My car has been stuck in the OGGB carpark for over a month with a bust starter motor.  I finally got it towed out last Monday and paid $666 to have it fixed.  On tuesday night, I was out with my sister and as I left, she pointed out that during my car’s abandonment, the left headlight bulb died of neglect.  It was on my todo list for this weekend, but I’d forgotten about it when I planned to go out to dinner tonight in  New Lynn.  With the streetlights as bright as they are around the city, I couldn’t even tell the difference.

Of course, the police officer driving towards me could, and he did a U turn to pull me over literally right outside my apartment building.  He explained to me that the police have a carrot and stick approach to infringements like this.  The stick is a $150 fine.  The carrot is that I have 14 days compliance.   If I fix the problem within 14 days and send the police written proof that I’ve gotten the issue fixed, then I won’t have to pay the fine.

That’s task number 1 this weekend.  Task number 2 is to fix the broken mount on the drivers seat.  I’m not having much luck with my car lately.  Between it and my teeth, this has been an expensive couple of months.

My car broke down about a month ago. I had trouble starting it at home one afternoon and eventually got it to work, but that night, in the OGGB carpark, it refused to start.  I delayed doing anything about it for a while, since I didn’t really have either the time or the money to deal with it, so my car has been abandoned on level 3 of OGGB ever since.  It’s not just a battery issue since the lights and electrics all work perfectly fine.  Given that the car has been getting harder to start, and now won’t turn over at all (I just get a click) my conclusion is the fault lies with the starter motor.

Last week, I got the AA in to have a look at it.  The poor guy was lying down on the filthy OGGB floor getting covered in grease under my car for half an hour before he finally gave up and concluded that the starter motor is buggered.  This morning, more AA guys came in and towed the car to a mechanic to get it fixed.  I’m still waiting to hear how much that’s going to cost.

But in a nice touch, when my car was towed out this morning, the carpark attendant called me to make sure that I knew about it.  That was a nice touch, but I do wonder what his alternative scenario might have been – that the AA, with their very distinctively branded cars, have started a second line of business stealing old junkers from carparks?

Two weeks ago, I had two teeth surgically extracted.   The teeth in question were my lower right 2nd molar and premolar.  About a year or so ago, the molar cracked and I got an abscess beneath those two teeth.  I had to get a root canal in each, which was difficult because the roots were twisted and almost entwined.  Unfortunately, the root canal treatment failed and I had to have both teeth extracted.

Because I’d had the root canal, there wasn’t any pain, so I didn’t go see the dentist after six months like I was supposed to.  If I had, they’d probably have detected the failure, and they might have been able to just extract the molar and leave the premolar in place.  But I’ll never know for sure, because I was just too busy to go to the dentist and put it off until I started noticing a little tenderness around that tooth this year.  By then, both roots had collapsed and had to be cut out (not pleasant).

Getting the teeth replaced requires titanium pins to be inserted into my jaw and then crowned, at a cost of $12000 in total.  Next to that, the crown I need (to replace a 15 year old root canal filling) seems downright cheap.  In fact, I’m going to get another molar crowned as well, because it is at risk of cracking and having the same problem as the molar I had extracted.  $1200 for a crown looks pretty good compared to $500 for an extraction and $6000 for an insert.

Why are my teeth so crappy?  Well, it’s not because I don’t brush them regularly or well.  In fact, it’s a little galling to have two teeth removed and then have the dentist and the hygienist gush about how wonderfully clean my teeth are and how I have such excellent oral hygiene.  Make is seem even more unfair.  Nope, it’s probably mostly genetic.  Pretty much everyone in my family has fairly crappy and weak teeth.  Growing up on Waiheke where the water doesn’t contain fluoride probably didn’t help either.

So, if you haven’t been to the dentist in a while, make an appointment now.  Better to spend a little up front than have to spend a huge amount later on.

Most majors cities are sited on either an excellent harbour or an easy river crossing.   Auckland isn’t called the City of Sails for nothing – our harbour is one of the best in the world.  And tsunamis only reinforce this.

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I am a procrastinator.  Always have been.  And not just with my thesis – with just about everything.  I’ve been reading “The Procrastinators Guide to Getting Things Done”, which describes different kinds of procrastinators.  It turns out I’m not a pleasure procrastinator or a disorganised procrastinator.  I’m a self-doubt procrastinator and a binge worker. 

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This morning I made myself breakfast.  That’s not particularly unusual, I have breakfast at home about half the time.  Today, I had bacon and eggs with tastes-like-home-made-but-isn’t tomato relish and a vanilla chai latte.  Everything was ready at the same time so I sat down to enjoy it.   At the exact second that I picked up the fork, the whole building’s fire alarms went off.

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Lately, I’ve been addicted to watching MacGyver.  I was initially reluctant to watch it again.  MacGyver is one of my idols from childhood and I was worried that if I watched him again now, I’d discover that he’s actually pretty lame.  Well, I didn’t need to worry.  MacGyver still rocks.

It is just as cool as I remembered it.  Lots of cool science, marvellous improvisation, awesome explosions, super evil baddies and an un-killable nemesis.  Of course, for the most part, everyone has the typical 80s clothing and hairstyles.  Yes, Mac does have a mullet in the later seasons, but in the first season he looks pretty good.  And his clothing is classic enough that it would still look good today (well maybe if he had better shoes).

So far, I’m up to season 4 and I’m loving every minute of it.

Now that I’ve finished my thesis, my next work related worry is continuation.  Continuation is a version of the US tenure system that has all the downsides and none of the upsides.

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I loved Monkey Island.  I’m not really sure why since I pretty much sucked at them and had to frequently resort to hints sites or walkthroughs to get through difficult bits.  I haven’t the patience to try all the permutations of different objects together to achieve some effect.  But I did like seeing how the puzzle was solved, even if not by me.    I’ve got all the games, and I do go back and play them every year or two.  I find I’ve forgotten half of it by then and it’s like playing a fresh game again.   I’ve always thought it was a shame they didn’t make another game.    Well, now they have!

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My plans for giving to charity have advanced one step further – I’ve now signed up for the Unicef Global Parents program.   That pretty much takes care of the international and extreme poverty end of the spectrum.  At the more local and personal end of the scale, I also support the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, since several of my family members have needed this to get to hospital. 

So far, my regular charity ‘portfolio’ looks like this:

• Unicef Global Parents
• Kiva.org
• NZ Breast Cancer Foundation
• Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust

This year I also supported the Atheist bus campaign, although I’m unlikely to make that a regular thing.  Since my kiva lending will keep rolling over, I’ll have more money to spend next year,  so I’m still on the lookout for other charities to support:

• Charities that hand out condoms
• Something with an environmental/conservation slant
• Groups that support education, particularly science education for kids or, even better, educating parents about the importance of educating their kids