marsden_online | Entries tagged with vent

There was an EQC branded vehicle sitting out front for some time with the driver shuffling paper, but it's driven off.

I've just spent some time on the phone to AMI not-quite-abusing the poor fellow for the very confusing letter they just sent which could be read as they needed to hear from me about my EQC claims but was actually to tell me they didn't. FAIL.

Unable to get hold of the plumber - I really need this building consent issue sorted out, and they're not getting back to me.

Current Mood: grumpy
Current Location: Lair
Current Music: Detonation Boulevard [Sisters of Mercy]

My generation is in our 30's now. There are people younger than us in Parliament. The sort of country we live in is no. longer. somebody. else's. problem.

I know people who came to this realisation in their 20's. Just call me a late developer :(

Current Mood: frustrated
Current Location: Lair
Current Music: Crazy Crazy Nights [KISS]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10712213

The Business Roundtable is urging Christchurch City Council to sell its shareholdings in commercial businesses after the earthquake that devastated the central city.

"Reducing its shareholding in its port, airport and electricity companies would free up cash for repairs to local infrastructure without imposing new burdens on ratepayers," the roundtable said.

Actually I consider things like the electricity network, airport and port to be part of the infrastructure, thankyouverymuch.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: Lair
Current Music: Should I Stay or Should I Go [The Clash]

How about doing something to raise wages before tax?!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10712067

We recognise that higher prices put an extra financial burden on households. That's why we are focused on lifting after-tax wages and limiting price increases...

Current Mood: irritated
Current Location: Lair
Current Music: Gypsy Eyes [Nightingale]

This was a really bad post for a spam-bot to hit (comment on) tonight. It's really rounded out a less than stellar evening.

Current Mood: upset
Current Location: Lair

This article in Stuff / Chch Press is about a street of people left in limbo by the quake reconstruction process. Accommodation support is running out or was never available, insurance money isn't available until EQC decides what is going to do to earthquake-strengthen the land, properties can't be sold. It could be up to 5 years until the area is rebuilt.

According to Gerry Brownlee when written to about the situation

Brownlee wrote back saying the best possible outcome for people who wanted to withdraw equity from earthquake-damaged properties was to sell them on the open market, rather than to the government, and there was evidence that house sales were returning to normal levels.

Never mind that these properties are not currently marketable. Contrast this also with his statement at the end of the article.

The overall stipulation is `get it right'. It would have been easy to have said `OK, it was a one in 500 year event, that gives you a mathematical probability of it not happening in the next 50 years, so why don't we just tidy things up, sprinkle a bit of magic dust and go back to the way we were'. That would be unacceptable for the long-term life of the city and the individual equity for people.

If you were so keen on "getting it right" Gerry, you'd be doing something to help the people in these neighbourhoods with their quality of life right now, even if it was only an interim fix. But they're all just squiggles on a piece of paper to you, only relevant to their ultimate $$ value.

~~~
I do also feel sorry for the EQC and other call centre staff who have to deal directly with these people, knowing there is nothing they can do.

Current Mood: grumpy
Current Location: Lair
Current Music: Anarchy in the U.K. [Sex Pistols]

It only takes one person to decide they can make the run up the middle of Riccarton Road (on the painted ("flush) median) to get to the right-turn lane at Matipo St lights for a dozen other people to stop legally sitting in line, pull out and follow them.

News flash - passing on the flush median is illegal even when the line of traffic is stopped!

(I was sitting about 7th in the line of traffic stopped at the light patiently waiting for it to be legal for me to pull over into the (clear) turning lane, when I was blocked by the line of traffic which came up the median. Since there were at least a dozen cars behind me at the point that the leading car popped out, you get an idea of how far it and its little followers were travelling in the middle of the road. I had plenty of time to observe their progress in the side mirror. Of course it's not the first time I've had this happen to me or observed this behaviour at those lights.)

Current Location: Lair
Current Music: Disturnbed [Ockhams Razor]

Lack of help astounds petrol station hold-up hero

A man who thwarted a suspected armed service station hold-up has been offered free coffee and a thank you from management.

And the company is standing by its policy that staff are under no circumstances to get involved with a violent customer, even when another customer is being attacked.
...
The 35-year-old was paying for his petrol when a woman yelling that she had a gun came inside and began threatening staff members.

With one hand in a sweatshirt pocket - where the alleged gun was hidden - she grabbed Mr McCullough.
...
As he stood in a headlock he was shocked that the five staff members, who he said were all large and capable men, backed away and stood behind the counter looking at them.
...
BP general manager retail Frank van Hattum said although the attack was an unfortunate one, the company backed the actions of the staff members, saying they did everything right.

"All our staff are trained to under no circumstances engage with an aggressive customer.

"They have to stand back."

This is a big steaming pile of crap. (And although the company at fault in this instance is BP I'm well aware that every other similar company has the same policy.)

Just think what benefits would arise from training staff in how to engage with an aggressive customer in ways other than standing by and offloading responsibility to the faceless "company policy".

For the business
- more confident staff
- safer customers
- not considered an easy target

For -society-
- more people trained not to accept this sort of violence and equipped to intervene wherever it may occur.

Because at the moment all the 'training' is doing is teaching people that it's all right to stand back and devolve responsibility for their actions or lack thereof to someone or something else.

~~~
And lets not forget the scorn due to the staff themselves who put blind adherence to the company rulebook ahead of being decent human beings, and the reported bystanders who also didn't get involved. -You- enable a society where this sort of shit is acceptable.

~~~
- trying to calm down enough to formulate an email

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Location: Lair
Current Music: HEY STOOPID [Alice Cooper]

My concentration is shot in general, but my ability to focus on code is shot worst of all. I don't seem to be able to look at work for more than a few minutes without my brain shutting down. This could be a serious problem.

Current Mood: disorientated
Current Location: Lair
Current Music: The 4th Phase [CrüxShadows]

Soundbite from ABC World News - the amount of oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico is "only as much as America burns every 5 minutes".

So every 5 minutes the USA alone is dissipating that much gas and heat into the atmosphere? And how is this imagined to be less of an environmental problem than it leaking into the sea in liquid form?

No wonder there is global warming. Not that New Zealand doesn't contribute it's tiny South-Pacific share.

We need a new fuel. It doesn't have to be more or even as efficient - just cleaner.

Current Mood: helpless
Current Location: Lair

So I received a nasty surprise in the mail today - a bill for ~$1300 in overdue Student Loan payments and penalty charges from the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 years.

a) I rather thought that was taken into account with my income tax, which may mean my accountant stuffed up

b) Even so, I've only just given him the paperwork for 2008-09. There is no way my income was assessed in time for payment due on the 4th of April 2010. (Nor for that matter, the income for the date the 2007-08 came due). Apparently this is one of the curses of being self employed - there is no way I can avoid at least 1 month of late fees.

I've been on the phone to IRD and they agree something is amiss in that they also have no record of sending me any previous notification that payment was due. So they suggest I might be able to get the penalty charges removed on written application.

Apparently because I'm on Provisional tax the amount I am due to pay for being above the threshold is also calculated off my provisional income (I may have another $1000+ in payment due which doesn't appear on this statement - and which will change when my income for the year is formally assessed but will attract overdue charges in the meantime).

So my current plan is just to upshift paying my loan off from 3rd on the priority list to first, dump the appropriate sum of money across from the mortgage and accept that the interest it will attract there is the cost of not having to deal with this every year or two.

Unfortunately because of the circumstances the helpdesk guy wasn't able to tell me exactly what amount that would be (with the 10% bonus for voluntary repayment) - they have to put a specialist team on it. Who will get back to me in 5-10 working days.

~~~
This arrived while I was trying to calm down from a work related very aggravating situation this morning. It is on top of the unexpected ACC bill due later this month and vigorously rogers my financial forecast for the next 12-24 months. I am not a happy camper.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: Lair
Current Music: Satellite [CrüxShadows]

The trip down was windy. Managed to avoid being blown off the road.

Had a tour of

cthulhu_dream's lab, which is much like other labs I have been in but this one actually has (fricken') lasers.

Had a nap followed by dinner at the Jitsu with ppls.

Attended the party, which was really a drinkies but was exactly the right sized drinkies for the venue. There was good company and conversation and I enjoyed it. I didn't take many photos but they will appear online over the next couple of days. Left a bit after midnight.

Followed some real prats down Princes/Georges on the way back to the motel. Hanging out of their big covered hilux-type vehicle, shouting abuse at pedestrians. The other side of Knox they actually started swerving in and spraying liquid/throwing drink containers at pedestrians. About this point I was angry enough to report their numberplate to the police, but could quite be arsed locating the Dndn police number when I got back to my motel room. I was sufficiently agitated that it took another hour before I got to sleep.

Slept fairly well, despite dreams. This nights being about not being willing to let go of something I'd been given for fear of ceasing to exist altogether. I guess everyone has things like that - I have many.

Between breakfast and leaving Dunedin today I caught up with

salahdra and others who hadn't been at the party :)

The trip back was hot. Had the aircon on most of the way. 30 deg in Timaru, still 28 deg in Chch when we arrived back about 6pm.

Need to write an email which is going to uncork the angst-genie I managed to suppress at the party, then am tired enough to hopefully sleep that off with minimum ill effects.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Lair

It's not the doing itself, it's the what my mind is rebelling against. I don't want to deal with this shit.

Current Mood: stressed
Current Location: Lair
Current Music: Astronomy [Metallica]

Eventually I was put through to someone who knew that that TelstraClear's disconnection team is on holiday until Monday, so there's no chance of the cable TV being turned off before that.

Which makes no sense. The decoder has that subscriber card in it, it communicates via a modem with a fixed IP address, surely there's a button on the account dashboard somewhere that will disable/invalidate one or both of these. Then collection of the decoder can be handled at a more convenient time. What do they have to do - manually shift jumpers in the exchange or something?

Likewise surely upgrading the internet package should just be a matter of making a selection in my account. What disconnections has to do with that I'm not sure but apparently nothing can happen until they're back on Monday.

On the positive side this may actually save me a few $ as I've been told that internet upgrades are charged pro-rata for the remainder of the billing period from the date they're implemented, and the chap who might actually have been in NZ I eventually talked to today was prety sure disconnections are dated from the date of the request (ie Tuesday, but I'm happy with today).

The reason this matters is that my billing period ends -today- and having made the decision to cut the TV I don't really want to be hit with another month's subscription.

I'm unplugging the decoder tonight anyway. I've rediscovered how much heat that thing puts out, even when it's on standby. There's some power to be saved there.

Another thing - all that flash collecting my account details by automatic voice response and then they're not transferred between operators with the call? What sort of Mickey Mouse back end do you have?

Current Location: Lair
Current Music: Alright [Tadpole]

Rarotonga. Auckland.

The first completely missed the exploded vertebrae in their x-rays (and were none to gentle acquiring them) and sent him back sitting in cattle class wearing a too-large neck brace.

The second reportedly had a maniac ambulance driver and a whole lot of staff not trained in handling spinal/neck injuries. They got the halo put on him on Friday (after which they reportedly felt any further care in handling was unnecessary), but 'the vest has to be done by orthopedics' and orthopedics don't work after hours - or weekends. People don;t stop getting injured just because it's the weekend y'know!

FFS. He could have been down here on Monday. As it was he got the vest put on Monday, and transferred down by the Flying Doctor Service (did you know NZ had one of those? We didn't). Currently in Chch Public Hospital, where he seems to have been lucky enough to be placed in the care of someone with spinal experience. She was demonstrating how to wash under the vest for my mother (and a couple of nursing students), something Auckland had neglected to bother with.

All going well they will get him on his feet tomorrow, remove the catheter and send him home Friday. Where he can look forward to a further 12 weeks of not being able to turn his head or do any activities requiring same. He may be back in just a neck brace in time for sisters wedding in November.

Anyway, having by some miracle made it this far (mother reckons the two grandmothers don;t want to see him again just yet) he should make a full, if slow, recovery.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: Lair
Current Music: Return (Coming Home) [CrüxShadows]

At least there is less chance that in turning on the TV at news time I will see his smug face before I have a chance to change the channel, but I'm sure the nation will now become very familiar with the other members of both families.

Seriously, what made this - at the time accused - murderer worth more than a mention when the trial started, and again when it ended. I'll allow the case was important enough for that, and some source of ongoing coverage for those interested. Instead he's been made a grotesque celebrity, something 'special' for what he did.

C'mon media, please do not glorify crime with any more than the brief, factual attention it deserves. Please do not give criminals the opportunity to further demean and harass their victims (immediate and extended) on a national stage.

How about having a good hard look at the causes and possible solutions of crime rather than focusing the spotlight on the after-effects. How can we work to reduce the chance of this happening again?

The mainstream media can be a powerful tool for bringing people together, for shaping society - how about you take a bit more responsibility for what you are portraying?

Current Mood: bitchy
Current Location: Lair
Current Music: Venus [Banarama]

Dear Westfields Riccarton (aka Riccarton Mall)

when attempting to exit your new parking building I do not expect to find myself going the wrong way past a "no entry" sign after turning to follow the arrow on the WAY OUT -> sign. Please sort your signage out.

~~~
Dear TelstraClear,

I've been poking around your plans and I'm very impressed by the way you've managed to dress up the same speed/volume/price combo in so many ways. I did manage to find a plan that would suit me better, but since it's a business plan I doubt you'd let me switch it into my InHome package. If you didn't have me by the cable TV I'd so drop your landline and just go Skype over that.

~~~
Dear Vodaphone,

I saw your ad for pre-pay mobile broadband on TV tonight and got a little excited. But when I tracked it down on your website I was shocked to find that the credit evaporates after just one month. What kind of scam are you trying to pull here?! If I'm prepaying for a non-perishable good or service I expect it to hang around for more than a month.

I'd be very interested to hear how you rationalise simultaneously labelling your prepay plans "No Term". That's a 1-month term if ever I saw one.

You continue to fail in my search for an affordable emergency or occasional mobile broadband service. Not that your competition does any better.

Current Mood: cold
Current Location: Lair

Environment Canterbury will be encouraging Christchurch residents to switch to cleaner forms of heating in the next year. As of April 1, 2010 the ban on using open fires and 15-year old plus non-complying solid fuel burners comes into effect. The council has also agreed to an enforcement programme.

http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/environment-canterbury-adopts-new-air-plan-rules/5/10992

My current burner was installed in 1994 (hey, 15 years ago!), which probably means it doesn't meet current regs.

I plan to replace it sometime in the next 5-10 years (subject to finances) because I want a working wetback and something I can cook on in emergencies which isn't tied to a 3rd-party fuel supply (gas, pellet). But I'm going to do it on my timetable. You [jabs virtual finger in direction of government body] do not come to my property and say "You must blah blah blah".

More importantly, from research I've done over the past few years, Ecan approved burners do not do what I want one to, especially one I'm going to to be paying several $000 for (with installation). Which is as above plus the ability to push heat to a decent amount of space, none of this "one room" bullshit.

Ecan can fuck off and die - they're nowt but a self-perpetuating bureaucratic bunch of busybodies. Listen to this self-justifying crap...

"The regional council has gone through an in-depth planning process with the community in developing the air plan and now has a legal obligation under the RMA to enforce the rules," said Cr Kane.

(emphasis mine)

Current Mood: enraged
Current Location: Lair

I've spent most of today and a good chunk of yesterday buried in my first attempt at 3D rendering. I downloaded a free package, Blender, and I guess I got what I paid for.

Anyway, after much mighty struggling and figuring out how to do things (the tutorials seemed good, until I actually started trying to put them into practice) I have an icosahedron. Angles +/- 0.05 degrees, side lengths +/- 0.05 whatever scaling units they're using. I am also well past out of patience for the day and have a long list of basic actions that there seems to be no simple way of doing in the program. Representative: generate an equilateral triangle (or any other regular polygon except a square), move a vertex to a set of co-ordinates and have the rest of the object move with it rather than distorting, view the angles and lengths of edges from a single vertex without going into 'drag me around' mode.

So having got this far tomorrow I plan to try and figure out lighting (because moving the light source around seems to make no difference), edge rounding, colours/textures, and how to delete the 249 unnecessary animation frames it seems to have generated (all mirroring any change I make, so WTF is the point?!) despite the auto-generate frames option being turned off! (I suspect I will wind up just importing the d20 object into a new project to deal with the last).

Current Location: Lair

Edit: See http://marsden-online.livejournal.com/559355.html for the outcome of my complaint
~~~
Please, use the complaints form

http://www.telstraclear.co.nz/customer-zone/customer-services/complaints-form.cfm

And here's a link to the relevant Broadcasting Standards Authority page noting that the watershed time for adult content on paid tv is 8pm in New Zealand

http://www.bsa.govt.nz/codesstandards-paytv.php

~~~
... once again had a movie he wanted to watch - and is paying for, fuck it! - blocked at 8:30pm.

Current Mood: angry
Current Location: Lair
Current Music: Tear You Apart [She Wants Revenge] [smartass winamp]

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Marsden is Here

-internet giraffitti

Entries tagged with vent

Stuffs

Not our parents problem any more

Oh look, the vultures are circling

Hey Bill English!

Crap

Earthquake Limbo

People are sheep

Not fucking acceptable.

Need something to blow these blues away.

Oil and heat

Fun and games with IRD and student loans

A record of the trip

Today is more of a battle

A long wait on hold for a short answer

Two places not to break your neck

The trial is over, but the media circus continues

A triplet of little rants

Repeat - I hate Ecan

At first I thought it was just my inexperience

Anyone who gets TestraClearSaturn movies and is tired of channel 22 being blocked in the evening