Archives for December 2008

Considering Electric Scooters

I took my car down for its regular Warrant of Fitness check this morning. A couple of hours later I had the verdict: it has structural rust and would cost more to fix than the vehicle’s worth. My car is officially dead. In light of that bad news I’ve been browsing around for information about […]

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Must sell: Buffy DVDs

I need shelf space. I’m also saving for a new computer. Much as I enjoy watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer I’m selling my whole collection of DVDs — all 7 seasons. All have been well watched. Seasons 1, 4, 5 & 7 are Region 2; the others are Region 4. I’ll do a special deal […]

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Hawai’i and New Zealand – we have much in common

While I was on the Big Island of Hawai’i I took a couple of tours. One took us up to the summit of Mauna Kea, 4,000 metres above sea level. The other took us across the island and down to the lava at Volcano National Park. The photo of the plant shows an endangered Silver […]

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In-flight Penguin entertainment for sardines

Earlier this month I flew around 7,000 Km (4,000 miles) from Auckland, New Zealand to Honolulu, Hawai’i, and returned a couple of weeks later. I’ve marked the two locations on the screenshot of a Google map. New Zealand and Hawai’i are remarkably similar in many ways — the subject for another post — but as […]

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Book sale special

I need shelf space. Now I have some time, I’m listing books and DVDs for sale. All books are second-hand, but in good condition. Contact me to make an offer. Update 07 January 2009: I’ve listed the remaining items, plus some other goods on TradeMe. Deliver First Class Websites, by Shirley Kaiser Paperback, Sitepoint. ISBN: […]

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Endless lava makes new land

On my visit to the Big Island I took part in a 12 hour guided tour called Kilauea Volcano Adventure. At around 6 am I drove some 2 or 3 miles north from Kailua-Kona to the pickup point. As first on the bus (the other 9 or 10 passengers were picked up from tourist resorts […]

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Green turtles by the shore

Between organised tours on the Big Island I spent one day hanging out in Kailua Kona. After a lazy morning I drove along the waterfront, ending up at Kahalu’u Bay, once a sacred and life-giving place, now a popular destination for snorkelling, surfing and lying on the beach. I ate an ice cream and watched […]

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Mauna Kea: the sacred high desert

After being invited to teach some courses in Honolulu I recognised the opportunity to add on a trip to Mauna Kea on The Big Island. I booked my Mauna Kea Sunset and Stargazing tour with Mauna Kea Summit Adventures who kept me well-informed with friendly and helpful emails, even reminding me of the itinerary the […]

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The exit row

After teaching the WordPress courses over the weekend for Pacific New Media I caught a shuttle bus to the Honolulu Inter-Island airport terminal. It was about a 20 or 30 minute trip from Lincoln Hall at the University campus since we stopped to pick up a couple of other passengers on the way. I arrived […]

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Cats on campus at UH

While doing some teaching for Pacific New Media at the University of Hawai’i I was staying at Lincoln Hall on campus. · · The campus itself is delightful: it contains numerous diverse buildings, large and small, and trees and bushes galore. There are wide open pathways, huge spreading trees, and most surprising of all, abundant […]

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WordPress Adventure

Today I taught 2 courses for Pacific New Media: WordPress Explorer, a very introductory course about WordPress, and WordPress Adventurer that showed participants how to begin customising their blog. Some of the participants were kind enough to allow me to take their photo. Techark sponsored some hosting for us. That allowed me to set up […]

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An Instant Website with WordPress

Many thanks to the 40 0r 50 people who attended my public talk tonight entitled Instant Websites for Anyone, with WordPress. The photo shows some of those who kindly stayed behind so I could take a photo. The session went well, and several people asked interesting and useful questions. It was made slightly more challenging […]

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