Things that piss me off

One thing that pisses me off is retailers who advertise something on special in store and who do not have the item in stock. This behaviour is basically a bait and switch scheme and doing it violates the Fair Trading Act. It happened to me twice today.

Camille and I were out looking for a 7" digital photo frame. Both these stores had signs in their shops advertising them on special at $99.00. On asking for one both shops said they didn't have any in stock. We walked out of both without purchasing anything. In the second shop I was pissed off enough to rip the advertising off the display stand and hand it to the shop assistant telling him to stop advertising items they don't have in stock.

The stores were Harvey Normans Hastings and Dick Smith Electronics, also in Hastings.

Timaru: The dog

One thing I forgot to mention about this B&B is the dog. It's a huge slavering beast of a thing that greets you at the door and...

It's actually a small black and old spaniel which also happens to be totally blind. It wanders around the place gently bumping into things. I have been fairly impressed by its navigation skills but it does remind me of a battery operated toy I had years ago which was a bus with a set of rotating wheels under it. It would move forward and bump into something and then the rotating wheels cause it to change direction.

The dog operates in exactly the same way only without the wheels.

Timaru: Bed & Breakfast and Ginger & Garlic

We are staying a very nice Bed and Breakfast in Timaru called Nelson Heights. Very comfortable and with good hosts. Camille has stayed here on a number of occasions and likes it very much and with good reason. To the right is the bedroom we are in (photo shamelessly lifted from the B&B's website). The bed is excellent - I'm lying in it at this very moment. This is the room which has the ensuite with a spa bath which we didn't get to use. This place is substantially better than many hotels I have stayed at.

Last night we ate at the Ginger & Garlic restaurant which has, as I said in yesterday's post, pretty good reviews in Dineout. I can recommend this place. The food is good.


Shortly after being seated we were given an amuse bouche of a whitebait patty with oil which was quite pleasant.

Our table of five started off by ordering the roasted garlic and mozarella bruschetta, the salmon bruschetta and duck liver pate with breads. This was all good though perhaps a little more bread could have been served with the pate. I particularly liked garlic and mozarella. We got the usual "Would you like cracked pepper with that?" question to which the response was, "Leave the grinder at the table, please".

Rant: This is one of the things that really annoys me about some restaurants. If I want pepper on my food, I want to put it on myself. I want to be able to make the decision to put pepper on after I have tasted the food, not seconds after it has arrived at the table. I want to be able to make the decision to put more pepper on part way through the course without having to call someone over so they can trot off and get a grinder.

While eating I occasionally ground a bit of pepper over the salmon bruchetta portions I had whilst other members of our party chose not to have pepper at all.

For an entree I had the Caesar Salad which I was a just little disappointed with as it was a bit blander than I expected.

This was followed by a sorbet palate cleanser.

For the main, Camille and two others had the pork fillet and were all pleased with it. Some people just can't go past a bit of pork crackling. The fourth member of our party ordered the lamb back straps and was also very happy with it. I was in a bit of a quandry. Beef or Duck? Or more accurately, Angus Pure beef fillet on Moroccan potato gratin w garlic puree and dark mushroom jus or Salt & pepper crusted Canterbury duck breast, oven baked on garlic mash w baby fennel, beetroot tart and peppercorn jus?

I hate decisions like this. I plumped for duck in the end and was not disappointed! It was the fennel that did it for me. I love fennel (mmm fennel braised with garlic in white wine!) and don't get to eat it often enough. This was an excellent choice and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We had a Peregrine Pinot Noir with the meal (actually 3 bottles) which was good but this leads into rant II.

Rant II: Another thing that annoys me about some restaurants is the way the wait staff continually interupt the flow of conversation and the general dining experience by continually attempting to fill my wine glass up after I have had about two sips out of it. Once they have been firmly told, "No. I will fill my glass when I want it filled", they shouldn't keep offering to do it. If they must do the wine pouring they should wait until the glass is at least near empty and I shouldn't have to continually fend them off.

The Ginger & Garlic is a good restaurant. If you are in Timaru and hungry I recommend you dine there.

To Timaru!

Camille is driving and we are just south of Ashburton on our way to Timaru where Camille has a course graduating later today. It's been a somewhat ho-hum journey though landing in Wellington was fairly interesting. Very up and down and a bit of sideways too. I think it was the rockiest landing I have had at Wgtn for over 20 years.

We had just enough time there to grab a quick bite to eat and after walking all around the food outlets giving them the sniff test ("Oh... Not that one! Too greasy"), we settled on a samosa from the indian outlet. While it had an almost pleasant flavour,they were still semi-frozen in the midde and so were returned for re-heating. Back they came and they were still semi-frozen! We had to lump it though as we had to leave for our flight.

Passing through the security always amuses me in Wellington as I have to divest myself of various toys: phone, camera one, camera two, laptop out of the bag, USB drives etc. Today I realised that I had four USB drives in my pocket, all with legitimate uses I hasten to say.

1. DOS bootable drive
2. Linux bootable drive with lots of good utilities
3. drive with lots of files and utilities on it for other stuff
4. drive which gets used in other people's computers and then reformatted under linux before it gets used on any windows computers.

All very necessary!

The flight to Christchurch was pretty uneventful. Here we picked up a rental car. We had booked a Camry sometime ago but when we showed up we were given a bloody Hyundai Sonata and it is NOT a good replacement. Avis drop down the list for rentals for that one!

I had forgotten how boring it is to drive through Canterbury. Flat, straight and relatively slow. It seems to be full of drivers who speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down. Fortunately there are lots of passing lanes and I made good use of them when I was driving. During one Camille started repeating "Cop, Cop, Cop" to me and I belatedly realised that I was doing close to 140km/hr whilst passing a long truck. I backed off to 120 and he let me go by without giving chase. What a nice chap.

Canterbury is another place like Hawke's Bay. Full of farmers trying to do farming that is completely unsuited to the area. If you live in a place where you have to use huge irrigation plants to keep your grass growing so you can feed your cows so you can milk them means YOU ARE IN THE WRONG TYPE OF FARMING FOR THE AREA!

Later today we will be going to the Ginger and Garlic restaurant which has a few good reviews on the Dine Out website. I'll try and post something about it later.

Conference IV: Thrash's Psychedelic Breakfast

Over the past few days I have noted that the hotel's choice of music in the restaurant can be a little odd but this morning's offering really threw me. Maybe it's just me but I don't think that blatantly sexual 70s disco music is the ideal breakfast accompaniment.

Thrash Cardiom: "Oh..uh..me flakes.... scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, toast, coffee

Anita Ward: "You can ring my be-e-ell, ring my bell. You can ring my be-e-ell, ring my bell"

Thrash: "marmelade..I like marmelade... porridge..any cereal, I like all cereals"

Anita: "you can ring my bell, you can ring my bell. (ding, dong, ding, do-ong)"

Thrash: "....oh god...."

Anita: "you can ring my bell, anytime, anyway. (ring it, ring it, ring it, ring it oww!)"

Anita on youtube

(Thrash's lyrics from "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" by Pink Floyd)

Conference III

Camille and I are trapped in our room. Literally.

I just came back to help Camille with her data card which was playing up. When I went to leave I found that our door wouldn't open. It isn't locked or anything. It simply does not work. I have called reception and we are now waiting to be rescued!

I hope there isn't some sudden and urgent need to leave the room as we are on the third floor and there is no fire escape.

Conference II

Camille decided to come to the conference with me. She needs a few days off at the moment, especially as her life is likely to get quite intense over the next couple of months. I think she is enjoying herself. Last night at dinner she was having fun at the expense of the field I and the other attendees are in. She cracked one joke that amused her so much she had to leave the table in order to gain control.

We are staying in a hotel sited in the middle of the geothermal region of New Zealand so there is always this sulphurous smell hanging around. Outside it isn't too bad but inside the hotel it hangs around and clings to the curtains, the carpet etc. Wandering the corridors is like walking around in a giant fart.

I always sleep badly in hotels. Last night's sleep was made worse by the late night/early morning revellers who only finally shut up around 4:30am. If I can identify which rooms they are in I'm going to be hammering on their doors very early tomorrow morning.

Conference I

"You know what I'd like to do", he said. "I'd like to grow my beard and hair long like yours, get on a Harley and just ride across Australia. That's what I'd like to do".

"Nah", I replied. "You don't want the long hair. Riding with long hair will just end up in a bloody awful tangled mess. The bikers I know all have short hair for a reason".

He was short and completely bald. A salesman interested in selling me his product. So far his sales pitch wasn't doing well so he thought he would try another gambit.

"So", he said. "Do you know any hot Asian chickyboos?".

I was fairly stunned by this opener and could only mouth mindlessly back, "errrr,... ahh... what?". He took this to mean that I was interested and launched full throttle into details of his relationships with a number of "hot Asian chickyboos" (a term he used freely through out the ensuing spiel), of which I gathered he had several on the go: one in Australia, one in Auckland, and possibly one near where the conference we were attending was being held.

I have seen him a number of times during the past couple of days and it seems that I am his best mate. I have started eyeballing my way through the throngs, planning my route to avoid him should I spot him up ahead.

I don't think he is going to make a sale.

Economic downturn effects

This article about the growing warehousing of imported cars in the US interested me for one reason: the way it highlights the flow-on effects of the economic downturn in other areas. These two paragraphs are the main part of the article for me:

But the inventory glut in Long Beach is not limited to imported cars. There has also been a sharp drop in demand for the port's single largest export: recycled cardboard and paper products.

This material typically goes to China, where it is used to make boxes for new electronics and other products that are sent back to the United States. But Chinese factories reacting to sharply falling demand are slowing production, so they need less cardboard. Tons of paper are piling up recycling businesses around the port, the detritus of economies on hold.

A sea of unwanted auto imports

Originally from The Strategist (Kotare)

Central Hawke's Bay District Council Rates Review

Yesterday I received a letter from my local council advising me of a working party which was supposed to consider how rates could be spread equitably across the district. The letter included a sample rates invoice showing the effect of the proposed changes. According to my sample rates invoice my rates are going to go up by over 20%.

What is fair and equitable about increasing my rates by such a huge amount when I have no method of recovery? The majority of residents in this district cannot claim back part or all of their rates as a business expense or claim back the GST portion of their rates whereas businesses, including farms, can.

This change is likely to adversely affect those on a low income. What is fair and equitable about increasing the burden on the elderly and others on fixed low incomes?

How can I even decide if the changes are fair and equitable when I have nothing to compare them to? Council should provide ratepayers with a selection of rates samples from both rural and urban areas. We should be given at least two years of rates (2008/09 and 2009/10) along with an explanation of any increases/decreases so we can make a fair comparison.

One of the recommendations by the 2007 Government inquiry into Local Government Rates recommended "...that the power to set differential rates and to use Universal Annual General Charges (UAGC) should be removed in the interests of transparency and equity". I note that Council has elected to retain a UAGC. As the aim of the rating review is to spread rates equitably across the district I fail to understand why the UAGC has been retained. Does our Council want to be transparent and equitable or does it merely want to appear as though it is being equitable?

I don't think Council is doing a particularly good job of consultation on this issue and I think the rating review needs to be reviewed. I urge Council to revisit both the review and consultation and provide its ratepayers with some meaningful information before making any final decision.

As it stands I am totally against the change.

A recent dinner

Lamb rumps seared, rubbed in a thyme,salt,pepper mix and then roasted for 10 minutes, left to rest for 10 then sliced and left in its own juice. Accompanied by a cucumber/mint salad, tomatoes and basil in olive oil, rocket/spring onions/a soft goat cheese tossed with olive oil, avocado in pepper and lemon juice, small jersey benne potatoes roasted quickly in olive oil.

Coffee

Our coffee machine died this morning. It wouldn't turn on for a bit and then suddenly did a big hissy fit with the on/off indicator light flicking off and on madly while a big clicking noise issued forth.

Then it stopped.

Shortly thereafter it started to spout what looked like steam from places that it shouldn't come from. I thought it was steam but after its wee fit I wasn't sure so I watched it closely. Thankfully it wasn't smoke. Just steam. I then touched the machine and it was unbearably hot. At this point I decided that it had turned dangerously feral and unplugged it and left it to cool (while keeping an eye on it just in case).

Neither Camille or myself can live without a good/reasonable/bitter and twisted coffee in the morning and for some years we have used espresso machines to provide it. It was decided that I should go and buy a new coffee machine. I found one at Harvey Norman - a Krup XP7240 which is normally priced at $1399 but which was reduced to $990. I compared brochures, read notes, sales crap etc. I consulted with Camille and we decided thus: We have a GE Card with spare on it and interest free for 18 months so we bought the fucker!

How good is the machine? Well. I took it home and set it up. It's a nice easy coffee machine for people who don't want to have to work at getting coffee. I worked through the setup process - language, date, time, all the other bits and then tried to make a coffee and it went to work: It made lots of noise and ground some beans, made quite a few loud slurping noises. It then started doing pumping noises complete with some steam and hissing. All good so far. Then, like any new pet, it proceeded to piss plain water all over the bench, shat out a lump of dry unused coffee grounds into a built in disposal container and threw up a "Technical Problem. Call your service agent. Error number 07" on its display.

This is not what we expected. It's going straight back for replacement.

Car Music

I have a seven minute drive to work each day and I tend to listen to music during the drive. Often I will select one track and play it each day during the drive to and from work. Camille doesn't understand this but I find I often hear tracks quite differently from play to play.

Recently I have been listening to Benny Goodman's band doing "Sing Sing Sing" which at 8 minutes 43 seconds leaves me sitting in my car in the carpark waiting for the music to finish.

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to Patti Smith's version of Nirvana's "Nevermind". I think that one drove Camille crazy though she does (perhaps 'did') like it.

My longest session with one piece of music was about eight months of listening to the remix version of Iggy and the Stooges' "Raw Power". This long session wasn't due to my fascination with the music. It was more due to the fact that the CD was stuck in the CD player and I couldn't be bothered removing it.

Eventually I sold the CD with the car still wrapped around it.

mmmmmmm.... Lamb

It's Saturday and Camille was working about 1.5 hour away from home. 1.5 hour doesn't sound like much but when you think open road travel it changes the distance a bit. I decided to do her a nice meal as she was going to be getting home late.

I got a leg of lamb from the local butcher - $19.00 for a frozen leg which is pretty good considering they go for $30+ fresh in the local supermarket. I thawed it and then boned it out. This wasn't an easy job as a) I don't do this very often, about once or twice a year is my limit and b) it was still partially frozen which I discovered when I realised the bone I was following by touch (running the blade up it) wasn't actually a bone.

So the boning was a bit of a hack job and the end result bore no resemblence to a butterfly at all. Slight change of plans. I mixed up a thick paste of lots of rosemary and garlic with a bit of avocado oil, salt and red wine and palate knifed this all over the inside the leg. I then folded the leg back in on itself and skewered it into place. Nice. A round lump about the size of child's head - so I kicked it around the kitchen for a bit to tenderise it.

No I didn't. I just rubbed it with salt and pepper and then left for a couple of hours.

I cooked it on the barbecue grill on a low heat but with the burners to either side of the grill on high heat. With the lid down the temperature got up to 150 celcius max. Lots of basting with lemon juice to start with and red wine towards the end of cooking. I made sure that the basting ran down the sides and dripped onto the flame guard so there was quite a bit of smoke to help flavour the crust. There was quite a bit of turning done.

After about 1.5 hours, perhaps a bit less, it was taken off the barbecue and left to rest while its accompaniments were completed (new potatoes with butter and asparagus with coarse salt and olive oil).

It sliced easily once I remembered to pull the skewers. It was just off pink in the centre and a good amount of juices accumlated as I carved. These were poured back over the meat. The crust was excellent and the lamb was nicely flavoured throughout. The simple accompaniments complimented the lamb well.

I enjoy a nice bit of lamb.

Bush's 700 billion dollar bailout

Inside the text of the bailout package proposed by the Bush administration is this clause:

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

If the package gets passed with this clause intact then it will be very clear that what passes for government in the US is no longer in charge. This places way too much power in the hands of one individual without any oversight. If I had any funds left in the US (who does?) then I would be withdrawing them ASAP.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/dirty-secret-of-the-bailo_n_128294.html

Lunchtime in Hastings

Yesterday Camille and I were in Hastings and dropped into a bar for lunch. It was an ok meal. Just bar food really. As we were heading for the doors I noticed a man running across the street towards me. He reached the door before I did and frantically tried to get in but this particular door was locked. He found the correct door and ran into the bar past us as we exited. On the street we realised that everyone was looking our way. A bit odd we thought. On crossing the road and looking back we saw why though.

The bar was on fire.

Gardening

Camille and I gardened today! Amazing stuff really as we are definitely not into grubbing around in the soil. But a couple of months ago on the spur of a moment, we planted garlic and shallots and then decided we should probably clean out the rest of the garden we put them in. It's taken at least two months to get around to doing this.

So we spent the afternoon grubbing around in the soil and pulling out lots of green things that we didn't recognise. Camille started well by pulling out all bar one plant of some rocket that was flowering. I succeeded in pulling up some very young potato plants. We both dug up a lot of silverbeet (or swiss chard) but this was deliberate. The stuff has been taking over the garden. It's had a fight with the Italian flatleaf parsley (ITP) and won. The ITP is all tightly packed down at one end and the silverbeet was thrashing out the weeds over the rest of the garden.

All this green stuff is the wild, self sown results from a gardening episode from two or three years back combined with a huge number of weeds. We really aren't into doing this gardening/growth/feeding oneself thing in any kind of serious way. It just happens to us from time to time.

We were so worn out and exhausted afterward that we had to sit down at the back of the property with a gin and tonic.

Today's episode was Live on the Internet! The garden is the one that can be seen from our camera. You may be able to see things growing in it over the next few months. All it will take is for us to actually get around to doing something about it.

Ignorance.

How can anybody be so fucking ignorant?

US Unemployment Rate

The US Bureau of Labour Statistics provides an table on the US official and unoffical unemployment rates. As of this post the official rate is 6.1%. The unofficial rate is 10.7%.

I like the fact that they don't call it unemployment though. They call it

labor underutilization

Mmmm.... Venison

I'm dropping Camille off at the airport soon as she is heading down to Christchurch and then on to Ashburton and Timaru. I'll be heading home after that - but not before picking up a few kilograms of venison from Spike.

He and a few others went on a hunting trip recently and bagged 4 red deer. They brought the meat back with them on the plane in the overhead lockers. Spike says it was one of the more worrying flights he has been on as he was waiting for the 20 kilograms of freshly butchered vension above him to start leaking blood down onto his head causing other passengers to think he was some demented axe murderer.

It's almost a pity it didn't happen as it would have been a good news item.