RobiNZ Personal Blog

Paul Henry, loses it

I don’t make time to watch Morning TV but do miss seeing Paul Henry;

A Compilation

Paul the laptop thief

Looking up…

 

Stunning service from Waitakere City Council!

If people bother talking about service from a local body it’s usually to complain about poor service, delays etc.

I thought I’d lost, or not got, a water rate bill. Looking at my Quicken records over the years I’d previously paid it in May or June. Since I’ve been overseas I suspected it was missing in action or had been accidentally binned;

• On 14 May 2008 at 00:44* I e-mailed Waitakere City Council, via their website, asking for the amount/date owing or for a copy of the invoice to be posted.
• At 01:00 Joy from Customer services responded saying my query would be forwarded to “EcoWater Billing”.
• At 01:01 it was (I saw that from their subsequent reply).
• At 08:04 Althea of EcoWater responded saying the invoice had not yet been sent, it was going out this week, with the amount & due date.

So in less than 8 hours, most of which were “out of normal office hours”, it was resolved. OK, it was going to result in them getting my money but good service is good service. Thanks Joy & Althea at Waitakere City!

* Yes, that’s after midnight, a good time for Internet banking!

Tags: Waitakere+City+Council, EcoWater

250,001 km in a Fiat Uno 45S

250,001km in an Uno
Originally uploaded by RobiNZ

I thought I'd blogged this back in January but it seems not.

On January 15, 2008 I stopped in the usual park at work only to notice the odometer had ticked over to 250,001 km.

Maybe I'll make 300,000 km?

 

John Elkann to become czar of Fiat dynasty

The Vice-Chairman gets a promotion: 

John Elkann to become czar of Fiat dynasty - The Peninsula
The Agnelli dynasty will crown the new czar of the Fiat automotive empire tomorrow when John Elkann, scion of the family known as “Italy’s Kennedys,” takes over at the tender age of 32…

David Linklater drives the Fiat 500 in New Zealand

It’s here, well for those that pre-ordered… 

Fiat 500's cheeky looks belie ropey ride - New Zealand Herald
Good news: the early morning cycle crowd, seated at a cafe in one of Auckland's more fashionable suburbs, is abuzz talking about the Fiat 500 that's parked at the kerb…

Tags: 500

Congratulations to Scott Dixon, pole for Indy 500!

A brilliant result for Scott, lets hope it translates to a win!  

Dixon qualifies in pole position for Indy 500 - NZ Herald
Scott Dixon has qualified in pole position for the Indianapolis 500 at The Brickyard in just under a fortnight…

What's The Harm? Here's the harm!

Often the response to criticism of [insert woo-woo science/therapy/religion] is “What’s the harm?”.

This site tackles many of those topics and documents the harm.

What's The Harm? - whatstheharm.net
2,451 people killed, 117,941 injured and over $138,693,382 in economic damages

Via James Randi’s SWIFT

Shock - An honest Homeopathy Site!

This is refreshing, an honest of the woo-woo therapy Homeopathy.

FairDeal Homeopathy - www.fdhom.co.uk

I'm actually ill - can FairDeal Homeopathy help me?
Go to your doctor immediately. Fairdeal Homeopathy will not be able to cure you. However, the placebo effect generated by taking FairDeal Homeopathic products may reduce the unpleasantness of some of the symptoms. Homeopathy of any sort is not a medical treatment, neither is it a substitute for evidence-based medicine and proper medical opinion.

Via James Randi’s SWIFT

Back from the brink, can the US Big Three learn from Fiat?

While Fiat still have some big challenges it’s hard to believe how far they’ve come. Four years ago it was such a basket case GM paid good money to extract itself from a takeover deal. Now Fiat are riding a boom based on little cars that Fiat do so well.

Their main challenges are getting Alfa Romeo profitable, sorting out Lancia and getting back to the US market – if that’s needed – but they now have the money to do it.

This article is a good overview of how Sergio Marchione led a remarkable turnaround.

Strong leader proves Fiat was not beyond repair :: News :: PIONEER PRESS :: Lake Forester
What can Alan Mulally, Bob Nardelli, and Rick Wagoner learn from Sergio Marchione?

RobiNZ Gone

I’m off-line until May. If you wish to leave a comment or trackback feel free but they will be held for approval when I return. If you’re wondering where I’ll be… click here

The Uno lives, another six months...

 It’s the six monthly Warrant Of Fitness, road worthiness inspection, time again. Seems like just last month when I got the last one! Where did the last six months go?

It was quite busy, and a nice day, so I sat outside near where the verdict is delivered. I was actually expecting them to find something and noted other car faults while I waited;

• ABS light on – Well that won’t happen to a non ABS’ed Uno


• Tyre problems – Plenty on the mighty Yokohamas so no worries there


• Jammed or wonky electric window and central locking? – No electric windows, no central locking


• Steering joint – The bushes are a bit creaky but alignment etc seems OK so maybe…


• Rust – H’mmm thats apparent is the bottom of the passenger door but…

Then out it comes, the inspector jumps out checklist in hand… oh dear… then turns and starts scraping off the old WOF sticker!

The Mighty Uno got through with no problems. Barring accidents (or Lotto wins), seems I’ll be pedalling it for another six months…

Schmap'ed

One of my photos appears in the  Schmap Florida Guide. Look for “Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex NASA Parkway (Ea...” in the map widget below

TVNZ vandalise the Service Of Thanksgiving For The Life Of Sir Edmund Hillary

I just sent this to TVNZ.

Why plaster the ugly TVNZ logo (circled in red) in the middle of the screen (widescreen, corner of a 4:3 screen)?

If it had to be there, why didn’t they at least use emboss/transparency to minimise the impact of this tatty bit of “branding”?

Signed,
A pissed off shareholder.

A NSU/BMW Genius dies

His work with BMW and the fact that the brilliant Ro80, engines aside, inspired Audi to create the 80’s “aero” 100 makes Claus Luthe one of the most influential auto designers ever. 

Ex-BMW chief Claus Luthe dies at age 75
Claus Luthe died on 17 March at age 75. As chief designer at BMW from 1976-1990, he supervised the design team that developed the lineup of 3 Series, 5 Series and 7 Series into the epitome of the luxury sports sedan of the 1980s, turning BMW into one of the most desirable (and profitable) brands in the world. He was also the designer of the revolutionary NSU Ro80…

Hackers are people too...

Is it prejudice that leads you to think of hackers as “anonymous low life somewhere over there” (wherever there is!)?

Then you read the local news and see this prick* who is right here!

* Netherlands authorities established that the New Zealander was responsible for 1.3 million illegal installations of adware.

Project Virgle, Ben Elton's "Stark" becomes a reality?

When I saw this post I first thought of the date it was posted, 1 April, but soon after Ben Elton’s novel Stark:

Australian billionaire, Sly Morgan is invited to join the Stark Conspiracy, a group of the world's richest people who plan to save themselves from the Earth's impending environmental doom [by buggering of into space]. (plot via IMDB except for the buggering off bit which I added)

Never know, it may happen  

Official Google Blog: Announcing Project Virgle
Posted by Sir Richard Branson, President and Founder of Virgin Group

In my life, I've had a lot of exciting adventures and launched a lot of ambitious business ventures. I'm delighted today to announce Virgle, Inc., a joint venture between the Virgin Group and Google which qualifies on both counts.

Virgle's goal is simple: the establishment of a permanent human settlement on Mars….

Try out the Grande Punto Abarth 'esseesse' in Rimini

An email arrived: “Try out the Grande Punto Abarth 'esseesse' in Rimini”

Finally, I thought, Fiat have found about this little Kiwi Fiat blog and invited me to test drive an Abarth… maybe even in Italy!

But no it was just, a list mail-out, referring to this post on on the Fiat Abarth “Scorpion Blog”

Sale in cattedra un prof d'eccezione: Sandro Munari e la Abarth Driving School

Tags: abarth, esseesse

4th Anniversary!

It’s blog’iversary time again. 4 years since that first tentative post. To everyone, everywhere, thanks for visiting and subscribing!

Tax Benefits

This month I looked at my pay-slip which stated exactly how much tax had been deducted over the (full tax) year and thought, that’s a lot.

Yesterday, a fairly routine visit to the GP ended up with my Mum being admitted to hospital. Within a hour she was there, through the afternoon a bunch of brilliant Nurses and Doctors did their thing, tests, cardio, x-ray, etc and an overnight stay, just to be sure.

Nobody asked “who is your insurance provider, what is your health plan, do you have credit?” or a worry about cost.

Tax Benefits

My Easter Monday Ride

This 100km loop has a bit of everything:

• A climb up the Waitakere Ranges to Titirangi
• Manukau Harbour coast
• Stop for a drink and watch a few aircraft at Auckland International
• Up Great South Rd to Mt Wellington
• Over Mt Wellington to Kohimarama
• Around the waterfront, Viaduct and West Haven
• Over the North Western Motorway on the cycle path to Henderson & home

Auckland is so thin you actually ride “coast to coast” twice!