Here we go again: New Zealand just changed their clocks again, this time back one hour to New Zealand Standard Time (NZST). All of mainland New Zealand is one time zone, but the Chatham Islands are 45 minutes ahead of us. Even so, they do seasonal clock changes the same as the rest of New Zealand, which makes sense. Makes sense? Do these seasonal clock changes make any sense?
I’ve mentioned before that I never used to be bothered by seasonal time changes, but that as I’ve grown older I find them harder to adjust to. Fortunately, I seem to have less trouble adjusting to the autumnal change than I do the “springing forward” thing. However, “less trouble” doesn’t mean it’s easy.
As is usually the case—perhaps contrary to a belief popular among people who know me in real life—I was in bed well before 3am when the clocks suddenly went backwards one hour. All was fine until morning: I woke up, as I usually do, some seven hours after I fell asleep, but that was just before 8am, quite a bit earlier than I usually get up. I laid in bed for awhile, just resting, really, but just before 8:30 I gave up and got up.
My day today was filled with minor chores, since I did this week’s big one—mowing the back lawn—yesterday (and, side note: I think I can now switch to mowing every other week). I spent some time, as I often do, thinking about how I want to prioritise various tasks, things that aren’t necessarily related to any project, but I did decide I should pack up the stuff I’ve been gathering for the op shop, which I talked about this past Friday. I still have what I might call “home stuff” to go through (kitchenware, serving dishes, tchotchkes, etc.), but I expect there’ll be a lot of that, so I’m better off donating all the clothes I’ve gathered together—well, yeah, but maybe I’ll do just one more check of my closet first (because I know I’ll find more stuff to donate).
There was one somewhat unusual thing about this particular clock change this time: The oven. When the power was turned off last Thursday, I switched the oven off at the wall. I used the oven this morning to cook some bacon, and that meant turning it back on again—but it was too early in the morning to re-set the clock using my old man Life Hack—though, full transparency, and all that, the clock hasn’t been right for months because the power was shut off when the derelict air conditioner was removed in December. Well, it's correct again now—even though I found myself waiting around in the kitchen for the better part of five minutes to make sure I didn’t miss my opportunity.
All up, then, so far this particular clock change itself has been a non-event—so far? This coming week will tell.
Sunday, April 05, 2026
Friday, April 03, 2026
A project neither planned nor intended
I’ve had lost of projects over the years, most of which I’ve at least mentioned, but I never could’ve imagined that one of my biggest-ever would be one that I neither planned nor even intended. And yet, this project can change so much.
Last month, I started getting things together to donate to op shops (aka charity shops or thrift stores). It began because I’d never gotten around to getting rid of Nigel’s suits—absolutely no reason, I just never did. But then I started looking for what I could add to the donate pile. I started with shirts that had been Nigel’s, but that I kept to wear. All of them fit, but I decided I didn’t like them anymore, or else I realised the sleeves were too shot for me. That was just the start.
I started looking through my own shirts—ones that had always been mine—and I did that several times, always finding more shirts to add to the donate pile every time I looked. Then I found shorts, pants—all sorts of things. I knew I wasn’t done, but the donate piles were growing higher.
Nigel had put some stuff aside in those plastic zipper bags that you suck the air out of with a vacuum cleaner. Some of the stuff was his, and some was from his partner beofre me, Gary. Nigel wasn’t particularly sentimental about things, but those things he kept meant they were meaningful to him, and I wanted do right by him.
The problem was that after so many years in those bags, the stuff smelled bad. The culprit was the perfume in the laundry powder: Some scents deteriorate over time, and that’s what happened to those items. So, I spent a couple weeks washing, re-washing, and then giving them a special pre-soak before washing them yet again, and they finally stopped smelling bad/odd.
There was one more bag of Nigel’s stuff, things that no longer fit him, but that he didn’t what to get rid of, and that included t-shirts from our last trip to the USA. I went through an expedited process to wash them (I’d learned…), and, after trying them on, I kept most of them. One from our last trip to New York City was a bit too small, so I made that a t-shirt I wear to sleep in, and added one of my too-small sleeping t-shirts to the donate pile.
I then remembered that sometime in my first year in this house I’d put under-bed storage bins under the guest bed. I pulled them out—and it took a rake to pull them close enough for me to grab. Some of it was an instant add to the donate pile, but there were some of my shorts that I didn’t know were there (but wondered what happened to them…), plus a couple of Nigel’s that are perfect for my walking workouts. Even so, a lot ended up in the donate pile.
I know that if I go through my wardrobe yet agin, I’ll still find more things to donate, and this is a good thing, of course, so I’m going to do exactly that. However, there’s SO much more! I have—what’s the word?—“homeware”? “Decor”? Basically, decorative things that I don’t want or, in some cases, even like. There’s so much of that sort of stuff.
I also have excess bedding (chiefly duvet sets) and good quality towels that I can donate—once I go through them. In fact, I found one duvet set recently when I went through the blanket box at the foot of bed what I was working on the ill-fated steps for Leo.
And that’s where I’m at right now: Lots of stuff to pack up to donate, and more to go through. That’s why this will ultimately end up being my biggest-ever project, even though I neither planned nor even intended to start it. Yes, but I’ll feel so much lighter once it’s done!
Last month, I started getting things together to donate to op shops (aka charity shops or thrift stores). It began because I’d never gotten around to getting rid of Nigel’s suits—absolutely no reason, I just never did. But then I started looking for what I could add to the donate pile. I started with shirts that had been Nigel’s, but that I kept to wear. All of them fit, but I decided I didn’t like them anymore, or else I realised the sleeves were too shot for me. That was just the start.
I started looking through my own shirts—ones that had always been mine—and I did that several times, always finding more shirts to add to the donate pile every time I looked. Then I found shorts, pants—all sorts of things. I knew I wasn’t done, but the donate piles were growing higher.
Nigel had put some stuff aside in those plastic zipper bags that you suck the air out of with a vacuum cleaner. Some of the stuff was his, and some was from his partner beofre me, Gary. Nigel wasn’t particularly sentimental about things, but those things he kept meant they were meaningful to him, and I wanted do right by him.
The problem was that after so many years in those bags, the stuff smelled bad. The culprit was the perfume in the laundry powder: Some scents deteriorate over time, and that’s what happened to those items. So, I spent a couple weeks washing, re-washing, and then giving them a special pre-soak before washing them yet again, and they finally stopped smelling bad/odd.
There was one more bag of Nigel’s stuff, things that no longer fit him, but that he didn’t what to get rid of, and that included t-shirts from our last trip to the USA. I went through an expedited process to wash them (I’d learned…), and, after trying them on, I kept most of them. One from our last trip to New York City was a bit too small, so I made that a t-shirt I wear to sleep in, and added one of my too-small sleeping t-shirts to the donate pile.
I then remembered that sometime in my first year in this house I’d put under-bed storage bins under the guest bed. I pulled them out—and it took a rake to pull them close enough for me to grab. Some of it was an instant add to the donate pile, but there were some of my shorts that I didn’t know were there (but wondered what happened to them…), plus a couple of Nigel’s that are perfect for my walking workouts. Even so, a lot ended up in the donate pile.
I know that if I go through my wardrobe yet agin, I’ll still find more things to donate, and this is a good thing, of course, so I’m going to do exactly that. However, there’s SO much more! I have—what’s the word?—“homeware”? “Decor”? Basically, decorative things that I don’t want or, in some cases, even like. There’s so much of that sort of stuff.
I also have excess bedding (chiefly duvet sets) and good quality towels that I can donate—once I go through them. In fact, I found one duvet set recently when I went through the blanket box at the foot of bed what I was working on the ill-fated steps for Leo.
And that’s where I’m at right now: Lots of stuff to pack up to donate, and more to go through. That’s why this will ultimately end up being my biggest-ever project, even though I neither planned nor even intended to start it. Yes, but I’ll feel so much lighter once it’s done!
Thursday, April 02, 2026
Powerful again
Today was the day I was warned about: The power to my house was turned off for some sort of routine maintenance. And then it returned. Still, everything about it was strange.
This morning, I was sitting catching up on news on my iPad, sipping my coffee, and then I got an alert telling me that a personal hotspot was available on my phone. That message told me the power had gone off, because my tablet knew the wifi was suddenly gone (the iPad I have is wifi-only). It was approximately 9:03am.
My house was quiet at the time—but it’s always quiet at that time of day, so that wasn’t enough to tip me off; the alert did. I next went and switched off all important things at the wall (TVs, kitchen appliances, laundry machines, computers, etc.) so that when the power came back on, and in the unlikely event there was a power surge, nothing sensitive would be damaged. The alert from the power company had warned me to do that. I then had the presence of mind to make a list of all the power points I’d turned off so I’d remember to turn them all back on (except of the laundry machines, because they can remain switched off until the next time I need them.
I knew that apart from making a coffee or cooking, there wasn’t not much I couldn’t do today, apart from anything Internet-y on my wifi-only iPad (obviously not important). Yesterday, though, I’d planned on mowing the back lawn today, but I needed to charge the battery, and I forgot to do that yesterday, and didn’t get a chance to charge it before the power was switched off. However, it rained last night, so I wasn’t going to be able to do that, anyway. I’d also thought about doing some washing, and then remembered the power would be off. Ironically, I could do the vacuuming because it runs off 18v batteries—and I did vacuum today, but it was after the power came back on.
I made my breakfast (and Leo’s), which meant navigating the darkened fridge. I had my shower a little while after that, knowing that even though there was no power, the water in the tank would still be hot, and it was. But, then what?!
I thought about doing any number of the things that didn’t require power, but I realised the house was getting a little warm and stuffy, so I opened up lots of windows using the new window screens, really for the first time. It worked well, and helped lower the temperature. Even with teh wondows open, it was so very quiet!
I decided to hand wash some dishes while I still had some hot water, and that went well. And then I had an idea: I’d use my hot tap water, which often feels really hot to me, to make a cup of instant coffee. It was an incomplete success because it was quite warm, but not hot. Even so, caffeine. ‘Nuff said.
My phone was beginning to run down its charge (I didn’t charge it overnight), and I knew I had a solar-powered powerbank I bought not long after I moved into this house, well before I had the solar panels installed. I’ve never used it, apart from trying the torch (flashlight) function, whic told me the power switch was crap. After much perseverence—and reading the instructions—I got it to charge my phone, but at only 5w, it was slow!
While my phone charged, I spent some time doing some chores, but I eventually started getting bored (and I was tired, as usual, from poor sleep caused worrying about whether I’d have enough time before the power went off to get up and have a coffee (I did) and a shower (I’d didn’t). So I sat down and picked up my iPad to play a game that I knew didn;t need wifi. But I accidentally tapped on a different game that I thought wouldn’t work without wifi, and it loaded and played not just normally, it was better than normal. The game normally played endless long ads between levels, and it frequently froze for a second or two, but none of that happened without wifi. I wasn’t planning on trying to play the game, because I thought it needed wifi, but I definitely wasn’t expecting it to work perfectly without wifi.
The power came back on at 1:53pm, not quite 5 hours after it went off, and two hours earlier than we’d been warned about. Which is pretty good. I slowly started switching things back on, starting with the fridge, but I realised I wasn’t exactly sure how to turn the air conditioning back on. I went outside and turned the outdoor compressor back on, and when I came back into the house I saw the control panel was lit up, and the display said that it was off. I tapped the cooling button, and it still had all the settings—maybe it has battery back-up for settings? I learned I really ought to read that manual sometime…
What surprised me the most about today was that I didn’t mind the disruption at all. Sure, I could’ve planned things to work on, and arguably “should” have, but I wasn’t constantly checking my watch, and, in fact, was always surprised how much time had passed since the last time I checked my watch.
So, today was a bit annoying, sure, but the disruption wasn’t a big deal. But it was a day filled with lots of little surprises, too. Maybe the warning we got made a real difference this time?
This morning, I was sitting catching up on news on my iPad, sipping my coffee, and then I got an alert telling me that a personal hotspot was available on my phone. That message told me the power had gone off, because my tablet knew the wifi was suddenly gone (the iPad I have is wifi-only). It was approximately 9:03am.
My house was quiet at the time—but it’s always quiet at that time of day, so that wasn’t enough to tip me off; the alert did. I next went and switched off all important things at the wall (TVs, kitchen appliances, laundry machines, computers, etc.) so that when the power came back on, and in the unlikely event there was a power surge, nothing sensitive would be damaged. The alert from the power company had warned me to do that. I then had the presence of mind to make a list of all the power points I’d turned off so I’d remember to turn them all back on (except of the laundry machines, because they can remain switched off until the next time I need them.
I knew that apart from making a coffee or cooking, there wasn’t not much I couldn’t do today, apart from anything Internet-y on my wifi-only iPad (obviously not important). Yesterday, though, I’d planned on mowing the back lawn today, but I needed to charge the battery, and I forgot to do that yesterday, and didn’t get a chance to charge it before the power was switched off. However, it rained last night, so I wasn’t going to be able to do that, anyway. I’d also thought about doing some washing, and then remembered the power would be off. Ironically, I could do the vacuuming because it runs off 18v batteries—and I did vacuum today, but it was after the power came back on.
I made my breakfast (and Leo’s), which meant navigating the darkened fridge. I had my shower a little while after that, knowing that even though there was no power, the water in the tank would still be hot, and it was. But, then what?!
I thought about doing any number of the things that didn’t require power, but I realised the house was getting a little warm and stuffy, so I opened up lots of windows using the new window screens, really for the first time. It worked well, and helped lower the temperature. Even with teh wondows open, it was so very quiet!
I decided to hand wash some dishes while I still had some hot water, and that went well. And then I had an idea: I’d use my hot tap water, which often feels really hot to me, to make a cup of instant coffee. It was an incomplete success because it was quite warm, but not hot. Even so, caffeine. ‘Nuff said.
My phone was beginning to run down its charge (I didn’t charge it overnight), and I knew I had a solar-powered powerbank I bought not long after I moved into this house, well before I had the solar panels installed. I’ve never used it, apart from trying the torch (flashlight) function, whic told me the power switch was crap. After much perseverence—and reading the instructions—I got it to charge my phone, but at only 5w, it was slow!
While my phone charged, I spent some time doing some chores, but I eventually started getting bored (and I was tired, as usual, from poor sleep caused worrying about whether I’d have enough time before the power went off to get up and have a coffee (I did) and a shower (I’d didn’t). So I sat down and picked up my iPad to play a game that I knew didn;t need wifi. But I accidentally tapped on a different game that I thought wouldn’t work without wifi, and it loaded and played not just normally, it was better than normal. The game normally played endless long ads between levels, and it frequently froze for a second or two, but none of that happened without wifi. I wasn’t planning on trying to play the game, because I thought it needed wifi, but I definitely wasn’t expecting it to work perfectly without wifi.
The power came back on at 1:53pm, not quite 5 hours after it went off, and two hours earlier than we’d been warned about. Which is pretty good. I slowly started switching things back on, starting with the fridge, but I realised I wasn’t exactly sure how to turn the air conditioning back on. I went outside and turned the outdoor compressor back on, and when I came back into the house I saw the control panel was lit up, and the display said that it was off. I tapped the cooling button, and it still had all the settings—maybe it has battery back-up for settings? I learned I really ought to read that manual sometime…
What surprised me the most about today was that I didn’t mind the disruption at all. Sure, I could’ve planned things to work on, and arguably “should” have, but I wasn’t constantly checking my watch, and, in fact, was always surprised how much time had passed since the last time I checked my watch.
So, today was a bit annoying, sure, but the disruption wasn’t a big deal. But it was a day filled with lots of little surprises, too. Maybe the warning we got made a real difference this time?
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Opportunities for change
Every once in a while, I come across an interesting story in a very indirect way, and it’s even better when it’s a topic I’m both insterested in, and that’s also timely. Creating green hydrogen in Australia using some Kiwi can-do is just the sort of thing I might not expect, particularly when it came by way of Facebook.
The video up top is from Australia’s “A Current Affair” programme from Channel Nine. The specific segment, abuot producing hydrogen in Australian using solar power, came to my attention because of a Facebook post by “I Fucking Love Australia”, an unabashedly lefty Facebook Page that often talks about politics, including the dire affect the USA’s Felon in Chief has on the world. The post was also published on the “IFLOZ” Substack, and it was on Substack that I saw the video.
I was interested in this story because I’ve said for years that producing green hydrogen should be a major focus for New Zealand. “Green hydrogen” production is carbon neutral because it’s made from water using solar, wind, or hydro electricity. When produced from fossil fuels, it’s usually called “blue hydrogen”, unless it’s made from coal gasification, when it’s called “brown hydrogen” because it’s usually made from lignite, aka “brown”, coal.
As you may be aware, New Zealand is surrounded by water, and we have ample sources of hydro, geothermal, and, increasingly, grid-scale solar power. The story in the video is about using hydrogen to make fertiliser, but they mention making it to be used as fuel, too. When hydirgen is burned, its byproduct is water vapor, not deadly gasses like fossil fuels produce. If NZ fully commited to hydrogen, we could be self-sufficient in carbon-neutral fertiliser AND fuel for our vehicles, and no idiotic war on the other side of the planet could affect our fuel and fertiliser ever again.
Australia, because of its size and suitability for solar power, could become an exporter of fertiliser from green hydrogen, and help the world turn its collective backs on the volatile Middle East while also helping other countries reduce their carbon emissions. There are so many wins.
There’s one final twist in the path to this particular story. This evening I checked Facebook and saw a post from the IFLOZ Facebook Page saying they were going to concentrate on Substack, where most of their content will be by subscription. They’re doing this, they say, because Facebook has been de-emphasising content from the political left, and that results in declining ad revenue for the content creators, and they had charts to back that up. They also suggested that Facebook is doing it because their future plans will require consent from the current US regime, and so they’re basically turning down the volume of the Left in order to avoid problems with the regime. Whatever the specific reason, many left-of-centre content creators on Facebook have complained about suddenly declining page views, and so, revenue. I have no idea whether the speculations about the motivations are correct or not, but given the current regime’s constant posturing against the First Amendment to the USA’s Constitution, the speculation is at least plausible.
Still, it’s always nice to run across a topic I’m intertested in, no matter how roundabout the course may be. Apparently I won’t have a repeat of this particular path, though. There’ll be others.
The video up top is from Australia’s “A Current Affair” programme from Channel Nine. The specific segment, abuot producing hydrogen in Australian using solar power, came to my attention because of a Facebook post by “I Fucking Love Australia”, an unabashedly lefty Facebook Page that often talks about politics, including the dire affect the USA’s Felon in Chief has on the world. The post was also published on the “IFLOZ” Substack, and it was on Substack that I saw the video.
I was interested in this story because I’ve said for years that producing green hydrogen should be a major focus for New Zealand. “Green hydrogen” production is carbon neutral because it’s made from water using solar, wind, or hydro electricity. When produced from fossil fuels, it’s usually called “blue hydrogen”, unless it’s made from coal gasification, when it’s called “brown hydrogen” because it’s usually made from lignite, aka “brown”, coal.
As you may be aware, New Zealand is surrounded by water, and we have ample sources of hydro, geothermal, and, increasingly, grid-scale solar power. The story in the video is about using hydrogen to make fertiliser, but they mention making it to be used as fuel, too. When hydirgen is burned, its byproduct is water vapor, not deadly gasses like fossil fuels produce. If NZ fully commited to hydrogen, we could be self-sufficient in carbon-neutral fertiliser AND fuel for our vehicles, and no idiotic war on the other side of the planet could affect our fuel and fertiliser ever again.
Australia, because of its size and suitability for solar power, could become an exporter of fertiliser from green hydrogen, and help the world turn its collective backs on the volatile Middle East while also helping other countries reduce their carbon emissions. There are so many wins.
There’s one final twist in the path to this particular story. This evening I checked Facebook and saw a post from the IFLOZ Facebook Page saying they were going to concentrate on Substack, where most of their content will be by subscription. They’re doing this, they say, because Facebook has been de-emphasising content from the political left, and that results in declining ad revenue for the content creators, and they had charts to back that up. They also suggested that Facebook is doing it because their future plans will require consent from the current US regime, and so they’re basically turning down the volume of the Left in order to avoid problems with the regime. Whatever the specific reason, many left-of-centre content creators on Facebook have complained about suddenly declining page views, and so, revenue. I have no idea whether the speculations about the motivations are correct or not, but given the current regime’s constant posturing against the First Amendment to the USA’s Constitution, the speculation is at least plausible.
Still, it’s always nice to run across a topic I’m intertested in, no matter how roundabout the course may be. Apparently I won’t have a repeat of this particular path, though. There’ll be others.
I’m a serial mind-changer
I sometimes change my mind (about any number of things) for reasons like better information, the price of something, or any number of other reasons. Every once in a while I’ll change my mind about something several times. Like about breakfast.
Back in June of last year, I wrote about bran cereal, because I tried a new (to me) one, but decided not to switch brands. However, I later decided that I would switch to the brand, and I talked about that in a follow-up post last November. I’ve now switched back to my original bran.
The fundamental reason for my switch back was the taste: I never actually liked it—it’s more more accurate to say that I tolerated the taste because of the cereal’s somewhat better nutritional profile. As I said last June:
In the November 2025 update post, I said:
Important Note: The names of brands/products/companies listed in this post are all registered trademarks, and are used here for purposes of description and clarity. No company or entity provided any support or payment for this blog post, and all products were purchased by me at normal consumer prices. So, the opinions I expressed are my own genuinely held opinions, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the manufacturers, any retailer, or any known human being, alive or dead, real or corporate. Just so we’re clear.
Back in June of last year, I wrote about bran cereal, because I tried a new (to me) one, but decided not to switch brands. However, I later decided that I would switch to the brand, and I talked about that in a follow-up post last November. I’ve now switched back to my original bran.
The fundamental reason for my switch back was the taste: I never actually liked it—it’s more more accurate to say that I tolerated the taste because of the cereal’s somewhat better nutritional profile. As I said last June:
There’s an irony here: Many people I know personally have screwed up their faces at the mere mention of All-Bran, declaring, "it tastes like cardboard", which made me wonder how they knew that. As it turned out, once I tried the Woolworth’s cereal, I understood: It’s not necessary to actually taste cardboard to get the sense that something must taste like cardboard would. To me, the High Fibre Bran was exactly like thatIrony maybe, but the taste never grew on me—in fact, the only actual flavour was the lemon yoghurt (maybe I should say the only pleasant flavour?). I recognised from the very beginning that “Just as I like All-Bran, which many people I know don’t like, it’s logical that other folks may love the High Fibre Bran cereal. To each their own.” Exactly.
In the November 2025 update post, I said:
I decided to continue to buy it—for now: If history is any indicator, it probably isn’t forever, because Woolworths has a habit of dropping it’s own home-brand products, though for all I know, they may just stop exporting them from Australia to New Zealand. In any event, it may not be around forever, but, for now, it’s my choice.Woolworths has not (yet?) dropped the cereal, but I was nevertheless correct in guessing that “it probably isn’t forever”. I could get all philosophical and say “nothing is forever”, or wharever, but this is actually just about me changing my mind, then changing it again. Like I said: I'm a cereal—sorry, serial—mind-changer.
Important Note: The names of brands/products/companies listed in this post are all registered trademarks, and are used here for purposes of description and clarity. No company or entity provided any support or payment for this blog post, and all products were purchased by me at normal consumer prices. So, the opinions I expressed are my own genuinely held opinions, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the manufacturers, any retailer, or any known human being, alive or dead, real or corporate. Just so we’re clear.
Sunday, March 29, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 6
Forty years ago this week, on March 29, 1986, the new Number One song was “Rock Me Amadeus” (video up top) by Austrian musician Falco, the stage name of Johann "Hans" Hölzel. The song was the first single from Falso’s third studio album, “Falco 3”. “Rock Me Amadeus” was Falco’s only Number One hit in the USA.
I have all sorts of trivia about this song, starting with the fact that it was the first—and so far only—German-language song to reach Number One on the Billboard “Hot 100”. The previous highest-charted German-language song hit Number Two in 1983: “99 Luftballons” by the West German band Nena. It was also the only of his songs to be Number One in both the UK and the USA, which I guess is something.
I have my own personal trivia about the song, which I loved because I loved Falco’s work. I first heard of him when I saw his 1982 debut album, Einzelhaft, in a Chicago record shop that had a lot of the New Wave, dance, and “alternative” music I loved. I bought the album and listened to it often. I was drawn to it because I’d studied German (poorly…) in high school, and was instantly fascinated by the album. The second single was “Der Kommissar”, which I liked. I have to add that I was irritated when British rock band After the Fire released an English-language cover of the song, and, predictably, their version did better on the US pop charts. Ganz natürlich.
So, because of my history, both attempting to learn the language of many of my ancestors, and my earlier discovery of Falco, I loved “Rock Me Amadeus” (and the follow-up single, “Vienna Calling”. I think I bought the album Falco 3, but I'm not sure because if I did, neither it nor Einzelhaft came to New Zealand with me. I know—because I still have it—that I bought a 12-inch version version of "Vienna Calling", which included the American Edit of “Rock Me Amadeus”.
I also liked the video (which, as I’ve made clear by now, isn’t always the case, even when I like the song). I particularly liked the surreality of the visuals, especially the folks in biker gear accompanying Falco dressed as Mozart, and mouthing, “Amadeus, Amadeus!, Amadeus, Amadeus!”
All of which means that this week’s song was unusual among the songs in these series of posts: I liked the song, the artist, and the video. That was rare even then,
“Rock Me Amadeus” reached Number 15 in Australia (Gold), 2 in Canada (Platinum), Number One in New Zealand (Gold), Number One in the UK (Gold), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100”, and was also Number One on the Cash Box “Top 100” chart. The song was certified Platinum in the USA.
The album Falso 3 reached Number 9 in Canada (Platinum), Number 2 in New Zealand, Number 32 in the UK, and Number 3 on the USA’s “Billboard 200” (Gold). The album didn’t chart in Australia.
This series will return in three weeks, on April 19, with the next new Number One from 1986.
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1986” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 1 – January 18, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 2 – February 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 3 – March 1, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 4 – March 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 5 – March 22, 2026
I have all sorts of trivia about this song, starting with the fact that it was the first—and so far only—German-language song to reach Number One on the Billboard “Hot 100”. The previous highest-charted German-language song hit Number Two in 1983: “99 Luftballons” by the West German band Nena. It was also the only of his songs to be Number One in both the UK and the USA, which I guess is something.
I have my own personal trivia about the song, which I loved because I loved Falco’s work. I first heard of him when I saw his 1982 debut album, Einzelhaft, in a Chicago record shop that had a lot of the New Wave, dance, and “alternative” music I loved. I bought the album and listened to it often. I was drawn to it because I’d studied German (poorly…) in high school, and was instantly fascinated by the album. The second single was “Der Kommissar”, which I liked. I have to add that I was irritated when British rock band After the Fire released an English-language cover of the song, and, predictably, their version did better on the US pop charts. Ganz natürlich.
So, because of my history, both attempting to learn the language of many of my ancestors, and my earlier discovery of Falco, I loved “Rock Me Amadeus” (and the follow-up single, “Vienna Calling”. I think I bought the album Falco 3, but I'm not sure because if I did, neither it nor Einzelhaft came to New Zealand with me. I know—because I still have it—that I bought a 12-inch version version of "Vienna Calling", which included the American Edit of “Rock Me Amadeus”.
I also liked the video (which, as I’ve made clear by now, isn’t always the case, even when I like the song). I particularly liked the surreality of the visuals, especially the folks in biker gear accompanying Falco dressed as Mozart, and mouthing, “Amadeus, Amadeus!, Amadeus, Amadeus!”
All of which means that this week’s song was unusual among the songs in these series of posts: I liked the song, the artist, and the video. That was rare even then,
“Rock Me Amadeus” reached Number 15 in Australia (Gold), 2 in Canada (Platinum), Number One in New Zealand (Gold), Number One in the UK (Gold), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100”, and was also Number One on the Cash Box “Top 100” chart. The song was certified Platinum in the USA.
The album Falso 3 reached Number 9 in Canada (Platinum), Number 2 in New Zealand, Number 32 in the UK, and Number 3 on the USA’s “Billboard 200” (Gold). The album didn’t chart in Australia.
This series will return in three weeks, on April 19, with the next new Number One from 1986.
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1986” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 1 – January 18, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 2 – February 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 3 – March 1, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 4 – March 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 5 – March 22, 2026
Saturday, March 28, 2026
AmeriNZ Podcast episode 423 is now available
Today is the nineteenth anniversary of the day I uploaded the first episode of the AmeriNZ Podcast. Naturally, I had to do a new episode to celebrate the day—and to update everything that’s happened since my previous episode.
The five most recent episodes of the podcast are listed on the sidebar on the right side of this blog.
Thursday, March 26, 2026
A welcome warning
Most people get warnings, alerts, advisories, etc., and often they can be useful, like warnings of approaching storms, for example. Earlier this month I got an alert about something happening early next month that was important to know about—and that alert was something I can’t recall ever having received before.
This story begins with an email. On the evening of March 7, I received an email from my electricity provider that said:
What made the email so unusual is that I can’t remember ever getting one like it. In the past, WEL would drop notices in our letterboxes if there was going to be a planned interruption in electricity supply, but I think that was back when most of the area I live in was still under construction. It’s been a very long time since I received a leaflet about interruptions, and that’s probably why they’re quite rare now. If my electricity supplier hadn’t sent that email, I might well have ended up surprised when the power is switched off in April, with no idea why it was off. Because I don’t get power bills by mail anymore, an email was the only way the supplier could warn me.
When I read the email, I hoped that “9am and 4pm” means sometime between those hours, and not the entire 7 hours, but I have no way of knowing. They also advised, “Before the planned outage, please make sure you disconnect all electrical equipment,” which really just means switching them off at the wall (in New Zealand, power points/wall outlets all have individual on/off switches for each outlet). That’s good advice for sensitive things like TVs and computers, and anything that’s always on, like fridges. When the power has gone out unexpectedly, usually because of storms, I always switch those items off at the wall to protect them when the power comes back on.
Another part of the email was for households where someone “depends on electricity for critical medical support”, as the email put it, and such folks were advised that they can contact their electricity company to see what their options are. I'd have thought that people with critical medical equipment would already have a contingency plan (I certainly would), but power companies are required to help those who don’t.
Hamilton City Council doesn’t send any kind of notices of work being done in the area, like tree trimming, weed spraying on Council land, or, even worse, when the water is going to be shut off for any scheduled reason. HCC hardly ever even posts alerts on their Facebook page, so pretty much everything they do is a surprise, which isn’t ideal.
I was glad that I was sent that email, and it’s even better that we got nearly a month’s advance warning of a power outage (when I say “we”, that’s mostly because I posted about this on our community Facebook Page, partly because I have no idea whether other electricity companies sent notices to their customers, nor whether others read such emails). I added the event to my calendar, of course, so I can remember it’s happening, because I’d certainly be unlikely to remember otherwise. This way, when it happens, I can be prepared—devices fully charged, coffee made before 9am, those sorts of things, because my solar panels don't have battery backup.
So, thanks to that unusual email, I should be set. I guess knowledge really is power.
Update – April 2, 2026: This post has been updated.
This story begins with an email. On the evening of March 7, I received an email from my electricity provider that said:
WEL Networks, is planning to turn off the power in you area for routine maintenance work between 09:00 AM Thursday 02 April 2026 and 04:00 PM Thursday 02 April 2026.A little background: WEL Networks distributes power from the national power grid to consumers throughout the Waikato region, which includes Kirikiriroa-Hamilton. The company is owned by WEL Community Trust, and the Trust, in turn, returns an annual dividend to consumers in the form of a credit on their electricity bill.
What made the email so unusual is that I can’t remember ever getting one like it. In the past, WEL would drop notices in our letterboxes if there was going to be a planned interruption in electricity supply, but I think that was back when most of the area I live in was still under construction. It’s been a very long time since I received a leaflet about interruptions, and that’s probably why they’re quite rare now. If my electricity supplier hadn’t sent that email, I might well have ended up surprised when the power is switched off in April, with no idea why it was off. Because I don’t get power bills by mail anymore, an email was the only way the supplier could warn me.
When I read the email, I hoped that “9am and 4pm” means sometime between those hours, and not the entire 7 hours, but I have no way of knowing. They also advised, “Before the planned outage, please make sure you disconnect all electrical equipment,” which really just means switching them off at the wall (in New Zealand, power points/wall outlets all have individual on/off switches for each outlet). That’s good advice for sensitive things like TVs and computers, and anything that’s always on, like fridges. When the power has gone out unexpectedly, usually because of storms, I always switch those items off at the wall to protect them when the power comes back on.
Another part of the email was for households where someone “depends on electricity for critical medical support”, as the email put it, and such folks were advised that they can contact their electricity company to see what their options are. I'd have thought that people with critical medical equipment would already have a contingency plan (I certainly would), but power companies are required to help those who don’t.
Hamilton City Council doesn’t send any kind of notices of work being done in the area, like tree trimming, weed spraying on Council land, or, even worse, when the water is going to be shut off for any scheduled reason. HCC hardly ever even posts alerts on their Facebook page, so pretty much everything they do is a surprise, which isn’t ideal.
I was glad that I was sent that email, and it’s even better that we got nearly a month’s advance warning of a power outage (when I say “we”, that’s mostly because I posted about this on our community Facebook Page, partly because I have no idea whether other electricity companies sent notices to their customers, nor whether others read such emails). I added the event to my calendar, of course, so I can remember it’s happening, because I’d certainly be unlikely to remember otherwise. This way, when it happens, I can be prepared—devices fully charged, coffee made before 9am, those sorts of things, because my solar panels don't have battery backup.
So, thanks to that unusual email, I should be set. I guess knowledge really is power.
Update – April 2, 2026: This post has been updated.
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