The Nameless Blog

Hills and Trees Continued.....

2012-02-29T20:55:00.002+13:00

Pine trees -or what will hopefully become pine trees. The girls made two of them while I played a computer game.

My first attempt at a hill on Monday

My second attempt on Tuesday

Painting with some leftover paints I found in the garage,

This is a whole new area for me and I suppose my first attempts at building landscapes and terrain will always be a little childish. Still... Even though this is my first week of the profect I think I have done pretty well. the trees look a little scruffy and the hills look like a Year 2 art project but they are still works in progress.

Hills and Trees

2012-02-29T07:28:00.000+13:00

Since I have run out of soldiers to paint until the next shipment from the "old country" (which could be as long as 3 months away) I have been forced to turn to other pursuits. I have been researching how to make trees and I have been paper macheting two hills for my imagingary boardgame. Photos will follow but I have got to disappear down to work now. Suffice to say that my skills in paper machet haven't improved much since my primary school days.

Sunday Morning Painting

2012-02-26T09:09:00.000+13:00

New French dudes next to my unbased Russian Hussars

Busy morning at Berthier's camp

Adjutant

Same dude

Cool little Berthier + Staff officer

After a very pleasant weekend, my French Napoleonic General Staff have finally gotten off their sprues. Only a few more hours of touchups and they will be ready for basing. This set has been really enjoyable to paint. I love the copious amounts of gold braid that these guys wore. They must have been a real sight on the battlefield.

New Statue Unveiled in North Korea

2012-02-24T20:13:00.000+13:00

The new king finally gets his statue next to dad and gramps.

A new look for the blog

2012-02-20T21:54:00.001+13:00

Well.... I have nothing to post. Work is stressful but I can't blog about it. The next few months are going to be stressful to say the least. Full blogging about the crisis in June (I hope).

I haven't painted anything tonight but I have played shops with Vic.

Russian Hussars

2012-02-19T21:41:00.001+13:00

Well I finished painting the Russian Hussars that I got for Christmas and now I am moving on to my French General Staff. The painting was pretty olympic today as I had most of the day to myself because Mari was away at her meditation group for most of the day. I did do other things like clean out the garage and the sunporch but most of the day was pretty sedentary. I am looking forward to getting stuck into the General staff and I am pretty confident that I will get them finished quickly. That leaves me with no more painting! With winter coming up I think I will need to order more sets from Britain, I couldn't imagine long winter nights without a paintbrush in my hand!

So...Ponyclub died...Or did it?

2012-02-16T21:21:00.002+13:00

The kids were suspisiously quiet in the evening. This was the creation that I found in Victoria's room. The Williamson Ponyclub!

Down Sizing

2012-02-15T07:38:00.001+13:00

With the cost of petrol the way it is these days the small car is becoming increasingly popular. For our family we have been bucking the trend because a van is just so damned handy. I don't know how we would have survived withoout our trusty old Estima. But alas, times do have to change and the trusty van is now going to live out its days as an English Advantage student conveyor. We have joined the rest of the flock in purchasing a small fuel efficient car in the hopes of stemming the flow of money from our pockets. We are now the owners of a little Mitsubishi Colt Plus. Long may serve us without a service.

The Aging Couple

2012-02-12T08:54:00.002+13:00

Last Night's Effort

2012-02-12T08:37:00.002+13:00

Close up view of my Hussars. I am having quite a lot of fum with these little guys. As usual I am using my mixture of acrylics and enamels.

If you look closely you will see my Peninsular Briish snug in the painting box. I did about 160 and need to about 700 more to form the core of the army. About another 800 with make up my Portuguese/Spanish allies.

Up Early

2012-02-11T06:47:00.000+13:00

Well I decided to get up early to do this blog update... well kind of. Actually I am going to do some painting as well.
Josie is safely off to Columba and our bank accounts are massively lighter because of it. It cost over 6 grand to get the first term off and I assume there will be regular outgoings for the other 3. Josie came back telling us that she had decided to join tht tramping club and the volleyball club and the athletics team. All of the above have fees which automatically get added to the monthly bill that comes home. I am not really complaining but it never really occurd to me before just how expensive children are. At the same time Victoria wanted to join the local ponyclub. That would have ended up being about the same price as Columba! After so much bank freefall, I made the command decision to jus tgive her lessons in Palmerston over a few weeks rather than trapse dowm to Mosgiel and hang out with "the horse set."
Back to really life now. I haven't finished any of the painting that I had set out to do. This weekend I am going to put a real dent in my Russian Hussars. I will even post some pictures. I managed to base my Peninsular British and they are looking fine so maybe I will post a picture of those at the same time. Under the Shako ruleset that I am basing for, I well need about 32 battalions of British and Portuguese in order to finish the Peninsular army across all the the periods. Hat Industrie is starting to come out with Spanish figures and I am going to paint the British line as Portuguese line because the cut of the uniform was identical. This will mean that I will end up with about 12 boxes of British Infantry to paint over the course of the coming year. Hopefully, that will mean complete British. French and Russian armies. The sadness of it all is that I have never actually played a wargame since I was at university. I just stack box after box in my cupboard!
Other things of note;

1) We decided to dump the TV for the year so that the kids can structure their time better.
2) I am deciding at present whether to renew my lease of the school or move to bigger premises.
3) I have been biking down to work rather than walking. This has been fun but not that good for my fitness. Now that I have got the bike back from Hampden I have promised myself that I will go for longer rides in the weekends so we will see how that pans out.

2012-02-03T07:26:00.003+13:00

I am a poor blogger.
I am a poor blogger.
I am a poor blogger.
I am a poor blogger.
I am a poor blogger.
I am a poor blogger.
I am a poor blogger.

the end.

My Britsh

2012-01-16T07:28:00.001+13:00

After a little less than a month the first batch of my Napoleonic British Peninsular War infantry is nearly ready. I have continued my now usual practice of painting them on their sprues. But this time I have tried a number of new techneques. In the old days I just used to slap on the enamel paints rather in the "paint by numbers" style. The end result was fine but it didn't create much of a contrast in colours. The new style is to base the figures in an acrylic black and then do a top wash in an acrylic red. My first experiments revealed that the an acrylic paint is faily wimpy compared to my usual enamel but it does get into the folds of the figures better. This meant that I was able to brush the enamel over the top of the acrylic to achieve a better caontrast for the jackets. On the rest of the figures I reverted to my old style so they don't look too different frpm my usual efforts. Overall though these figures are looking pretty goos (from a distance) so they should grace a tabletop with honour and glory!

The Big Holiday Update

2012-01-03T14:10:00.000+13:00

The weather in East Otago has been FANTATIC! I can't remember a better Christmas holidays than this one we are currently having. We have packed buckets of fun stuff in so here goes with the update.
The notable experiences have been...
The yearly trip from Kemp's Road to Palmerston.
We started off pretty early in the morning about 8.30 and knocked off the trip in a couple of hours. Josie's bike had good tyres this year and she was able to zoom ahead of her dear old dad with ease (at least until the big hill doen to Palmerston. We stopped in Palmy and got picked up by my bro and his whanau who are down from Singapore for the holidays.
There are some vids of the trip plus others from the new namelessblog channel that I created after I forgot the password for my old channel.

The Trip from Wainakarua (Mill House turn-off) to Oamaru with BOTH girls.

Video here
Fishing at Moeraki
Fishing for Crabs at the Hampden beach
The walk up Pukitapu
Bike riding to the Mileflat Road and seeing kids (of the goat variety)
vid here

Painting my Penninsular War British Infantry
Having 6 BBQs over a 2 week period!!
Josie turning 13 and Mari turning 4? (rhyming with tree)

more coming soon...

Police hard at work in Santa's grotto

2011-12-19T20:31:00.002+13:00

With the last murder in Dunedin about 3 years ago (from memory) and crime dropping by 6% last year our police in Dunedin are really finding themselves with a little bit of free time on their hands. Time to hit the malls to stop the rampant crime from occuring there. All fun aside though it is cool to see cops on the beat around the shoppping area. The kids love to see police cruisin around and waving and smiling

This patrol needed three (for safety) anfter all who knows how many tots in the Meridian Mall may go berserk with their lollipops.

The Annual Walk to Port Chalmers

2011-12-19T19:51:00.001+13:00

After a week of complete crap weather we (Josie, Vic and I) managed to make our annual pilgrimage to Port Chalmers. THe weather started off pretty overcast but as as the walk continued it got better. Vis manged to make it the whole way this year without complaining or having to be piggybacked. The girls clained to be really tired but it hasn't stopped them from playing ever since we got back from the excursion. All up it was 15.9 Kms. I wouldn't have wanted a longer walk though - it was just enough to be a pleasant jaunt but not enough to be too taxing.

A slightly bumped pic? I think the iPhone 4's camera isn't that hot really.

Answer to Kevin

2011-12-12T15:20:00.000+13:00

for some reason I can't post a reply so you get your own whole blog entry!
Yeah the weather has been getting noticeably hotter. In fact on Sunday it reached a staggering 23 degrees. One of the problems about being on an island on this latitude is that you get all of the crap weather that the antarctic weather gods decide to vomit our way. The weather can change from hot to snow in the space of hours -literally. We can have really settled great weather all really settled shit. In the South Island you should pack for winter but hope for summer if you go camping. For a human from the northern latitudes it must seem a little incongruous to see a winter santa being celebrated in a southern summer. For us however we receive our iconography with little critical thinking. Besides it is cooler to see a winter Santa than a Santa in a tee-shirt and jandals (worth looking that last word up)

Its that time again,,,

2011-12-11T22:24:00.000+13:00

The girls decorated the tree this time themselves. I think they overcooked the baubles a bit but otherwise it was a pretty good job.

Santa

2011-12-06T07:11:00.002+13:00

Santa has to source my boxes of soldiers from England. They were put on the reindeer 2 days ago so I hope they make it before Christmas.

Last Week....

2011-12-03T07:43:00.000+13:00

Here it comes babeeeeeee! We have organised a staff party at Ombrello's at the outside part. This is important as it enables me to smoke my obligatory end of year cigars!

Holidays are coming up....

2011-11-28T21:26:00.000+13:00

Santa has organised...
2 boxes of penninsular war brits from Hat Industrie, French Curassiers, Russian Hussars and French General Staff from Zvezda. 2 and a bit weeks to go till the end of the year and I will have 3 WEEKS OFF!!! Beer, Sun, Riding,Painting, Sleeping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My "New" Osprey Books

2011-11-27T08:17:00.004+13:00

I picked up some second hand Ospreys from TradeMe a few weeks ago and here they are. This little group expands my 19th century collection quite nicely!

I actually bought this one in Hong Kong in '92. It sat alone in my collection because I was much more interested in the Napoleonic wars that the earlier period.

This ine is really outside my period of interest but it has sparked a bit of interest in the uniforms of Marborough.

Nothing to report...

2011-11-13T17:57:00.000+13:00

I'm older...... It has been so long since I last posted that I had forgotten my password and had to go and make a new one. I haven't painted a single figure in months and I am not exercising. My stomack looks like I am six months pregnant. But I have bought 6 more Osprey books. I now have the complete 18th century American Colonial period uniform books. Photos coming...

Testicular Cancer.

2011-10-26T07:41:00.000+13:00

One of the All Blacks recovered from testicular cancer in his teens to go on to become one of the best young up and coming members of the team. During the finals one of the announcers expressed his amazement that someone could so quickly overcome the loss of one of one's testicles and go on to become such an impressive sportsman. Victoria was listening to the commentary and exclaimed "Testicles? Wow...and I thought only an octopus had them!"

I was piking....

2011-10-25T21:32:00.000+13:00

Yey we won the World Cup!!! Like most I was glued to the TV to watch what I thought would be a walk in the park for the ABs. It wasn't (a one point win!!) so I am sooooo happy that we have procken the 24 year hoodoo. Stink that the ABs didn't get this far south for the victory parades.

I haven't got jogging for about 2 weeks. I have lost all of the hard work of the previous month. It is so depressing. Outside it is just pissing down at the moment. Tjat gives me a great excuse not to go running tomorrow.

I am very busy at work as the end of year rush seems to be starting again. I haven't painted more ages but I have been reading through a book on Fredrick the Great that I bought for $2 at Regent Theatre Book sale.

Argentina Vs All Blacks.

2011-10-10T07:17:00.001+13:00

OMG - I find myself interested in Rugby now that we are in the quarter finals....
The ABs played a pretty flat game without Dan Carter. Piri Wepu stepped up though which was good to see. I can seee now that Dan Carter was such an important Fullback. Our plays seemed a little too "pick and run" without Dan. At least Richie Mcaw's foot held out for the duration of the game.
On Another interesting note it is all hands to the pump for the next few weeks with 2 staff away on holiday and the school holidat classes in full swing. AND we have a visit from the Saudi Cultural Mission at lunchtime.
I didn't go running today because it was too windy.... I hope I am not piking out.

2011-10-09T08:37:00.000+13:00

One week of exercise RESULT.... 4mm lost around the tummy. :(

Saturday Morning

2011-10-08T07:43:00.000+13:00

Yey! The start if the school holidays! We get to loose the kids for a week up at my mum's house! We can get up to all sorts of mischief next week!
Today I have examining all morning and into the early evening. I have a break in the middle until 4 pm and I will use some of that time to pick up my sister from the airport. This morning was really cold so I didn't go running. So far since the start of my running I have been out on 5/7 of the mornings. I am actually handling the running pretty well. I am not running the full circuit yet but I am also not stopping (which is pretty optimistic). By zigzagging I can get up the hill of death without stopping!

Jogging and Doodle Jump

2011-10-02T08:08:00.000+13:00

Well today signalled the beginning of the Summer fitness drive. My stomach has th horrific girth of 102 cms and people have been commenting on its impressive size for about the last 3 months. Today I crawled out of bed and went on my first jog. It was a pathetic thing but at least it was a start. FOr self ,otivation I intend to post girth updates every 2 weeks. If I can remember correctly from last year it look about 1 month of jogging to have any effect. I scored 33000 on Doodle Jump as well. I am the family record holder - oh the heights I have scaled!

NASA 's weather Satelite and Dead Island...

2011-09-24T10:16:00.000+12:00

With the Nasa weather satelite coming to earth on late Saturday people are beginning to worry about where it will land. Victoria isn't worried however. In the morning she commented that there was no need to worry because she would catch it it it fell near her.

I downloaded Dead Island last night for $60 US. From what I have played it isn't as scary as LFD2 and it is not arcade style. It does nave some goodpoints like the ability to fight with a zombie rather than shoot them. The graphics are ok but not anything special. I am pretty new to the story but there are a number of challenges which seem be needed to be completed on each level rather thanthe linear LFD2 style.

For all of their evil looks these zombies don't scare me as much are the LFD hordes.

Compared to LFD2 there has been more work put inti the anotomical parts in terms of blood and gore (which I like!!)


One of the good points about this game is that you get multiple weapons to fight the zombies. They can also be upgraded at workbenches which are dotted arounf the island

The graphic of the game are pretty!

I found my old highschool's badge...East Otago High

2011-09-20T21:53:00.004+12:00


Decile 5 and way out in the countyside. I hated this school when I was there but as the years pass I find I have a real soft spot for it. According to Wikipadia the school's claim to fame is that it won the 2009 Otago Daily Times Extra spelling Quiz for Year 9 and 10. Next comes a nobel prize or at least a Rhode's Scholarship....waiting...waiting....waiting.

Updates from the Georgia-England Game

2011-09-18T21:34:00.000+12:00

We got to the ground pretty early

and had nothing to do so a nice lady took a few snaps

of us.

We got to see Johnny Wilkinsin sooooo close we could almost reach out and touch him. Victoria now likes him more than Sonny Bill Williams.

The stadium was about 60% full.

It just looked awesome. I think it is the only covred stadium in the Southern Hemisphere (but I could be wrong).

Just a view from the back.

Well Georgia ended up gettting thrashed but they played out of their skins. The new stadium was awesome and we all had a great time even though we we in the cheapest ppart of the ground. All in all a fantastic Sunday's entertainment.
Some Youtube films of the stadium
here is another one

OK... So I will be going to ONE game :)

2011-09-17T22:31:00.000+12:00

Luckily Mari didn't want to go. For an adult the ticket price was $40 in the top stands BEHIND the tryline. Maybe we will get to catch a conversion? THe ticket prices for the best seats are around $240 per ticket.

I am not a very big fan of sport but even I can get swept up in cup fever. So tomorrow the girls and I are off to watch England vs Georgia. It will be a slaugher of epic proportions but just going to the new stadium should be cool. I hope the pies are nice. Nearly $100 lighter in my wallet but well... how often do we get to host a World Cup?

Olympically empty life

2011-09-16T22:33:00.000+12:00

The All Blacks have just downed Japan 82-7 in the latest pool match of the World Cup. Victoria has a crush on Sonny-Bill Williams (and she is nine). I am soooo out of touch with what is going on in the All Black team I can hardly be called a New Zealander. I have been working pretty hard and haven't painted a single figure since about a month ago. All in all nothing really to blog about. I hope the spirit of creativity can move me to at least pick up a paint brush soon.

Just a busy but uneventful life....

2011-08-31T17:41:00.001+12:00

Nothing to blog about really. I've been really busy at work. Josie got accepted into Columba on a music scholarship. Columba has a really good reputation so it is a bit of a coup to get in. Victoria is starring in her primary school production of "The Magic Schoolbus".

I have got sick of Shogun Total War 2 and am hanging out for Napoleon Total War 2 ... When will they decide to do it????

I spoke too soon!

2011-08-14T14:17:00.000+12:00

Kitchen window

Dining room window

Sunday

2011-08-14T11:45:00.003+12:00

The horse at the front is my first ever attempt at shading. Crappy but interesting nevertheless!

This is a finished lot of Waterloo British light cav. I am pretty happy with the end result. If I had any twisted individual in my city who shared the same hobby, I would be more than happy to put them on the wargames table.

This weekend everybody has prepard for a big dump of snow. The media has dubbed it the "perfect storm" but so far it has just been a colder than average Sunday. Today I painted a second batch of Waterloo British light cavalry. Italieri are a pretty patchy manufacturer. They can either make really nice figures like the light cav I have been painting or they can produce some pretty aweful ones like French and British infantry pre 1806. They are also guilty of 'scale creep' where the figures get just that little bit bigger set after set. The 1805 Austrians are giants compared to the Esci or Hat figures so even though they are well sculpted they can't be used on a table with other figures.

Just the horse bits to go before basing.

The Perfect Storm! You can see the snow piling up in huge drifts outside our back window. How will we ever survive the weekend!!!

In the news Josie is back from her camp. It was too cold for her and she didn't really enjoy it. Victoria has got a solo part in her school production of The Magic Schoolbus. She also gets to play the violin and do the 'hat dance'.

Oh Bugger.

2011-08-09T22:20:00.000+12:00

I am a massive Bowie fan so the recent news from this biographer is a real disappointment. I just wish that he has been siting at home at the piano and recording stuff without going to the recording companies. I doubt it though....sigh.

Monday... the TV lives another day!

2011-08-08T18:48:00.000+12:00

Half way finished! The light cavalry rides again!

Ready to cut some peasants down to size!

Spur of the moment purchase from Toyworld. Ihave always had a hankering to paint Austrians. The problem was that they had two distinctive uniforn styles during the Napoleonic period. Painting 2 3000 man armies would be a little tiresome.

The dude who has fallen from with horse is a cool figure and desrves a good standard of painting. I might really paint him up next weekend.

My rifles in skirmish order reasy to see off those frenchies!

My AWI horses got a bit of a touch up tonight before tea. I used acrylic brown on top of my standard enamel. Acrylics are pretty cool but I grew up with enamel Humbrol paints and I am not sure I can part with them totally. With browner mounts the Brits look a lot cooler. Next stage is the finicky touch up stage and then the basing. Previously, I have got a joinery shop to cut up thin MDF for me. Unfortunatley I have ru out of those bases so it looks like a call to "my man" might be in order.

Getting rid of TV

2011-08-07T22:29:00.001+12:00

So far what I have painted during the first six months of the year. I dedect a small movement away from French and towards Arthur Wellesley's army!

Stuff I use for basing figures... 95th Rifles pre-flocking in the background

AWI figs early on Sunday. By the evening they were looking much more finished

Bits and bobs of British light cav and rifles.

My messy painting box.

Josie is off on camp for a week at a place called Berrick. I have no idea where it is but she has been reallly looking forward to it. As for rest of the family there is nothing special for the week apart from learning to live without TV. We made the decision that there was too much time wasted in the evenings and not enough homework and practice getting done. We have been a TV free family quite often during the years but now hopefully we will make the break for good. I have placated the youngest by promising to buy a family Ipad so she is a little happier. I will wrap the TV and stick it under the house to bring out on special occasions ---like it we make the finals of the World Cup this year and don't choke like we usually do.

As for this weekend I did some Olympic painting and managed to get through my AWI British Light Cavalry. I am not sure how happy I am with them. I am a pretty crappy painter and I am not that interested in painting every figure to its fullest portential. I just want to see massed ranks of figures on a table. If I take my glasses off they even look pretty good. The broblem with my AWI figures is that they just look so clean and bright. I doubt the average trooper fighting the insurgency would have scrubbed up very well at all on campaign so my bright carnival figures are hardly realistic

Yay- weekend!

2011-07-29T20:16:00.000+12:00

Nothing planned for the weekend. Perhaps that will give me time to paint either more 1815 British light cavalry or my new AWI British light Cavalry. My knowledge of the AWI is pretty limited so I will have to do a little research as to the proper uniform colours. Painting the skull and crossbones on the helmets should be a bit of a challenge!!

The Snow Day in Dunedin... No School on Monday!!

2011-07-29T07:19:00.003+12:00

Bob The Snowman. Notice the chin- apparently this was the bit that took most of the work.

Arms seem to be a weak point of this structure.

Tory+friend

Josie+ friend

A better link to Youtube is here

According to the weather people this was the worst blast in 17 years. In my recent living memory however, the 2004 dump was bigger. On the morning after the dump we had to get over Mnt Cargil to get to my Dad's funeral. We nearly didn't make it over. and from whar I remember we only arrived about 1 1/2 before kick-off. Most people from the South couldn't make it to the funeral but the little chapel in Hampden was still full. That must have been quite edifying for the old chap if he had been watching.

Mari couldn't make it to work for a couple of days because of the ice in our part of the city. I however slipped and slid my way doen the hill to the school. Surprisingly most of the students were at school the day after the snow,

Haven't posted for so long I forgot my log in password.

2011-07-28T07:27:00.000+12:00

I will upload some photos pretty soon of our good dump of snow. I have been insanely busy over the last few weeks. All good but winter is beginning to get me down a bit. I neeeeed vitamin D!

Back to normality

2011-07-14T20:23:00.001+12:00

yay but still too busy to blog

Ginny is away-

2011-07-04T19:05:00.000+12:00

With Ginny gone from the front office I actually have to do stuff. It isn't pretty. We had 6-7 enrollments today and I have no idea how to do the paperwork. I seem just so amateurish. The temp doesn't know much either but it is like having a security blanket to know that there is someone in the front office while you are teaching. It don't actually matter that they know even less about the school than you do. This week promises to be the week from hell. I will be working till 8 every light including Friday- IELTS examining on Saturday and Ginny back on Tuesday. One day gone - five to go. How much of the school will remain by next Tuesday?

Musical Weekend

2011-07-03T16:46:00.000+12:00

Kids and Nari had a concert at the art gallery and I filmed it. Cleaned the car. Started downloading all of my games again from Steam. Bought the girls Sims 3 plus add-on games to keep them same during the school hols. The weather has been really nice. This global warming thing really suits the bottom half of the South Island. Hope the denialists keep it up for another decade so that we can gain an extra couple of degrees of mean temperature over the year. Keep that carbon pumpin!

Playing around with screenshot software

2011-06-28T21:00:00.001+12:00

Evil Japanese clan takes on the might of the Shimazu who are happily in the little castle

The AI is pretty smart - attacking all at once from multiple angles

Enemy bowmen stopping for a quick shot

I had some cavalry and matchlock infantry to the side of the castle. They ended up accidently taking on more than they could handle

Baddies just about to storm the walls

Some baddies routed along the base of the castle walls- heading down to the beach.

From a higher angle

My troops defending the castle walls- bow troops don't make very good defenders

Luckily in come my Ashiguru spearmen


Baddies rout down the wall as fast as their short Japanese legs can carry them I downloaded some software to do ingame screenshots. The results are very pleasing...

Inconsequential blogging

2011-06-28T07:31:00.000+12:00

Tuesday morning and having my coffee and toast before walking down to work. The dust cloud has lifted and Ginny can fly out now. I am on the verge of capturung Kyoto (my first act will be to pass the Kyoto Protocol about 450 years earlier - to nip global warming in the bud).
Haven't done any painting for a while... Erin went away to have her baby so we hired a new teacher to replace her - and I changed my schedule to teach Elementary in the afternoons.

ShogunTotal War 2

2011-06-22T13:01:00.000+12:00

Never having played Shogun Total War 1 ( I came in with Rome Total War and survived through the debacle of Empire to the cool but limited scope of Napoleon TW) I wasn't that quick to rush in and buy STW2. Playing for domination of Japan in the 16th century just didn't grip me as much as marching across 19th century Europe. Having played the game for a couple of weeks I am impressed with the battle AI and the general strategic AI but there are still major issues. If I ever take Kyoto I don't think that STW2 will ever become a game that I will ever become addicted to. I notice that there is a multiplayer component that I have not got into yet but aI am not sure how much interest multiplayer will have for me. I prefer multilayer shoot 'em up games like Left for Dead 2 or Modern Warfare. All in all the game is pretty slick but battling is Asia in the days of the Shogun is just not as interesting as doing the same in Europe. I would like a huge expansion of Medieval Total War to include the sweep of Empire and the individual countries of Europe and Japan/Mongols and China with the AI of STW2 - is that too much to ask for Creative Workshops? I see massive expansion packs!

Chilean Volcano

2011-06-22T07:37:00.000+12:00

Ginny is off to China next week and as things are going now that frigging volcano in Chine could mean that she either won't get out from the country or might not get back in after the marketing trip. Extra nights in Hong Kong could welll be very expensive for the school!

Quiet on the blogging front...

2011-06-20T14:08:00.000+12:00

I upgraded my computer last week but I didn't do it very well - or the guys in the shop didn't set the process up very well.
Anyway the story goes that I was a little worried that I was getting to the end of the spave on my hard drive. It was only a 500 gig grive and I was up to 90% disc space used. I decided to go the whole hog and revamp the entire operating system while I was down at the shop so...
32 bit -----64bit
500gig-----1 Terabyte
Dual Core-------Quad Core
Windows Vista Home Premium------Windows 7 Home Premium.
At the same time I wandered down to EB Games and bought an off-the-shelf copy of Shogun Total War 2.
I was told that the new setup would allow me to play this rather graphics intensive game well and keep me ahead of the curve for gaming for the next couple of years. Anyway I said that I wanted the stuff installed and up and running by Saturday at 4.30 (since I arrived at 10.30 am this was going to he a mission for the techie in the shop to get everything to me by the end of trading) When I came back to the store the dude said that he had done everything but the software. All he said that I needed to do was install Windows 7. I have done this before so I took the box home to start immediately. The problem was that I ended up installing 7 and wiping out my Vista and all of the programmes that I had on it!!!! I was left with a new machine and none of the really quite expensive extras like QuickTime Pro and my Microsoft stuff. Anyway to cut a long story short I was able to get back my saved data but I have to reinstall all of the programmes again so that I can transfer the data folders into them. That means that a lot of the stuff still isn't back where it should be. On a brighter note, Shogun runs well and I am enjoying the game.

Distinctions for Both Girls!!

2011-06-09T22:11:00.000+12:00

Victoria got her Grade Three and Josephine her Grade Five - both with distinction! Yey for the girls!

Wedding Anniversary

2011-06-08T07:17:00.001+12:00

We celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary last night witha trip out to an Indian restaurant and a trip to see Pirates of the Caribbean in 3D. The story line was as thin as paper - and the continuity and dialogue pretty shocking. The two girls really enjoyed it however. The Indian restaurant food was really yummy and most of us experimented with some pretty exotic sounding dishes. It was so good that both girls ate everything. During the movie we were all so full that we didn't even indulge in the snack bar.
The girls had their music exams yesterday as well. Josie did her Grade 5 RSCM and Victoria did Grade 3. Victoria is optimistic that she got distinction while Josie thinks she might get a merit.

Must dash off to school now...

Anti-matter Discovered

2011-06-07T07:41:00.000+12:00

The Age of Discoveries continues thanks to ... Europe! Those crazy Europeans have managed to develop and fund CERN long enough for the discovery of antimatter to occur. It seems that 60 years after that ridiculous brain fart from Germany, Europe is regaining its place as the crucible of science and exploration. All of those Florida technicians and engineers laid off as NASA boldly goes where everyone has gone before and the poor people at Fermilabs must be shaking their heads and wondering at which point in the last 20 years the golden dream of exploration and progress was lost

A few shots of the school

2011-06-06T16:47:00.000+12:00

My cool desk that I bought to replace my old one after I changed rooms.

I don't have my own office. I share with the other teachers (who use their classrooms as their own offices) I have a little cubbyhole where I can escape to during my down periods.

This is the staff area from a little further away.

The photocopier and the three strawberry pots which are supposed to keep the staff supplied with strawberries during the early summer. We used to grow tomatoes but they were not very successful.

Classroom 2

Classroom 3

The front reception area

Heading down from the kitchen area (right) to the bathrooms

Looking towards the reception from classroom 4

Classroom 4

Classroom 1

Looking at some of Victoria's work on the board in classroom 1.

As promised here are some shots of the school. They were taken without much light this afternoon (Queen's Birthday) without any students - which means no mess.

Spare Time- New Project

2011-06-06T10:12:00.003+12:00

Can anything look as cool as a battalion of British infantry? I had these guys as Airfix figures back in the 70's and I battled them all throughout the house, lawns and garden until I was about 13. It would be so cool to paint a 1/72 army!

I am really looking forward to starting a Penninsular War British army. These long weekends have the downside of allowing me to think of expensive projects. During the next 10 years I want to paint 1809 Austrian, 1813 Prussian and joint Portuguese/British and maybe Spanish armies

Queen's Birthday

2011-06-06T09:15:00.001+12:00

After IELTS marking, we packed up the car and headed up to Hampden. The weather isn't all that great this weekend but we did manage a walk around the township before retiring indoors for the rest of the weekend. Nan bought herself a bitchin 42 inch flat screen plasma to keep her company over the winter. She has a subscription to the Sky Rugby channel which she can watch in HD. Anyway we spent a large proportion of the weekend eating too much and doing too little. Anyway today is Monday and we are heading back after lunch. I have quite a bit of lesson planning to do for the coming week. Luckily I don't have to prepare for any UMAT for the next couple of weeks so my evenings won't be too busy. My biggest problem is figuring out whether to base my 95th rifles instandard formation or in extended skirmishing order. I am leaning towards one standard battalion AND one in open skirming order jsut to be on the safe side.

Friday Off

2011-06-03T12:11:00.001+12:00

Well I took the day off today to recover from the op. Actually it was a bit of an anti-climax (to excuse the weak pun). Not nearly as bad as I had imagined it would be. I actually even watched the operation. In the morning I painted the base grass on my British light cav, retouched a lighter green on my 95th Rifles and finished reading The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes. It was a good yarn. On Monday I have a new class starting so I will have to do prep for that. I am also doing script marking for IELTS on Saturday before we head up to my mum's house for Queen's Birthday.

The girls have their exams on Tuesday and Mari starts temping at the Dunedin Public hospital for a month on Wed so the next month promises to be quite busy.

A New Style

2011-06-01T22:40:00.000+12:00

I have nothing to add. Except a new squadron of light cavalry and a vasectomy tomorrow. SIGH.

In the Weekend...

2011-05-29T19:39:00.000+12:00

Nothing much happened. I cooked a chicken pie and apple pie on Saturday and painted some British light cavalry. We also did some gardening. This is a boring post but I have nothing much to add. Life continues

Someone with a few physological problems

2011-05-27T11:40:00.002+12:00

A few soldiers

In my Jammies at 4.30

2011-05-26T16:44:00.000+12:00

Today I came home early after going for my doctor's appointment. (nothing sickness related) and decided to just blob out. So here I am sitting at the computer in my pyjamas. Mari is heating up a tea which I had make previously and the kids are playing on our iphones and generally avoiding their music practice and homework.

Two New Doctor Who Books

2011-05-25T09:27:00.001+12:00

That brings me down to the final 10 books! I have another four in my sights, so that will be 143 books up until the end of the TV series in the early 80s.

An Olympic Week

2011-05-21T14:02:00.000+12:00

Monday... New class of Saudi Students + After School Class
Tuesday... Agents from China + Dinner at the Polytech Training Restaurant. (Really good tucker)
Wednesday... UMAT+ Saudi class grows to classroom max.
Thursday...Worked late
Friday... Big morning tea, bought desks and a chair for the new office, Exec meeting for Education Dunedin. I have the heady task of countersigning cheques for the trust now. I don't know what it means but it does give me a little insight into the deeper working of the organisation.
Saturday...Cooked Chicken Tarragon and Apple Pie while the kids were at music+ did this blog

Doctor Who Takes Europe and Asia By Storm

2011-05-14T14:23:00.001+12:00

Doctor Who in Japanese

and Korean

and Italian

Friday the 13th

2011-05-14T08:31:00.000+12:00

Nothing much happened until Friday (today.) We had the electricians in today for the full day. They installed new lighting in a couple of classrooms and the front lobby. We now have lumens to burn. They also installed a number of plugs and cleaned up the front area to free it from unsightly power cables. Also we are getting a new set of blinds for the new staff room for Monday or Tuesday.

We also have changed our school staffroom into a classroom and changed our meeting room into a staffroom. Actually, we still have a pile of furniture to shift so that is going to be a job for Saturday. On Monday we have a special group of Saudi students in on a 4 hour per week 2 month contract to study for IELTS. That means that we will be at full capacity again (at least for a short time).

If that wasn’t exciting enough we managed to squeeze in free flu shots for the staff after three as WELL as a staff meeting!!!!

Can ANYONE live life as close to the edge as I do!!

I seem to take similar shots from year to year but here they go again. This is a shot looking East over the Pacific and the direction of South America. Once you get over the horizon there is nothing much apart from waves for the next 3 thousand kilometres so from that direction there isn’t much shipping to be seen apart from the odd cruise ship heading down to Stewart Island and then up to Australia.

One of the problems with the city is the sheer number of heritage buildings which were built during the goldrush era 1860-80s which are not really suited to become commercial premises. The city council wants to keep them but no business really wants to move into them. They can be done up but without massive upgrading they are not really worth buying as an investment. The vicious circle means that they stand unoccupied and not looked after – but can’t be torn down because they are heritage buildings. In fact about a month ago one of the frontages of one of these buildings collapsed onto the street without any warning. The city council is going to have to bite the bullet and allow a new Dunedin to emerge rather than keep some of these cute but unusable dinosaurs.

This is a shot of the Otago Daily Times building. Ancient –still used and very pretty. I walk past this lovely building every day and wish to stand at the top of that cupola just to see what the view would be like.

This is a shot of the Cobb and Co Restaurant and the balcony where the Queen stood when she visited Dunedin in 1953. It seems that the new owners of the building have blocked off the door the the balcony where Her Majesty stood.

I lied.

2011-05-09T15:17:00.000+12:00

Actually two more exciting thing happened.... I bought four new second hand Doctor who books - Namely Mission to the Unknown ,Planet of the Giants,Edge of Destruction (Doctor One) and Paradise Towers (Doctor Seven)

AND I did my first Facetime with my wife and my brother up in Auckland and it was cool. My wife and I have got prepaid Iphone4s which means we are not on contract but pay as we use the service. I am unsure if we are billed by the minute or if it is free if we are both using WiFi. The cool thing about facetime is that you can wander around the house while you are talking. My bro in Auckland was able to wander outside and show me his cars and jet ski which certainly couldn't have happened on a A Skype using PC.

New Webcam

2011-05-09T14:01:00.000+12:00

In my mundane existence I don't get to do too much new stuff. But it all changed today when I was able to pick up a new webcam. The plan is to Skype other PTEs and talk about assessment and moderation issues. We have kicked around the idea of having Skype meetings around New Zealand for us to come to a kind of collegial consensus about assessment issues but now it will move with greater speed. I picked up the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910 which looks a whole lot sexier than my old one.

This is the almost complete French army...

2011-05-01T20:51:00.003+12:00

Actually it is a bit of a mixture of Wurtemburgers and Nassaur troops but the majority are troops from the 1812 period. Not sure how many there are but there are well over 1000 infantry. Now all I need is a gaint wargames table to set them all up on... New house may be required to put soldiers in. Now there's a thought.....

Easter/ ANZAC Weekend

2011-04-24T11:26:00.000+12:00

Hampden War Memorial Hall

Dunedin

Cenotaph

Unfortunately ANZAC day falls this year on Easter Monday. This means that we are getting only one day off. Over in Aussie the government has declared a 5 fay weekend rather than the 4 day that we get. There is a lot of bitchin and whining on this side of the Tasman. It would be nice to have another day but financially we need to have the school up to full capacity over the school holidays. For us school holidays are a time when we can double our turnover so that is good for the business and for the local teachers who can pick up some more coin. Right now we are up in Hampden at my Mum's house. The girls are off riding horses, Mari is upstairs practicing the violin and Nanna is slaving away in the kitchen preparing lunch. Joanne (my older sister) has been n Hampden for the last week looking after our kids and visiting my mum. It has worked out really well for us in Dunedin because we have been child-free for a while. The kids are coming back to Dunedin with us tomorrow afternoon after the ANZAC service in the Hampden hall. (it looks like it will be too rainy to have it at the Hampden memorial. This will be the first ANZAC day that the kids and I have not attended and Dawn Service at the Cenotaph in Dunedin

Angry Next Door Business

2011-04-21T13:25:00.000+12:00

We have a pile of short term students in for the holidays. Unfortunately, this means an increase in the amount of noise around the school. Unfortunately the Urgent Doctors who share the floor with us like to have a quiet work environment. Our noisy school makes them a bit angry. On the other side of the coin we have to put up with noisy patients with screaming babies and lost morons asking if our school is the place to get their broken bones fixed up. Unfortunately there are times when we are noisy and the basic answer to complaints from the Urgent Doctors is "Fuck Off beeeatch!" I think live and let live is a much overlooked principle.

An International staff.

2011-04-13T07:26:00.000+12:00

I just realised that I am one of two Kiwi teachers on staff. Two were born and raised in Aussie and we have two Yanks. Rather a strange situation for a language school in NZ. Our two front staff are Kiwis though. We are also a rather fruitful school. Two of the staff are pregnant. One due to pop last Sunday.

The strange case of the upside down phoro

2011-04-11T07:45:00.000+12:00

Here is a photo of my Light Infantry which are ready to be flocked and coated with PVA. In all of my picture viewing software everything is the right way around. In blogger it is upside down. Stranger and stranger...

The Party is Over!

2011-04-10T21:59:00.000+12:00

Sleepovers are never to be attempted lightly. Having to deal with the children of other families can be very trying. Case in point Ella, Victoria's buddy in glucose intolerant, can't have dairy and generally complains about having a sore tummy at bedtime. Add three other nine year olds to the mix - all trying to be doctors and you have the recipe for a disturbing night.

On the bright side I did manage to paint my soldiers during the weekend and they are looking just lovely.

My new books

2011-04-09T08:37:00.001+12:00

My growing collection! I recently added 5 new titles.

We are looking for a high school for Josephine. We are trying for Columba because of its good reputation and its great pass rates. Unfortunately we will have to harvest our children's kidneys to pay for it (if Josie is accepted-since it is tough to get in to Dunedin semi-private schools).

2011-04-08T14:50:00.000+12:00

A comparison between Dunedin and Auckland weather in 2010.

Perhaps a reason for the lack of population on this island...

Auckland

Dunedin

Victoria turns Nine

2011-04-08T14:25:00.000+12:00

The upcoming weekend is unfortunately going to be full of 9 year olds eating KFC and running around the house. Victoria is having a sleepover for her party and that means a weekend of noise and sugar rushes. Over the past week I haven't done much in the way of painting because I really wasn't that interested.

My elder brother (who lives in Singpore) had a stroke in his brain-stem a few days ago but remarkably survived. According to the doctors a stroke in the brain stem is 90% fatal. He has recovered really well and is suffering from a small speech impairment coupled with a loss of balance. It seems that the blockage or tear(?) cleared quickly but there is a 4 week waiting period where this could happen again. I skyped my bro last night and he said he was bored and wanted to get back to work. Both of my brothers have really stressful (yet well paying) jobs but Peter is the one who really hasn't been that health-focused. Maybe this will be a wake-up call for him. He might have to think about moving back to NZ for the sake of his health. It would be good having him back after living for so long in Singapore.

$10,000 Tax Bill

2011-03-30T06:55:00.001+13:00

On my desk was a little innocuous letter yesterday. It was a nice little letter from my accountant. $10,000 by next Thursday. Guess that car guzzling car will have to stay. sigh..............

Olympic Painting

2011-03-27T17:34:00.000+13:00

After a really big farewell to Kelly party where I got completely smashed, I had a very quiet Saturday. I am not one for drinking too much (often) but this Friday was a night of horror. Luckily, I was able to get a taxi back home before I fell apart. Needless to say there wasn't a lot of activity on my part on Saturday. By Sunday however I was good to go and I have based 200 light infantry and ordered another 4 boxes from my "man" in Christchurch (to use a little drug terminology). We also went to the car yards to look for a car but being Sunday everything was closed so it looks like this coming week will be the week for finally choosing.

The Rising Cost of Fuel

2011-03-25T10:14:00.001+13:00

With the cost of petrol up now to $2.18 per litre it is now really difficult to drive our petrol-guzzling Toyota Estima as freely as we have previously. To that end we are kicking around whether to buy a new and cheaper form of transport. We headed down to the car yard to look for a small car and we have decided upon a Suzuki Swift or the Hyundai Getz. My wife has her heart set on the Hyundai (as a reflection primarily of her birth country - of South Korea) and I like the Suzuki because it looks nicer than the Korean car. Either way the costs are similar (in the $24000) range. They all come with great warranties and the fuel consumption are both 5.5/100kms which is a far cry from the Estima's 25/100kms. Anyway the Estima isn't going to be completely lost as I am going to sell it to my school to use it as a vehicle for taking students around the town and further afield.

Good but doubtful news for my grandchildren

2011-03-24T10:38:00.000+13:00

Please may this be true...

Religion set for extinction in NZ, says US study

A study using census data from New Zealand and eight other countries suggests religion is set for extinction in all these nations, researchers say.
The data reflected a steady rise in the proportion of the population claiming no religious affiliation.
Academics from Northwestern University, in Illinois, Arizona University and a research company in Tuscon used a mathematical model to account for the interplay between the number of religious respondents and the social motives behind being one.
The American research used "nonlinear dynamics" put a numerical basis behind the decline of religion as seen in census data from New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
"The result, reported at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas, US, indicates that religion will all but die out altogether in those countries," the BBC reported today.
In New Zealand, 2006 census figures show that the number and proportion of people indicating that they had no religion continued to increase, with 1,297,104 people (34.7 per cent) stated that they had no religion, compared with 1,028,052 people (29.6 per cent) in the 2001 census.
That census showed younger New Zealanders were more likely than the rest of the population to be recorded as having no religion: 43 per cent of children under 15 years were recorded as having no religion, compared with 11.8 per cent of people aged 65 years or older.
Approximately 38 per cent of those who classed themselves as ethnically either European or New Zealander said they had no religion. Only 11 per cent of people who classed themselves as having Middle Eastern, Latin American and African ethnicity said the same.
Just over 2 million people - 55.6 per cent of those answering the religious affiliation question - said they were part of a Christian religion, compared with 60.6 per cent in the 2001 census.
"In a large number of modern secular democracies, there's been a trend that folk are identifying themselves as non-affiliated with religion; in the Netherlands the number was 40 per cent, and the highest we saw was in the Czech Republic, where the number was 60 per cent," Richard Wiener of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, in Tucson, told the BBC.
The research pivoted on the idea that social groups that had more members are going to be more attractive to join, and that social groups had a social status or utility.
The researchers found that the relative social and utilitarian merits of membership of the "non-religious" category were similar across all the countries studied, suggesting that similar behaviour drove the mathematics in all of them.
And in all the countries, the indications were that religion was headed toward extinction.
Dr Wiener noted that it was a "suggestive result" from a fairly simple model that captured data going back as far as 100 years, and suggested the likely outcome.
- NZPA

The Audit of the Audit of the Audit. I hate NZQA

2011-03-17T12:58:00.001+13:00

I hate NZQA. They are the epitome of a wasteful government department who exist simply to justify their existence. Here is an example; Under NZQA regulations we must have an accountant sign off as to the accuracy of our accounts. That is fine and every business should do this however... WE must pay for an audit of that audit by another accountant and a separate audit of any money under $300 which we receive from students. WE even pay for the audit of our Public Trust monies which will make up 90% of the money we receive.
One the bright side we have a site audit to look forward to next year. How does $10000 in audit fees per year sound?
Basically to be an education provider in New Zealand is to have a thirsty bloodsucking government leach attached via statute to both testicles.

Oh- I forgot this one

2011-03-17T12:49:00.000+13:00

My recent bids.

2011-03-17T11:22:00.001+13:00

A guy in Wellington is selling off his Osprey collection.- can you imagine that?? I have bids on the following items that I have been looking for for ages.

Better Late Than Never and India.

2011-03-16T07:28:00.001+13:00

Well today over a month since the cash transaction went through I will be recieving my 5 boxes of French Light Infantry. Thankfully, this should mean a month or two of blissful evenings painting. I am finally up to podcast number 13 where Napoloen defeats the Third Coalition at Austerltz.

On another note, the politics of Indian agents continues anew with one agent who sends us nurses setting up on his own. We have had a long relationship with the organisation which employs but it seems that he was the worker responsible for actually sourcing the students from India. We are working with both agents but I think the original will wither on the vine. On the other hand, for me it willl mean a trip to India (southern) every 4 months to deliver a one week IELTS class to a big audience of prospective students. I hate flying so am considering doing these trips business class. The nice lady at the travel agency says that if you fly business (a few times?) from then on if you buy Economy you will be automatically be upgraded to Business class. I have got to weigh up the initial costs of this though... is it worth paying three times the ticket price a few times simply to get into the comfy mid price ticket range from then on?

The Osprey Collection

2011-03-09T20:46:00.000+13:00

Here is my burgeoning collection of mainly Napoleonic Osprey books. I need about another 20 to finish the collection.

Rising Petrol Prices

2011-03-09T16:32:00.002+13:00

Well it seems that petrol is rising now to $2.15 per litre with the possibility of it rising as high as $2.50. This means that for our family and thousands like us we will be cutting back on our trips in the van. I have been kicking around the idea of selling the van to the company and buying a cheaper hatchback or something which doesn't drink so much. This is a real pain for our recovery as the government has forecast a flat GDP for the next financial year. I am not sure but if there is a net decline for the next two quarters we could be technically in recession.

On a brighter note I am expecting the arrival of more soldiers and have just bought three new Osprey books namely....

By the end of the week I should be busily painting 200 more light infantry as well!! Yipeeeee!

What I've been listening to.

2011-03-08T13:42:00.000+13:00

I am now up to episode 12 of the Napoleonic podcast. I usually listen to it as I wander down to work in the mornings. It has been really enjoyable so far and it is surprising how much of the information is new to me. I have just listened to the story of the Peace of Amiens (?) which was fascinating.

The Napoleon Podcast

Changing Seasons

2011-02-28T19:04:00.001+13:00

I live in the middle of this photo somewhere.

Turning the camera towards my direction of travel and heading up towards the top of Mornington.

These are natives but am not sure of the names. Every time I see these I promise myself that I will go and look up their names but always forget.

The first glimpse of the changing leaves.If the smell of this area could be bottled and sent to the Glade company someone would make millions.

The CTV building before and after

2011-02-23T14:17:00.001+13:00

Here are some shots of a modern building leveled by the earthquake. It contains a language school that I know well (and did battle with in Dunedin). There are about 100 trapped people as far as I know in this building. The total death toll for the earthquake may well reach 400. This will make it by far the greatest loss of life in New Zealand history. I have contacted NZQA and Education Dunedin offering free tuition for students effected by the earthquake and am waiting for word from schools in the Christchurch CBD. As far as I know government agencies may well take up my school's (and possibly others) offer because so much of the infrastructure all around the city. I am not sure how many of these business have business insurance which will cover "acts of God' but I don't think it will be many. The government has declared a national state of emergency today which will be the first time since 1939.

Christchurch Quake

2011-02-22T15:38:00.000+13:00

Bad news from Christchurch I am afraid. Looks like lots of deaths and billions in property damage. Dunedin felt a tiny roll at lunchtime but I didn't really think it would be as serious as this. Hard to believe the city that I went to on Friday could be devastated just 3 days later.

The weather is changing.... again.

2011-02-22T12:27:00.000+13:00

The season is changing and now it is time for every right thinking individual to turn his thoughts inward to contemplate the deeper things in life like.... FRENCH CAVALRY.

I opened my boxes of French cav for the first time in over a year and have decided to rebase them. I have enough for an1812 army but just for the hell of it might add some more mounted Chassuers. When the winter sets in I might even be introspective enough as to take out my artillery train.

On another note...walking home from work a saw a fantastic toadstool. Here is the photo.

The weather is changing....

2011-02-22T10:14:00.003+13:00

Testing... please don't eat my post for a second time blogger

Back from Christchuch

2011-02-19T21:14:00.000+13:00

On Thursday after school I loaded up the car and headed up to Christchurch for an NZQA Quality Assurance conference. I had been looking forward to getting a few nagging questions sorted out and happily they were. I had long suspected that NZQA was aiming to "retire" local area course approval and replace courses with a nationally registered central qualification. Unfortunately this is going to happen in the next couple of years. It may not be as bad as I thought because they say they are going to give providers a certain autonomy over how courses get delivered. I think it is all about guaranteeing internal jobs for the "boys" as there will be a whole new division opened up for moderators I imagine. Anyway I drove over 800 kms over a two day period to attend the conference and get back in time for the girls to get to Saturday morning music. I should have taken some snaps of the late summer landscape on the Canterbury plains. The whole trip was like driving through a picture postcard.

Here is my 1st attempt of loading a movie shot in HD from the Apple Iphone. The results are pretty basic really. I think it is designed for outside long shots, Never mind though - the next movie will come from my proper recorder.

I have finished the 1st batch and based them. I have another 200 light infantry on the way and that should have the French finished,

Two Weeks Since My Last Post

2011-02-13T17:41:00.000+13:00

Well I have had nothing of significance to blog about apart from the finishing of my latest batch of French light infantry a week ago. Here are the snaps...

Actually they aren't quite finished yet...

and they won't look like this when they are finally put together because...

they are a mixture of chasseur and carabanier troops together with voltiguers of pre and post Bardin reforms!

I had my first meeting on the executive of Education Dunedin on Wednesday. It seems that my first year will be the last since the High Court has recently handed down a decision as to the status of registered charities who have "for profit" organisations as members. It seems that since Education Dunedin which is registered as a charitable trust for tax purposes (like all of the other regional bodies supported by local bodies) can't have private providers. This may mean that we will be excluded from the organisation and have to have a sort of associate membership. This will cut us out of significant local government funding unless the city council organises a separate funding route.
It seems a little ironic that all of this is happening in the same week as I was quoted in the local press as saying how well everyone is working together to promote the city and the South Island for international students.

Life Returns to Normal

2011-02-01T13:48:00.000+13:00

Victoria is off to school today for her first day in Year 4. Josie starts tomorrow and in spite of their protestations they are all genuinely looking forward to meeting their friends again. The main problem is that now school has started they will not be able to play Sims 2. They racked up huge hours during the holidays and showed no sign of getting sick of it so.... time for daddy to hide the discs.

Busy Saturday.

2011-01-30T11:23:00.000+13:00

I took a van full of students up to Moeraki and Shag point today. The weather was really windy and all the Yellow Eyed penguins seemed to be hanging out onshore. I have never seen such a contingent (about 5) so I guess the numbers are picking up a bit. I still think they are endangered though. After Shag Point we headed off to the Moeraki boulders for a quick look. Unfortunately the tide was in so most of the good boulders were under water. After that we headed off to Lockies fish and chip shop for fish and chips (which we ate at the beach. I got back at about 2 and spent a good part of the afternoon stripping wallpaper off Josie's bedroom walls. It is a messy and time consuming job. At present Josie's room looks like a bomb site and she wants to sleep in the lounge because of the unsightliness of it. On a more exciting not I have finished basing my light infantry. This means that the job (for this batch anyway) is officially half complete. Now comes the time consuming 'touch up' phase and the eventual ground painting,grassing and magnetic basing.

A battalion of Imperial Guard at the front from Zvezda (Russia) and Hat Industrie (US) work well.

Zvezda French Voltiguers looking cool. I might do three more boxes both in 3 figure formations to represent column formation and then larger based "free form" to represent skirmishing

Still nothing to blog about...

2011-01-28T13:42:00.002+13:00

As title suggests....

Nothing to blog about...

2011-01-25T10:32:00.001+13:00

Unfortunately as the busy year ramps up I find that all I have to blog about is work and that makes for pretty boring blogging. I have job interviews today and three new students sitting and doing placement tests. The weather is absolutely beautiful outside and I wish I was at the beach. Life at home is pretty normal with the kids enjoying the last week of the Chrissie Hols. Josie and Mari stripped the wallpaper in Josie's room yesterday in preparation for Josie's room makeover. I am getting ready to base the first 150 of my light infantry and will order about 200 more pretty soon. It looks like my "year long project" could be finished in as little as 3 months.

At its conclusion I aim to have about 50 battalions of French Infantry equaling about 900 foot figures and about 150? Cavalry. That should be more than enough to do battle with my finished Russian army of about the same size. I have the rule book for the board game called "Shako" but have never seen it played and don't know the rules. I doubt I will actually ever war-game with my toy soldiers. For me the enjoyment lies in painting them - putting them in boxes and storing them away forever. Strange eh?

Call of Duty 2

2011-01-20T09:32:00.000+13:00

Yay! I made it to General and now I can start going for prestige!! Unfortunately my nephew told me that if you go for prestige you lose all of your weapons and perks and you basically start off again armed only with default weapons. Although this is terrible news I am fully resolved to give it a go. I am continuing on with my project to paint my light infantry and I am getting back into my viola practice as well. I promised Mari that this year I would go for a grading on my viola so I will spend a portion of every evening (not much though!) doing viola practice. I plan to do a grading at the end of the year so I do have a little bit of time up my sleeve to prepare. Hopefully it wont get in the way of the important things in my life like Black Ops and painting my light infantry.