Flag

As you might have seen, the New Zealand flag referendum was finally decided on March 24.  And if you didn't see, don't worry, a quick Google search revealed that *no* news agency carried this story.  None.  Not even in New Zealand.

The result, as expected, is that New Zealand is keeping its flag, and just flushed $26 million down the toilet to do so.  Considering how bland and white-washed the 'competition' was, it wasn't surprising.  As one person noted, this was less about identity and more about marketing.

In the past 50 years, only two countries have changed their flag without changing their government: Canada in 1965 and South Africa in 1994.  South Africa was obviously signalling the end of apartheid and the 'rainbow flag' signified inclusion of all people.  Canada was obviously cementing their role as the world's leading supplier of maple syrup.

To look at the alternative NZ flag, it had something to do with a silver fern, but with a blue patch to differentiate the country from the All Blacks rugby team, which is funny since the rugby team is probably better known than the country.  Oh, and it got rid of the union jack to appease the folks who think we should have an elected head of state, even though we're still keeping Queen Elizabeth II as head of state.

So all in all, it was quite the farce.  However, in thinking about the flag in terms of identity and New Zealand's place in the world, the kids had the best idea for a new flag:

When it rains it pours

This is a quick note, mostly for me to keep track of everything on my plate at the moment.

1. Work is crazy busy, in part because I'm still coming up to speed and I'm terrified of making a mistake.  This is true on every project I've ever joined, but usually I can control my environment so people don't see my mistakes and I can fix them before anyone knows.  I can't do that here, so as I result I've been putting in ridiculous hours trying to make sure everything is ok before releasing it.  Ironically, on this job they would prefer me to release often and accept mistakes as the cost of this, but they don't understand my particular phobia.  (Remember, shyness is defined as the fear of making mistakes in public.)  Of course once I'm over the hump and know what I'm doing both of these issues will go away, but in the meantime I'm working very late hours and neglecting the family.

2. Work is about to get even more busy, because out of a team of five, they just fired one!  (And he was one of only three technical people!)  They aren't planning on replacing him right away, either, so I know a lot of his work is going to fall on my shoulders shortly.

3. My partner's ex is *still* dragging us through court, since last May!  We filed our last brief in January, he requested an extension in February and then in March, half an hour before the hearing, he directed his lawyer to change his request entirely!  So now we're having to put together another affidavit to explain to the court (again) what an ass he is, and hopefully we'll get an order next month.

4. The house we just rented in February is being put up on the market!  Seriously. When we signed the paperwork, the owner didn't want to sign a 12-month lease but assured us they had no plans to do anything and we asked for some money if he did kick us out within 12 months, but it was a negligible amount and we rally just took them on faith.  When will I learn?  I *believe* the owner is just testing the waters, and is not serious about selling, because Wellington is experiencing a bit of a property bubble at the moment.  That said, obviously if he gets a good offer he will sell and since we don't have a lease, we have 90 days to move.  Watch his space.

5. I'm going to Japan!  My boss from the UK is there for a month visiting his family, and he suggested I come up for a week to do some design work with him.  It's high season in April (think cherry blossoms) and getting flights and accommodation was a nightmare (it's a 40-minute train ride from his house to my hotel!) but I'll be going 2 April.  I know it will be a hellish week, just like Oxford last month, of non-stop working , but I will get one day to see the sights, and I'm really looking forward to it.

6. I'm once again responsible for the community seder (Passover dinner) at my synagogue.  (Last year I did it jointly with another member, but she had a baby and is out of action.)  It's in four weeks and most of it is just organising volunteers, caterers, cleaners, etc. so that's going smoothly.  However, I completely forgot to order the matzoh and kiddush wine, which is rather critical for a seder!  Hopefully I'm not too late, and just waiting for the shop to call me back now.

7. And of course, on top of that is all the usual stuff that I've been completely neglecting: We don't have a working dryer, the TV has no signal, the garage is an overflowing disaster (and I've lost the remote), we never did build the sleepout, and about 1,000 other things on my to do list...

Exchange rate

If you can read that, you should be a banker.  What it's saying is that when I moved to the UK and transferred my dollars to pounds, I got approximately 1 pound for every two dollars.  Had I waited a month longer, I would have gotten 1 pound for every $1.50 (or less).  In other words, I would have gotten 25% more pounds for the same number of dollars.  I was pretty gutted at the time.

However, thanks to the "Brexit" (Britain's referendum on whether or not to stay in the EU) the pound has been hammered again, Being in New Zealand this shouldn't affect me, except I've still got debt in the UK.  Since I'm being paid in US dollars again, I'm paying off that debt much faster.  This is, for every 100 US dollar payment I would normally pay off £65 but I'm now paying off £75!  

Now just 53 more payments to go...