view original Originally uploaded by Napalm filled tires Billy Crystal and Robert DeNiro starred in a pair of insipid yet entertaining comedies, with Crystal portraying a psychoanalyst and DeNiro the underworld kingpin he was treating. One of the sub-plots in one of the films was the death of the famous father of Crystal’s character. Whenever he was offered condolences regarding his father’s passing, Crystal would reply, “I’m grieving; it’s a process.” I’m learning that writing is also a process, not a product, and that like grieving, it can take a long time to get over, or get it over with.…
Twitterfone Live In NZ
Irish serial entrepreneur Pat Phelan has hit another home run with his Twitterfone service, which allows users to record a voice mail, have it converted to text and posted to their Twitter accounts. Pat kindly offered to set up a phone number for me to call in NZ, and while it took about a week for his technicians to work out a caller-ID glitch, but it now seems to work beautifully. Here is the first Twitterfone call from Aotearoa, and how it showed up on Twitter about 2 minutes later. If you’re on Facebook, consider joining the Twitterfone group. If…
Honolulu Hypocrisy
One of the ways I monitor the news back home by subscribing to the the “Breaking News” feed of the Honolulu Advertiser in Google Reader. Today the news feed brought these two tantalizing headlines: Hawai’i must redouble war on child obesity and L&L Drive-Inn rolls out 3-pound plate lunch. Personally, I can’t even finish a standard plate from L&L Drive-In and usually opt for the mini-plate. Shame on the Honolulu Advertiser for treating this advertisement as a news item.
Scobleizer: The Movie
I got a little bored tonight, didn’t feel like reading. I remembered thinking a few nights ago when we were watching “Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead” that Philip Seymour Hoffman reminded me of someone. Then it occured to me…
Enjoying Our Last Five Weeks…
Our family met on Friday evening to discuss our various return options, and we decided to catch a flight out of Dunedin on Saturday, June 28. We’ll spend two days in Sydney, Australia, then head back home to Hawai‘i on June 30. June 29 is my birthday and June 30 is Marie’s, so it will be a nice last present for us before we return home and deal with all of the things that we were able to put off until our return. M?lia wanted us to leave on the 27th so that she didn’t have to perform a hula…
Keola’s del.icio.us bookmarks for May 23rd
These are my links for May 23rd: iPhone line forms at Apple's flagship for absolutely no reason – So word on the street (literally) is that a large number of people are queuing in line outside of Apple's flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York City (see above) — keep in mind the Cube is open 24 hours a day. High gas prices drive farmer to switch to mules – High gas prices have driven a Warren County farmer and his sons to hitch a tractor rake to a pair of mules to gather hay from their fields. Son…
Keola’s del.icio.us bookmarks for May 21st – May 22nd
These are my links for May 21st through May 22nd: WordPress – Improve SEO and user experience: 10 Useful Tips – Here are my tips for improving your WordPress blog once it’s installed Daily New Zealand News: New Zealand pilots run out of fuel; prayers answered – When two New Zealand pilots ran out of fuel in a microlight airplane they offered prayers and were able to make an emergency landing in a field, coming to rest right next to a sign reading, "Jesus is Lord." Universities Baffled By Massive Surge In RIAA Copyright Notices – n the last 10…
University of Sheffield Looking For A Lecturer
The Department of Music, University of Sheffield wishes to appoint a full-time, fixed term lecturer in ethnomusicology for the period 18 August 2008 to 18 May 2009. The programme in ethnomusicology at Sheffield is one of the largest in Britain, with three full-time lecturing staff. I visited Sheffield and met the staff their at the International Council for Traditional Music conference back in summer 2004, and seriously considered enrolling in their Ph.d. program at one point. The exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and British pound was an insurmountable obstacle.
Last Week Of Instruction at Otago
One of the more enjoyable aspects of our semester in Dunedin was the opportunity for me to act as a teaching assistant in the Department of Music. The classes here are structured a bit differently than back home. Monday is the big instructional day, and the class instructor, Shelley Brunt, would lecture on the week’s topic. On Tuesday, small groups of students would make presentations on the week’s set reading, and their fellow students assessed their work. On Wednesday, Shelley and I would split the class in half for tutorials – she would take half to a different room, and…
How Not To Treat A Customer, Part Douche
Frank Prendergast in Cork documents his experience at a Vodafone retail store when he attempted to collect his repaired mobile. He forgot to bring the power supply for the loaner mobile phone they gave him, and the manager refused to give him his cell back with the promise that he return the power supply. Apparently Frank is a heavy mobile user who spends over €200 each month. In doing the math, the store manager‘s crappy attitude cost Vodafone €1704 and a million dollars worth of bad publicity.