Hey!

Time to try this again I suppose.

Have a look over to the right there, I've put a Flickr badge, which links to photos.

It's a bit of a mess at the moment - it may or may not get more organised.

I'll try and:

(a) keep the photos up to date;

(b) let you know when more go on there.

Trip round

Oddly enough, people want to see more of the house. Soooo, here we go. There are lots of pictures; you can click on them to see bigger versions.

First, come down the street:

Then, walk towards the driveway, noting the tree-strewn front section:

Now stop to admire the "No Circulars" sign on the letterbox. Cherish this moment; the sign will soon be gone as we want circulars. How else will we know what to buy?

Peer shiftily up the driveway, noting the comparative lack of length and NO FUCKING MOWING STRIP:

Walk up the driveway, then turn left up the path just before the house itself. Watch those roses, they're killers (rippers of clothing, anyway):

Step yo' ass onto the spacious concrete . . . thing. Patio? Porch?

You see doors to your left and right. Open them both to let in the cold air:

Walk through the door on the left (the one with lots of glass), go to the back corner and have a look at the lounge. You will note that the pictures you tripped over on the way are not on the wall yet:

Glance up at the tasteful lamps:

Once you have recovered from this, have a look at the dining/kitchen through the big doorless doorway:

Step through the doorway, noting the gently searing light from the '80s-era halogens:

Have a closer look at the kitchen. Marvel at the way designers of old never let aesthetics get in the way of a good idea:

Turn around and holy shit, there's a pantry:

Turn back around 180 degrees and check out the all-gas stove:

Waste some time and gas looking at the pretty grill:

Turn back around (sorry) and check out the inside laundry to the left of the pantry. Hey look, it joins on to the bathroom, that's weird:

Oh no it doesn't - the toilet is in between:

[please post a caption for this in the Comments - the best one will go here]:

Behind you is the shower. Why yes, it is a three-speed with a bi-folding door:

Use the teleporter to go back to the porch thing, and go in the front door this time:

Walk in to the vestibule and look to your left at the . . . what is it?

Down the hallway, the first door on the left is a cupboard for storing gimps, punishing kids, etc. The second door goes to the bathroom.

The first door on the right is the spare room, crafted from finest yellow:

The door at the very end of the hall is the master bedroom. I'm the master, so that's where I sleep:

The last door on the left is Ella's room. She has a fantastic view out her window of . . .

. . . the garage. The doors are automatic, I haven't managed to smash one of them into the front of a car yet, but it can't be far off.

Wander towards the back of the garage and have a look at the inside:

Twist to your left and have a look at the little workshop at the back of the garage. At the end on the left there is a tiny little portable Korean dishwasher:

The garage has a side door, which I have neglected to photograph. Step out of it, turn right, and there's our pergola/archway:

Turn back around again and have another look at the house before you go:

Byeeeee!

Operate

You may note the new button I've put over there --> under the "Links" heading. If clicked, this will take you to a place where you can download the current version of Opera.

Why should you do this? Well, there are millions of reasons, but here are just a few:

• Tabbed browsing - this means that you can have a whole lot of web pages open, but just one browser window.
• Mouse gestures - these allow you to do things like browse forward or back by right-clicking and moving your mouse. It takes about half an hour to become completely used to using these, then you'll wonder how you ever did without them.
• Session saving - if you have several webpages open, but you need to shut down the computer (or it crashes), Opera remembers all the pages you had open when you fire it back up again.
• Speed - in many browser speed tests, Opera generally beats the other browsers in terms of browsing speed.
• Widgets - if you're not sure what these are, have a look here. Mac OS X+ users will be used to them already. Some are gimmicky, some are really useful.
• Size - the Opera download is only 6.2MB, and that includes all the stuff listed above. Firefox is a bit smaller, but then you have to go and find and install a whole lot of extensions to make it do the same things Opera does by default.

So, if you're still stuck with Internet Explorer, give it a go, you might become a convert. Even if you've graduated to Firefox, Opera's still worth a look.

This could be the start of something bag. Er, big.

After living in the same rented house for nearly eight years, we have finally saved up enough money to buy a house outright.

Alright, well, not exactly, we had to borrow some money, obviously.

Our new house is in Fairfield. I'm not insane enough to broadcast the address on the mad wide internet, but please email me if you want it.

Here is a picture of the outside:

You can click on it to make it bigger if you like.

Here is a picture of the lounge:

Please be aware when viewing the large picture that the carpet pattern may trigger seizures.

Comment as to whether you think we should stay with the current minimalist theme, or if we should fill it with all our crap.

Here is a picture of the kitchen:

It is powered by gas. The water is powered by gas too. What a gas.

No, I'm not sure why the cupboards all look burnt around the edges.

Here is a picture of the back yard:

That is possibly a child's ball in the middle there, or maybe a gigantic grapefruit. You tell me.

Other features include:

• a two-door garage
• a two-door toilet
• a bathroom
• one bedroom
• another bedroom
• a third bedroom
• upcoming suburb according to the real estate bullshit

We look forward to lowering the tone of the neighbourhood in two weeks' time when we start carting all our junk over there.

Annoy, tiny blonde one. Annoy like the wind!

So, have I raved at you yet about how great Veronica Mars is? I have? Well, here I go again:

Veronica Mars is great, you really should watch it. I only stumbled across it by accident - the first season was screened here on Friday nights. As a person with a small child, I am generally home on Friday nights, and on those occasions when I can still see through the veil of tears created by crying for my lost youth, I look for crap TV to watch.

There've been many memorable loads of crap that I've hurried home from the pub to watch. A couple of years ago, it was LAX, starring Heather Locklear as the bizarrely-named Harley Random, and the bizarrely-named Blair Underpants (OK, that's not his name) in what was presumably meant to be a comeback role, one billion years after LA Law.

Predictably enough, it wasn't renewed for a second season. I think Veronica Mars may have replaced it, or was possibly screened in the timeslot immediately before it.

I wasn't interested at first - I mean, a pretty blonde teenage amateur private investigator? Just doesn't sound that interesting. However, I'd made that mistake with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The intelligent few who watched it tried to convince me, but I wasn't swayed until the last couple of seasons. I kicked myself then, for having judged the book by its cover.

So I only missed about the first three episodes before taking the advice of various reputable internet sources and watching it. Since then, I've been hooked.

Veronica (the character and and the show itself) is a worthy successor to Buffy. Like the older programme, Veronica Mars make itself watchable largely because of the dialogue. It differs a little from Buffy in that the world Veronica inhabits is a little more believable, although due to the phenomenal wealth of some of the characters, it does sometimes take on a fantasy quality.

There are some pretty good plotlines too. The show uses the now standard device of a major, overarching plot, with shorter stories contained within each episode. I don't know where this mechanism was first used, but I first noticed it in the good old X Files (also another show enlivened by great wisecracking dialogue). Whoever did it first, I still find it a winning formula and am not sick of it just yet.

The actors are all spectacular too. Kristen Bell, as the title character, strikes just the right sarcastic tone, as well as providing the cliched-yet-useful detective voiceovers. She's a bit of an overachiever by the sounds, starring in both the stage and film-musical modern versions of the 1930s insanity that is Reefer Madness. Can't wait to see it.

Jason Dohring is another one to watch (and looking around the web, many many girls are watching him!) - if anything, he has better lines than Veronica does. I also note with interest that he's a Scientologist, so I'm sure we'll see more and more of him. At least until he jumps the couch . . .

There's a great supporting cast, including more bizarre names, like Percy Daggs III and Francis Capra. Best of all, though, is Enrico "you may remember me from such shows as Just Shoot Me and, er, Whoopi" Colantoni as Keith Mars, Veronica's PI and sometime town sherriff dad.

Anyway, they haven't screened the second series in NZ yet, so the old bittorrent has been doing sterling service.

There aren't many women on TV that I'd be happy to have as a role model for my daughter, but Veronica Mars definitely makes the grade.