have the $20 to spend right now.

No problem right? I click "Remind me later" or whatever...

And then I get caught in a circle of the same damn screen and I can't actually control the contents of my iPod.

I wrote an email to Apple about this, they replied very quickly telling me that they were sorry and they were working to fix this problem.

Dumb

Hey you!

Yes you!

The one without the hat.

You don't look cool. You look fucking stupid. It's -20c, you're not fooling anyone.

Super Tuesday Language Use Thoughts

When exactly did the world "conservative" get redefined to mean "social conservatives/raging nutbars"?

All last night CNN and other media outlets were on and on about how McCain wasn't doing well with "conservatives". I kind of thought to myself "hmm.. he's winning states, as a Republican, in the Republican primary, doesn't that make him a conservative?"

Then they started to unpack what they meant during one of those little segments about demographics and exit polling and I discovered that what they meant.

At some point we have to stop and leave some words and their meanings be, right? Otherwise all this meaning creep will just lead to nothing having any meaning.

Also, if Wolf Blitzer says "the best political team on televison" or whatever it is he says one more time I vote he gets sent back to a war zone.