I’m not the only one in this household who has issues finding appropriate food: That problem now includes Leo, too. That’s my boy! Or, something.
For more years than I can remember, we’ve fed our furbabies dry food made by Eukanuba (owned in by Mars Incorporated, except for Europe, apparently). I was recently in the pet store to get Leo some more of his food, and there was a sign saying that “due to changing customer demand” they were discontinuing most of the brand’s dry dog food, though it said they’d be carrying at least one for a dog the size of Leo, though they were out of stock on that day.
Most premium dog food in New Zealand’ is sold through two Australian-owned pet store chains, and I checked online with the other one and found that they, too, seemed to be eliminating all or most of that brand. No other online retailer seemed to sell it, either, but I confirmed that the pet shop I go to still had some of the adult version of Leo’s dry food, but he’s actually been on the senior formula, which is slightly lower in calories, for a bit more than a year. I was running out of Leo’s food, so I bought the adult version to tide him over, and even used the transition method normally used when changing brands—just in case.
In the meantime, I researched alternatives. Many of the dog foods available are made by big US-based corporations, and I was concerned about ongoing availability: If an established brand can disappear, for whatever reason, it could happen again.
I decided to restrict my search for dog food made in Australia or New Zealand, in the hope the shorter supply routes may keep it more available. I chose the Australian one because they have a small dog senior formula, but I’m also going to buy a small bag of the NZ-made one (which is freeze-dried, not a dry food) to use as treats. Hopefully, between the two of them I should be able to keep the same brands for Leo for several years, just as we used Eukanuba for at least 17 years.
This whole thing has required a lot of research, time, and energy, and now I’ll just have to wait and see if Leo likes the new (to him) brand. That transition is still several weeks away, though, because I only bought the stop-gap bag of food a couple weeks ago. On tyhe other hand, that means I can have a few weeks of normality, too, and that’s a good thing.
This is the first time I’ve had to make decisions about Leo’s food—or any furbaby’s food in New Zealand—by myself, and, yes, I found that reality challenging and a bit confronting. I just approached it the same way I do when I need to find a food substitute: I researched the alternatives, found what I felt was the most nutritious option, and made a decision.
I’ve been doing a lot of that deciding thing lately. Huh.
Thursday, July 31, 2025
Certain for now
I think it’s possible that one of the main reasons for some people’s unhappiness in life comes from uncertainty. Add the confusion that comes from not knowing how, precisely, to move beyond the uncertainty, and it can make for a very unpleasant time. That’s something I know far too well.
I’ve mentioned before how last year (and into this year) was a rough journey for me. When I talked about it this past February, I strongly affirmed that 2024 was “absolutely NOT unrelentingly bad,” adding that it was, “in other words, a period of time with good as well as bad—pretty much like every other time in one’s life.” Indeed.
And yet…
For at least 18 months, I was stuck in a never-ending loop of existential—actually, residential—uncertainty. I tried to answer specific questions, like, where, precisely, did I want to live? What, precisely, did I want to do with my life?
The real reason I stalled and struggled was something I wrote about barely one month into my journey, when I wrote about a stop at the supermarket, of all things:
Over the past year and a half in particular, give or take, I’ve considered any number of possibilities, including moving back to our home on Auckland’s North Shore, something I ruled out after my visit in February of last year. I also considered selling up and moving somewhere else, maybe near other family, maybe rural, maybe even an apartment, but none of the options felt right to me.
This indecision also kept me from making any improvements to my current house. Even so, I decided some months ago that I’d rearrange the furniture in the living area of my house to make it flow better and to freshen it a bit—but I did nothing about that. I was facing a sort of existential and residential stalemate.
After a LOT of thought, and also talking it over with family, I decided to commit to my current house for the next five years: I like my house itself well enough, Leo loves the yard to tun around in (one of the largest in this development, actually), and the area where I live is convenient to pretty much everywhere in Hamilton I need to go regularly. After those five years, I’ll reevaluate my situation and decide what I want to do from that point on. Cynics might say I’m just kicking the stalemate down the road to deal with later, but even if that’s true, I’m fine with it.
This decision means that I’m going to make some changes to this house to make it more of what I want it to be—including some of the things I might otherwise search for in a new house. There are two separate parts to this. First, I’m doing a bit of a refresh of the interior of my house, including that delayed rearranging of the living area, but also some relatively minor decorative changes, too. The bigger deal with be things I plan to change about the house itself, both inside and out.
The first thing will be changing the heating/cooling. Right now, I have one split-unit heat pump in the living area, and another in my bedroom. This means that rest of the house has no heating or cooling, and the two other bedrooms—the guest room and my office—are hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and so, much of the year they’re unpleasant to be in. Nigel and I had a ducted heat pump system installed in our house on Auckland’s North Shore, and the whole house was comfortable year around. That's probably what I'll do here, too.
I also plan to add a battery bank to my photovoltaic system so that I can take full advantage of the solar panels, especially by having free power at night. This will probably be a later wave of changes.
Outside, I plan on having a deck built over the existing concrete patio to raise it to the floor level of the house, because right now there’s quite a step down. I will also have a roof structure (pergola sort of thing) built over it, too, so I can use the space pretty much year round—and I won’t have to have my table and chairs under cover anymore (apart from helping to keep it clean, maybe?). This is also why changing to a new heating/cooling system will come first: The outdoor unit for the living area’s heat pump is located smack in the middle of the existing patio, and it needs to go before the new deck can be built. This is the one thing I know for certain will add value to the property.
At the moment, I think I may put raised garden beds between the lawn and the bank along the side of the property, but I’ll hold off making any final plans until I talk with the builder. I'm sure there will be other things I’ll do, too, as I get going.
So, now that I’ve (finally…) made a decision about where I’m going to live, I’m moving forward with a plan. I plan on talking about the whole thing as the parts unfold. Right now, though, the important thing is that I have a plan, and I’ve even started getting the bits and pieces I need for the house refresh.
Onward.
I’ve mentioned before how last year (and into this year) was a rough journey for me. When I talked about it this past February, I strongly affirmed that 2024 was “absolutely NOT unrelentingly bad,” adding that it was, “in other words, a period of time with good as well as bad—pretty much like every other time in one’s life.” Indeed.
And yet…
For at least 18 months, I was stuck in a never-ending loop of existential—actually, residential—uncertainty. I tried to answer specific questions, like, where, precisely, did I want to live? What, precisely, did I want to do with my life?
The real reason I stalled and struggled was something I wrote about barely one month into my journey, when I wrote about a stop at the supermarket, of all things:
We went into the Te Rapa New World supermarket in Hamilton, which was a store Nigel really liked. As we walked in, I was imagining going there to do my weekly shop and then I had a sudden thought: “This isn’t fun any more,” I said to myself.For 24 years, everything in my life was about being half of a “we”, and every major decision I made was either a “we decided” thing, or, at least, something I talked over with Nigel first. Now I’m faced with numerous possibilities about my life, including its direction and, more specifically, my location. It’s been hard for me to find a way out of that.
The specific trigger was that I realised that’d I imagined doing a weekly shop like I always have—for the two of us. After all these years living with someone else—the majority of them with Nigel—I don’t actually have any idea how to shop for one.
Over the past year and a half in particular, give or take, I’ve considered any number of possibilities, including moving back to our home on Auckland’s North Shore, something I ruled out after my visit in February of last year. I also considered selling up and moving somewhere else, maybe near other family, maybe rural, maybe even an apartment, but none of the options felt right to me.
This indecision also kept me from making any improvements to my current house. Even so, I decided some months ago that I’d rearrange the furniture in the living area of my house to make it flow better and to freshen it a bit—but I did nothing about that. I was facing a sort of existential and residential stalemate.
After a LOT of thought, and also talking it over with family, I decided to commit to my current house for the next five years: I like my house itself well enough, Leo loves the yard to tun around in (one of the largest in this development, actually), and the area where I live is convenient to pretty much everywhere in Hamilton I need to go regularly. After those five years, I’ll reevaluate my situation and decide what I want to do from that point on. Cynics might say I’m just kicking the stalemate down the road to deal with later, but even if that’s true, I’m fine with it.
This decision means that I’m going to make some changes to this house to make it more of what I want it to be—including some of the things I might otherwise search for in a new house. There are two separate parts to this. First, I’m doing a bit of a refresh of the interior of my house, including that delayed rearranging of the living area, but also some relatively minor decorative changes, too. The bigger deal with be things I plan to change about the house itself, both inside and out.
The first thing will be changing the heating/cooling. Right now, I have one split-unit heat pump in the living area, and another in my bedroom. This means that rest of the house has no heating or cooling, and the two other bedrooms—the guest room and my office—are hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and so, much of the year they’re unpleasant to be in. Nigel and I had a ducted heat pump system installed in our house on Auckland’s North Shore, and the whole house was comfortable year around. That's probably what I'll do here, too.
I also plan to add a battery bank to my photovoltaic system so that I can take full advantage of the solar panels, especially by having free power at night. This will probably be a later wave of changes.
Outside, I plan on having a deck built over the existing concrete patio to raise it to the floor level of the house, because right now there’s quite a step down. I will also have a roof structure (pergola sort of thing) built over it, too, so I can use the space pretty much year round—and I won’t have to have my table and chairs under cover anymore (apart from helping to keep it clean, maybe?). This is also why changing to a new heating/cooling system will come first: The outdoor unit for the living area’s heat pump is located smack in the middle of the existing patio, and it needs to go before the new deck can be built. This is the one thing I know for certain will add value to the property.
At the moment, I think I may put raised garden beds between the lawn and the bank along the side of the property, but I’ll hold off making any final plans until I talk with the builder. I'm sure there will be other things I’ll do, too, as I get going.
So, now that I’ve (finally…) made a decision about where I’m going to live, I’m moving forward with a plan. I plan on talking about the whole thing as the parts unfold. Right now, though, the important thing is that I have a plan, and I’ve even started getting the bits and pieces I need for the house refresh.
Onward.
Sunday, July 27, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 13
This week in 1985, “Everytime You Go Away” (video up top) by by the English singer Paul Young reached Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100”. The song was the third single from Young’s second studio album, The Secret of Association. It was Young’s only Number One on the “Hot 100”.
“Everytime You Go Away” was written byDaryl Hall, and was an album track on the 1980 Hall and Oates album, Voices, and wasn’t released as a single. Hall & Oates also recorded it for their 1985 concert album, Live at the Apollo.
I well remember this version of the song, and I thought it was a good pop song. However, at the time, I didn’t know it as originally a Hall and Oates song, thought that wasn’t unusual for me any more than it might be for anyone at any given time. I was aware of three of the singles from their Voices album, but I didn’t own it, and wasn’t exactly a fan of them, though I didn’t dislike them, either.
I was also aware of other Paul Young songs, if for no other reason than he was the first singer on Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, a song I talked about late last last year. I also know his 1982 cover of “Love of the Common People”, and also his 1983 cover of Marvin Gaye’s, “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)”, however, neither song was a hit in the USA, where I was living in 1982 and 83, so it’s possible I didn’t hear one or both until I moved to New Zealand. At this point in my life, my personal pop culture history—and so, my memory of pop culture and me—is a bit muddled and all mooshed together. At any rate, I like those songs well enough, too.
Similarly, I liked this week’s song well enough, too. It’s slow, easy pace, and the fact its pitch and key were all in my range meant I could/did/still do sing along with it. So, that’s something, I guess.
Paul Young’s cover of “Everytime You Go Away” reached Number 20 in Australia, Number One in Canada (Gold), Number 1 in the UK (Silver), and Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100” and “Adult Contemporary” charts, and Number 14 on their “Mainstream Rock” chart. It was also Number One on the Cash Box “Top 100” Chart. The song The song was certified Gold in the USA. The song didn’t chart in New Zealand.
The album The Secret of Association reached Number 6 in Australia (Platinum), Number 4 in Canada (2x Platinum), Number 3 in New Zealand (Platinum), Number One in the UK (2x Platinum), and Number 19 on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 200” chart. The album was certified Gold in the USA.
This series will return next week, August 3, with the song that hit Number One that week in 1985.
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9 – June 8, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 10 – June 22, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 11 – July 6, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 12 – July 13, 2025
“Everytime You Go Away” was written byDaryl Hall, and was an album track on the 1980 Hall and Oates album, Voices, and wasn’t released as a single. Hall & Oates also recorded it for their 1985 concert album, Live at the Apollo.
I well remember this version of the song, and I thought it was a good pop song. However, at the time, I didn’t know it as originally a Hall and Oates song, thought that wasn’t unusual for me any more than it might be for anyone at any given time. I was aware of three of the singles from their Voices album, but I didn’t own it, and wasn’t exactly a fan of them, though I didn’t dislike them, either.
I was also aware of other Paul Young songs, if for no other reason than he was the first singer on Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, a song I talked about late last last year. I also know his 1982 cover of “Love of the Common People”, and also his 1983 cover of Marvin Gaye’s, “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)”, however, neither song was a hit in the USA, where I was living in 1982 and 83, so it’s possible I didn’t hear one or both until I moved to New Zealand. At this point in my life, my personal pop culture history—and so, my memory of pop culture and me—is a bit muddled and all mooshed together. At any rate, I like those songs well enough, too.
Similarly, I liked this week’s song well enough, too. It’s slow, easy pace, and the fact its pitch and key were all in my range meant I could/did/still do sing along with it. So, that’s something, I guess.
Paul Young’s cover of “Everytime You Go Away” reached Number 20 in Australia, Number One in Canada (Gold), Number 1 in the UK (Silver), and Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100” and “Adult Contemporary” charts, and Number 14 on their “Mainstream Rock” chart. It was also Number One on the Cash Box “Top 100” Chart. The song The song was certified Gold in the USA. The song didn’t chart in New Zealand.
The album The Secret of Association reached Number 6 in Australia (Platinum), Number 4 in Canada (2x Platinum), Number 3 in New Zealand (Platinum), Number One in the UK (2x Platinum), and Number 19 on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 200” chart. The album was certified Gold in the USA.
This series will return next week, August 3, with the song that hit Number One that week in 1985.
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9 – June 8, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 10 – June 22, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 11 – July 6, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 12 – July 13, 2025
Busy days are my thing
I’ve been busy lately, though not every moment of every day and night. That means that, technically, there’s no reason I couldn’t have made the time to talk about several different things, and year, it means I absolutely didn’t have the time.
I have a slow project on the go, the main thing I’ve wanted to talk about, and also some family things, too. But one of the main things that’s taken my attention of the past week-to-ten days is that we has sunshine—quite a lot of it, really—and I wanted to get things done with free electricity. That meant a lot of laundry, running the dishwasher, and charging the lawn mower’s battery so I could get that done before the return of the bad weather this week. I even ironed a couple dozen shirts, and all of that was done with free electricity supplied by my solar panels.
There have also been a lot of small things going on, too—small, but worth mentioning for reasons particular to those topics. I hope to get to all of them this week, but, ya know, maybe? I’ve been busy lately, you see.
I have a slow project on the go, the main thing I’ve wanted to talk about, and also some family things, too. But one of the main things that’s taken my attention of the past week-to-ten days is that we has sunshine—quite a lot of it, really—and I wanted to get things done with free electricity. That meant a lot of laundry, running the dishwasher, and charging the lawn mower’s battery so I could get that done before the return of the bad weather this week. I even ironed a couple dozen shirts, and all of that was done with free electricity supplied by my solar panels.
There have also been a lot of small things going on, too—small, but worth mentioning for reasons particular to those topics. I hope to get to all of them this week, but, ya know, maybe? I’ve been busy lately, you see.
Sunday, July 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 12
This week in 1985, another new song, and another one from a movie soundtrack, hit Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100”. On July 13, 1985, “A View to a Kill” (video up top) by by the English pop rock band Duran Duran reached number one. The song, which was Number One for two weeks, was the theme song for the James Bond movie of the same name. The song was the only single from the soundtrack album, which, oddly enough, was also called A View to a Kill. Who’d have ever guessed that?
I’m joking, of course: All of them having the same name made marketing much easier—I guess? In 1985, I was mostly unaware of the single, music video, and movie. I’ve never been a fan of 007 movies, and while I’ve seen a couple, Roger Moore’s movies were not among them. Similarly, I was never a fan of Duran Duran, either. Having said all that, I certainly didn’t “hate” either the band or any of the 007 movies—I simply wasn’t into them. As is so often the case in pop culture matters,”Arthur’s Law” applies.
Because I wasn’t a fan of the band, I have no memory of seeing the music video until I went to get the video link for this post. So, um, yeah, it’s certainly a video. Seriously, I have two thoughts. First, I generally prefer music videos that use the artform and don’t just show the band performing the song or are just edited concert footage. In that sense, I give the video big points for being an actual music video. However—to be completely honest—I think the video was really lame, although, I have absolutely no idea what I would’ve thought if I’d seen in 40 years ago. And, anyway, in my long-held opinion, music videos are an artform separate from the song itself. It’s absolutely possible and logical for someone to like one but not the other (and I knew folks back in the day who said they hated all music videos, so there’s that, too).
When I talked about last week’s song, I said that “having mellowed with age and time, my reaction to the song is far less visceral, if still generally negative, though perhaps tinged with a kind of nostalgia that only time—decades?—can permit for something once disliked”. If I remembered this week’s song better, it’d probably be true for this song, too—I find it happens all the time. Things being as they are, the sound of the song is a source of nostalgia for me because it reminds me of pop music in the mid-1980s, and, for me, that’s actually a good thing.
“A View to a Kill” reached Number 6 in Australia, Number One in Canada (Gold), Number 13 in New Zealand, Number 2 in the UK (Silver), and Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100”, and on the Cash Box “Top 100” Chart. The song didn’t receive Certification in the USA.
No chart information for the album A View to a Kill was included in the Wikipedia article linked to up top, but, then, it only had the one single from the album, so it probably didn’t sell well.
This series will return July 27 with the song that hit Number One that week in 1985.
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9 – June 8, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 10 – June 22, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 11 – July 6, 2025
I’m joking, of course: All of them having the same name made marketing much easier—I guess? In 1985, I was mostly unaware of the single, music video, and movie. I’ve never been a fan of 007 movies, and while I’ve seen a couple, Roger Moore’s movies were not among them. Similarly, I was never a fan of Duran Duran, either. Having said all that, I certainly didn’t “hate” either the band or any of the 007 movies—I simply wasn’t into them. As is so often the case in pop culture matters,”Arthur’s Law” applies.
Because I wasn’t a fan of the band, I have no memory of seeing the music video until I went to get the video link for this post. So, um, yeah, it’s certainly a video. Seriously, I have two thoughts. First, I generally prefer music videos that use the artform and don’t just show the band performing the song or are just edited concert footage. In that sense, I give the video big points for being an actual music video. However—to be completely honest—I think the video was really lame, although, I have absolutely no idea what I would’ve thought if I’d seen in 40 years ago. And, anyway, in my long-held opinion, music videos are an artform separate from the song itself. It’s absolutely possible and logical for someone to like one but not the other (and I knew folks back in the day who said they hated all music videos, so there’s that, too).
When I talked about last week’s song, I said that “having mellowed with age and time, my reaction to the song is far less visceral, if still generally negative, though perhaps tinged with a kind of nostalgia that only time—decades?—can permit for something once disliked”. If I remembered this week’s song better, it’d probably be true for this song, too—I find it happens all the time. Things being as they are, the sound of the song is a source of nostalgia for me because it reminds me of pop music in the mid-1980s, and, for me, that’s actually a good thing.
“A View to a Kill” reached Number 6 in Australia, Number One in Canada (Gold), Number 13 in New Zealand, Number 2 in the UK (Silver), and Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100”, and on the Cash Box “Top 100” Chart. The song didn’t receive Certification in the USA.
No chart information for the album A View to a Kill was included in the Wikipedia article linked to up top, but, then, it only had the one single from the album, so it probably didn’t sell well.
This series will return July 27 with the song that hit Number One that week in 1985.
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9 – June 8, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 10 – June 22, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 11 – July 6, 2025
Sunny side up
Early last week, I looked at the extended forecast, and saw it was supposed to be rainy until this past Friday. But, we had a run of a few days without rain, so I mowed the lawns on Tuesday—and that went well, fortunately, and on one battery charge.
It was fortunate I mowed the lawns when I did, because the extended forecast kept changing, and the sunny days kept moving farther away. By Friday of last week, the entire week was supposed to be rainy, then by this past Monday we were warned of big storms, especially for the top of the South Island. I decided I wasn’t going anywhere that day.
I started the day by making fried eggs (photo up top). When I shared it on my personal Facebook, I wrote: “My brunch today, the only 'sunny' thing I’ll be seeing today. 🙁”. I then added:
Kirikiriroa-Hamilton is under an Orange rain storm warning, with the potential for very heavy rain and strong winds until the wee hours of the morning. The top of the South Island, however, is under a Red Warning. Basically, an Orange Warning means “be prepared” because storms may be bad, and a Red Warning means “take action” because the storms WILL be bad.The weather Monday was truly awful: Sometimes heavy rain, strong wind gusts, and steady rain even when it wasn’t raining heavily. I definitely made the right choice to stay home that day.
The extended forecast has pushed out next sunny day out again, to one week from today—July 20. There’s like to be sunny periods over the coming week, but rain is predicted for at least part of every day/ So, yay.
I’ve fully embraced my winter adaptations: I run the dishwasher, washer, and dryer only after 10pm whne the power rate drops to the lowest amount. I need to do this because there aren’t enough sunny hours to get free electricity, both because of all the rain we get in winter, and because the daylight hours are still pretty short.
I’ve also felt cold much of the time this winter, more so than I have in many years. I have no idea why, since the daily high temperatures, while cold, aren’t particularly unusual. Maybe all the rain has made things unusually damp?
Still, one does what one must to cope, and for some folks—like me—it requires a bit more effort. Sometimes even something as simple as well-made “sunny side up” fried eggs can help, too. Just another of my winter adaptations.
Monday, July 07, 2025
Walking to… somewhere
When I talked about this back on March 1, I trotted out some statistics from a spreadsheet I made to track my progress (and still use). That’s been quite interesting—to me, anyway.
First, and most obviously, I’ve walked a lot: Over the past six months, I’ve walked a total of 289.44 kilometres—we’ll call it 290km—and the map up top [SOURCE] shows how far I would get if I walked 290k in a straight line from Hamilton. I should point out that, contrary to what many may think, I can’t walk on water, so only the points on land are relevant. Seriously, though, it’s not necessarily possible to walk to some of those places, but if someone far fitter than me attempted it, it wouldn’t take anywhere near six months to walk that far.
The serious point here is that I’ve met my true goal: To walk every single day, with a minimum of at least one kilometre per day. The point here was consistency, not distance or speed, because I wanted to position myself to hopefully maintain flexibility and mobility as long as possible. Basically, I figured that if I started now, I’d have a better chance of achieving that goal before I reach the lifestage at which those are sometimes a problem. And that’s why consistency is what matters most: It keeps my leg muscles used to motion and holding me upright.
Even though consistency was my goal, not distance or speed, both have naturally increased. When I began (actually back in December, but that was before I made the commitment to daily walks), my average pace—the amount of time it takes me to walk one kilometre—was more than 15 minutes. Now, it’s usually under 12 minutes—in fact, my average pace per kilometre is around 2.5 minutes faster now, which means I can walk farther in the same amount of time, and that matters a lot.
I’ve discovered that I have what I’ve dubbed my “boredom barrier”. A 15-minute walk is usually no problem, but by 20 minutes I’m starting to get over it, and at around 30 minutes, I’m thoroughly bored. This was a problem for maintaining my commitment.
I got around this at first through sheer stubbornness: I refused to stop until and unless I’d covered one kilometre. But, as my pace increased, I could cover, say, 1.35km in fifteen minutes, and that meant it was relatively easy for me to get myself to do 1.5km, since it would only take a few minutes longer. Then, if I managed 1.5 kilometres, it was maybe another 6 minutes-ish to get to 2 kilometres, and that now happens more and more often these days. It turns out I can re-set my “boredom barrier”—when I really want to, anyway. More often than not I get myself to the point where that’s possible by focusing on thinking about a specific thing (like, say, a project, maybe a blog post). That makes the time seem go faster.
While consistency was my goal, I was aware that all this walking would strengthen my leg muscles, too. Over time, they felt stronger, and I found I was able to do things I wasn’t always able to do, like standing on one leg without wobbling. Oddly enough, I seldom have any reason to stand on one leg, but I can do it, dammit! The real point is that my muscles are stronger, even my bum—I mean, not the envy of any male model (or maybe especially a male “model”—“actor”?), but a change I was able to notice. In other words, it seems there really are perks to exercise.
I added another thing over the past couple months: I’m using small dumbbells to strengthen by arms and shoulders. That’s also about flexibility. Of course, but better upper body strength will help me with many, many projects in the coming years, and that gets at what led me to start all this in the first place.
In December of last year, I realised I was struggling with physical tasks, like mowing the lawns, and it’s also the main reason I couldn’t bring myself to do the hard work that I needed to do to tame the gardens: I wasn’t physically up to the challenge. I was beginning to think about how I probably needed to start hiring people to do things I felt I could no longer do, and that was deeply depressing. But then I remembered something I’d said back in 2019, which I mentioned in a 2020 blog post: “I’m too young to feel this old”. However, I knew I’d remembered that around four and a half years after I first said it, and I wasn’t sure whether it was actually still true.
My breakthrough moment was when I thought to myself, “but what if I really am still too young to feel so old?” I then wondered if becoming fitter would allow me to do more physical stuff, but I also knew that even if it didn’t, it would at least help me with flexibility and mobility in the years to come. And with that my crusade was born.
It’s still too early to know how much more physical stuff, if any, I’ll be able to do, but I really do feel stronger, something I feel most when I’m walking around in daily life (not part of a workout), and that makes me happy. Six months from now, I should have a much better idea of how my efforts will lead, and I’m actually excited about that—while being realistic.
When I began this fitness journey six months ago, I wasn’t sure I’d really manage to walk every single day, nor that I’d achieve my goals. The fact I’ve succeeded with both really is a surprise, but it it’s also a source of hope: If I can make a commitment to myself and maintain it for every single day over six months, what else might I be able to do? I’m excited to find out.
Further down the road
Two years ago today, I was literally celebrating the opening of a new (short) road directly connecting my area to the rest of Hamilton. Two years later, I’m still happy the road finally opened—and yet…
In late 2019, when my brother-in-law and I stopped at a realtor open home to check out what’s now my house, the agent told me about the road that would be built “soon”, and how it would have a small commercial area with some shops. It was, in fact, one of the reasons I bought this house.
The fact it actually took three-and-a-half years for the road to finally open isn’t the agent’s fault, obviously, nor did she in any way promise it’d be open any sooner—though she also didn’t stress that the construction hadn’t even started yet, let alone that at the time of the open home it wasn’t even scheduled. In late 2019, we were all blissfully unaware of Covid and all the disruption that would cause to—well, everything, really.
It’s now two years after that road finally opened, and it’s also now some five-and-a-half years since I moved into my house. I’m still glad for the easy connection to anywhere in Hamilton I might want to drive to, and it really has been a huge improvement to the quality of my daily life. But the story stalled yet again.
The commercial area still hasn’t been started, and there haven’t been any signs whatsoever that it’s even a glimmer in a developer’s eye. Meanwhile, traffic has continually become heavier, especially around rush hours (in late afternoon, for example, I sometimes have to wait several minutes for cars to pass through the roundabout at the entrance/exit to my neighbourhood that I use, including to get to that road. That’s because, first, in the two years since the road opened, a lot of new houses have been built in the two developments close to the one I live in, and because people living even further away have realised using the new road is much faster for them, too.
Even with the increased traffic, it’s apparently not enough to attract developers, but there’s more to it. New Zealand’s economy has been in terrible shape for a couple years now, with high interest rates, rising construction costs, and a shortage of tradespeople, many of whom have moved to Australia for better pay and opportunities. Add it all up, and there was no way the commercial area could have been started, let alone finished.
The missing commercial area, then, is disappointing, but not surprising. The same could be said for the fact that this entire part of the city still has no public parks: A large open are for sports is supposed to built between our development and the next one down the road—some day. I’m not a sports person—clearly—but even I can see how having an open area like that would be a good thing. With no public parks, and no benches (aside from a bus shelter), this area is far from pedestrian-friendly, unlike older parts of the city (and in this case, “older” could mean less than ten years older).
Even so, despite the delays in starting to build the commercial area and the public park, the opening of the road has helped us all to drive to the rest of Hamilton much more easily. However, the optimism I shared on my personal Facebook two years ago, that I would “feel a part of the city, not adjacent to it”, didn’t actually happen—I felt able to get to the rest of the city, absolutely, but with so much still not begun, let alone completed (also including the final phase of the development I live in), I still feel at least somewhat set apart from the rest of the city. On the other other hand, I feel far more connected to the rest of the city here than I felt at our last house in Auckland, which is something.
All up, then, the road has definitely made things better for everyone who uses it, maybe me especially. Progress is progress, after all.
In late 2019, when my brother-in-law and I stopped at a realtor open home to check out what’s now my house, the agent told me about the road that would be built “soon”, and how it would have a small commercial area with some shops. It was, in fact, one of the reasons I bought this house.
The fact it actually took three-and-a-half years for the road to finally open isn’t the agent’s fault, obviously, nor did she in any way promise it’d be open any sooner—though she also didn’t stress that the construction hadn’t even started yet, let alone that at the time of the open home it wasn’t even scheduled. In late 2019, we were all blissfully unaware of Covid and all the disruption that would cause to—well, everything, really.
It’s now two years after that road finally opened, and it’s also now some five-and-a-half years since I moved into my house. I’m still glad for the easy connection to anywhere in Hamilton I might want to drive to, and it really has been a huge improvement to the quality of my daily life. But the story stalled yet again.
The commercial area still hasn’t been started, and there haven’t been any signs whatsoever that it’s even a glimmer in a developer’s eye. Meanwhile, traffic has continually become heavier, especially around rush hours (in late afternoon, for example, I sometimes have to wait several minutes for cars to pass through the roundabout at the entrance/exit to my neighbourhood that I use, including to get to that road. That’s because, first, in the two years since the road opened, a lot of new houses have been built in the two developments close to the one I live in, and because people living even further away have realised using the new road is much faster for them, too.
Even with the increased traffic, it’s apparently not enough to attract developers, but there’s more to it. New Zealand’s economy has been in terrible shape for a couple years now, with high interest rates, rising construction costs, and a shortage of tradespeople, many of whom have moved to Australia for better pay and opportunities. Add it all up, and there was no way the commercial area could have been started, let alone finished.
The missing commercial area, then, is disappointing, but not surprising. The same could be said for the fact that this entire part of the city still has no public parks: A large open are for sports is supposed to built between our development and the next one down the road—some day. I’m not a sports person—clearly—but even I can see how having an open area like that would be a good thing. With no public parks, and no benches (aside from a bus shelter), this area is far from pedestrian-friendly, unlike older parts of the city (and in this case, “older” could mean less than ten years older).
Even so, despite the delays in starting to build the commercial area and the public park, the opening of the road has helped us all to drive to the rest of Hamilton much more easily. However, the optimism I shared on my personal Facebook two years ago, that I would “feel a part of the city, not adjacent to it”, didn’t actually happen—I felt able to get to the rest of the city, absolutely, but with so much still not begun, let alone completed (also including the final phase of the development I live in), I still feel at least somewhat set apart from the rest of the city. On the other other hand, I feel far more connected to the rest of the city here than I felt at our last house in Auckland, which is something.
All up, then, the road has definitely made things better for everyone who uses it, maybe me especially. Progress is progress, after all.
Sunday, July 06, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 11
On this week in 1985, another new song hit Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100”. At the end of of Part 10 in this series, I asked about this week’s song, “Will I remember that one?” Well…
40 years ago this week, “Sussudio” (video up top) by the English singer-songwriter Phil Collins. It was Number One for one week. The song was on his third solo studio album album, No Jacket Required. It was the lead single in the UK, and the second single in the USA following "One More Night", which I talked about in Part 4 of this series.
To answer the question I posed at the end of Part 10, yes, I do remember the song: I couldn’t miss it at the time. However, I didn’t like it: To me, it sounded like nonsense, and it turns out I was right: “Sussudio” was originally a nonsense word Collins used as a placeholder, and it stuck. He said the song is about a schoolboy's crush on a girl at school—not that I’d know because I actively tried to ignore the song every time it popped up on the radio or on TV as a music video.
Nowadays, having mellowed with age and time, my reaction to the song is far less visceral, if still generally negative, though perhaps tinged with a kind of nostalgia that only time—decades?—can permit for something once disliked. So, that’s something, I guess.
“Sussudio” reached Number 8 in Australia, Number 10 in Canada, Number 27 in New Zealand (Gold), Number 12 in the UK (Silver), and Number One on the USA’s Billboard, as well as Number 30 on their “Adult Contemporary” chart, Number 4 on their “Dance Club Songs” chart, Number 8 on their “Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs” chart, and Number 10 on their “Mainstream Rock Songs” chart. The song was Certified Gold in the USA.
The album No Jacket Required reached Number One in Australia (Platinum), Canada (Diamond), New Zealand (Platinum), the UK (6x Platinum) as well as Number One on the Billboard 200” (12x Platinum).
This series will return next week, July 13, with another brand new Number One single for that week. We'll see what that one was about.
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9 – June 8, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 10 – June 22, 2025
40 years ago this week, “Sussudio” (video up top) by the English singer-songwriter Phil Collins. It was Number One for one week. The song was on his third solo studio album album, No Jacket Required. It was the lead single in the UK, and the second single in the USA following "One More Night", which I talked about in Part 4 of this series.
To answer the question I posed at the end of Part 10, yes, I do remember the song: I couldn’t miss it at the time. However, I didn’t like it: To me, it sounded like nonsense, and it turns out I was right: “Sussudio” was originally a nonsense word Collins used as a placeholder, and it stuck. He said the song is about a schoolboy's crush on a girl at school—not that I’d know because I actively tried to ignore the song every time it popped up on the radio or on TV as a music video.
Nowadays, having mellowed with age and time, my reaction to the song is far less visceral, if still generally negative, though perhaps tinged with a kind of nostalgia that only time—decades?—can permit for something once disliked. So, that’s something, I guess.
“Sussudio” reached Number 8 in Australia, Number 10 in Canada, Number 27 in New Zealand (Gold), Number 12 in the UK (Silver), and Number One on the USA’s Billboard, as well as Number 30 on their “Adult Contemporary” chart, Number 4 on their “Dance Club Songs” chart, Number 8 on their “Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs” chart, and Number 10 on their “Mainstream Rock Songs” chart. The song was Certified Gold in the USA.
The album No Jacket Required reached Number One in Australia (Platinum), Canada (Diamond), New Zealand (Platinum), the UK (6x Platinum) as well as Number One on the Billboard 200” (12x Platinum).
This series will return next week, July 13, with another brand new Number One single for that week. We'll see what that one was about.
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9 – June 8, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 10 – June 22, 2025
A meal built on chance and memory
He taught me to make it very early in our time together, and I made it dozens of times over the years. In his last years he used to say, “you’re the second-best at making it!”, after him, of course. But none of that is why I made it: I was bored.
It was a Friday night, and I wasn’t sure what I wanted for dinner. I thought about ordering pizza, but the only one I like is a premium NZ chain, and kind of expensive, which wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t for the fact the quality varies a lot: Sometimes it’s great, other times, well, they were clearly having a bad night. I decided I wasn’t in the mood to throw the dice.
Instead, I thought I should make something I haven’t made in a long time, and CMC was the ideal choice. It wasn’t my best batch, but that was because the tinned mangoes were a bit sour, which happens sometimes. Even so, it was nice, and I was able to use up a bit of chicken I had in the freezer, and it ended up being a good meal for one.
When I was making it, I remembered some of the times I’d made it over the years, and how much Nigel loved it when I did. He also sometimes “complained” about how when he’d visit a sibling for dinner how he’d often “have it served up to me”. In reality, he was pleased that the family loved it, too. In fact, his mum still asks me to make it.
So, I got to have a meal I seldom make for myself—I think it may have been only the second time I’ve done that, though I’ve made it for family several times. I also used up some chicken in the freezer (I’ve been trying to use up stuff in the freezer because it was WAY overstuffed). Even the UHT cream I used was nearing its “best before” date, so that was a bonus (and the sort of thing that would entice me to say to Nigel that “‘best before’ and ‘use by’ are NOT the same thing,” because he thought—or maybe he just pretended he did—that they were the same thing.
And all of that was because I was dissatisfied with my dinner options last night. I ended up with a yummy win.
Saturday, July 05, 2025
Photo memory and realities
This was one of my favourite photos of the kids as they waited for their other daddy to get home from work. All four of them are gone now.After I posted that, I naturally wondered if I’d shared that photo on this blog ten years ago, but I hadn’t at all in all of July 2015. Today, I looked though my stored photos and I found the original, which I took on June 5, exactly a month before I made it my Facebook cover photo. That’s not remotely important—the date I took the photo and the date I made it my FB cover photo were both ten years ago, and the real point wasn’t the date, it was how much things had changed since then.
Around a year and a half after I took this photo, we all moved to the southern edge of the Manukau Harbour, and a little more than a year after that, Leo joined our family. Some nine months later, we lost Bella, seven months after that, we lost their other daddy, nearly a year and a half later, Sunny left us, and Jake around seven months after that. Sometimes even I’m shocked I managed to survive all that loss so close together.
I still have the mat Jake and Sunny are laying on, and the dog rope, too—though no one plays with it anymore. On the other hand, I’ve upgraded my phone several times and my photos have much better resolution now—and the fact that was one of the first things I thought when this photo popped up in my FB “Memories” is an indication of healing (so called…). The fact I remember in detail when each member of our family left us shows that healing from grief isn’t actually a thing: We adapt, we grow around it, we move forward with it, but usually without the searing pain it once produced. I miss them all as much as ever, and I can tell that Leo does, too, but we have each other and some days that’s everything.
The whole thing gave me a chance to underscore the fact that grief never diminishes or ends, instead, we grow around it. I’ve talked about this many times, and I’ll talk about more into the future because I think it’s the biggest thing that people don’t understand about grief, and also what they most need to understand.
Still, the photo I took ten years ago was a great example of what my life was like only a decade ago. I miss that life, everyone I’ve lost. But I’m still here, and so is Leo, and together we continue moving forward. And that’s the way of things.
Thursday, July 03, 2025
The clouds’ silver lining
Winter is not my favourite season, and while I don’t think I’ve mentioned that before, it’s definitely true. Now that we’re in the middle month of our winter, I can reconfirm my dislike of the season. Winter in this part of the country is often cold and rainy, and it seems this year it’s even more true than usual—maybe?
Last week, I wrote about the weather and how I’d felt yucky feeling, and I also mentioned that I’d found out that it had rained less in May than it seemed. Well, MetService reported that June was different in a couple significant ways.
June and July are the coldest months of the year (though very cold days can happen before or after those months), and the high temperatures in June were aligned with historic trends, however, the low was colder than normal. It also rained a LOT in June: The total for June was 192.2mm (approximately 7.57 inches), as compared to the historic average of 128mm (approximately 5.04 inches)—though in June last year the total was only 79.4mm (approximately 3.13 inches). So, basically, it rained a lot in Hamilton June.
Other parts of New Zealand, especially Auckland and Northland and also the top of the South Island, were hammered with rain. So, sure, it rained a lot in Kirikiriroa-Hamilton in June, but it was much worse in other parts of New Zealand. And yet, even that wasn’t as bad as it wounds.
As result of regular rain since April, New Zealand’s hydro lakes are at unusually high levels, and that means that we won’t have any rolling blackouts this winter, like when we had an unannounced rolling blackout on the coldest night of 2021.
The issue is that when winter begins, the lakes behind the dams are usually low due to low-to-no summer rains, and when the weather turns particularly cold, power use goes up, and if the hyrdo lakes are low, then we can face rolling blackouts as a “last resort.” We were threatened with the possibility of rolling blackouts several times after that infamous 2021 night, but none actually happened. It seems pretty clear it won’t happen this year, and the big storms we’ve had this winter have made sure of that.
So, all the rain we’ve had this year has had a genuine silver lining. There had to be something good about it. But I still hate winter. Have I even mentioned that?
Last week, I wrote about the weather and how I’d felt yucky feeling, and I also mentioned that I’d found out that it had rained less in May than it seemed. Well, MetService reported that June was different in a couple significant ways.
June and July are the coldest months of the year (though very cold days can happen before or after those months), and the high temperatures in June were aligned with historic trends, however, the low was colder than normal. It also rained a LOT in June: The total for June was 192.2mm (approximately 7.57 inches), as compared to the historic average of 128mm (approximately 5.04 inches)—though in June last year the total was only 79.4mm (approximately 3.13 inches). So, basically, it rained a lot in Hamilton June.
Other parts of New Zealand, especially Auckland and Northland and also the top of the South Island, were hammered with rain. So, sure, it rained a lot in Kirikiriroa-Hamilton in June, but it was much worse in other parts of New Zealand. And yet, even that wasn’t as bad as it wounds.
As result of regular rain since April, New Zealand’s hydro lakes are at unusually high levels, and that means that we won’t have any rolling blackouts this winter, like when we had an unannounced rolling blackout on the coldest night of 2021.
The issue is that when winter begins, the lakes behind the dams are usually low due to low-to-no summer rains, and when the weather turns particularly cold, power use goes up, and if the hyrdo lakes are low, then we can face rolling blackouts as a “last resort.” We were threatened with the possibility of rolling blackouts several times after that infamous 2021 night, but none actually happened. It seems pretty clear it won’t happen this year, and the big storms we’ve had this winter have made sure of that.
So, all the rain we’ve had this year has had a genuine silver lining. There had to be something good about it. But I still hate winter. Have I even mentioned that?
Tuesday, July 01, 2025
Senseless census?
The current New Zealand government announced recently that it’s scrapping New Zealand’s five-yearly census. The government says it’s doing this because of rising costs, which, it thinks, can’t be justified when much of the information the census surveys can be extracted from data collected from various government agencies. Are they right? Or will their focus on cost alone cost New Zealanders in other ways?
In announcing the change, Statistics Minister Shane Reti described the change as being a”sharpened focus on quality economic, population stats”. Beginning in 2030, the new system will end the traditional nationwide census and will adopt a new approach “using administrative data, supported by a smaller annual survey and targeted data collection.” Reti claimed this “will save time and money while delivering more timely insights into New Zealand’s population,” but will it really? I think they’re overlooking the importance of what isn’t collected by anything except the census.
The government plans to use what’s called “administrative data”, which is basically statistics collected by various government agencies every day, things like tax records, education enrolments, health data, and other government data. in fact, Stats NZ uses administrative data for reports between censuses. Also, some of that sort of data is NOT collected by the current census, and so, it’s true that routinely including administrative data will give Parliament and the government of the day a better idea of the state of the country—or, at least, programmes central government manages.
However, the census also collects data no one esle does, including sociological and cultural data, such as, languages spoken in the home, religious affiliation and non-affiliation, and, most recently, sexual orientation and gender identity. Administrative data may sometimes hint at such data, but there’s no reason for them to collect it. To be blunt, it’s not merely about taxation or performance of the economy, so government agencies don’t need, and so, don’t collect such data. This kind of data provides a fuller picture of who, exactly, New Zealanders are, things beyond empoyment, tax, student debt, or any other things government departments collect information on.
Censuses provide the data that helps elected governments to work out not just where government spending is needed, but also WHY the money needs to be spent. Census data also gives local government insights into where new parks, public libraries, and various local improvements will be needed. Basically, getting the fullest, most complete picture of the people helps elected representatives to better represent the people who put them in power, as well as all the people who didn’t for whatever reason, like, for example, because they’re under 18.
Continuing the financial argument, Reti said, “Relying solely on a nationwide census day is no longer financially viable. In 2013, the census cost $104 million. In 2023, costs had risen astronomically to $325 million and the next was expected to come in at $400 million over five years [emphasis added]. I have absolutely no idea what that “over five years” thing means, and neither the press release nor media coverage have explained it—at all. Speaking of unexplained things, the announcement says that the census will end in 2030, but the next census was due to be in 2028—two years before the announced end of the census, so what’s going on? Are we not doing the 2028 census? If not, why isn’t the end date 2028 instead of 2030? The press release doesn’t say, but I saw a journalist’s comment (sadly, I didn’t bookmark it…) that we may have done our last census. Does the current government know what's up?
Still, despite Reti’s focus on cost alone, and even ignoring his weird, unexplained conflicting timeline, he was correct about one thing when he said, “successive censuses have been beset with issues or failed to meet expectations.” Absolutely true. It’s also absolutely true that we don’t know if the current government ever explored ways to improve the census rather than killing it off, because they don’t seem to have ever mentioned doing that, or having decided not to do that.
I have huge concerns about whether any of the data after the census ends will be complete, or even as useful. Stats NZ is the agency that currently conducts the census and will presumably collate the administrative data and the results from the “smaller annual survey and targeted data collection” the current government claims will fill in the missing data from the cancelled census. Will Stats NZ actually even be ABLE to get useful information about the needs of minority and vulnerable communities through the those planned targeted special surveys? Asking people who already mistrust government to do the census is a huge ask right now, but getting them to do a special survey most people don’t get asked to do sounds like it’s destined to fail. In fact, this non-compliance could make the “errors” in recent censuses seem very minor.
Conservative governments always look to cut costs, and so, services provided by government. In general, those who are obsessed with the cost of everything seldom understand the true value of anything. The current coalition government has the numbers to push through the required legislation, though if they lose the 2026 election, the new government could repeal the changes—or, not. That, too, is unknown territory.
To me, this issue isn’t merely about money, but also about the quality of the data, and I’m not convinced that what the current government is proposing with provide quality data that elected representatives in Parliament and local government alike need. As a middle ground, it seems to me that switching to a decennial census (like the USA has) could allow the collection of census data to periodically correct the data collected by other means, while still saving money. Maybe in time, as systems improve, the census wouldn’t be needed, but I’m not convinced that time is now.
Word nerd footnote: The formal term for a census conducted once every five years is to call it a “quinquennial census”. I can't remember ever hearing anyone using the term quinquennial, either for that or to refer to something that last five years (its other meaning). But I avoided using it in this post—until this footnote.
In announcing the change, Statistics Minister Shane Reti described the change as being a”sharpened focus on quality economic, population stats”. Beginning in 2030, the new system will end the traditional nationwide census and will adopt a new approach “using administrative data, supported by a smaller annual survey and targeted data collection.” Reti claimed this “will save time and money while delivering more timely insights into New Zealand’s population,” but will it really? I think they’re overlooking the importance of what isn’t collected by anything except the census.
The government plans to use what’s called “administrative data”, which is basically statistics collected by various government agencies every day, things like tax records, education enrolments, health data, and other government data. in fact, Stats NZ uses administrative data for reports between censuses. Also, some of that sort of data is NOT collected by the current census, and so, it’s true that routinely including administrative data will give Parliament and the government of the day a better idea of the state of the country—or, at least, programmes central government manages.
However, the census also collects data no one esle does, including sociological and cultural data, such as, languages spoken in the home, religious affiliation and non-affiliation, and, most recently, sexual orientation and gender identity. Administrative data may sometimes hint at such data, but there’s no reason for them to collect it. To be blunt, it’s not merely about taxation or performance of the economy, so government agencies don’t need, and so, don’t collect such data. This kind of data provides a fuller picture of who, exactly, New Zealanders are, things beyond empoyment, tax, student debt, or any other things government departments collect information on.
Censuses provide the data that helps elected governments to work out not just where government spending is needed, but also WHY the money needs to be spent. Census data also gives local government insights into where new parks, public libraries, and various local improvements will be needed. Basically, getting the fullest, most complete picture of the people helps elected representatives to better represent the people who put them in power, as well as all the people who didn’t for whatever reason, like, for example, because they’re under 18.
Continuing the financial argument, Reti said, “Relying solely on a nationwide census day is no longer financially viable. In 2013, the census cost $104 million. In 2023, costs had risen astronomically to $325 million and the next was expected to come in at $400 million over five years [emphasis added]. I have absolutely no idea what that “over five years” thing means, and neither the press release nor media coverage have explained it—at all. Speaking of unexplained things, the announcement says that the census will end in 2030, but the next census was due to be in 2028—two years before the announced end of the census, so what’s going on? Are we not doing the 2028 census? If not, why isn’t the end date 2028 instead of 2030? The press release doesn’t say, but I saw a journalist’s comment (sadly, I didn’t bookmark it…) that we may have done our last census. Does the current government know what's up?
Still, despite Reti’s focus on cost alone, and even ignoring his weird, unexplained conflicting timeline, he was correct about one thing when he said, “successive censuses have been beset with issues or failed to meet expectations.” Absolutely true. It’s also absolutely true that we don’t know if the current government ever explored ways to improve the census rather than killing it off, because they don’t seem to have ever mentioned doing that, or having decided not to do that.
I have huge concerns about whether any of the data after the census ends will be complete, or even as useful. Stats NZ is the agency that currently conducts the census and will presumably collate the administrative data and the results from the “smaller annual survey and targeted data collection” the current government claims will fill in the missing data from the cancelled census. Will Stats NZ actually even be ABLE to get useful information about the needs of minority and vulnerable communities through the those planned targeted special surveys? Asking people who already mistrust government to do the census is a huge ask right now, but getting them to do a special survey most people don’t get asked to do sounds like it’s destined to fail. In fact, this non-compliance could make the “errors” in recent censuses seem very minor.
Conservative governments always look to cut costs, and so, services provided by government. In general, those who are obsessed with the cost of everything seldom understand the true value of anything. The current coalition government has the numbers to push through the required legislation, though if they lose the 2026 election, the new government could repeal the changes—or, not. That, too, is unknown territory.
To me, this issue isn’t merely about money, but also about the quality of the data, and I’m not convinced that what the current government is proposing with provide quality data that elected representatives in Parliament and local government alike need. As a middle ground, it seems to me that switching to a decennial census (like the USA has) could allow the collection of census data to periodically correct the data collected by other means, while still saving money. Maybe in time, as systems improve, the census wouldn’t be needed, but I’m not convinced that time is now.
Word nerd footnote: The formal term for a census conducted once every five years is to call it a “quinquennial census”. I can't remember ever hearing anyone using the term quinquennial, either for that or to refer to something that last five years (its other meaning). But I avoided using it in this post—until this footnote.
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Cereal selection
I have cereal for breakfast several times a week, something I’ve done since childhood. Several years ago, I bought Kellogg’s All-Bran cereal because I wanted to make some bran muffins for Nigel and me. I also had it as cereal because it is a good source of fibre, something that’s important, among other reasons, because it helps control cholesterol.
At some point, I started mixing it with lemon yoghurt and sliced banana, and I really liked it. In more recent years, I started to have the company’s All-Bran Flakes for variety, and sometimes, especially in winter, I had porridge (what in my corner of the USA was called “oatmeal”). The main consistent menu item was the All-Bran, though I had to give up on bananas when my blood pressure medication was changed to one that’s potassium-based (I’m supposed to be careful about potassium, apparently).
A long time ago, I learned that the fibre in my cereal is considered a “prebiotic” which feeds gut bacteria. The live cultures in the yoghurt, are probiotics, of course, which provide good gut bacteria, though somewhat different than the ones that normally live there (the ones in yoghurt generally help with digesting dairy, but they also assist the fibre in helping to keep one's “shipping department” to, um, empty…).
I genuinely liked the cereal, especially when combined with the lemon yoghurt, but it wasn’t perfect. For one thing, if I had it in milk instead of yoghurt it turned mushy pretty quickly. Also, a box seemed pretty expensive, especially as prices started rising, though I bought it anway.
A couple months ago, I was shopping at Woolworths and noticed they had an own-brand cereal that was similar to All-Bran, called “High Fibre Bran”. I was interested because the own-brand was $2.30 a box cheaper, which ain’t nothing. So, I decided to give it a try.
The first thing I noticed was that the box says “Delicious & Crunchy”, and when I tried it, I immediately agreed on the second part of the slogan: It was very crunchy. I tried it with milk, too, to see if it got soggy like All-Bran, and it didn’t. It’s the first part of the description I didn’t agree with: I did not find it “delicious”.
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 that. However: 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.
I finally ran out of the Woolworths cereal over the weekend and resumed having All-Bran. It turns out, though, they really are quite different.
Both cereals are made in Australia, presumably using some Australian ingredients, but their nutritional profiles are different. To compare products fairly, I never look at the nutritional information per “serving”, but rather per 100g. Since most values are expressed as weight in grams per 100g, that can give us a good idea of what percentage of the product is sugar, fat, etc.
Here’s how the two compare (information comes from their nutrition labels, and was correct at the time I was doing this test). Since they’re both “high fibre” cereals, I’ll start there: My regular brand, All-Bran (“AB”) has 28g of dietary fibre per 100g, and High Fibre Cereal (“HFC”) had a whopping 42.1g per 100g. Another thing I always look at is sugars, and AB has 15.7g of sugars, while HFC has 13.4g. I carefully watch sodium because of my specific health issues, and AB has 330mg of sodium, and HFC has 300mg. While I don’t personally pay that much attention to fat content, AB had total fat content of 3.6g, and HFC had 2.6g of total fat.
The bottom line for me is that High Fibre Cereal was better than All-Bran in all the things I monitor, however, the difference wasn’t necessarily huge, though, for me, the sodium difference is pretty significant. There’s also obviously a very big difference in dietary fibre, but I’m not certain I need that much fibre. Even so, I think it’s safe to say the name of their cereal, “High Fibre Bran”, is fully justified.
Cost was another motivator when I tried it, because All-Bran was $7.79 for a 530g box. The High Fibre Cereal was $5.50 for a 500g box. If High Fibre Cereal was sold in a 530g box, and the unit price didn’t change, it’d be $5.83, still around $2 a box cheaper than All-Bran.
Neither the difference in their nutritional profiles nor the different prices matters if I don’t like the cereal with the better profile and lower price. Facts. So, while the Woolworths own-brand has a better nutritional profile and costs less, I like All-Bran much better and I’ll stick with it. It’s only part of my weekly breakfast menu, anyway.
This was one of the rare times when I tried a new (to me) product not because I didn’t like my normal brand, but because I was curious if I’d like a similar alternative. Now I know. On to the next experiment!
November 10, 2025: This post has been updated. Follow the link to see the update.
March 31, 2026: This post has been updated again. Follow the link to see the update.
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.
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
A memory with a lesson learned
Most of the Facebook “Memories” I see nearly every day are perfectly ordinary, just some documentation of what I was doing on that day in previous years—sometimes a long time ago, going all the way back to when I joined Facebook in 2007*. Every once in awhile, though, those “Memories”, especially of things from the past 6 years, can make me reflective. Today was one of those times.
This morning I saw that one of today’s Facebook “Memories” was something I published five years ago today. That post, which I also shared on Facebook’s now-defunct “Notes” feature, was mainly about how people enduring challenges and pain often don’t talk about it, and so, we may never know what “private hell”, as I often put it in those days, they were going through. I used my own experience as the starting point for the piece, something I wrote just nine months after losing Nigel.
What I wrote five years ago today is still valid, though things have definitely changed since then, especially because I lost Sunny, and then Jake, the following year. Also, I almost never have meltdowns like I mentioned, though if I do it’s still related to frustration—a LOT of frustration. Another difference is that I now seldom talk about my journey, which is mainly because the sharp edges of the suddenly solo life I began 5.75 years ago have been ground down a bit and don’t slice me open nearly as much as they used to. I also now understand how grief is a journey, not an event, and the path people walk along on their grief journey is as unique and individual as the person walking it.
As I approach the sixth anniversary of losing Nigel, I can see that I could have predicted at least the rough outlines of what my path became, though I couldn’t see that back then, of course. It’s obvious to me now that my path has been exactly what I needed it to be, filled with all the highs and lows—and mostly neither—I needed to get me this far. But that’s not the kind of thing that lends itself to commentary or narration, and so, I rarely say anything about it.
Even so, the lesson I learned five years ago is still important, and still worth sharing: We usually never know what private hell someone is dealing with at any given moment, so being kind to others is always important. Always.
Nigel would be happy I took that as one of my biggest lessons.
*My “Facebookaversary” was this past Sunday, June 22, and that means I’ve been on Facebook for 18 years, which is nearly as long as I’ve been doing this blog. This blog turns 19 in three months.
This morning I saw that one of today’s Facebook “Memories” was something I published five years ago today. That post, which I also shared on Facebook’s now-defunct “Notes” feature, was mainly about how people enduring challenges and pain often don’t talk about it, and so, we may never know what “private hell”, as I often put it in those days, they were going through. I used my own experience as the starting point for the piece, something I wrote just nine months after losing Nigel.
What I wrote five years ago today is still valid, though things have definitely changed since then, especially because I lost Sunny, and then Jake, the following year. Also, I almost never have meltdowns like I mentioned, though if I do it’s still related to frustration—a LOT of frustration. Another difference is that I now seldom talk about my journey, which is mainly because the sharp edges of the suddenly solo life I began 5.75 years ago have been ground down a bit and don’t slice me open nearly as much as they used to. I also now understand how grief is a journey, not an event, and the path people walk along on their grief journey is as unique and individual as the person walking it.
As I approach the sixth anniversary of losing Nigel, I can see that I could have predicted at least the rough outlines of what my path became, though I couldn’t see that back then, of course. It’s obvious to me now that my path has been exactly what I needed it to be, filled with all the highs and lows—and mostly neither—I needed to get me this far. But that’s not the kind of thing that lends itself to commentary or narration, and so, I rarely say anything about it.
Even so, the lesson I learned five years ago is still important, and still worth sharing: We usually never know what private hell someone is dealing with at any given moment, so being kind to others is always important. Always.
Nigel would be happy I took that as one of my biggest lessons.
*My “Facebookaversary” was this past Sunday, June 22, and that means I’ve been on Facebook for 18 years, which is nearly as long as I’ve been doing this blog. This blog turns 19 in three months.
Monday, June 23, 2025
Doubly under the weather
I was recently “under the weather”, both literally and figuratively. We had several weeks with few sunny days (though some cloudy days did have some sunny breaks), and lots of rain, often heavy rain. Then I had more on top of that.
The first week in June, I started feeling bad. It started as a very mild cold the first weekend in June, and that ebbed and flowed, so to speak, for around a week after that. I wasn’t particularly sneezy or have a constantly runny nose, though both have happened at times. Mainly, I just felt yucky, and sometimes my sinuses felt angry. I didn’t have a fever, though, which is part of the reason I sometimes thought it felt more like a bout of allergies than a cold. Even so, I felt pretty bad on a couple days.
I ventured out again on Thursday of last week, once I felt sure the affliction had passed. I used an abundance of caution because I went to visit my mother-in-law, and certainly didn’t want to pass a bug to her.
And then there was the weather, too.
In general, cloudy and rainy days aren’t that important, really, except that temperatures also dropped a lot (have I ever mentioned how much I hate cold temperatures?), and there seemed to be an awful lots of rainy days. The rainy weather is dreary all on its own, but it also means my solar panels make far less power on what are already shorter days (though, as I said yesterday, the daylight hours were two seconds longer than Saturday…). That affects what chores I can do—or, at least, what I’m willing to pay to do in the daytime.
At the end of May, there was a storm in Hamilton that caused a “mini tornado” in an area a couple kilometres from me, though the weather wasn’t as severe in my neighbourhood. However, at the same time that the suspected “mini tornado” struck, there was a torrential downpour in my neighbourhood, so much so that I had to turn the TV volume way up so I could hear it over the rain. The winds didn’t seem strong here, though.
That was only one of several storms with heavy downpours in May, so many, in fact, that I assumed it had been a rainy month, but apparently not. According to MetService, the rain accumulation in Hamilton in May of this year was completely aligned with May of last year and the historical data, too—which is a pretty good argument for not relying on mere perception, especially when the actual data is available.
Okay, fine: The amount of rain that fell in May was actually quite ordinary, even though it didn’t seem that way. Maybe it was the fact the days were shorter, and the fairly constant cloudcover—which isn’t tracked in data, as far as I can tell—is probably what affected my (incorrect) perception of rainy weather. Just cloudy, then.
All of which means that the actual rainfall in May wasn’t as bad as it seemed to me at the time, and my June disease affliction wasn’t as bad as a “real” illness. In fact, I sometimes still have times I’m a bit sneezy with a briefly runny nose, so maybe it’s just some sort of winter allergy, or whatever.
Winter is never pleasant for me, regardless of the amount of rain that actually falls in any given week, and this year has been no different. I’m glad I quarantined myself for my mother-in-law’s sake, even if my seeming disease affliction really were “just” allergies. The yucky feeling was real, even if my perception of rainfall may have been based on alternative facts. I blame winter
The first week in June, I started feeling bad. It started as a very mild cold the first weekend in June, and that ebbed and flowed, so to speak, for around a week after that. I wasn’t particularly sneezy or have a constantly runny nose, though both have happened at times. Mainly, I just felt yucky, and sometimes my sinuses felt angry. I didn’t have a fever, though, which is part of the reason I sometimes thought it felt more like a bout of allergies than a cold. Even so, I felt pretty bad on a couple days.
I ventured out again on Thursday of last week, once I felt sure the affliction had passed. I used an abundance of caution because I went to visit my mother-in-law, and certainly didn’t want to pass a bug to her.
And then there was the weather, too.
In general, cloudy and rainy days aren’t that important, really, except that temperatures also dropped a lot (have I ever mentioned how much I hate cold temperatures?), and there seemed to be an awful lots of rainy days. The rainy weather is dreary all on its own, but it also means my solar panels make far less power on what are already shorter days (though, as I said yesterday, the daylight hours were two seconds longer than Saturday…). That affects what chores I can do—or, at least, what I’m willing to pay to do in the daytime.
At the end of May, there was a storm in Hamilton that caused a “mini tornado” in an area a couple kilometres from me, though the weather wasn’t as severe in my neighbourhood. However, at the same time that the suspected “mini tornado” struck, there was a torrential downpour in my neighbourhood, so much so that I had to turn the TV volume way up so I could hear it over the rain. The winds didn’t seem strong here, though.
That was only one of several storms with heavy downpours in May, so many, in fact, that I assumed it had been a rainy month, but apparently not. According to MetService, the rain accumulation in Hamilton in May of this year was completely aligned with May of last year and the historical data, too—which is a pretty good argument for not relying on mere perception, especially when the actual data is available.
Okay, fine: The amount of rain that fell in May was actually quite ordinary, even though it didn’t seem that way. Maybe it was the fact the days were shorter, and the fairly constant cloudcover—which isn’t tracked in data, as far as I can tell—is probably what affected my (incorrect) perception of rainy weather. Just cloudy, then.
All of which means that the actual rainfall in May wasn’t as bad as it seemed to me at the time, and my June disease affliction wasn’t as bad as a “real” illness. In fact, I sometimes still have times I’m a bit sneezy with a briefly runny nose, so maybe it’s just some sort of winter allergy, or whatever.
Winter is never pleasant for me, regardless of the amount of rain that actually falls in any given week, and this year has been no different. I’m glad I quarantined myself for my mother-in-law’s sake, even if my seeming disease affliction really were “just” allergies. The yucky feeling was real, even if my perception of rainfall may have been based on alternative facts. I blame winter
Sunday, June 22, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 10
There was a new Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100” on June 22, 1985: “Heaven” (video up top) by Canadian singer and songwriter Bryan Adams. It was Number One for two weeks, his first Number One hit and his third in the Top Ten song.
The song was the third single from his fourth studio album album, Reckless, and was written in 1983 while Adams was touring with Journey, which is probably why the song is inspired by the band’s song, "Faithfully". According to the Wikipedia article linked about the song above, Adams didn’t think the song was right for his album and almost didn’t include it.
There were two different music videos made for the song, and the one above appears to be the first. I don’t remember this video, and Wikipedia’s description of the other doesn’t sound familiar. It’s entirely possible I didn’t see either, or else, not maybe just not often.
I do remember the song, though, even hear it on the radio every once in awhile (Number One songs often reappear for years afterward…), however, I wasn’t exactly a fan of the song back in the day. In fact, when I saw it on the list of Number Ones for 1985, at first I couldn’t remember how it went. However, when I watched the video—as I do for every song I share in this series, of course—I recognised it immediately. To be clear, it definitely wasn’t that I DISliked the song, I just didn’t actively like it. I thought it was fine for what it was, but maybe a bit slow for my taste.
There’s one thing that I feel obligated to mention: In those days, some people liked to make a point of disliking Bryan Adams (kind of like in more recent times when some people made a point of stating their dislike of Nine Inch Nails…). One must wonder how much of that was performative, given Adams' success, right? Personally, I never disliked Bryan Adams, and I didn’t pretend that I did (a Canadian friend of mine did, though). I've liked a lot of different pop music in various genres and years, and it’s actually pretty rare for me to actively dislike a song, let alone an artist or band. Having said all that, I never bought any of his music, though there may have been a song on a compilation here or there, but I don’t remember any off the top of my head. Kind of like when I saw this song on the list, I suppose.
“Heaven” reached Number 12 in Australia, Number 11 in Canada (Gold), Number 17 in New Zealand (Platinum), Number 38 in the UK (Platinum), and Number One on the USA’s Billboard, as well as Number 12 on their “Adult Contemporary” chart and Number 27 on their “Mainstream Rock Songs” chart. The song was ultmately Certified Gold in the USA—in 2009.
The album Reckless reached Number 2 in Australia (Platinum), Number One in Canada (11x Platinum), Number 1 in New Zealand (Platinum), Number 7 in the UK (3x Platinum), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard 200” (5x Platinum).
This series will return July 6, 2025 with a brand new Number One single for that week. Will I remember that one?
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9 – June 8, 2025
The song was the third single from his fourth studio album album, Reckless, and was written in 1983 while Adams was touring with Journey, which is probably why the song is inspired by the band’s song, "Faithfully". According to the Wikipedia article linked about the song above, Adams didn’t think the song was right for his album and almost didn’t include it.
There were two different music videos made for the song, and the one above appears to be the first. I don’t remember this video, and Wikipedia’s description of the other doesn’t sound familiar. It’s entirely possible I didn’t see either, or else, not maybe just not often.
I do remember the song, though, even hear it on the radio every once in awhile (Number One songs often reappear for years afterward…), however, I wasn’t exactly a fan of the song back in the day. In fact, when I saw it on the list of Number Ones for 1985, at first I couldn’t remember how it went. However, when I watched the video—as I do for every song I share in this series, of course—I recognised it immediately. To be clear, it definitely wasn’t that I DISliked the song, I just didn’t actively like it. I thought it was fine for what it was, but maybe a bit slow for my taste.
There’s one thing that I feel obligated to mention: In those days, some people liked to make a point of disliking Bryan Adams (kind of like in more recent times when some people made a point of stating their dislike of Nine Inch Nails…). One must wonder how much of that was performative, given Adams' success, right? Personally, I never disliked Bryan Adams, and I didn’t pretend that I did (a Canadian friend of mine did, though). I've liked a lot of different pop music in various genres and years, and it’s actually pretty rare for me to actively dislike a song, let alone an artist or band. Having said all that, I never bought any of his music, though there may have been a song on a compilation here or there, but I don’t remember any off the top of my head. Kind of like when I saw this song on the list, I suppose.
“Heaven” reached Number 12 in Australia, Number 11 in Canada (Gold), Number 17 in New Zealand (Platinum), Number 38 in the UK (Platinum), and Number One on the USA’s Billboard, as well as Number 12 on their “Adult Contemporary” chart and Number 27 on their “Mainstream Rock Songs” chart. The song was ultmately Certified Gold in the USA—in 2009.
The album Reckless reached Number 2 in Australia (Platinum), Number One in Canada (11x Platinum), Number 1 in New Zealand (Platinum), Number 7 in the UK (3x Platinum), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard 200” (5x Platinum).
This series will return July 6, 2025 with a brand new Number One single for that week. Will I remember that one?
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9 – June 8, 2025
The semi-annual change. Or not.
By anyone’s reckoning, it’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere. The June Solstice arrived at 2:42pm NZST yesterday afternoon (June 21), and while we say winter began on June first, yesterday could be called “the Winter Solstice”. Regardless of the start date of the seasons, in this case it means that daytime will start getting longer again, which is a huge plus for me. The short days and cold weather are the reasons I dislike winter so much. Sadly, the warmer weather is many, many weeks away.
I went to a relative’s house for lunch with some of the family, which was a good time, as always, and that’s where I was when the June Solstice arrived. However, I was surprised that there was still a bit of fog when I left my house near midday, though nowhere near as bad as it was earlier in the morning. Still, fog and cold temperatures, are a big part of winter in Hamilton, so I’m kind of used to it.
It wasn’t the fog or cold temperatures that were negatives, though: That came later as I drove home. The radio host mentioned that daylight today would be two seconds more than yesterday. Yay. Winter still has a looooooong time to go.
The September Equinox arrives at 6:19am NZST on Tuesday, September 23, which is also five days before NZ Daylight Saving Time returns.
I went to a relative’s house for lunch with some of the family, which was a good time, as always, and that’s where I was when the June Solstice arrived. However, I was surprised that there was still a bit of fog when I left my house near midday, though nowhere near as bad as it was earlier in the morning. Still, fog and cold temperatures, are a big part of winter in Hamilton, so I’m kind of used to it.
It wasn’t the fog or cold temperatures that were negatives, though: That came later as I drove home. The radio host mentioned that daylight today would be two seconds more than yesterday. Yay. Winter still has a looooooong time to go.
The September Equinox arrives at 6:19am NZST on Tuesday, September 23, which is also five days before NZ Daylight Saving Time returns.
Monday, June 09, 2025
Adding changes to the list
Back in 2023, I wrote about a personal organisation system I’d created for myself. That system had a section called “What’s Up” that I intended to help me keep track of things I wanted to get done. I explained it in more detail in a post after six months using it, and that’s how I used the system throughout 2023 and 2024—and then I didn’t.
In January of this year, I started writing out the dates on the sheets for this year’s “What’sUp” section, but I struggled—or, more accurately, I struggled. At the time I thought to myself that “I’m just not feeling it”, and so, I stopped. I’d gotten as far as June 1, but just couldn’t face it any more (and I’d just bought a new ring binder to put the old sheets in; more about about in a bit).
Part of the problem was that it had become a list of what I did, not what I wanted to do in a day. That’s still useful for things I don’t do on a schedule so I can tell how long it’s been since I did that task (which is why I was going to save the old sheets in a binder). Even so, it had become useless for scheduling things—because I didn’t use it for that. I also found the limit of six items to be arbitrary and utterly silly. So, it wasn’t working, I was frustrated, but also unsure what to do about it.
In the meantime, I made a version on Apple’s Notes app, and I just listed what I did on a given day—pretty much like I did on the handwritten version, but not limited to only six items. However, just as with the paper version, I sometimes forgot what I did on a day, or over a few days, and I had to try to remember later. It wasn’t a huge improvement—except that the Notes app is on all my devices and I could add something to my list anytime, anywhere—even if I suddenly remembered something as I was getting into bed (it’s happened).
I next made a temporary “to do” list using Notes because users can add check buttons—to make the list an electronic checklist. I was originally thinking how I could copy-and-paste items from one to the other, and then it hit me: Why not just make it one list? And that’s what I did (shown in the screenshot up top).
At the end of May, I made up the entire month of June in Notes, and each day has “Something or other” as the default placeholder text (I can type over it, obviously). So far, it’s been a combination of the old system and improvements. As I said, a list of what I actually did each day is useful, but the new system means I can schedule things for that month, too, then click the button for the things I’ve actually done, and if I don’t get it done, I can easily copy anything I didn’t do and add it onto the list for the next day.
It’s very early days for this revised system, but I’ve already noticed that I’ve been scheduling things I’d like to get done because, first, it doesn’t matter if I go beyond six items, and second, I can easily move an uncompleted task to another day if I don’t get it done. This suggests that the new system may finally be one that can actually work for me—MAYBE.
This has been a particular kind of journey, but I think I knew all along there would be changes to my systems as I found things that didn’t work. Coming up with ideas I think would work better is hte easy part. Actually successfully using it? That’s the unknown part. Maybe I should schedule a review in six months…
Sunday, June 08, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9
This series is back on track this week with a new Number One song for this week in 1985: On June 8, 1985, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” (video up top) by English pop rock duo Tears for Fears reached Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100”, and remained there for two weeks. The song was the third single from their second album, Songs from the Big Chair.
I first heard of Tears for Fears when they released their first studio album, 1982’s The Hurting., and that was mostly because their song Mad World”. which I loved, primarily because I saw the music video for the song, which was their first video. I did not, however, buy the album, but a friend let me tape their copy (that tape is long gone).
When “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” was released, it was played on the radio a LOT, and that can make me get tired of a song. For whatever reason, that didn’t happen with this song, and to this day I still like it when it comes on the radio—though that’s now rare because I only listen to the radio in the car when I’m running errands here in town.
I bought the album Songs from the Big Chair, which I left behind in the USA. However, I bought an anniversary collection of their early albums from iTunes (as it was called then…). And that I still have. The collection included several remixes, and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” was one of them.
I used to follow Curt Smith on Twitter back in the day (Roland Orzabal was apparently never on it), and thought he was quite interesting (in fact, I was on his email list for quite some time, too). I think I may have traded Tweets with him at some point, and he may even have followed me back (the only celebrity I know for sure followed me back was Stephen Fry, though I think a few others may have, too). That was all way back, at time when Twitter was still fun, before it was subsumed into the pool of fetid slime it would become (that was well before Elon bought it, by which time it was already becoming a hellscape).
“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” reached Number 2 in Australia (5x Platinum), Number One in Canada (Gold) and in New Zealand (5x Platinum), Number 2 in the UK (4x Platinum), and Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100” and “Hot Dance Club Play” charts, as well as Number 2 on their “Adult Contemporary” chart. It was also reached Number One on the USA’s Cash Box “Top 100” chart. The song wasn’t certified in the USA.
The album Songs from the Big Chair reached Number 5 in Australia, Number One in Canada (7x Platinum), Number 2 in New Zealand (Platinum), Number 2 in the UK (3x Platinum), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard 200”. It was Certified 5x Platinum in the USA.
This series will return June 22, 2025 with a brand new Number One single for that week—and the week after that, too.
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
I first heard of Tears for Fears when they released their first studio album, 1982’s The Hurting., and that was mostly because their song Mad World”. which I loved, primarily because I saw the music video for the song, which was their first video. I did not, however, buy the album, but a friend let me tape their copy (that tape is long gone).
When “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” was released, it was played on the radio a LOT, and that can make me get tired of a song. For whatever reason, that didn’t happen with this song, and to this day I still like it when it comes on the radio—though that’s now rare because I only listen to the radio in the car when I’m running errands here in town.
I bought the album Songs from the Big Chair, which I left behind in the USA. However, I bought an anniversary collection of their early albums from iTunes (as it was called then…). And that I still have. The collection included several remixes, and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” was one of them.
I used to follow Curt Smith on Twitter back in the day (Roland Orzabal was apparently never on it), and thought he was quite interesting (in fact, I was on his email list for quite some time, too). I think I may have traded Tweets with him at some point, and he may even have followed me back (the only celebrity I know for sure followed me back was Stephen Fry, though I think a few others may have, too). That was all way back, at time when Twitter was still fun, before it was subsumed into the pool of fetid slime it would become (that was well before Elon bought it, by which time it was already becoming a hellscape).
“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” reached Number 2 in Australia (5x Platinum), Number One in Canada (Gold) and in New Zealand (5x Platinum), Number 2 in the UK (4x Platinum), and Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100” and “Hot Dance Club Play” charts, as well as Number 2 on their “Adult Contemporary” chart. It was also reached Number One on the USA’s Cash Box “Top 100” chart. The song wasn’t certified in the USA.
The album Songs from the Big Chair reached Number 5 in Australia, Number One in Canada (7x Platinum), Number 2 in New Zealand (Platinum), Number 2 in the UK (3x Platinum), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard 200”. It was Certified 5x Platinum in the USA.
This series will return June 22, 2025 with a brand new Number One single for that week—and the week after that, too.
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Saturday, June 07, 2025
Sometimes, it’s not the eggs
I’ve done cooking experiments of one sort or another for decades, but especially in the last ten years—and even more frequently beginning with the first Covid lockdown. Those experiments were a way to beat the boredom of lockdowns, but I also I thought it was an interesting and creative thing to do.
Time moved on, and my enthusiasm waned a bit, particularly during challenging times, and I found myself focusing on very specific things, like consistently making good poached eggs (because sometimes it is about the eggs…). And yet, the experiments continued.
Today’s eggs were perfect, as they usually are, so I feel I’ve now pretty much mastered making them—as long as I pay attention to what I’m doing, because a wandering mind is a ruinous thing. Getting things right—even a meal—feels really good, and while I could joke about the “dopamine hit” this activity actually really does help: Accomplishing a goal, especially one that results in good food, can absolutely increase dopamine levels in our blood.
When times feel bleak, as they have for me off and on over the past 18 months or so, succeeding at a small task—even a very small task, like making eggs—often ends up being the biggest help. It’s actually the main reason I talk about celebrating “small victories”: They matter.
I think it’s deeply embedded in human nature to not see what’s positive and to instead focus on worries, dreads, and possible dangers. I think we all do that, at least sometimes, and I certainly do it, too. It’s like ignoring the beautiful sunny tropical ocean beach we’re standing on because off at the distant horizon we see dark clouds and storms. We ignore what’s right in front of us and instead worry that the far-off storm may turn and hurl itself right at us, even though it may never do that.
When times are especially rough, we’re more likely to have this happen, even repeatedly. This is why celebrating small victories is so important: Making a point of focusing on good, positive things can help break the miasma of negativity, maybe not at first, and maybe not individually, but the benefits of celebrating positive things, especially repeatedly, makes it easier to break the negativity loop.
This has been on my mind a lot lately, not the least because I wanted natural, non-pharmaceutical approaches to help me cope better with the occasional rough times I was experiencing, and I pretty much managed that. My daily walking routine helped, and so does spending time with family or friends, and, maybe especially, playing with Leo. But celebrating small victories, especially repeatedly, has definitely played an important part.
I first realised this when I was a young boy, though not for this purpose. I used to write “to do” lists for projects (some things have never changed…), most memorably for tidying my bedroom. I realised that instead of writing “tidy bedroom”, it worked better to write small tasks, like, “clean top of dresser”, or for a bookcase I might even put tidying each shelf as a separate task. Then, as I checked off each completed task, I got lots of check marks on the list, and that, in turn, encouraged me to keep going to check more tasks off the list until the whole thing was done. Without knowing it, I was celebrating small victories over and over until they led to an even bigger accomplishment, the completion of the whole job.
Many (many…) decades later, the lessons I learned in childhood still matter, and so does celebrating small victories. I don’t always succeed in doing that, but sometimes I do, and that makes the difference.
Which brings me back to those eggs this morning. I took the photo, something I often do simply for practice alone, which is why I don't share them. I began to think that such photos were too shallow, which figures since I’ve backed away from posting much of anything on social media. That’s where the mistake is.
Because of all the things I said earlier—especially about celebrating small victories—me not sharing this photo (or the many others) means I was not celebrating small victories, and that was a mistake. To be clear, it's not important that I have a small victory, however, plenty of other people are looking for reasons to be hopeful, and me hiding mine under a bushel does no service to them—or me, actually.
Sometimes, it’s not about the eggs, and sometimes it is, and it’s really not up to me to determine which it is. This is about more than photos of food, it’s about giving hope and an example to others when we can, yes, but it mostly means celebrating the small victories we get. Today I had one, and it was about eggs. Tomorrow? No idea.
Tuesday, June 03, 2025
The non-birthday birthday holiday thing
Today was the first day of the work week for most New Zealanders, as it is every year at this time. That’s because the first Monday in June is the King’s Birthday public holiday, which means this past weekend was a three-day holiday weekend. It used to be the last public holiday until Labour Day at the end of October, but now we have Matariki (also known as “Māori New Year”) which comes between the two, and this year it will be on Friday, June 20
Technically, the holiday is actually the “Reigning Monarch’s Birthday” or some such (that’s what it was called in my various employment contracts), because it’s not their actual birthday. The late Queen of New Zealand, Elizabeth II, was actually born on April 21, and her successor and son, King Charles III, was born on November 14. I have a hunch that while most New Zealanders know that the first Monday in June is just a public holiday, I doubt all that many know when the monarch’s actual birthday is. For some unknown reason, I somehow memorised King Charles’ actual birthday, but I could never remember the exact birthday of our late queen, aside from the fact she was born in April. So, yay me? Yeah, I’ll go with that.
King’s Birthday is one of two pubic holidays on which honours are handed out (the other is New Year’s Day), but it’s a werid process. Technically, anyone can nominate someone (other than themselves) online. The nominations go to a special committee chaired by the Prime Minister of the day (currently the National Party’s Chris Luxon). This year, additional committee members include the leaders of the parties in Luxon’s coalition, Winston Peters of NZ First and David Seymour of Act. The other members of the committee are from all three parties in the coalition.
After the committee reviews the list (according to some sort of process), the prime minister makes a recommendation to the King of New Zealand, and he then approves the honours list, as the saying goes, “on the prime minister’s advice”. Put another way, it’s kind of a rubber stamp. Naturally, there are problems with this system.
First, and most obviously, it’s controlled by the government of the day. Traditional, National Party-led governments reward business people, and Labour Party-led governments tend to reward teachers and union/worker organisers. Both tend to reward community organisers, as well as folks in the arts, and sport, though ratios may vary between the two.
I always read through the entire list of folks getting an honour (Related: This year’s full list of King’s Birthday Honours), and I seldom recognise very many names. Whenever I raise an eyebrow at an honours list, it’s inevitably a National Party-led government that’s created it. This year was no different.
The one that jumped out at me was them honouring Ruth Richardson, a neoliberal’s neoliberal, who was Finance Minister from 1990 to 1993 in the Fourth National Government led by Jim Bolger as Prime Minister. She was the first female to hold the position, which absolutely is notable—or, it would be if she hadn’t been so absolutely awful. Darien Fenton, a former Labour Party Member of Parliament, summed it up well on her Facebook page:
New Zealand still hasn’t fully recovered from the damage done by the 1991 Budget, nor from the neoliberal takeover of Labour before that which also caused huge damage to New Zealand. The architects of Labour’s awful neoliberal policies natually joined with Richardson to establish the expressly neoliberal Act Party, and neither they not Act have wavered from their war against working people in favour of the rich—leopards really don’t change their spots, apparently.
All of this just underscores why the honours process should never be under the control of the government of the day: Partisanship always gets in the way. I think that a ministerial committee (made up of non-political career ministry workers) should review all nominations and make recommendations to the government of the day that they can either accept or reject. Ideally, that should be it—the politicians shouldn’t be allowed to add strictly partisan nominees, but maybe they could be allowed to add a certain number (5?) of lower-level honours. In my opinion.
While I’m a huge fan of public holidays—especially because they matter in New Zealand—I’m like most New Zealanders in that, for me, the King’s Birthday public holiday is nothing more than a three-day holiday weekend. Honestly, I don’t even care about the Honours List, even when I think one includes people who shouldn’t be honoured. After all, people who have opposite political beliefs from mine probably think the same of lists put out by a Labour-led government. It is the way of things.
So, a three-day holiday weekend was had. Happy us!
Related: "King's Birthday Honours: Dai Henwood, Tim Southee and Jude Dobson among those recognised" – RNZ
Technically, the holiday is actually the “Reigning Monarch’s Birthday” or some such (that’s what it was called in my various employment contracts), because it’s not their actual birthday. The late Queen of New Zealand, Elizabeth II, was actually born on April 21, and her successor and son, King Charles III, was born on November 14. I have a hunch that while most New Zealanders know that the first Monday in June is just a public holiday, I doubt all that many know when the monarch’s actual birthday is. For some unknown reason, I somehow memorised King Charles’ actual birthday, but I could never remember the exact birthday of our late queen, aside from the fact she was born in April. So, yay me? Yeah, I’ll go with that.
King’s Birthday is one of two pubic holidays on which honours are handed out (the other is New Year’s Day), but it’s a werid process. Technically, anyone can nominate someone (other than themselves) online. The nominations go to a special committee chaired by the Prime Minister of the day (currently the National Party’s Chris Luxon). This year, additional committee members include the leaders of the parties in Luxon’s coalition, Winston Peters of NZ First and David Seymour of Act. The other members of the committee are from all three parties in the coalition.
After the committee reviews the list (according to some sort of process), the prime minister makes a recommendation to the King of New Zealand, and he then approves the honours list, as the saying goes, “on the prime minister’s advice”. Put another way, it’s kind of a rubber stamp. Naturally, there are problems with this system.
First, and most obviously, it’s controlled by the government of the day. Traditional, National Party-led governments reward business people, and Labour Party-led governments tend to reward teachers and union/worker organisers. Both tend to reward community organisers, as well as folks in the arts, and sport, though ratios may vary between the two.
I always read through the entire list of folks getting an honour (Related: This year’s full list of King’s Birthday Honours), and I seldom recognise very many names. Whenever I raise an eyebrow at an honours list, it’s inevitably a National Party-led government that’s created it. This year was no different.
The one that jumped out at me was them honouring Ruth Richardson, a neoliberal’s neoliberal, who was Finance Minister from 1990 to 1993 in the Fourth National Government led by Jim Bolger as Prime Minister. She was the first female to hold the position, which absolutely is notable—or, it would be if she hadn’t been so absolutely awful. Darien Fenton, a former Labour Party Member of Parliament, summed it up well on her Facebook page:
Ruth Richardson did untold damage that our country wears til this day. But 30 years on, she is still boasting about it: "I have always worn those reforms that I championed as a badge of honour, and the restoration of New Zealand's fortunes made it worth it. So I guess this award thirty years down the track is a recognition of that work." Nicola Willis [the current National Party Finance Minister and Deputy Leader of her party] is following in her tradition.Richarsons’s 1991 "Mother of all Budgets" drastically cut benefits to “encourage employment”, but it led to an explosion in income inequality and poverty, and general hardship for the poorest New Zealanders. It wasn’t until 2016 that there was a small effective increase under National, and then Labour largely restored pre-1991 funding levels 2020-21. Richardson’s policies were so toxic that National barely won re-election in 1993 (they had a one seat majority in those pre-MMP days), and she was fired from the Finance Minister role, so she decided to resign from Parliament rather than accept a different Cabinet position, thus forcing an expensive by-election on NZ taxpayers, which, in my opinion, is the ultimate “fuck you” from a selfish, arrogant, and narcissistic politician.
New Zealand still hasn’t fully recovered from the damage done by the 1991 Budget, nor from the neoliberal takeover of Labour before that which also caused huge damage to New Zealand. The architects of Labour’s awful neoliberal policies natually joined with Richardson to establish the expressly neoliberal Act Party, and neither they not Act have wavered from their war against working people in favour of the rich—leopards really don’t change their spots, apparently.
All of this just underscores why the honours process should never be under the control of the government of the day: Partisanship always gets in the way. I think that a ministerial committee (made up of non-political career ministry workers) should review all nominations and make recommendations to the government of the day that they can either accept or reject. Ideally, that should be it—the politicians shouldn’t be allowed to add strictly partisan nominees, but maybe they could be allowed to add a certain number (5?) of lower-level honours. In my opinion.
While I’m a huge fan of public holidays—especially because they matter in New Zealand—I’m like most New Zealanders in that, for me, the King’s Birthday public holiday is nothing more than a three-day holiday weekend. Honestly, I don’t even care about the Honours List, even when I think one includes people who shouldn’t be honoured. After all, people who have opposite political beliefs from mine probably think the same of lists put out by a Labour-led government. It is the way of things.
So, a three-day holiday weekend was had. Happy us!
Related: "King's Birthday Honours: Dai Henwood, Tim Southee and Jude Dobson among those recognised" – RNZ
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