Growing up is optional

This weekend I managed to get Ubuntu Linux running on my PC, along side Windows XP. In the past I have tried to get away from MS products, but the hurdles have just been too high. There are still some hurdles with Ubuntu, but they’re not show stoppers for me. However, since my wife and kids use this PC, I can’t ditch Windows totally. This is a major source of Microsoft’s great power.

The two things that stop me ditching MS are office macros and kid’s games. Open Office is great, but there are still some issues between it and MS office. Our dependence on some spreadsheets means that we need to stick with Excel for a while. And the kids games are windows-only. I may be able to get them going with WINE, but haven’t tried yet.

I had my ear pierced by a friend when I was about 14. We just got a piercing stud and forced it through; crude, but effective. I haven’t worn an earing since I was about 17. I was playing a lot of rugby and it was forever putting it in and out. I’m not sure if I lost it, of just got sick of it, but whatever happenned, I stopped wearing one. The hole would close up I thought.

Last night, in a slightly alcohol-enhanced state of mind, I shoved on of my wife’s earing into the scar, just to see how deep it was. I can report, that after 15 years, earing holes do not close up.

Just went and saw the end of the Melbourne to Wellington leg of the Volvo Ocean Race (formerly the Whitbred Round the World). 1500 miles across the Tasman Sea and the difference between the boats was nine (9) seconds!

I will never buy another Brother printer again. Not long ago I got hold of a brother MFC 210C multifunction printer/scanner/fax. I know it’s not the best, but nor was it the cheapest. Where they really screw you over is the ink. If one of the colours runs out, it just stops printing. No gray-scale or black only, it just stops. So I shell out for yellow, even though nothing colour has been printed for 3 months, then, as if in a coordinated attempt to con more money out of you, the other colours run out too. I pull the cartridge out to find that it’s about quater full still. I put it back and the printer still says empty.

Imagine someone hands you an unpainted aluminium can. You’re told that it came out of the same factory that makes Coca-cola, using all of the same methods, all of the same equipment and all of the same ingedients to the same recipe, but it was put in an unpainted can. You can get hold of it for about 60% of the cost of Coca-cola branded cola.

1. Would you try it?
2. If it tastes the same, would you switch?
3. Would you encourage others to switch too?
4. Would you feel like a tight-ass for not buying branded cola?
5. Do you think you’d be seen as a tight-ass for not buying branded cola?
6. Can this anology be applied to blank vs. branded skateboard decks? (or computer equipment, iPods etc.)

Flipping this the other way around:

1. If you wouldn’t try it, why not?
2. If you wouldn’t switch, why not?
3. Do you feel better drinking branded cola?
4. Do you think others see you as better for buying branded cola?

The whole use of PPE in NZ skating, by my observation, comes down to fashion and style.

When vert skating was big everyone wore at least knee pads, and most wore helmets. Now that street is way more popular, I rarely see any PPE.

I don’t wear pads, but if I’m doing more than a flatland cruise or a play at the local skate park I do wear a helmet, particularly when I know I’m going to go faster than 30km/h (19mph).

Generally, New Zealander’s attitude to safety, in particular young males, tends to be quite blase. This is also reflected in road statistics.

The human body is fragile, but great at repairing itself after most injuries. <lecture>It’s much better to not get injured in the first place. PPE will help with that and also when you do get hurt, will most likely reduce the level of injury.</lecture>

Nike is right: Just do it!

Whenever I go out on my longboard I get watched by guys (and girls) of all ages. It’s not often they see someone my age on a board having fun. That’s when the ones that know have ‘the look’.

You can see it in their eyes – first the vacant look as they cast their mind back, then the grin as remember the fun they had, then the smile with envy and admiration as they see somone of my age still prepared to act like a kid for no good reason other than they want to.

To all you guys (and girls) that give me ‘the look’: Just do it! Get yourself a board and start having fun!

If you were in any doubt, you should not be. Don’t be like this guy. I wish him and his family the best.

I know this road is fast. I could do 60km/h on my mountainbike without raising a sweat.

Full text of linked article below because stuff pull things:

By NICK CHURCHOUSE

A 22-year-old skateboarder is fighting for his life after an early-morning accident in Wellington.

About 1.30am yesterday, emergency services were called to the accident outside Victoria University in Kelburn Pde, where a Lower Hutt man had suffered severe head injuries.

The man’s family and friends were at his bedside at Wellington Hospital’s intensive care unit yesterday. Police said his injuries were life-threatening.

Sergeant Mike McCarthy said police were conducting a scene examination on the steep hill running through the university and interviewing witnesses.

Karl Truell, a Wellington skater, said the university hill was a popular spot for downhill skating.

He said skaters could go faster than 50km/h on the hill – “at least as fast as a car”, he said.

In six years of skating in Wellington, he knew plenty of skaters who had crashed in the same area but none were seriously hurt.