RobiNZ Personal Blog

It's simple, when you know how | simplicity living . kiwi

It was great to visit the Simplicity Living Productivity Hub today and learn more about how they are building high quality affordable rental (they'll own), and rent to buy (they'll fund) housing that I own 0.0000[insert many more zeros]001% of via a portion of my Simplicity Kiwisaver (retirement fund) and separate small Simplicity Homes and Income Fund investment %) Two pours today on their Te Reiputa site with 297 new one and two-bedroom apartments in Mt Wellington, Auckland. Introducing Te Reiputa - Simplicity Living's biggest project yet | Simplicity Simplicity Living's Te Reiputa Mt Wellington Site Even better all their... Read more →

Andrew Powell And The Philharmonia Orchestra... A Sony D50, Forty years on...

I saw a Facebook post on an Alan Parsons Project (APP) group wishing Andrew Powell Happy Birthday and remembered a lifetime of entertainment. As an industrial design student in 1983/84 I was fascinated by the brand-new CD technology being launched at the time. Went to look at the first of the Sony & Philips players on display at a hifi store in the Auckland, NZ, CBD. They had a tiny range of imported CDs on sale to support the launch and one was 'Andrew Powell & the Philharmonia Orchestra Plays the Best of the APP". I was already a fan... Read more →

Socially media influenced by Webworm's David Farrier!

Recently Substacker (Webworm), Podcaster (Flightless Bird), Director (Tickled, Dark Tourist, Mr Organ), former TV3 Journalist, David Farrier posted about dyeing his hair... (Quote from subscriber locked post used with permission) WEBWORM WITH DAVID FARRIER - The Origins of Rage I dyed my hair pink - then the angry comments began. DAVID FARRIER | MAR 30, 2024 | PAID Hi, I dyed my hair pink* this week. If I was being pretentious I’d say it was an art project. I’d used a pink-hair filter on social media earlier this month, which had people evenly split between “Oh my God you dyed... Read more →

A form I'll never fill out... UOA Body Bequest Section Two

Part of my 'doing things I should have done long ago' was actually organising donating whatever collection of atoms I comprise of at the end for a useful purpose. I'm not religious so consider once dead the container I formerly occupied is just that. Now the medical school get first refusal, then transplant donations etc. if they don't want it. Still felt a bit odd to look at part two of the UOA Body Bequest form and wonder when and how it will be filled out... Read more →

Over a century, and about a week, of memorials...

It's ANZAC day today and my Great Grandfather, Ernest Bock, was one of so many who went to war and didn't come back. On Saturday I attended the celebration of Paul Rodler’s life. A work colleague, friend, who drove to work on Monday 17th April and, after a tragic road collision, didn't come back. Although we both left TWG a few years ago still used to catch up occasionally. Last time, in early Feb, he gave me heaps (as was his style) for turning up to dinner on a bicycle, on my work bike/train commute, even more so when I... Read more →

My inadvertent long-term sleep experiment | Time Out 2021-22 After

I've been wearing a Samsung Active 2 Watch to track sleep for several years and inadvertently, combined with lifestyle changes, it became a sleep behaviour experiment. The Samsung Health app popped up a summary, 12 months of records from my year of mostly cycle touring, and I realised it could answer a question I had long wondered about. While the sleep records of a consumer device are probably not that accurate, given it has all been with the same device, they are likely consistently inaccurate so can still be used for comparison. My 'normal' sleep, or not... I've always been... Read more →

A year ago, today, life changed | Time Out 2021-22

It's strange how sometimes seemingly trivial things combine to change your life. A year ago, today, I had a lovely rich chocolatey breakfast, at 'La La Land' in Raglan, then set off to drive home from a weekend of cycling. Approaching Port Waikato the sun appeared, and I decided to do a short ride to burn off some of that breakfast indulgence. On that ride, I stopped to take a photo, looked at the road ahead and decided I wanted to keep riding. That led to a major change, a break from work, and cycling all over New Zealand. In... Read more →

End of Life Choice Act is now law

An important day in NZ today; End of Life Choice Act takes effect in New Zealand | Radio NZ The End of Life Choice Act has come into effect one year after nearly two-thirds of New Zealanders voted in favour of it in a referendum... The End of Life Choice Act 2019 gives me the right, with lots of conditions, to legally decide when I die. To be able to ask for assisted dying, a person must have a terminal illness that is likely to end their life within six months, and must be competent to make an informed decision.... Read more →

Remembering September 12 2001 | 9/11 in NZ

It may seem strange but I don't remember anything at all significant about September 11, 20 years ago. September 12 though... I'll never forget. New York, NY, USA | Tue, 11 Sep 2001 | 8:46 a.m. Auckland, New Zealand | Wed, 12 Sep 2001 | 12:46 a.m. I woke, as usual, about 6am, and turned on the radio to catch up with the news. Before long was, like so many, staring at the TV in disbelief. As it was a Wednesday, went to work but not as usual. Colleagues similarly stunned, reinforced by our office view of the Auckland CBD... Read more →

West Roast, Best Roast

There's a local takeaway place I go to irregularly, more often in winter than summer. Because I (still) use Quicken for managing finance it only took a couple of clicks to see over the last decade it's on average monthly, sometimes a couple of times a month in winter but with gaps of several months in summer. Run by a couple, open long hours seven days, the food is always good. The only reason for sporadic visits is I don't frequently eat what they offer, but what they do, they do very well. Last week I went in and was... Read more →