The Book of Sifty

Oh yeah .. 10:29AM

Farmgirl asked what NZ was doing about the whole Iraq thing. Well interesting, the government has taken the stance of what ever the UN decides we will back. The view being that all avenues to a solution should be explored before a war is comenced. They have then said we will support whatever action is taken, and especially support the humanitarian and peacekeeping type stuff afterwards.

Is this case Ash it is in my name, since I was involved in the democratic process that elected the government (and I suppose indirectly in the make up and function of the UN..). So I'm actually pleased that the government is taking a stand on being informed and exploring all the options before racing to a war.
(Which incidentally is not even pretending not to be timed to avoid the summer in Iraq, since the USA don't want to have to deal with the heat)

The opposition here has taken the stance we should back our traditional allies and send out pathetic milatary support there now..

Anyway.. 11:21AM

Thats it for my rant..

On another note I took Ems car out the auction place yesterday to get a valuation and see what they reckoned. After getting lost on the way.. (Did I mention how much i hate the Hutt valley already?)I finally ended up parked in their 'valuation' carpark.. I wander inside and speak to the guy behind the desk, who gets out his cell phone and calls the guy responsible for car valuations. He showed up about three seconds later so apparently wasn't far away.

Now the valuation carpark is right outside the mirrored windows of the valuers office. He came outside and had a look over the car. He then pulls out his cellphone and makes a call. He starts describing the side of the car with a few scratches on it.. that is on the opposite side of the car from the windows of his office. I assume hes talking to a panel beater. Then he hangs up and waves to the mirrored window.
Eh? I ask him ""Did you just call the guy inside on your cellphone?""
""Yeah I was describing the side of the car he couldn't see from the office""
""Dude it likes 3m to your office, its a nice day, and you called him on a cell phone??""

Cell phones and the culture that operates around them have a lot to answer for! Back in the day everybody managed to live there lives quite effectively with a few calls on land lines. But I think it was Reggie who pointed out that most cellphone conversations you overhear start with ""Where are you?"".

In the states a cell was such a pain in the arse to get and the technology was so ghetto that most people at the resort didn't bother with them. For five months I still managed to meet people, organise my life and stay in touch. It was simple you organise a time, you attempt to be there on time and if somebody is delayed you deal with it.
Made life a hell of lot more relaxed!

Having a cellphone is no excuse for dis-organisation. (I should know cos I'm pretty disorganised!)

So stay tuned in the next issue of Sift for the following things:

• I'll decribe a new word
  
• Several definitions needing words will be explained.
  
• There might be an update on the scooter activity.
  

""Wooo, fancy use of list items Tom! Well I must say I'm hanging out to hear about the scooter action but for those of you who aren't we can offer a little more excitement. This Friday is our flatwarming for Averil which means the digital camera will be out which means another installment of The Many Faces of Tom. Stay tuned...""

- Ashes