and it's a...

We had our 20-week ultrasound the other day, and I'm thrilled to report that we appear to have a healthy (and very active) little girl-in-progress! Everything was where it should be and working as it should, and there were the correct number of all the important bits. It was amazing seeing the little one so clearly and looking already like a little person (albeit in cross section).

Now we get to the fun part: choosing her name!

Vic is still doing well, and her bump is becoming very pronounced. She's feeling Pfeffernuss (don't ask :) moving around all the time now, although I haven't been able to yet.

peanut butter problems

I like a good peanut butter sandwich, me. But lately I've become a bit frustrated with the peanut butter that's available in New Zealand. In the last couple of years, just about all of the pb manufacturers have moved their production to China. It may seem a little reactionary, but politically, ethically, and and from a health point of view, I'm just not that happy buying everything I eat and wear from China. The recent San Lu baby formula scandal has cemented many people's fears (rightly or wrongly) about the ethics of Chinese business, especially when it comes to food products. To me there seems to be a cavalier "Let's see what we can get away with regardless of the effects," attitude. Besides, I try to buy New Zealand-made wherever I can.

But I digress.

This move to China has been accompanied by a change in flavour in the peanut butter. The insidious addition of sugar to some brands notwithstanding, it doesn't taste as good as it used to. It just tastes wrong - like cheap, poor quality peanuts. I was delighted when, in response to public pressure, Sanitarium announced that they would sell Australian-made peanut butter here. But I needn't have got my hopes up - the flavour is just as poor as the awful Chinese stuff. So I'm left with the choice of buying New Zealand-made organic pb like Ceres (delicious actually, but a lot more expensive) or making my own. I think I'll try making my own - now where can I find decent peanuts...

the long hot weekend

Well, the past Waitangi weekend has been a scorcher. Although it's been uncomfortably hot here (especially at night), I can't imagine what it's like in Australia (esp. Victoria), where temperatures are up to 15° higher. Ouch.

It didn't feel like a particularly productive weekend, but we managed to do a few interesting things. We decided not join the hordes evacuating the city over the long weekend. I took my new road bike out twice for a couple of rides of about 20 km each, thankfully leaving early enough in the morning that I didn't evaporate in the heat. They were both enjoyable, apart from getting stuck in the middle of Waitangi day celebrations in Okahu bay on Friday. The bike held up well except for a clunk appearing in the headset and a squeak from the chain. I really must get some chain lubricant. I'm very tempted to repack the hubs with grease as well.

I decided have another attempt at bread baking, this time baguettes. Dean Brettschneider was again my tutor, and the DVD that came with his book has proved invaluable. In this case, one video is worth a thousand pictures! The recipe requires resting overnight in the fridge (as do most of his recipes), so it's not one for impatient people, Unfortunately, his recipe also includes onion and pumpkin, so I had to guess the water content somewhat. I think I used a little too much water, as my loaves spread out too much during the final proving. That said, the final product was delicious. Bring on the next loaf! What a challenge.

In DIY news, the bathroom is finished! It looks pretty damn good if I say so myself. Of course, despite my best efforts, my worst fears were realised. The first time fitting the basin, everything was perfect, but the waste outlet was misaligned by about 35 mm horizontally. It took me a few moments to realise that I had placed the template on the wall backwards! It would have been fine if the waste had been centred in the basin. So I had to remove and re-hang it, and this time the waste was perfect, but in my haste, I didn't take quite as much care drilling the mounting studs into the wall, and consequently, the basin slopes ever so slightly to the left. Bah. At least it isn't really noticeable to the naked eye, and it doesn't affect the performance. All that's left is to fit the towel rails. It feels odd not having that project lurking in the back of my mind any more. So, onto the next one - replacing the floor in the entrance way and laundry. In fact Vic and I went tile shopping for this area on Saturday, but didn't find anything decent. I'm in favour of a mid-light grey tile, but Vic wants something beige-y.

Having also pinched a big bag of windfall apples from our (absent) neighbour, the resulting stewed apples were a little lacklustre. So I turned half of it into spiced apple muffins, which turned out very tasty and moist. Success! I did make a mistake in sprinkling the tops of the muffins with brown sugar and mixed spice instead of cinnamon. This gave them an ever-so-slightly curried flavour! Nevertheless, they were still delicious.

Whilst out tile shopping on Saturday, Vic and I stopped by two farmers' markets - one at the Jubilee Building in Newmarket, the other at La Cigale in Parnell. La Cigale was much bigger, with a greater variety. I'm not sure why we didn't buy much, but I think you still need to have what you want in mind before you go. It was a fantastic experience though - great to see this sort of thing in the middle of Auckland! Once we'd finished there, we were suitably hungry, and headed for the reliable Dida's Foodstore for lunch. I was disappointed to find that the 'Eggs en Cocotte' wasn't on the menu, but instead I had the still-very-tasty Spanish scrambled eggs with lashings of diced chorizo. Vic had a delicious roast beef sandwich. The coffee was good, but unmemorable.

diy catch up

During the long Christmas break I had time to work on a few projects:

The shelves in the garage are finished, and are already overflowing! They worked very nicely, even though on the opposite side of the garage, there was no continuous joist line to screw the brackets into. A bit of creative spacing helped that, and they are screwed solidly into studs instead.

The bathroom is now so close to being finished - there's only the basin left to hang on the wall. I'm procrastinating a bit on that one, as I'm a bit worried that I'll hang it in the wrong position and the waste won't fit. The shower walls were a little harder than I anticipated, mainly due to the walls not being plumb or in fact straight (not my fault!). But they're up and sealed and look pretty damn professional. I sealed the grout in the shower with some hugely expensive stuff from the Tile Depot. We'll see if it works.

I've begun looking at the front door hinges too. There's something seriously wrong here - with only two hinges, the door works beautifully, but when the third hinge is added, the door jams. And even though the top hinge has been butchered, and is now set about 5 mm further into the door than the bottom hinge, the door still lines up. Somethin' jes' ain't right thur.

frustration

I'm getting really frustrated at work. I thought that I'd come back after a nice long break envigorated, but nothing has changed.

I have zero motivation, and I feel as though there is nothing for me there. The management have made it clear that there is no chance of a pay increase, which is one thing, but there also appears to be no chance of progression within the company, which is just unspeakably depressing. I feel that if I stay, I'll be there eternally churning through the same old stuff ad nauseam. The very worst thing is that it seems as though I've learned all I can from them, or perhaps more accurately, all they are willing to teach me. I just can't do that, I have to keep learning, changing, moving, growing. I have to get out.

I've started on my CV, but I don't have a clear picture of what it should be like, so I've hit a wall. In some ways it's too short, in others, too long. I've promised myself that I will get it finished this week, and Vic has said she'll help me with it.

and a happy new year!

Sayonara 2008, we will nae miss you.

This year we spent New Year's Eve at Mel and Dayne's place in Waiau Beach, as we have done for the last two years. Our hosts put on a really nice night for us with a great barbeque and plenty of snacks to keep us going 'til midnight. Mark, a friend of Mel and Dayne's was the only other guest, so it was a pretty quiet night. We passed the time talking crap, eating strawberries, and playing Rummikub, a strange Israeli number-matching game... do we know how to party or what? :)

The heavens opened at about 11pm, but luckily it was fine enough by midnight for us to stand out on the balcony in the cool air and welcome in the new year with good friends. May the coming year be bigger, better, brighter and bolder than the last one. It sure is going to be a big one for us!

merry christmas!

We had a fairly low-key Christmas this year. We’ve been keeping our spending on a tight reign in preparation for the new addition to the family. There will be lots of extra costs coming up, and Victoria is going to be taking perhaps a year off work. It’ll be a stretch, but I’m sure we’ll be fine. Fortuitously, our mortgage will be coming up for renewal in February, so we have the option of reducing our repayments for a while at least (not to mention the current lower interest rates). But I digress…

As has become the tradition, we headed around the corner on Christmas morning, the car groaning under the weight of presents, to Victoria’s sister’s house for Christmas lunch. We sat around in the proper laid-back Christmas attitude ruminating on the events of the year, nibbling strawberries and sipping punch. We exchanged presents before lunch, and unsurprisingly Charlotte, our 5-year-old niece collected the most impressive haul, although bro-in-law Steve made a late surge with a complete Guitar Hero World Tour setup for his PS3. The highlights of my pressies were the book ‘Global Baker’ by Dean Brettschneider – a very successful kiwi baker, and a bag of Grano Tenero ‘00’ flour from Vic. Oh, and a new wooden spoon! Bring on the pizza baking!

Afterwards we headed to a beautifully-laid table replete with goody bags at each place. As usual, Steph put on a very impressive spread, starting with poached Salmon fillet (sure to become another tradition) before moving on to the traditional roast turkey with all the trimmings. Two types of stuffing, multiple roast and fresh veges, bread sauce and cranberry sauce left little room for dessert. Luckily, I found a spot, as we had the first of my puddings along with the requisite cream, custard and brandy sauce. As it turned out the pudding was a triumph (if I say so myself) – even better than the previous year’s efforts. It was very flavoursome and dense, but also surprisingly light, soft and moist. It didn’t suffer from the lack of figs, and the three types of toasted nuts (walnut, almond and hazelnut) added a subtle earthy undertone. Yum.

We’d barely started digesting lunch when we had to abscond to my parents’ place for dinner, although we did sneak a quiet hour at home in between. More indulgent lounging around ensued, punctuated with a few bouts of GT4 racing using Dad’s new Logitech steering wheel control – a present from Mike. Also from Mike was a ticket for me to see Top Gear live! Very cool, and way too generous! Dinner was fantastic, the main course being an amazing Beef Wellington, the first Mum had made. With the horseradish sauce and roast veges on the side, it was nigh on perfect. Dessert was pudding again, only this time it was last year’s that Mum had kept. This one definitely had suffered from the year’s aging. It was a bit dry and hard, and much of the flavour seemed to have disappeared somewhere along the way. Lesson learned.

It may have been a low key Christmas, but it was all the more enjoyable for it. I actually felt quite Christmassy this year, and played all the Christmas music we have to death all through December! It’ll certainly be a different dynamic next year with a baby in the house!

news of the year: 1 + 1 = 3

Now that we’ve had our first proper scan (on Monday), the news can finally come out… I’m going to be a Dad! Wow! I’m absolutely over the moon, but it doesn’t quite seem real yet. It’s an amazing and slightly terrifying thought that we’ll have an additional little person in the family; someone that is totally helpless and dependent. It’s going to be fantastic!



All went very well with the scan. Our risk factors are very low, and we got a good view of bubs. All measurements were on the good side of average, and we're on track for a late-June delivery. Baby was very active, bouncing around, but stayed still for long enough to wave for the photo. You can hopefully see the head on the left with a little hand up at nose level (thumbing its nose?). Vic is doing very well, but while she's still in the throws (sic) of morning sickness, she is improving slowly.

bathrooms and puddingspoons

Although it didn't really feel like it at the time, I had quite a productive and enjoyable weekend. On Friday we sang carols in Ponsonby, and on Saturday and Sunday I got just a little closer to finishing the bathroom.

The bathroom project has been ongoing for well over a year now (I don't really want to think exactly how long), but it has been a pretty comprehensive renovation. I'm learning everything as I go - just about every aspect of the build is a first for me! It started out as a repair to the cracked shower tray, which then mushroomed into a complete strip and refit courtesy of bad build practice (no waterproofing and no tile underlay) and rotten floors and walls. I completely gutted the room and replaced the floor, adding new bearers between existing joists to accommodate the thinner 12 mm plywood floor (to keep the tiles close to the existing floor level). The floor sounds thin, but I did the calculations, and I'm absolutely happy with the overall stiffness and feel of the floor with the bonded and nailed tile underlay. I also replaced most of the wall panels with fibre cement. The biggest job so far has been the tiling and associated jobs. I didn't realise how big a job it was to tile even a small bathroom from floor to ceiling. Ouch! Only now am I putting the finishing touches on - currently the silicone in the corners. There are a few rough edges, but overall I'm happy with the finish so far. However, I'll need probably another six tubes of silicone to complete it! If I get a move on I'll be able to fit the basin and shower walls next weekend.

I also managed to get one of the shelves up in the garage. The house has a severe lack of storage space, so any more is really helpful, especially when you are a bit of a hoarder :) They are simple 300 mm-wide shelves of (my beloved) 12 mm ply - non structural defect grade bought on special from ITM. They are supported by multiple cheap pressed-steel brackets also from ITM. I've probably gone a bit overboard on the number of brackets, but they were cheap, and I really don't want them failing. Even with just one of the four shelves up and in use, there is a noticeable increase in floor real estate. Result. Got to use my jigsaw for the first time too.

Meanwhile, I was also cooking my second batch of Christmas Puddings. It's become something of a tradition for me to cook puddings at Christmas. There's something very special about selecting and preparing all the ingredients, and the magical smell that fills the house when they are simmering away on the stove. This year marked a bit of a departure in a couple of pudding-related areas. Firstly, I decided to rationalise the ingredients (read: make 'em cheaper) due to economic factors that I'll go into later. To this end, I have omitted the figs (shock!) and used pre-blended fruit mix, as well as padding out the mix with fresh apple and carrot (both are acceptably traditional, I'm assured). Secondly, I tried cooking the puddings in the slow cooker rather than the stove, with excellent results. I considered using suet again this year instead of butter, but the timing was wrong, and I wasn't keen on the cleaning and chopping aspect. Maybe next year. Overall, the puddings have come out even better than expected - very moist, and with a lovely dark colour. I must say that the slow cooker method was fantastic - the cooking time doubles, but there is no need to constantly check the water, and little consequent risk of them boiling dry and burning. And you even can go out and leave them cooking. I am a convert! Bring on Christmas - I can't wait to taste them!

causation <> correlation

One of my pet hates is the way science is misrepresented in the media, often through misuse (intentional or otherwise) of statistics.

The sort of claim I'm thinking of might read: "A study has found that those who eat five servings of vegetables per day have a 50% lower risk of heart attack before they turn 50." Without any further qualification, this statement is utterly meaningless. There are two major problems with it: The first and most obvious is that the base risk is not established - the risk is 50% lower than what? If the base risk for someone under 50 who does not eat five servings of veges a day is 1/500, then this suggests that the five-veg-eater's risk would be 1/1000. Even if you're in possession of this information, is a reduction in risk from 0.2% to 0.1% really that significant?

The second problem is the one that bugs me more, and it is potentially as much a fault of the scientific method as it is of the reporting, is whether causation has been proved. It is human nature to look for patterns - it's one way our brains cope with the barrage of information coming at them every second of the day - and often we manage to find them where there really are none. Just because there is correlation between one factor and the result doesn't necessarily imply causation. In this case, you need to know how the study has determined the link between veges and heart attacks. Have all other reasons for the correlation been explored and discounted? Off the top of my head there is a major one that would need to be investigated: does the person that eats five veg per day have a significantly healthier lifestyle overall? Do they eat less saturated fats? Do they exercise regularly? I can see that both of those things might be likely.

But then that wouldn't make such a sensational headline would it?

carols by candlelight

I'm such a sentimental sucker for Christmas, especially the carols (as my family can attest)! They evoke such good memories. So on Friday night, I couldn't resist taking Victoria and our five-year-old niece Charlotte to Carols by Candlelight at Western Park in Ponsonby. We had a really lovely evening singing along to the carols played by a ska-styled band, even though we didn't get to use our (free) candles due to the complete lack of darkness. Charlotte was only intermittently interested, and spent much of the time colouring in the pictures of Santa we were given on the way in. We did get her singing along to a couple of carols she knew. Well done Auckland City Council for organising such a great event. It was a much better (and more relaxing) experience than and Christmas in the Park I've been to.
Once the band had launched into a couple of covers (including some pretty decent beatboxing by the lead singer), we headed over to Franklin Road to look at the lights. Lots of oohing and aahing later, we found ourselves at Victoria Park in front of the big Telecom Christmas tree. By this time it was properly dark, and the tree looked very impressive flashing its lights in a multitude of patterns. We lay down on the bean bags provided underneath the huge 'tree' and watched the lights until my eyes went weird, then I helped Charlotte leave a voicemail message for Santa on one of the phone boxes at the base. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the whole Telecom tree experience was really pleasant - no hard sell, just a company giving a bit of festive cheer to the community. If I was an even more hardened cynic, I could say that if they could afford such a grand gesture, they could obviously afford to reduce their prices, but it's Christmas...
It was 10 pm before we returned Charlotte to her parents and we were all fading pretty fast. Hopefully another positive Christmas memory for her.

Adventures in DIY #2

To get decent access to the hot water cylinder plumbing last weekend, I had to pull out the shelving in the hot water cupboard. This gave me the opportunity I needed to upgrade the shelving. As it was, the shelves were only half the depth of the cupboard (< 300 mm), making them next to useless to actually store things on, and leaving a huge dead space between them and the doors. So this weekend I set about making better use of the available space. I dropped into Three Bros ITM in Glen Innes to see what was available, and they had a stack of 18 mm Melamine sheet seconds at half price ($40). Bargain! I quickly calculated that I could get all the shelves (just) from one 2400 x 1220 sheet, so I grabbed one along with some edge strip, and a sheet of 12 mm ply for the shelving in the garage.

The rest of the day was spent cutting, routing and test fitting the shelves. I cut a 75 mm strip off the front of the existing upright to support the front of the shelves, with the rest remaining where it was. This meant that there was less access to the HWC plumbing, but it’s a small price to pay for more than doubling the shelf space. And it can be relatively easily removed anyway. I also cut some strips from one of the old shelves to use as supports for the shelves and screwed them to the new front and rear uprights. It was a pretty tense time when I came to check that the new assembly actually fit in the space, but fit it did. Cutting the Melamine sheet was interesting, and a good learning experience. I used the circular saw, running the edge along a sheet of 3 mm MDF that Dad had given me. On the first cut, the saw ran under the edge of the MDF for a short distance before I noticed. Bugger. This was kind of annoying, as there was very little room for error. For the rest of the cutting, I used a piece of ply as a straight edge as it was much stiffer. The size of the sheets also meant that I couldn’t use the router on the edges of most of the shelves, otherwise I would lose precious shelf space. Thankfully I had the forethought to make sure that the front edge of each shelf was an outer edge of the sheet. Unhappily, the edges I did cut with the circular saw were pretty ragged where the melamine was chipped baldly. Next time I will cut the sheets with the melamine side down, and the blade set to just penetrate the sheet, reducing the angle the teeth make to the facing. Live and learn.

Anyway to cut a long story short, the shelves are in and look good. I still have to trim the edges, which I’ll do this week some time. Most pieces fit in nicely, except for the top shelf which was the full width and depth of the cupboard. What a mission to manoeuvre that thing in! Overall, I’m very happy with the result. And all for under $50!

Adventures in DIY #1

Last weekend as I walked past the hot water cupboard, I felt an ominous ‘squelch’ underfoot. All sorts of disastrous scenarios played through my head, but on closer inspection, there appeared to be a relatively minor leak in the pipe leading to the cylinder. One hurried phone call to Dad later, the wheels were in motion. It had obviously been leaking for a while, as there was a fair amount of mould creeping up the shelving in the cupboard. Of course the carpet was water damaged, and the crappy MDF skirting boards had soaked up the water and turned to weet-bix.

As it turns out, there was a split in the pipe where it had been bent way beyond its allowable curvature, and the one-way valve was also leaking. It’s surprising given the mickey-mouse installation job that the pipe lasted as long as it did (17 years). I fixed the pipe temporarily with a Hepworth quick-fit pipe joiner (who knew how useful those things could be!), but that still left the dripping valve. Of course it was now after 2 pm on a Saturday, when all of the plumbing supplies stores had closed. Neither Mitre 10 or Placemakers had anything, but a bloke at Placemakers pointed us to Chesters in Ellerslie who turned out to be open. They had the part, and sold it to me at trade rates. Good people – I’d go back there. Back home, a bit of hemp and grease on the threads, and everything is working beautifully.
What could have been a very expensive plumbing call-out ended up costing about $70. Result!

meet jack

Hi Jack. AKA Jackson, Jackie, Jackie Chan, Jacket Potato, Tater, Spud, Muppet, Monkey....


We got Jack from the SPCA in March this year, after Sophie died. Jack had been abandoned by his owners and was just getting over cat flu when we met him. He looks fearsome sometimes with his big fangs and needle-sharp claws, but he's really a big ol' softie who loves nothing better than a cuddle. We love him. When he's not throwing his food all over the kitchen...

melbourne, australia, june. holiday

It all came together pretty quickly. Vic and I hadn't had a decent holiday for a while, at least not overseas, and I'd never been to Melbourne, so off we flew for a ten-day holiday.

We chose an early flight to get the most out of the first day, and although we did arrive nice and early, Melbourne had put on an overcast and foggy day to welcome us. The ride into town was painless, but I still can't decide whether to believe anything the shuttle driver said at any time along the way... Our room at the Travelodge Southbank was clean and comfy and had a fascinating view of a guy fixing an aircon unit on the roof next door. After our 4 am start, we were feeling pretty low on energy, so after getting settled, we headed to Pushka for what turned out to be an excellent flat white and delicious bagel. Afterward, shopping ensued. Note theme.

We spent the next few days alternatively shopping, sightseeing and eating our way around Melbourne. I loved every minute! Highlights included Prahran markets with its piles of gorgeous fresh produce - and cheese, bread and cured meat that made our mouths water. We had a well above average coffee at a roaster's stall there too. Walking around St Kilda was a great experience too - it had a bit of that deserted seaside resort vibe that almost drowns you in Blackpool. But in a nice way. I loved the faded grandeur of Luna Park and the Palais Theatre. Walking back to the hotel (great location!) at night, the view back towards the city over the river was beautiful, spectacular even. One thing that wasn't a highlight was our dinner on Lygon Street. I forget the name of the place, but we looked for somewhere with a lot of people, and it fit that bill. Unfortunately, although the service was efficient and friendly, the food was average - it tasted alright, but it was obviously 'slap a few cheap ingredients together on a plate and get the tourists back out the door' fare. Disappointing. Our faith was restored later on by Tiamo further down the street, but that's another story.

As an aside, I've now visited three of the major cities in Australia, and I've really enjoyed each one of them. I don't think I'd have a problem living in any of the three. The people were friendly, the weather was good, and there was always plenty to do and explore.

To be continued...

autocad revelation

One thing that has always bugged me about using autoCAD is navigating multiple drawings. Up 'til now I've had to use the 'window' menu in the menu bar to change between drawings. I discovered today that there is a setting in autocad that places each of your drawings in the taskbar so you can alt-tab between them as you would spreadsheets or documents. It seems small, but it really makes life easier - I've been using autoCAD for years, and until today I'd still regularly engage in futile alt-tabbing to the next drawing. Yay!

ch-ch-ch-changes

So we have a new government. Not exactly unexpected. Forgive me for saying so, but something tells me that, contrary to a lot of peoples' expectations (and the bulk of National's campaign rhetoric), not a great deal will change. What is assured is that the new lot will have a hard time ahead. Time will tell how well they deal with it. I just hope that social responsibility doesn't take too much of a back seat.

top 5 most beautiful cars

Whilst having a couple of beers at the Horse and Trap a while ago, someone asked me what would be on my list of the five most beautiful cars ever. I can’t remember exactly what I said at the time, but I think it went something like this:

5. Aston DB4GT Zagato
At once brutal, purposeful and beautiful.

4. Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale
Not every angle is great, just most of them

3. Ferrari 288 GTO
What the ultimate 308 GTB would look like - just a bit more muscular. The quintessential Ferrari

2. Aston DB9
The pinnacle of evolutionary design – took the essential beauty of the DB7 and refined it to near perfection

1. Ferrari 206GT/246GT
Just right – not a line out of place

Honourable mentions:

Maserati Merak
Mercedes 300SL Coupe
Jaguar XK140
Lamborghini Miura
Jaguar XJ220 – How they made an MG Metro engine, Ford Escort tail lights and no budget into one of the most compelling supercars ever is beautiful in itself.

energy, electric vehicles, hydrogen and carbon tax

The latest energy crisis has really made me think about my personal use of energy resources, especially when it comes to driving. The idea of an electric vehicle really appeals to me - it's such an efficient way of travelling. The electric drivetrain absolutely trounces an ICE for energy efficiency even if you factor in the generation efficiency and retain the transmission with all its losses. Performance-wise, all that torque from essentially a standstill would be amazing. The batteries are still the problem though - they are still either heavy with a low energy density, or incredibly expensive with a reasonable energy density. As my daily commute is about 56 km, I'd probably want a range of at least 100 km, which starts to get expensive (and heavy if using lead-acid batteries).

There are obviously plenty of other people who feel the same, judging by the size of the EV community on the web. A couple of people that are heavily into converting and doing it well are evdrive and metricmind, both in the USA and and New Zealander Gav (kiwiev) from New Plymouth. I'm very impressed with their commitment and results so far, especially Gav, who has been driving his home-converted Mitsubishi for months now.

I'm not convinced about the economics of it though - it will still cost a great deal (probably in the order of NZ$10,000) to convert a conventional car to electric power, and once you factor in replacing the batteries every so often, the payback period gets quite lengthy. There is only so much the feeling of smugness can offset the cost! It would be a great idea for the government to introduce a subsidy for converting your car to electric power, as I believe they do in some parts of the USA.

In my eyes, one of the main reasons to do the conversion is to reduce your impact on the environment, but there is currently no financial incentive to do that. This is primarily because environmental costs are only very indirectly applied to vehicles (or any industry, really). I support the theory of a carbon tax, but it only addresses a small part of the problem of producers transferring their environmental costs unchecked onto the present and future public. Someone along the line will have to pay in the end. It also seems that bureaucracy is making it an increasingly unwieldy tool. What is clear to me, global warming or not, is that to ensure we can keep living on this planet, we will need to change the way we produce things a great deal.

Getting back to the electric vehicle thread, one of my pet hates at the moment is all the press given to fuel cells. Leaving aside the manufacture of Hydrogen from hydrocarbons; What a ridiculous concept to take electrical energy, convert it into chemical energy (Hydrogen) through a loss-prone process, have trouble storing the unstable fuel, and then covert it back into electrical energy to power your car. How the hell is that better than plugging your car in at home at night? I suppose you could do that too. Sure, batteries aren't perfect (and still convert electrical energy to chemical energy) but they sure seem a better proposition than a hydrogen fuel cell. It's telling that you can't read an article on fuel cells without finding mention of setting up a network of hydrogen refuelling stations. It all smacks of the oil companies (et al) trying to establish a new oligopoly (oiligopoly?) on the supply of hydrogen fuel. That really bugs me.

brunchy

The past weekend was very brunchy. Victoria was keen to have a look at some galleries (particularly at Martin Horspool's fantastic and humourous retro robots) on Saturday, so we decided to have brunch while we were about it. Across the road from one of the galleries on Jervois Road was Dida's Foodstore, an upmarket deli with a few tables dotted about. The menu was enticing, so we thought we'd give it a go. I'm very glad we did; the coffee was exceptional, and both my Mediterranean eggs and Victoria's salmon hash were tasty, fresh, well proportioned and just a little bit different to the usual Ponsonby Road café food. It had a nicely unpretentious atmosphere with most seats being around a large central table. We'll definitely return. Unfortunately we didn't find any art that we could afford, so returned home with empty hands but pleasantly full stomachs.
We had made a date to meet Harry and Vicky for lunch on Sunday as well, and as we chose the venue last time, they chose this time. After parking at their place, we had a very agreeable stroll down the road to Café Massimo on Nuffield Street in Newmarket. Auckland had put on a blinder that day, the last day of Winter, being calm, warm and dry. Quite a welcome relief after the past couple of sodden months. The company was good, the weather behaved (thankfully, as we were sitting outside) and the food was pretty good although not quite up the standard of Dida's. My creamy field mushrooms were unexciting, but flavoursome and well seasoned, just creamy enough, and came with plenty of crisp, warm toast to mop up the sauce. The coffee was a let-down however: Vicky's long black became short before it arrived, and my flat white tasted a little stale and over-extracted. Ho-hum, pretty much what you'd expect from a chain I guess. That did little to dampen a really nice afternoon out.