Snaps from the past week

We had a launch party for a new version of of our software. This was just the start of the setup.

 

Ladies night at a local hardware shop where the store manager braved the stage in dress-up.

 

Piha Beach on the West Coast of Auckland.

Beach Speed Limits

People are allowed to drive on some of New Zealand’s beaches, unlike South Africa where a lot of conservation laws prevent beach driving. While on a lazy Sunday afternoon drive a while back, we spotted these. Funny thing is, the drivers obey these rules. The average speed on the beach is usually 50km/h but depending on the conditions and the amount of 4×4’s that already passed through a specific area, it is safer to go a bit slower.

 

Buying online is serious business

I’ve been online window shopping for the past few weeks for an Apple iPod Touch. I came across this gem of The Warehouse’s advertising. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to buy the iPod Touch 8GB for $325.00 or the exact same iPod Touch 8GB for $349.00. I couldn’t make up my mind.

We’re expecting some cold weather soon!

Lower Hutt is a town close to Wellington in NZ. Heard about this on the radio this morning and had to check it out for myself. Friday will be a very cold day in the Hutt.

*The weather forecast has been fixed in the meantime.

Song of the Day – Opshop

Awesome song called Maybe by the popular kiwi band, Opshop.

Rubber duck programming

Ever struggled with something and just couldn’t get it right? As you called a fellow developer and started explaining the problem, the solution became clear to you. You feel like a fool and your co-worker grumbles back to his desk. Sound familiar? You need to get yourself a programming companion aka a rubber duck.

According to Wikipedia, the definition of Rubber Duck Programming is:

Rubber Duck Debugging is an informal term used in software engineering to refer to a method of debugging code. The name is a reference to an apocryphal story in which an unnamed expert programmer would keep a rubber duck by their desk at all times, and debug their code by forcing themselves to explain it, line-by-line, to the duck.

There’s something magical about stating your problems aloud that makes the solution more clear. And it works. If you feel uncomfortable with a yellow duck on your desk, get a small token that will silently sit and listen to all your coding woes.

My “rubber duck” is an Emirates plush toy (I’m still not exactly sure what it is) and serves as an excellent debug assistant.

Old men and pedicures

When someone mentions a beauty salon, the last imagine that comes to mind is old men having pedicures. After my experience yesterday, I will never look at a beauty salon the same way.

I was having my nails done in a rather empty salon (the weather was good, so the mall was empty) when an older man walked in. I would guess he’s in his sixties or even early seventies. First thought I had: “Aww that’s so sweet, he’s coming to book a manicure / pedicure for his loving wife” which seems rational. I hear him enthusiastically ask the Asian lady at the counter if he can have a pedicure. Ah. Not so sweet any more.

He was ushered to his lazy-boy-leather-chair-with-built-in-foot-spa and the beautician started the process of nail-clipping, feet-rubbing, cuticle-pushing, dead-skin-removing, toe-massaging and feet-washing. Not once did he look away from what she was doing, sitting there with this big grin on his face. This guy was like a 5 year old kid in a candy shop! The way the salon and the chairs are set up, the beauticians sit on extremely low chairs on wheels and to comfortably work on clients’ feet, they have to sit with their legs spread open. Her skinny jeans probably didn’t help her case either. I can only imagine the thoughts and images that ran through the old man’s head. As the first old man’s session was almost finished, another older man walked in and sheepishly asked for a pedicure. “My wife is shopping upstairs,” was his excuse. At least he had an excuse.

Through the whole process, the beautician didn’t once look at the first old man. She was having a good chat (in Korean I guess) with her co-worker, probably debating old men, their toes and what they’d rather be doing. The first old man walked out of the salon with the biggest smile on his face, baby soft feet and toe cuticles pushed back.

I take my hat off to these girls. Seriously, I wouldn’t last a day as a beautician.

Gossip

Not gossip in the ordinary sense, American band with lesbian feminist Beth Ditto (very non-mainstream) on vocals. Awesome song.

From the album Music for Men.

The ski trip that didn’t involve skiing

Our company goes on an annual ski trip in August every year. Partners and families go with. Last year we went down and touched snow for the first time. This year we went down again and at least we knew what to expect. But this time, the weather didn’t permit us to ski. Instead, we went quad biking. Twice. Driving through puddles of mud, dodging low hanging branches, wheel-spinning and getting stuck in a ditch was all part of the fun. Mad props to Taupo Quad Aventures and Quad Zone ATV Tours in Rotorua.

Mount Ruapehu – Turoa side. This was on the first day we went up the mountain. We knew that the chair lifts were closed due to the gale force winds and rain but since driving all the way to the mountain, we felt obliged to go up and see the snow.

Mount Ruapehu from a paddock somewhere between Ohakune and Waiorou. This was the “best” weather we had for the weekend, thus the best pic I could get.

Ettiene and I after quad biking in Rotorua: muddy, wet, cold, tired but ecstatic.

We had tremendous fun and looking forward to actually skiing next year.

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 Tab Tearing

Firefox 3.5 introduced a new “Tab Tearing” feature that lets you click and drag a tab and then moving your mouse in a downward motion which causes the tab to open in a new window. Very nice (?) feature, but not really efficient. While clicking around tabs or being in a hurry, you drag a tab off the bar by mistake and it opens the tab in a new window. Why?

To disable this feature, get the “Disable detach and tear off tab” add-on. Works perfectly.