quik Maks Update Note

My precious darling daughter will be celebrating her very first birthday on Friday the 14th of March (Easter weekend) at 18:25 NZST. There will be a bbq at Donne's to celebrate and the following saturday will be a picnic at Mission Bay for the wider family and friends.

Virus

Its been sometime since I've sat at this very terminal at a Net Cafe' down the road from my apartment where I used to spend hours playing first shooter games like Red Faction and Max Payne 1 & 2, and numerous others.

Why am I here rather than sitting in the comfort of my own home I hear you not ask. Well I'll tell you anyhow, My notebook has been affected with some sort of virus disabling my access to the internet and several microsoft programs. So I've had to spend the last 1-2 weeks without google, blogger and of course my stickcricket.

I was getting pretty good too...

Well I'm here to naturally quickly update my blog for those fair few whom regularly visit this site that all is well and I'm attempting to sort out the virus with frustrting resolutions.

Also I have my own mental virus, the xbox 360 or a new golf club? Hmmm difficult decisions.

Golfing update

Forgot to mention that after trying to get on to play at Howick, then Pakuranga, Mangakiki, and considering aviation we decided to play at Chamby park.
My plan for the day was to wake up and do some lite exercises, then go into work (on my day off) for my $5 massage then follow up on some accounts for a few hours.
Unfortunately that was all blown when I got a text from jase at 10am to check in for a round of Golf and seeing as its been around a month since I've even seen a golf club I jumped at the chance.
As I stood over the ball on the first tee I felt mildly comfortable until my downswing and I felt something was off and that was concluded when I topped the ball out about 40-50 meters followed by my second shot which was fairly identical. Not a great start to better my handicap but that soon eased as we moved to the second hole with a good tee and a slightly pulled second shot leaving a terrible chip for a long putt for par and then the famous mikey 3 putt for a double bogey putting me at 4 over par after two holes... Yikes. The next holes were par, birdy, boggey, Boggey, par, double, par for an 8 over on the front, the back nine went par, boggey, boggey, double boggey, boggey, par, par, par, par. for a 5 on the back for 13 over par for the day. This is my best score on this course yet and I played it to what i would consider, terrible so there's still a lot of room for improvement which I like the sound of.... BRING IT ON

In the Beginning

Like every story told there is always a beginning, I guess for this story its a matter or where to begin. I could start at the first moment I was concious today at 02:30 when I suddenly woke and so seeing that I was somewhat awake, decided to check if Makayla was warm in bed as she usually likes to move about and kick off her blankets. As I staggered through the dimly lit living space and into her room I focussed my eye's to my best ability given that I hadn't bothered to put my glasses on yet could clearly see she was comfortably snug under her blankets. I pushed her hair out of her eyes and retreated quietly to my bed where I fell asleep almost as fast as I'd woken.
I woke again at 04:40 and repeated what I'd done only 2 hours prior this time more instinctively than shear will. At 6am I was awake as I'd forgotten to reset my alarm clock and it went off an hour early and this time I stayed awake in bed mentally planning the day out.
After an hour of cautious and meticulour mental prep it was time to put theory into practise. I showered and dressed quickly then as Makayla was fortunately awake I changed her and fed her a nice breakfast before dressing her. After all that it was a mad rush to find all the items I'd mentally gathered to take with me for the day.
8am **Ding Dong***
Simon was at the door, so I let him in quickly then came back inside to finish my final prep which didn't take me very long to complete and even had some spare time.
Why the rush so early in the morning? Well I had mentioned to Simon several weeks ago that we were going to do Round the Bays, Regular readers to this blog will be familiar with this.
Summary: Round the bays starts on Quary street at the bottom of Auckland's Central Business District where the course follows the 8.4 road that outlines the 5 or so bay's to St. Helliers.
We left my apartment at about 08:15 and passed burger king so I could get a very unhealthy breakfast, but in all honesty I neither had any food at my place and even if I did was too concerntrated on Makayla.
Before the race was started with the countdown and the starters cannon fired by the NZ Army there were a few announcements and attempts at some world guiness records, I contributed by lacing my shoes in a double knot. There were also some words said my NZs prime minister Helen Clarke.
As the race started it was noted that those people walking are to be on the left and the runners to the right. This rule was followed for about the first kilometer and then went to hell after that. The pace I was walking whilse pushing a trundler with a baby in it was at times the same pace as some people walking so I said "Stuff this... lets run" but that took on many problems as your crowded and blocked in by people running at all types of different paces and pushing a trundler through them isn't the easiest of applications.
With the trundler and Simon helping me out on sections we crossed the finish line in about 1 hours and 10 mins easy with makayla sleeping comfortably for the first half.
Then it was off to Glover park to which we didn't stay long as we were pretty tired by that stage but we did catch up with Leighann and Lauren whom did the race with Team heritage hotels whereas Simon and I were part of the Mad Butchers team.
Now Simon and I had planned ahead and thought ourselves pretty smart that the night before we took my car and dropped it off so we'd have transport on the way back...
We parked it in an area that was not designated as a no parking zone but aparantly the Auckland City Council thought other wise and decided to tow my car anyway, leaving me stranded with no way to get home without a car seat for Makayla.
I phone the towing company to which not much assistance as you can imagine was received and I WILL be contacting the ACC with much fury indeed.
To which left me one only option and that was to call Donne to see if she could pick us up. Donne if you ever read this, thank you heaps much appreciated.
Anywayz back to bickering about the Auckalnd City Council, We walked down the road to where we had the car parked when Simon turned to me and said "Dude where's your car?" to which I replied "Dude... where's my car?" the rest was reminicent of you know what movie but by no means was it humourous. I called the police whom informed me that ACC had removed my car.
I'm going to save my rage now for tomorrow when i contact the ACC in absolute disgust.

Maks Update March 18th 2006

Well I haven't seen her walk properly as yet but I've seen her stumble a few steps before somehow deciding it's quicker to crawl.
Today we went to visit Danielle in Whangaparoa where she's currently living with her father. Her and Jaren live in a flat down stairs and the main living quaters upstairs where we spent the afternoon following a walk through the new mall and a picnic at Red beach. Unfortunately Jaren was spending the day with his father Chay, so Maks and I decided to help keep her company.

Hi mom, if your reading this as I'm sure you are, You've really started something with maks and her love of blueberries as she almost finished an entire punnet and mostlikely would've if she didn't spill most in the sand.

Here is a list of words she can say, Dad, Mom, and No. Other words she says are Woewoe, Babbar and mupbar,the rest are pretty much grunts, moans and cries.

Just a reminder to all that her first birthday is fast approaching, I will advise you all soon of the plans. But keep Saturday March 15th free

Maks Update 15th March 2006

Today marks a day for the record books, Miekie is 11 months and 1 day and took her first steps today. It was early to mid afternoon and I was sitting at work fielding a call discussing a finance options on a loan with a client when I noticed my cell phone blinking (has to be on silent while I'm at work). I opened up my phone and read the text, it was from Donne and it said "OMG makayla just walkd".
At this point I pretty much almost lost it while on the phone that the lady was wondering what I was going on about. Having young kids herself i mentioned what had happend to which she then told her whole family and friends that were visitng, Why? who cares.
I gave Donne a call straight after finishing the finance call..... 48 minutes later and she said that she was on a phone call and after finishing called to maks to come over and she took four steps unassisted before falling.
The sad part is that I won't be able to witness this amazing feat for another two days but my wishes are with my precious little darling.

xoxox Goodnight princess

love dad

Monday

Here starts the week.
Monday night viewing on TV is rather dim nowadays, in fact most week night viewing has dropped off the map and finding a decent way to pass the eveing leaves me with a visit down the road to the local dvd store.
It gets harder and harder as regular visits mean that there is less and less choice when it comes to finding the perfect movie to pass a rather uneventful evening.
Tonight I have dropped low to watch the Fantastic 4 which I first watched on my flight from Auckland to Honk Kong last november and the second being a romantic comedy with ashton kutcher.

From the bedroom to $700m

It started in his bedroom 7 years ago and from there the phenomenom we as New Zealanders have come to know as www.trademe.co.nz has now been sold for a tidy $700 million New Zealand dollars. With the founder pocketing $227 to himself. Considering the business started with a $80,000 approx loan it quickly caught on and surpassed even there wildest dreams. It began with the basic trade in goods, then to incorporate cars and real estate sales the growth factor of Trade Me had taken on exponential profit takings.

It reminds us that all it took was a good idea and the follow through to see it come to life...
Find that idea, do the background work, then when its good to take live.... call me and I'll join in too :-)

The weekend beckons

From one side of the office to the exit at the other end I put the busy week behind and looked forward to the weekend. As I waited for the lift to arrive at my floor I passed the time searching songs on my Ipod attempting to find a suitable song. The moment I felt the cool fresh evening air it was brisk to find the hairs on your arms stand on end, well the would if I hadn't been wearing a jacket. I decided to run home, yes run all 80 meters of it, oh what a marvel.
As the lift doors opened to my apartment floor I took a big sigh as it was finally the weekend and I can then relax. Opening the door the voice of my darling niece could be clearly heard "HI Migh" roughly translated "Hi Mike"... and then to put an even larger smile on my face my daughter poked her head around above her toys and with a big smile screamed "Daad!!" and then climbed over her toys and across the room to greet me. Quite possibly a wonderful start to the weekend seeing her sparkling eye's stare up at me accompanied with a cheeky smile.
What does the weekend bring to us? tomorrow we are meeting Debbie, Gary and Maddy for brunch, then I'll take a training run with Mak's in prep for Round the Bay's and after that I'm at Gods good humour.
Hoep you all have a wonderful weekend

A rough slow start to March

After taking a week off training, these late shifts at work have altered my schedule. My normal routine was to go for a run after work yet finishing after 8pm it leaves very little time to catch day light to run without breathing in the evening insects. The week taken off due to my exhausting ritual left me last weekend with very little energy and only this morning decided to take a brisk run. Running my normal usual track there was much more energy in the body than normal yet breathing and rhythem came much harder to come by. But still managed to do a full circuit and complete a day's work.

Its been a slow start to the month of march yet having started yesturday well its covered me enough to stay above par after today's hig call total. I've managed to strategically place myself to settle several accounts tomorrow and keep myself well above par to take me into next week. However that will only stand as strong should I also be able to settle accounts over the weekend that I'm off.

On the lighter side of the news, My official NZ index Golf Handicap is now 17.2 which is down from 18.2 - Having not even seen a golf club in almost a month I plan not to hit another golf course less I can settle into some practise on the greens and on the range to warm up my swing plane and get it heated again.

James Bond back in an Aston Martin

Below article is taken from today's NZ Herald

01.02.06


Secret agent James Bond will drive an Aston Martin in the next 007 film, Casino Royale.

Details of the car and its traditional arsenal of high-tech weaponry are being kept secret until nearer the film's opening this year, but Aston Martin did confirm it would be a new model called the DBS.

Daniel Craig, who will play Bond, visited Aston Martin's headquarters in England to meet company chairman and chief executive Dr Ulrich Bez, and to take a short test drive.

"It's great news that Bond will drive an Aston Martin again," said Bez. "We have built him something special to enable him to do his job in style."

The association with the marque began in 1964 with the film Goldfinger, when the DB5 was fitted with extras such as ejector seats and rockets.

The last Bond film, Die Another Day, featured Aston Martin's flagship model, the Vanquish.

Casino Royale will be produced by Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli for Eon Productions.