Apologies for the fuzzy focus - I shot this with Philip's D90, and with digital SLR cameras, filming video is done with manual focus. Let's just pretend that I was being arty.
Weekend playtime
George's buddy Hugo popped in yesterday for a playdate and a swim, good times for all. I don't think there was a great deal of interaction going on, but they stared at each other a bit, and appeared to be happy with a spot of toy sharing. Here's George earlier in the day as he was watching the Canterbury v Otago game:
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And here's one of his little mate Hugo (who is a month or two older than George):
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As the playdate toddled along, the All Blacks were busy showing us that it wasn't just the Black Caps who couldn't catch a ball. The lineouts - which I swear have sucked since 2000 - were abysmal, we dropped the ball in open play more times than I care to remember, and with almost 20 minutes to go and 10 points down, we chose to go for a try (instead of an easy penalty which would have put us within one score of the Boks).
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The simple way to fix the lineout problem would be to tell the lineout chaps that their match fee is paid according to the following formula:
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Match fee = (Number of own line outs won ÷ Number of own lineouts taken) x Normal Match fee
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So, if they take five lineouts in a game and lose three of them, then they would get 40% of their usual match fee. I suspect the stats would get much better if this was the case.
Still, traitorous beggar that I am, my emotional hedge came through - the Boks were paying $2.65 for the win, so my TAB account balance is looking ok this week.
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***
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Finally, after coming to their collective senses and electing a President who can actually pronounce the word 'nuclear' (it's not "NOO-KEY-LURR", dude), a large section of sub-par-IQ Americans are panicking about the Nazi / Socialist / Muslim / Marxist / Baby killing / Grandma killing president in charge and have lost their collective minds. These from the "We're not really sure what we're protesting" Protests in Washington DC yesterday:
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And my favourite one:
Friday morning photos
Featuring the photography-neglected kittens:
Upside down turtle...
... is how you could describe his current "crawling" technique. Limbs flailing, voice grunting, but not a whole lot of movement other than rocking. Both photos below were taking during this morning's "crawling" session (the second is completely off centre because I was laughing so much, but I love the look on his face).
Mmmm. Delicious injection-molded plastic.
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In other news, my camera is with the Nikon service people for a while - I had a very random problem (very random = 5 out of about 2000 photos) where some vertical banding would appear on some photos. Although it didn't happen often, I figured I'd get it checked out while the camera was under warranty - so no D700 for me for a few weeks. The service man muttered something about replacing the Compression Board (whatever that is), and then my baby was whisked away to get in the queue for surgery.
Faced with the prospect of being cameraless for a few weeks, Philip (my neighbour at work) has very kindly loaned me his back up camera until mine comes back. It's a D90 - similar to my D700 but a little bit smaller. Works beautifully, although some of the controls are in different places - but I'll get used to it (today's photo was taken with the D90).
Toof
A little photo of the grinning monster this morning:
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And if you look a little bit closer, you'll see a little surprise:
It's been visible for a few weeks, but has really started to break through now. Soon it'll be no more daft gummy smile - just a daft toothy smile...
Mr Innocent
Saturday morning at the Stoep, Saturday evening at the bar
The Binnington Clan very kindly invited us along to join them for a day at Mui Wo - we had a bit of a play in the ocean and then had a great early lunch at the Stoep Restaurant (a South African barbeque place). Here are a few photos of the day - firstly, the locals call a spade a spade. And a sick bag a Vomit Bag:
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And a few of big Sam and little Eva:
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...as well as one of Rachel and Bunky:
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And tonight I went out to watch the rugby at a pub in Wan Chai, and took this on of my fellow rugby watchers (they had to go outside for their nicotine fix, thanks to the new anti-smoking laws):
A load of photos
Patrick and Barbara have now left for New Zealand (they'll be close to halfway by now), and so I have a bit of time to crank out a few photos from the past week with them. Firstly, one of Bunky from yesterday morning. You know, just looking cute and stuff. Note his two favourite toys by his side - a little yellow ball and a chewed up cardboard tube:
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Moving right along - we took Rachel's employer's boat out for the day on Wednesday. We headed out to Clearwater Bay for a spot of lunch (on the boat) and a swim (which for Bunky also occurred on the boat thanks to an inflatable paddling pool):
That's windswept hair, not baby baldness...
Anyway, someone really enjoyed his own paddling pool. Note the furrowed brow:
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Also note that he's inherited - from his mother - the ability to blink during the 1/200th of a second that the camera shutter is open:
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And here's the little monkey being entertained by his Granny B. You may have noticed by now that someone seems to have developed a little tummy:
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And then a few from the trip home:
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For P&B's last night in Hong Kong, we went to a little outdoor Thai restaurant in Deepwater Bay that Rachel had been to a few times (once with Aunty Jane). It was pretty dark, but I clicked off a few photos anyway - one of Barbara, one of Patrick, and one of the table of ladies that was set up on the beach (we have to try that table next time). I had to take a stealthy photo of them, but I think I got sprung.
Bunky gets a new hat...
Out on the junk today, so he'll get to use it too:
