Oh thanks you we do, Sire….for leaving us a sheep from our flock…
Posted by Leeb - 06/07/09 at 09:07:42 pmOn the return daily commute today, my partner had a rant. She ranted on for at least 25 minutes.
Today she [her business www.vaultconsulting.co.nz] received a bill from the lovely guys at the IRD for money she might make in the future based on what the business has earned so far. Provisional Tax.
So let me get this straight and please comment if I am wrong about this - I would love to broaden my financial savvy….so
- She takes a step out of the comfy norm, risking everything to set up a small company which may or may not work in the current [engineered?] financial climate
- Now as well as the increase risk and workload, there is supposed to be rewards right?
- So why now does the small business owner have to pay PAYE [income tax] and Provisional tax? Surely it would be better served to let the small business keep this cashflow intact [lets say to $100,000K non taxable] so she can emply more staff, produce better products through R&D, Marketing etc and put MASSIVE tax on things like Utes/cars which everyone knows are tax dodges….
In fact wouldn’t a better policy be to COMPLETELY scrap the income and provisional taxes? Ah but how will we fund out teachers? Cops? lolly pop ladies [what I hear you cry...]
Simple. We make GST/VAT/whatever you call it 35% [figure example only - pulled out of my proverbial]. This way low income earners and non-consumers would have more cash to invest in the ailing institutions and charities etc and we would have a User Pays GST system. The more you buy with your now huge cash reserves the more you pay in the hidden tax. Simple isn’t it?
Small business should be left alone to grow, the guys who go it alone and risk everything - don’t really need the slap in the face when they are trying to get ahead….its hard enough already!
Democracy surely means free market business. If we wanted politicians to dictate what goods are produced and when consumed - we could have stuck with the Nazi Party! If it really is a democracy we operate under the guise of - then surely we can put through a bill for the abolishment of Income Tax.
Gone are the days of the King and his cronies helping themselves to our produce and leaving little behind.
Lets have a Taxation referendum - see what people think.
Eating for England….
Posted by Leeb - 03/06/09 at 09:06:19 pmHaving been a “like yeah man, 3 times a week” gym bunny for about 2 years and thinking I had been doing pretty well, treadmill, pushups, pullups rah, rah, rah….it dawned on me that I have more or less been wasting my time as I probably have only trained to a large extent using exercises I like, i.e. the ones that don’t hurt anymore! And- as a result there arn’t any.
- So I got my self a personal trainer to try and remedy my situation - Jason Statham is where I want to be, Joe Pesci is whaere I am now
I hark back to my military days on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Friday mornings when Gabriel tries his best to kill me. I have never sweated so much in recent history [well 10 years anyway] as during the last couple of weeks.
Gabriel has made it his mission to correct all my worsening body traits encouraged by my past 10 years of couch potatoe-ing and ill-beer swilling escapades. Right arm stronger than left- noooo problem Gabriel will find all the wasted, dwindling muscles in the left arm and murder them one-by-one. same goes for outward pointing feet [great for marching...but we don't do that anymore...], sloping right shoulder ['cos that's the one we carry stuff with right!...] and thus - lazy muscles targeted and destroyed, Sir! All to the resounding Portugese-accented cries of “awesome, come on, up, up, up, there!…”
I am loving it! as they say at McDonalds….or would if I were allowed to grace one! I shudder to think what my punishment would be…brings water to my eyes already.
Also, as part of the new routine, I have to eat. Eating has never been a problem for me, hungry = eating. Now I have to eat to strenghten and build my new muscles, trouble is the amounts at each sitting are astounding.
I feel as though I am eating for England so to speak, here’s a normal days eating:
first thing in the morning: 20g whey protein shake
200ml skim milk, flax seed oil tbl spoon, vitamin c, glucosamine
breakfast: 2eggs
1 wholemeal toast(brown bread)/ 60g dry oats to cook a porridge
peanut butter/nuts or chicken sandwich
lunch: big kumara(microwave 6-8 min), 200g tuna/ salmon
tomatos, onions, parsley
dessert: banana/ apple/ kiwi fruit
afternoon tea, pre-workout(30min-1h before): piece of fruit
20g protein
300ml milk
60g porridge/ 1 slice of brown bread w hummus
coffee
post workout: 30g whey protein, 600ml powerade
1h after post workout meal
dinner: miso soup, mesclun salad, capsicum, garlic, 200g chicken breast
mustard, chilli
before bed 50g cottage cheese
Phew!
Communication…..
Posted by Leeb - 05/04/09 at 09:04:49 amResolve from Yahoo! Read on for the exciting game of ping-pong which resulted in a conclusion which I already knew 
After receiving an email advising me that I had infringed their TOS agreement and that my account with Yahoo! would be terminated, dot dot dot
“Hi there, I don’t believe this is the right form for asking
this question but I can’t find another! So here goes:
I recieved an email from Yahoo stating that I might have violated the
TOS in some way - but I don’t know how???!! I have had a re-read and
I believe that I have been doing nothing untoward or different to my
past 12 or so years as a Yahoo member…please let me know how I have
infringed the TOS so a) I can either do something about my actions or b)
you guys can please apologise and remove any record of my infingement
Many thanks in advance, Lee”
“Hello,
Thanks for writing to Yahoo! UKIE Customer Care.
Mass distribution of unsolicited email messages (or “spamming”) violates
the Yahoo! Terms of Service (TOS).
Please include the following in your report of email abuse to assist us
in a prompt and full investigation:
1. Original subject line — Please forward the email with a subject
identical to the original subject.
2. Complete headers — Email programs often display abbreviated
headers. To learn how to display the full headers in a Yahoo! Mail
account, please visit the Yahoo! Mail Help Desk.
3. Complete message body — Please include the complete, unedited
content of the email message in question. Please do not change or edit
the message in any way.
If reports of email abuse are missing any one of these three items, it
may take longer for the Yahoo! Mail Abuse Team to properly investigate
and take appropriate action. We appreciate your efforts in reporting
this abuse to Yahoo!. At this time, we will need you to forward a copy
of the message, as opposed to sending it as an attachment. Due to
security purposes, our custom messaging system is unable to access
attachments.
Regards,
Customer Care Abuse Team - Yahoo! UK & Ireland”
“Hi there, would it be possible to get a human being on the end of my
emails instead of what appears to be automata response?
I don’t spam so could this be that someone has aquired my address and
password?
Cheers,
Lee”
“Hello Lee,
Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.
At this time, it is unclear what assistance you are seeking. In order
for us to better assist you, I would appreciate some additional
information. Please reply to this email with the full details of what
you are experiencing — the more information we have, the better we will
be able to investigate this issue.
I look forward to providing you with a solution as soon as possible.
Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Mail.
Regards,
J
Yahoo! Customer Care”
“Hi guys the assistance I seek is for you to explain or investigate the
instance of “spamming” from my account…as was stated by yahoo! In the
first instance prompting this communication 
I don’t belive I infringed your tos and would like my record cleaned
up…
Cheers, lee “
“Hello,
Thanks for writing to Yahoo! UKIE Customer Care.
In order for us to better assist you, we would appreciate some
additional information. Please provide the Yahoo! ID in which you are
requesting assistance.
Regards,
Customer Care Abuse Team - Yahoo! UK & Ireland”
“Hello, is this not my email address?
Cheers,
Lee.”
“Hello,
Thank you for writing to Yahoo! New Zealand.
Mass distribution of unsolicited email messages, or “spamming”, violates
the Yahoo!Xtra Terms of Service (TOS).
After investigation, we have determined that this email message did not
originate from the Yahoo!Xtra Mail system. It appears that the sender of
this message forged the header information to give the impression that
it came from the Yahoo!Xtra Mail system. The “@yahoo.com.au” address
associated with the email does not exist.
We take the operation of Yahoo!Xtra Mail very seriously. Unfortunately,
there is no control over messages sent through other email systems and
it’s not possible to pre-empt the misuse of the Yahoo!Xtra name in
forged headers.
While Yahoo!Xtra cannot technically prevent its domain from being forged
in the headers of an email message, actions have been taken against
companies in an effort to prevent further forgery of the Yahoo!Xtra
brand and to seek damages as appropriate. Individuals are strongly
discouraged from forging the Yahoo!Xtra domain in the future and
appropriate action will be taken as necessary.
Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! New Zealand.
Regards,
J
Yahoo! Customer Care”
“Thanks for the apology Jean does this mean my account won’t be terminated?
Glad to hear we got to the bottom of this….
Much appreciated,
Lee.”
NO RESPONSE
awesome. I should send them a bill fro my time wasted, wasted trying to back up my free email account because of the threat of termination, wasted [time, not me] writing the emails, mental anguish at the possibility of losing my contacts [thank the internet Gods for my iPhone...]. I guess as in everything else in life, there’s no such thing as a free email client.
On a positive note though, it gave me pleasure in writing this blog and I got to learn about POP account backups…
Back now - phew…but might not be emailing you soon..
Posted by Leeb - 24/03/09 at 04:03:53 pmI have just received an email from my Yahoo! big brothers letting me know that they will be terminating [maybe, maybe not] my account if I don’t stop violating their TOS [their choice odf words not mine]…
I don’t even know what I have done to be rewarded by such effecient service as this!
the nice chap in me wanted to make amends and find out how I, THE CUSTOMER [ablbeit non paying] can amend my ways and gain favour with the big fellas. So off to help I go…could I find the feedback form? evntually after about the same amount of time as it would have took to sign with Google or any other free service provider… I found the ‘report abuse’ form.
So I did.
We’ll see what comes back and I’ll publish it - but only if it’s good stuff.
What a load of garbage…..
Posted by Leeb - 25/11/08 at 09:11:07 pmI really didn’t want to go today. …but as part of my MKP committment I made to do some community giveaway-type work - I arrived at Island Bay beach for a cleanup, tired after a 10hr day. [All pat Lee on the back now and say ah].
This isn’t about me and what I want -but-
What was really cool and felt great was receiving the smile from Andrew the organiser of the cleanup. Andrew isn’t part of MKP and he had no inclination we were about to arrive! Somehow through the ether - myself [and poor long suffering Marie-Claire]and a few other guys had tracked down this meet and now gatecrashed the party.
Island bay cleanup Nov
The beach looked pretty clean to me at first glance [probably the "oh well, all done! lets get out of here" cop-out head speak going on at this point]….anyway we got our [biodegradable] trash bags and away we went. I think each sack weighed about 15kgs when we had finished….for the land lubbers it was mostly plastic and glass bottles- followed with plastic bags, broken fishing gear and lolly-sticks. All great things to get stuck in a childs feet or in the mouths or beaks of sealife…not too pleasant - not too mention the eyesore it creates. Amazing how much stuff can hide away in the sand and rocks.
We collected and talked - a right old philosophy debate…from transport to politics. And I had an idea or two regarding what Glenn said to me regarding ‘its like paddling against the current’ [as we talked about litter and recycling].
1) “Other people will take care of it”. From as early as I can remember, I cannot think of an instance where I was taught about being responsible for my actions in the World. I can remember breaking rules and being punished - but not being taught exactly. This was my crux - is this true for everyone growing up? Maybe a fantastic initiative for teaching this is to incorporate beach/countryside cleanups for EVERY schoolchild in NZ - supervised of course, just an hour every month. If the kids cleanup their own trash off the beaches, from an early age then maybe they will have regard for the environment and self-police each others behaviour ongoing throughout their lives.
2) How fantastic would it be to provide and opportunity for beneficiaries to a) earn more than the base dole, b) get some exercise, c) contribute positively to society, which would also be awesome for their self-esteem.
How about $1.00 for every full back of crap off the beach or fill 10 bags get and extra $20/week? Council wouldn’t have to cleanup and you could even be paid more for sorting into plastics, glass, tin etc without needing a sort/transfer station - the place would look brilliant for tourists and locals alike, and we would have armies of “litter-police”….
“I’d buy that for a dollar”.
I’m on a ‘restricted’ one Officer…..
Posted by Leeb - 23/11/08 at 09:11:49 pmI want a dog. I need a licence.
I want to go fishing for trout. I need a licence.
I want a gun. I need a licence.
I want to run my car on a public road. I need a licence.
You get the picture here right?
How about the most massively World impacting thing a person could want…..
I want a baby! [Well get the hole right and whammo - easy peasy].
Isn’t it about time that we [the World] looked at procreation from a different perspective…THE CHILDS POINT OF VIEW? Would they want an ill-educated, non-providing moron of a father, who lets say for this example, might put them in a tumble drier for entertainment? I think not.
How about us implementing a system where people [loving parents to be- be they gay, straight, martian -whatever] have to sit a basic competency test and get a licence with all the fun ‘restrictions’ that we have on other licences?
This isn’t a violation of Human Rights [whereas kicking or hanging a child on a clothes line IS], it’s common sense. Some people cannot manage their own existences - let alone care for something which may affect our lives [yup thats you too...] in some way when it’s all developed…
“Oh - but I can’t afford the fees!” - Well that’s OK too, cos the Government in their wisdom have provided a loan - yes a loan for you to have a child/ren… licence. That way you won’t abuse your investment will you? And if you do there will be a course of Prison to sober you up as you have violated the T&C’s of the loan - isn’t that right? Might have to stop with the TAB/fags/alloys etc for this month if you REALLY want the baby…
Lets wake up and stop reading about little fragile kids/animals/old people being abused. 21st Century? I wish it were. More like Oliver Twist.
A little Gem….
Posted by Leeb - 18/11/08 at 08:11:29 pmToday I witnessed a big tough guy take an hour off work to rescue a fledgling chick that had fallen from it’s nest…
He put some cloths in a box, phoned the SPCA, took an hour off work [thus losing pay] and drove across town to deliver this bird to possible help.
He could have killed it -but chose a better [in my opinion] path and showed some compassion.
Good on you Elliot.
If only everyone thought and acted like this, wouldn’t that be an awesome World.
Are you a witch? Discuss.
Posted by Leeb - 11/11/08 at 09:11:14 pmThis is sometimes how I feel when I talk to people about new concepts that may not mesh with their reality right away. I almost feel as though they might at any minute point and shout “witch….burn him” [do guys qualify as witches?]…
An outcast, nutter, paranoid, conspirator are some suggestions people have offered.
Today I had a chat [and I know I can be a soapbox artist with the best of them] thus I moderated myself in the 3rd person so as not too get too ‘enthusiastic’ during the discussion. Todays chat was regarding our new leaders - and whether a multi-millionaire investment banker would be putting the welfare of Average Joe Smo, ahead of his Boys Club mates. I cannot say for sure. Hence the chat.
Anyway, this discussion evolved into whether or not the anti-social behaviour suppression laws such as murder, rape, serious assault etc were in fact put in place for the sake of economics or for personal rights protection. I argued in favour of the former. Stating that in my uninformed opinion -all these particular [but not limited too] laws were to protect the flow of money indirectly or directly. My reasoning being, that if people fear being murdered - they aren’t likely to shop etc ect etc.
I suggested a different approach to life> “wouldn’t you [Person] like to live in a non-money or barter-based World?”, meaning everything was ‘free’ and people worked to better themselves like in “The venus project” and asked [person] what he thought that must be like. He could not understand me and the whole conversation seeemd to centre right back to his ‘programming’ of this normal life we [I mean me] all seem to live that goes like this. “If she gives me that, what will she expect me to give her in return?” How do I know that she isn’t unconditionally giving me the [whatever]…? My programming takes over and makes me sceptical.
Our entire conversation centred around what I think he saw as me trying to change his mind on what he thinks as as ‘normal’ and me trying nothing more than trying to engage his imagination as to new possibilities. I don’t think it was my tone, or demeanor or stance etc but he would not even entertain the thought of imagining a resource based economy [even though we both knew and are secure our current reality] and called me paranoid as to my perceptions of what I perceive as all the controls on me within Western society.
In wanting to share a new experience I felt like a pharmacist in a 17th century village. Completely out of touch with my coleague and friend! And especially so when other people joined in the conversation with similar outlooks as my friend. Outlooks centering around scarcity, never having enough [of whatever] and always wanting to get something for giving something.
Cats don’t swim….
Posted by Leeb - 11/11/08 at 08:11:17 pmOr shouldn’t at any least.
Having parked the car at the marina on a high note from an awesome days being and doing, I hear a sound. Can’t make it out at first - is it a seagull or boat? Nope it sounds like a cat crying.
MC runs in the direction of the cry -as my cat has a tendancy to jump off the wharf when she is chased….- sure enough there is Missy in the water trying to remain afloat on some ropes securing a yacht.
Now I know not everyone likes cats - and in NZ I’m pretty sure few would shed a tear for the little bird murdering creatures, but an animal in pain isn’t very pleasing to listen to [unless you are one of the humans mentioned in my earlier blogs...who'll be dealt with when I get to power...] anyway, there are two blokes in my story.
The two men are about 15′ away from my cat, I heard her from about 100′ away in the car park….did these guys really not give a shit? I spoke to them to ask for a net to rescue my pet - and so ascertaining that they weren’t deaf….the response “oh, is that your cat?” got me interested….what the #$@#$%$#ing difference does that make? This animal is obviously in some sort of distress -hmm shall I a) leave it to drown slowly? b) help it? I hope he doesn’t cut himself and start bleeding out…..a) Do I torniquet? or b) “MC, can you pls go grab a cup…it’ll be black pudding tommorrow for breakfast”…mmmmm.
I cannot 100% definitely say these guys heard her cry for help from 15′ away…..so therefore I can only assume that my hearing should be insured for billions, as I obviously have the X-men factor with my superman hearing from 100′.
My observation of some of my fellow [in]human animals never cease to astound me.
Confusing inadequacy with risk aversion…..
Posted by Leeb - 06/11/08 at 10:11:14 pmToday was a day when I thought myself better than I actually was. The wind was about a 5 knot Nor’wester and my boat [small ship of 45tons] was sitting by the dockway having been inserted into the drink the day before by crane…
Along side wharf and cranes
Easy task to manoevre her back to her berth? “Should be -you’ve done it before!” said my internal all-conquering voice…..just to put things into perspective - “done it before” was approx 6 months ago when she was a heavier laden vessel with more weight on the stern and a big bulb on the bow to keep her straight, and a dead calm day.
OK to cut a story short - I started the engine [my other voice was saying "nooooooooo- get help....you're not good enough, you'll fail"] etc etc…..engine running we cast off her stern line….then the bow line……oops…I was out of my depth now.
The boat is 60′ long….the distance from the wharf to A-Pier end post is about 70′ hmmm not too much room to play “lets-see-how-she-handles-with-all-the-weight-and-bulb-and ballast-removed” in amongst all these nice shiny and expensive yachts with 10′ clearance to spare.
The story goes on….I had no helm control, she wouldn’t answer conventional bum-walking prop stuff…..and oh yeah the bow was now off in the wind going where it damn well pleased…..I was somehwat concerned to say the least….I [asked] for a stern line to be put back on……just in time……
She swung round 180 perfectly in the breeze and lay along side the wharf….on with the bow line and off went the engine!
I felt pretty low at this point…..why couldn’t I just drive my 45t 60′ [unstable-cos-she-is-in-partial-refit] boat to her berth in this breeze? The answer was of course ‘experience’…I just wasn’t born with the skills to pilot a boat of this size…I have to learn. I have driven her 3 times now….once from Australia to NZ [on the autopilot in big wide open seas with no-one to hit!] and a couple of little trips under supervision….
I suffer from beating myself up over my not being able to live up to my own expectations! I wonder how many other people do/feel this? And….because I fail to live up to my expectations - I sometimes feel inadequate. Of course this is ridiculous….skills have to be learned….and I learned the difference today between feeling inadequate for a task or ‘afraid I might fail’ scenario, and a geniune ‘risk aversion’ warning put out by my subconcious…..a lesson learned well today - although this could have been incredible expensive in both financial terms and credibility….
In the end I phoned my great friend Captain Ron Palmer to assist my little excursion - to my surprise [and his] even this man of 1000’s of hours of BIG SHIP [10,000tons+] experience had a few problems handling her!
Great job Ron for putting her in the berth!