Mick's World Tour

Cold hearted

minus 5 bar queenstown
Originally uploaded by bigmick.

Why am I back in sunny Sydney yet freezing my bum off whilst in Queenstown I seemed to be much less cold???

Y?

New Zealand Trippy

  No Stopping - Avalanches 
  Originally uploaded by bigmick.

Hey, got back from NZ yesterday. Four days feels like four weeks which is great.

We did so much cool stuff. Click on the pic to see more pics - only the highlights.

Here is a quick list of what we did;
* Patagonian chocolate.
* Irish pub
* Fancy smancy restaurant for 12 month anniversary.
* Arrowtown for breakfast.
* Picked up hitchhiking Irish girl and Aspen guy.
* Up to snow. Boarding for Mick, Snowmen for KC.
* Minus 5 degrees Ice Bar.
* Chicos for dinner and dancing.
* Breakfast from French lady in remote town.
* High speed chase to get to Milford Sound by 1pm.
* 1.30pm cruise on Milford Sound including the underwater observatory.
* Fergburgers
* More Patagonian Chocolate - Hot Chocolate with 57% real chocolate.
* Wallabies well beaten by All Blacks in Kiwi bar. Fun, although it was probably 60% Aussie balanced by one Welsh sounded Kiwi supporter twerp.
* Apple Pie
* Jet Boating on Shotover River - wow - how close to the rocks do they go!!
* Gondola up mountain and luge racing.
* Fush and Chups in the Queenstown Gardens.

Woohooo!!!!

And here's a quick video of the jet boating. Watch to the end to get the 360!

Tour?

Globe Thistle.
Originally uploaded by buddymaxx50.

Click on the map thing just a bit down on the right side of this page. It shows you where visitors to my site come from. It's funny that there is a really even spread across USA. Like planted trees.

Back in Ten Minutes Sign

Back in Ten Minutes Sign
Originally uploaded by bigmick.

Gmail is currently not available. I can't believe how much I rely on it being up. I just assume it will be. And there is nothing I can do.

I guess I'm used to it though. Since dad bought that 100% compatible Commodore 64 Disc Drive which didn't play Hardball (I wanted that so badly...) I've come to understand that technology has 95% uptime and what feels like 10% downtime (since it hurts).

Your ISP goes down.
Your computer crashes.
Your battery runs out.
Your network drops out.
Your in a low signal strength area.
The DVD you're using isn't compatible with your burner.
Your mail settings don't work.
You just got a virus.
Gmail is down.

You just blew up the power supply on your Mp3 charger.
Your 100% compatible hard drive won't play Hardball.

The problem is that the 95% uptime is so good (productivity, efficiency, flexibility) that it is worth the 5/10% downtime. I wonder what the ratio is of joy to pain?

My guess - 20:1

i.e. Having technology even though sometimes it crashes is worth 20 times the value of not having it at all.

Ohhhhh

two little boys
Originally uploaded by bigmick.

(how do you right the sound you make when something is nice and emotional??? Not ohhhhh, surely)

Anyway, saw these in Babies Galore (just browsing) and thought that it is not often you see a Wayne. Does anyone find it hard to find their name on these things??? John it must be terrible for you.

John
Simon
Ryan
Michael
Karen
Clare
Phil
Russell (I guess that's rarish...)

I guess at least Ravi has a bit of a different name amongst our readers. Kathey's is spelt differently. Bella is good.

Cop Out

A Love Letter
Originally uploaded by Amber... Bamberboo.

Not that I was looking for any particular reason, but I found this;

Pay someone to write you a love letter...

Kofi and the World Cup

Kofi and the World Cup
Originally uploaded by bigmick.

I saw this great opinion piece by Kofi Annan about how the UN is jealous of the world cup. It stated lots of reasons, like how everyone is enthusiastic about it, everyone knows a lot of about the players and countries and how the game is played, and even that the playing field was even (hmmm).

The bit I like the best was how he came across very real and down to earth. The principles were lofty, but the language and attitude wasn't.

"Which brings me to what is perhaps most enviable of all for us in the United Nations: the World Cup is an event in which we actually see goals being reached. I’m not talking only about the goals a country scores; I also mean the most important goal of all — being there, part of the family of nations and peoples, celebrating our common humanity. I’ll try to remember that when Ghana plays Italy in Hanover on 12 June. Of course, I can’t promise I’ll succeed."

Click here for the full Kofi Annan article

"Next station Fassifern"

Severe Drink Problem
Originally uploaded by steeev.

The announcer on the train this morning said "Did anyone leave a black umbrella on the platform? Last chance? Going cheap?."

The guy next to me and I exchanged wry smiles. (as opposed to Rye sandwiches). I like it when the announcers put a bit of spice into it. But really, there must be a hundred black umbrellas in this world, maybe more....

Spokey Dokey Okey 2.0

this is much cool, no?

Here is the link.

Thanks Boing Boing, you're so much better than Bong Bong (drugged out) and Bing Bing (Bing Crospby and Bing Lee fusion).

Little Things That Count

Pennys
Originally uploaded by TrafficChess.

If the Native American tribe that accepted goods worth 60 guilders for the sale of Manhattan in 1626 had invested the money in a Dutch bank at 6 1/2 % interest, compounded annually, then in 2005 their investment would be worth over € 700 billion (around US$ 820 billion), more than the assessed value of the real estate in all five boroughs of New York City.

Wikipedia on Compound Interest