Many years ago I used to work for a very small company in New Zealand in the freight industry. (fond memories).
During this time we had installed a software package that could deal with transtasman shipments and a multi currecny general ledger. I know this quite well as I was the programmer who did most of the work on the GL. Our head of the company was in charge but after I proved I could do it and with an accounting background I was left to it.
We had this international client that took on the package in another part of the country and it did all the freight stuff no problem, but for some reason the accounting side never quite worked correctly. This really got to me as I knew it should work with all the information it was getting and I also used to do the air freight side of the system so it was a complete mystery.
Well this went mystery went on for a while then they pulled in the head office chiefs to go and figure out what was going on. I had spent alot of time working out the currency conversion between the ledgers and was certain it was right. (Back then it took about 3 hours to run the GL listing). And in that industry they don’t think of money they know they owe now, they think of money they expect to owe (accural accounting its call). Well after me being flown down on site to try and figure out what was going on. The investigator told me, it doesn’t mater how you try and reprogram the system, all you are doing is rearanging the deck chairs on the titanic!
He never told me exactly why but I found out later, that the office administrator was fiddling the system to steal from the company and so was the branch manager. Ironically neither knew the other was also stealing. I don’t think they ever figured it all out. But it wasn’t my GL at fault, it was just major theft!! (the office administrator had back door access to ‘fix’ transactions’, we just never realised she was fixing them cos they were actually right!!!!).
Oh how that all changed now as proper change control would never allow this!
1. Learn about al-Qaida. 2. Learn about Washington, D.C. 3. Order Bristol’s dress (Elastic waist!!! Is white inappropriate after six months?) 4. Fire brother-in-law. 5. Learn about Russia/Georgia/S. Ossetia (Locate Abkhazia???) 6. Nurse Baby Trig. 7. Order flowers for wedding. 8. Fire people who haven’t fired brother-in-law. 9. Learn about ethics rules. 10. Fire at brother-in-law? (Option: aerial shooting?) 11. Nurse Baby Trig. 12. Learn about Iran. 13. Learn about U.S. Senate. 14. Learn about contraception. (Too late???) 15. Investigate homes for foundlings? 16. Govern Alaska. 17. Life insurance on J.M.?
Back on track now. The other day i watch Sex in the City Movie. To me it was great. I had seen most the episodes upto last season and when I was last in the UK with one my great friends I discovered I was not quite as upto date as I thought, so after a wonderful sofa day I was!
I guess if you never followed the series you would be in two minds of follow it or follow an know the ending. To me it was fairly predictable what happened. But what really pulled it up a few notchs to just predictable was the actessees. They really put it all into. The scene of Bridget telling Big "No" is so well done and powerful it pulls the whole act off. Before then it was rather predicable, and the emtions well, they were pulling them all in as predicable. But that particular display of emotion grabbed!
Well done, it was a great movie to us who know the story, it completed the story almost! We all know that Samatha didn’t want to be part of the story, and sorry that bit did show, but over all, it was great.
For many months now I have felt something screaming at me from the back of my mind. I wasn’t sure what it was, and the cancer drugs didn’t help, but the event did give my some clarity. Now I can start to put the two together. Actually I needed a third thing. Watching Antony Bordain go through New Zealand and show the part of it to the world I finally started to finally hear that voice.
His bit about good food and communities really got me, and then I got it. Home! I come from a community of people in a very small valley, but we all left! The children of all the families have grown up and left, whats left in the community. Its still going but how long can it last. I’m not saying stay the same last as no community can stay static it must evolve and change, must as the closet town has done. What is needed thou is young people to move in an invigorate it. I know now what that voice in the back of my head is saying. "Go Home, go home, go home".
For someone who has lived all over the world and crossed it more times than I care to count thats an odd calling, but now it suddently rings true. I’ve never counted anywhere else as my real home. I always refer to Papa Aroha as my home, and really it is the only home I’ve ever known. I think its about time I started listening to that voice and go back. After all thats happened and simpler life is not looking all the bad! Maybe its also time as well.
Today a load of us went out for lunch today at one of the local Indian restaruants that many of the team love (and frequent so often they could organise a table to 10). A close friend asked me while we were waiting when did I first try Indian food. I was rather stumped at that.
The easy answer was in my travels and in the UK, but that leaves a huge gap. I think going way back it was never a cuisine I wasn’t away of. I remember my mum cooking them when I was a child. For sure they were not the authentic and relied on available curry powder, which given NZ 30 years ago was probably an oddity on the shelf then! But eat and enjoy them we did. Mum also had a wok so Chinese etc was on the menu as well.
Thinking back I’m so pleased that I didn’t have a restrictive food exposure when I was young, mainly due to my mum coming from another country and even today no cuisene is off the menu. I’ll confess some of the middle european foods leave me a little cold overall (aka German, Austrian) but there are also some true gems there as well.
When talking with a friend in the UK he told me that he had just brought a games console. My first reaction was "I hope its not a Wii". Looking back I’m not entirely sure what prompted me to say that. I know that horse power wise its not upto the same level as the Playstation or XBox, but it does have an inovative interface.
Well after a few more talks with him I totally changed my mind and looked into getting one.
