Gibbs Quadski

Looks like fun

Beaver Creek Colorado rocks

I had a great 5 days in Beaver Creek Colorado. I was there with a friend and business associate from New Zealand. The company that we are involved in owns a magnificant newly renovated 7000 sq foot home there and I was there to check that the renovations were completed. The home is magnificent and has been transformed.

While we were there, we found time to visit my favorite French restaurant in Vail called The Left Bank. It has phenominal food and wine. I thoroughly recommend it.

The first day the temperature rose to 83 degrees F which is about 27C. That is a big change from January when it was minus 18C on my day of arrival. The mountains were beautiful and the golf course looked very inviting. Pity I am not a golf pro (yet).

The week before there was 3 brown bears on the property, one of them was a cub. I wanted to see them, but we only managed to hear them from a distance.

Upon leaving Eagle Vail Airport, I counted no less than 13 private jets lined up. While we were flying over the rockies, I decided to listen to a bit of John Denver on my ipod. That was a mistake, as as soon as he got into chorus the plane hit violent turbulence. I then remembered how he died and changed the song. It smoothed out after that.

Upon arriving at LAX airport, I only counted 12 private jets... HMMM.

A good trip.... If you want to buy a spectacular home in Beaver Creek for US$5,995,000 let me know.

Schumacher's dodgy pole in Monaco

It seems that 7 times F1 world champion Michael Schumacher has caused controversy upon messing up the qualifying, by having a bizarre virtually impossible crash, while in poll position for tomorrows race in Monaco.

It seems that both Alonso and Webber were behind Schumacher on flying laps that were quicker than him when Schumacher made a sudden move and stalled on the track without damaging his car. This brought out the yellow flags and the flying laps by the others were not valid. Therefore Michael Schumacher held onto pole.

Jacques Villeneuve has lashed out at Schumacher mentioning that anyone who would have such lack of control of his F1 car to get in such a position does not deserve a F1 superlicense. Jacques said that he wouldn't even expect that sort of driving from Ide who was recently dropped from Super Agri and had his super license taken away. Michael Schumacher has been known to pull dodgy tactics in the past......

DO you think Michael purposely caused the incident? I wouldn't be surprised.



UPDATE: Naughty Schumacher sent to back of the grid. News here

Going to Beaver Creek

I am off to Beaver Creek by Vail in Colorado tomorrow to check the house that Distinctive Holiday Homes has there. It has been transformed with a 3 month renovation, so I am looking forwards to seeing an as new home. I hear that the weather is rather warm up there now, so all is good. Back memorial day all being well.

# of blog hits

Of all the blogs I have or write for, it seems that goodfactor.blogspot.com is not doing the best at just under 600 hits, make some noise folks, pay goodfactor a visit.

autoreports.blogspot.com has had just under 1000 hits, although no comments for a while, check it out.

kiwicarlovers.blogspot.com is not doing too badly with just under 10,000 hits. I will make sure that some more regular postings are done with these blogs above.

puntiki.blogspot.com is my most popular blog with just under 3600 hits since I started the counter in January. I will make more of an effort to post interesting articles on this blog so as it makes it more interesting for you to return and make comments.

Thanks for checking in. Happy blogging.

Another photo I like

Australian PM Howard in Canada visiting Canadian PM Harper.

Die Hard 4, Bruce is back

According to the BBC, Bruce Willis's first turn as wisecracking cop John McClane made him a star.

Now a fourth instalment of the Die Hard series could be in cinemas by summer 2007, Bruce Willis has announced at the Cannes Film Festival.

"We're as close as we've ever got to getting Die Hard 4 started," the 55-year-old actor said.

Scriptwriters were forced to rewrite the film's plot due to similarities with the Hurricane Katrina tragedy in the southern US last August.

Die Hard, released in 1988, made Willis a star and led to a host of imitations.

"It won't be called Die Hard 4 but that will be the story. Hopefully it will be out next summer," he said on Friday in the French resort. Excellent. My friend works in the Fox Tower which was the building used in the first movie. It is cool to see it on a regular basis. Die Hard 1 was one of the best movies ever.

Before it was rewritten, the plot was to involve an oil tanker explosion on the Mississippi river that sent huge waves crashing into New Orleans.

Willis reprised his role as tough and sardonic cop John McClane in Die Hard 2 in 1990 and Die Hard: With a Vengeance in 1995. Roll on.

Immigration reform

President Bush made this speech today. I think it is reasonable and fair. This is a big topic in USA at the moment, and I hope it gets sorted quickly. I am glad that the border is going to be made secure with increase in Border security forces and the use of the National Guard in the interim. I have met many hard working and friendly nice people from Mexico and South America while being here. They are great people and do a lot of jobs that you'd probably never see others do.

I think that the Presidents remarks are good, and if the Congress makes this happen it will be good for all of us in USA.

President's speech here

R.I.P

R.I.P Sarge. You will be missed.

But Bruce Willis?

Danny Di Vito would clearly be too short, but Bruce Willis... What is Rodney thinking?

Who should play the role of Rodney?

Lookie here

Are you an NZ Economics and Trade expert wanting to move to USA?

If the answer is yes to the above title, then maybe you should apply for this job with the NZ Consul General in Santa Monica......

Job description here


I will vouch that Santa Monica is a great place to live in LA, so here is an opportunity for you.

Borat Ali G movie

I went to dinner tonight with some people who know some people, and the word was that the new Borat movie is in post production and is expected out soon....

Nice......Nice, I like.

G W Bush thinks his brother should run for President

According to Fox News, President George W Bush suggested Wednesday that he would like to see his family's White House legacy continue, perhaps with his younger brother John Ellis Bush (JEB) as the chief executive. Is it time for another Bush in the White House?

The president said Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is well-suited for another office and would make "a great president." Some would beg to differ, some might agree.

"I would like to see Jeb run at some point in time, but I have no idea if that's his intention or not," Bush said in an interview with Florida reporters, according to an account on the St. Petersburg Times Web site.

The president said he had "pushed him fairly hard about what he intends to do," but Jeb has not said.

Jeb Bush, 53, will end his second term as governor in January. His brother George ends his second presidential term in January 2009. Neither can seek re-election because of term limits. Maybe they will both end up fishing on George's boat in Crawford?

Jeb Bush has repeatedly said he is not going to run in 2008.

Former President George H.W. Bush told CNN's "Larry King Live" last year that he would like Jeb Bush to run one day and that he would be "awfully good" as president.

The Florida governor laughed when asked about his father's comments last June. "Oh, Lord," he said and shook his head no. "I love my dad."

I am thinking that I would like to see Senator John McCain take the Republican nomination for President in 2008, with maybe Dr Rice as VP. If I could decide for the Democrats, I'd like to see John Edwards or even Howard Dean with Hillary as VP. That would be an interesting show. I think Jeb Bush should have 4 years off before deciding to run for President. What do you think?

Guns and Roses touring in 2006

It looks like Axl and the boys from Guns and Roses are about to get on the road again and do some touring this year. Great news, especially if they follow through with all the dates and don't pack it in like has happened in the past. I am sure that Axl and the band are motivated and ready to preform, therefore the fans will overlook the past just to see them live again. I would like to go to one of the NY concert next week, but alas they are sold out. I will have to wait for them to play in Los Angeles or somewhere a little closer. It would be great if they could put their differences aside and the remainder of the original band reform (Slash etc). That would be legendary, although I am sure that as long as Axl is the lead singer, G'N'R will rock.

I am looking forwards to the new album coming out sometime soooooooon.


Rock on Axl. Rock on Guns and Roses.

Tidal Wave was coming?

...................................................................

There seems to be an element of confusion in NZ in regards to how the local councils and Civil Defence handled the warning yesterday that a tidal wave was expected to hit.

I heard the news up here at about 945 am local time PST and promptly called family and friends that lived or live close to the water. I had a couple of people evacuate their waterfront apartments, a couple and their dog took a drive inland and another friend promptly put his wife, children and beloved alsation into the car and was driving up MT Eden until the threat was dropped.

I am glad that nothing happened, but who is responsible for waking up people in the middle of the night if there is a threat. Surely Kiwi's cant rely on people overseas ringing up to see if they are ok?

What is the Civil Defence's policy? Who makes the call and where do you go?

We are all lucky nothing happened, but it certainly gets you thinking, because it can happen at any time without warning. What is your plan if a earthquake, volcano, or tidal wave hits?

Monopoly my favorite game

According to CNN Money, Monopoly, invented in 1935, is getting with the times.

The game's updated Here and Now edition, which is due out this fall, will replace Atlantic City landmarks with legendary streets, neighborhoods and national monuments.

Until May 12, fans can vote on www.monopoly.com for their favorite landmarks from 22 cities — including New York's Times Square, Chicago's Wrigley Field, Honolulu's Waikiki Beach, Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.

Additionally, the votes will determine where each landmark will appear on the game board, the city with the most votes landing on the coveted Boardwalk spot.

"We encourage Monopoly fans to help create the look of our new game board by voting often at our website for their favorite landmarks," Matt Collins, Vice President of Marketing for Hasbro, said in a statement. "Your vote could be the difference needed to land your favorite American city on a blue property space."

Among other changes, the railroads will be replaced by New York's JFK airport, Chicago's O'Hare, Los Angeles' LAX and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson.

Property values will rise, money will be in higher denominations and "Community Chest" and "Chance" cards will reflect more modern scenarios.

But, the original version will still be available for sentimental fans of the game.