Racing legend Brock killed in car crash

Nine-times Bathurst 1000 winner and Australian motor racing legend Peter Brock has been killed while competing in the Targa West Tarmac Rally in Western Australia.

Brock was competing on the second day of the Targa West Rally when his Daytona Coupe hit a tree on a country road near the small community of Gidgegannup, about 40 kilometres east of Perth.

Brock, 61, was killed and his co-driver Mick Hone was injured. Hone was later taken to Swan Districts Hospital where he was reported to be in a stable condition. The Confederation of Australian Motorsport said the crash happened at about midday local time. No other cars are believed to have been involved. The road had been closed to traffic and spectators and road rules had been suspended for the race.

WA police spokesman Graham Clifford said the Major Crash Unit from Perth was at the scene and was investigating the accident. "We believe that a vehicle is approaching a sweeping bend and for whatever reason lost control, left the road and collided with a tree," he said. He said it was unclear how fast the car was travelling when it crashed into the tree. "At the time it was a speed section, so it would have been travelling fairly quickly at that location," he said.

It was the first time Brock had competed in the rally. Event organisers will hold a meeting tonight to decide whether the race will continue.

Prime Minister John Howard said Peter would be remembered as a legend. "I was shocked and saddened to hear of Peter Brock's death," Mr Howard said.

"The removal of Brockie takes away a legend of motor racing in Australia."

'Peter Perfect'

Known as 'Peter Perfect' and the 'King of the Mountain', Brock won the Bathurst 1000 nine times in the 1970s and 80s.

In 1969 the Holden Dealer Team gave Brock his first break to drive at the Bathurst 1000 - he placed third.

He became the team's lead driver and won his first Bathurst 1000 in 1972, going on to win the 1979 race by a record six laps.

In 1980 he became the first driver to win the trifecta of Bathurst, Sandown and the Australian Touring Car title in the same year.

Brock's Bathurst reign was marked by a long-running rivalry with Ford driver Allan Moffat, and the pair were so intensely competitive that they never flew on the same airline together.

In 1997, Brock retired from full-time V8 Supercars racing and launched the Peter Brock Foundation, which provides support to a wide range of community programs. But returned to Bathurst to win the 24-hour race in 2003.

Peter Geoffrey Brock

26 February, 1945 - 8 September, 2006

Taken from here and here

~*Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin Dies*~

'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin has been killed in a stingray attack near Cairns on Australia's far north coast today - Monday September 4th, 2006.

Irwin had been filming a segment for his daughter Bindi's upcoming television series. Irwin was in the area filming his own documentary, to be called Ocean's Deadliest, but weather had stalled filming. Irwin decided to take the opportunity to film some shallow water shots for his daughter's television program.

"It is understood he was killed by a stingray barb that went through his chest," and put a whole into his heart.

Crew members aboard the boat, Croc One, called emergency services in the nearest city, Cairns, and administered CPR as they rushed the boat to nearby Low Isle to meet a rescue helicopter. Medical staff pronounced Irwin dead when they arrived a short time later.

Stingray attacks are extremely rare. There have only been two similar deaths reported in Australia.

Irwin is famous for his enthusiasm for wildlife and his catchcry "Crikey!" in his television program "Crocodile Hunter," which was first broadcast in Australia in 1992 and has aired around the world on the Discovery channel.

He rode his image into a feature film, 2002's "The Crocodile Hunters: Collision Course" and developed the Australia Zoo as a tourist attraction.

Prime Minister John Howard, among many other politicians, expressed his "shock and distress" at the death, saying that "Australia has lost a wonderful and colourful son.

” Steve Irwin's body was flown to a morgue in Cairns, where stunned family and friends were gathering on Monday night. His wife Terri was informed of her husband's death while on a walking tour in Tasmania, and returned to the Sunshine Coast with their two children Bindi and Robert.

"He died doing what he loved best and left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind. He would have said, "Crocs Rule!"


Steve Irwin
1962 - 2006

~*Carpet is Completed!*~

CARPET IS ALL DONE!

Yep I can't believe it, but they finished the lounge today, the two bedrooms and hallway was done yesterday, I'm so happy it's done. It looks great too, like a brand new flat.

Now I need brand new furniture hehe. I do need to buy a new sofa/bed. My Dad and brother are back around tonight to move furniture back, well some of it anyhow LOL my technology stuff. Boxes of stuff will be moved over tomorow and the weekend.

~Carpet Update*~

I rang my Housing NZ person and said the carpet is being done on Wed finally and that was all good. I asked him to get onto the outside as the mould inside has got worse, after it was cleaned up abit when the people came to clean the mould off the walls. The mould had grown back on the walls too so my mum had to clean that. I said it's not a waiting job, it has to be done in the next two weeks or month!! So he's sorting that out now, but will hear from him this week.

My Mum and Dad came over on Sunday and helped clear out my flat as much as we could so there isn't much to move when the carpet people arrive. So I had to pack up all my books, dvds, ordaments, trophys, everything that was on shelves etc into boxes. The sofa that was sitting on top of the mouldy carpet was put in the van, it has mould growing on the seat of the sofa under the cushions, so the sofa will be binned. I was going to sell it. I'm buying a new sofa/bed soon. Dad then packed the van with all the boxes and anything I didn't need.

The spare bedroom is empty now and my lounge is pretty empty too. Not much for the capet guys to move so the job be quicker. I am going to ask them to do the lounge the next day as my family are going to move the entertainment unit, pc etc into the other rooms. I can't wait till the new carpet is done:)

~*Casey*~

I took a photo of Casey with my new Sony digital camera and then I decided to add a border to the photo and some other things and here is the end result.

~*Chill Blains*~

I noticed that I had some briuse like sores on a couple of toes and thought they might be chill blains but I'm still not 100% sure what they are. They are small raised (swallon?) purple bumps which are not broken skin. I have two on my little toe, two on my middle toe and one on the inside of my big toe which is the smallest one. Then I have one on top of my big toe on the other foot which hasn't changed and it fairly flat looking and redish/purple. The only two that were sore were the middle toe ones, but were not sore to bother me too much.

I think over June I got these as I had only been wearing my white medical sock (thin material) and my compression stockings and shoes. When I was out and about I could feel my feet were like ice blocks as I wheeled around against the icey wind. So I think it's half my fault for not wearing cotton socks over the top and my bad circulation, but I thought wearing socks over my compression stockings would make it harder for me to get my shoes off etc.

I've been wearing woollen socks now since beginning of July and this is helping. My feet and legs below the knees seem warmer at the end of the day, and my chill blains if that's what they are are going down and looking better apart from one. So these woollen socks are helping with the circulation too by the looks. Also during the night my biomad overlay is helping too as it keeps my circulation moving in my legs.

I have contacted my nurse at the Dr's and let her know about them and she said if you feel like they need looking at, to come in and she will check them. But so far the sores are getting better, just have to make sure they don't break down.

~*June was very Icy Cold*~

I'm still around, just haven't had much to say as I haven't done a lot during the Icy cold patch in June. Yes June was really icy cold here and gave us an early start to Winter. We don't normally get cold weather till August at least. I was kinda stuck inside for a while due to the wet cold weather trying to find things to do.

~*Carpet Ordered*~

Four days ago I got a call from a guy about the carpet..surprise surprise. Finally they are ordering the blue/grey carpet for me, still no idea when the next phone call will be to arrange days. So this is just an update of this yearly process..

~*Carpet to be done on..*~

wahooo Carpet is going to be done next Wednesday 16th!!! They coming over at 9.30am. They will go over to Thursday as well to do the lounge.

~*Another Mould Update*~

Well after a few phone calls to my Housing NZ guy I get some action lets hope things get going from today, because christmas is coming.

A guy turned up at my door asking about new carpet and I said yep you got the right place and I haven't heard from this other guy for ages. The guy came and measured up the bedrooms, hallway and lounge all over again..sighs I don't get what is going on but there is a HUGE lack of communication here.

He gave me 3 carpet peices to choose a colour, I said where's my eight choices? he said eight , I said yea the guy said I had eight choices, he laughed and said no, only three.
Grey/blue (my neighbour has this and looks nice)
Green (maybe)
Cream (won't be cream)

I asked him if this is the same cream carpet I have now and he said yep, i was like wow the colour has faded heaps and it's down to the base, some areas the concrete.

I asked him if they will put an underlay under the carpet and he said no as it's costly and due to the wheelchairs driving over the carpet, it turns it up. I said well wheelchairs will do that to most carpets anyhow. He is going to ask about the underlay. He also said the hallways is going to be lino what? I said no, I want carpet and he agreed with me and said it will be carpet.

I then told him that the other guy and I had discussed the rooms and that one room would be done per day due to all the furniture. He said the 2 bedrooms and hallway can be done in a day, it's an easy job. I said as long as I have access to the bathroom, he even asked me how many times I need to go so I said maybe twice. I then talked about my bed and said it can be broken down but take time and a few men to do the job. They are going to do half the bedroom, then lift the bed over and do the other side. I also said that the lounge as a lot of stuff in there and if it's raining we can only move stuff to the bedrooms.

I'm one of those people that get worried that things might break and things are not put back excatly where I like them and reachable and easy access to things.

He is going to give me a weeks notice or so before they come out so I can get family to help move some things.This guy did the carpet next door and the bathroom upgrade before the new lady moved in. Lets hope I don't wait months for the next step.

~*Power blackout causes chaos in Auckland*~

Just heard this now on 12pm midday news Power blackout causes chaos in Auckland
A Vector spokeswoman said the cause of the Auckland blackout was a fault on the Transpower network. She said: "An earth wire has snapped and fallen across the 110 kv feeder from the Otahuhu substation.

**Instead of 20min train trips people got a two hour train trip as the lights had to be done manually etc
A spokesman for Ontrack in Auckland said: "We haven't been able to bring trains into Britomart station (Central Auckland). Passengers have been discharged at Newmarket and the Strand and subsequent services have been scheduled to operate to and from there.

**Hospital is on backup power, all surgerys cancelled unless emergency.

**People at work being sent home, people outside standing around on the streets

**Power won't be back on in some places till 3pm or so

Now this is a wake up call to the goverment to get another line in from Otahuhu to Papakura out South more so there is another wire. We only have one wire and if it breaks like it has today all power goes

Auckland's Power hang ups

picture from the Hearld

All caused my this wire click here

More than 700,000 caught up in power crisis..click here

~*My Sister is off Travelling*~

My sister and her boyfriend flew out of New Zealand early this morning to start there travelling. They are going do travel to some Country's, meet friends and family and find some work over there to get some more travelling money. She has left the Winter behind and gone into Summer. I will miss her, but she will have a great time and will be back one year:)

~*Mould Update*~

WAHOOOO I'm so excited!! OH you want to know too ok here goes...I got a call this morning from a guy asking if he can come over sometime and measure up the house for...NEW CARPET ...I said yep, today? so he's coming after midday. *jumps up and down in excitement*

He arrived and even asked me what rooms, LOL so I said ALL rooms, so he went and measured them all up. Then I asked him about the process and that I was a bit worried about stuff being moved, and also me being able to access the bathroom when needed while they do the carpet. We both decided that they will do one room, per day. Like do my room, have the bed on one side, then move the bed to the other side and do that part. As the bed will have to be broken into two, it's not an easy thing to get outdoors, and if the weather is crap then they can't move it.

He also said that Housing NZ will provide some guys to come over and help move things, as well as my Dad & Brother as they can move the fragile stuff hehe and they know excatly how things are put back into place for me. I'm so fussy He will come over next week and give me 8 colour choices for me to look at and I can choose the colour over the week. He will then ring me back and give me some dates and times for each room, so I can then orgainse family to help move stuff. OMG I'm excited, but worried about my precious entertainment stuff.

Once the carpet is done in the lounge, I will be keeping the sofa and extra chair out in the carport in front of the van, as I don't want them LOL. There is a shop across the road from me who sells second hand furniture and he said he will take the sofa and x2 chairs for $75 once he has sold one set, he has in his shop, so I took the offer. I will then buy a sofa than goes into a bed. YAY I will have more room too.

~*I bought a Camera*~

Yea I bought a Camera today:) Yesterday I got a nice surprise in the mail, a Hill and Stewart $50 voucher!!! Talk about good timing. Also it said that Wednesday (today) all day was 12% off certian Brands!! I got a bit excited. After talking to my Dad about it, I met him today at the mall, where there is a big department store (Hill and Stewart). First we went into Camera House and got some information and more advice (head spinning) on what to look at. I narrowed it down to four cameras which were Sony DSCW50, Canon A620, Canon IXUS750 and the Canon S80.

I went over to Hill and Steward and talked to a guy after waiting 30mins. The guy didn't know anything about them, so I still had 4 to choose from LOL. I then got the price for all the Canon's with the $50 voucher and the cost of the Sony with the 12% and $50 voucher, the Sony turned out to be the cheapest, and I didn't have to pay so much after getting the insurance money. I then narrowed it down to the Canon A620 and the Sony DSCW50. I went to Noel Leeming store next door LOL just to hold the two cameras to get the feel of them.
The guy I talked to there knew camera stuff, which was a bonus as this helped me decide what to get. I got the SONY DSCW50!!! Time to go play with my new toy hehe

My sister bought a camera today too, we were having fun looking at them all, all week We wanted them all LOL Anyway she got the Canon S3 IS

~*Casey & Camera Update*~

Is back!! Casey has healed well with the antibotics and is back to her usual self again, which is good to see.

I have been busy researching on Digital Camera's and what I want in a camera. I do like Sony and Canon in that order due to good quality and pictures. I have even created a spreadsheet with the specs I'm wanting along with some Canon and Sony camera's. I rang my Insurance yesterday to find out how much they would give me. They said my Song DSC-P71 Camera is worth $387.57 minus my excess fee and I get $228.50:( What a loss!! I payed heaps for my camera, it gets stolen and I only get the above amount back, so I will have to fork out the rest for a nice decent digital camera.

~*My cat Casey got in a fight*~

awww my poor baby, Casey (cat) was attacked by the usual ginger male cat right near the door Friday night. Casey came around to the door looking scared, normally the door is open for her to come in but I had it shut. I didn't even go and open it for her, as I was talking to my friend who was here. Next minute the ginger cat had jumped on her and I couldn't move in time as my chair was in standyby mode, but I yelled to distract the cats, but it didn't work.

Casey came in and went off to my room like she normally does after getting hurt. Casey had come to me when I called her and I grabbed her tail and she hissed at me, and I saw a spec of blood on my hand. errrr here is anohter vet bill coming!! Later I went down to my room and saw some dripped blood on the carpet, it seemed alot of blood to us, so I was now worried.

Next morning which was Saturday I rang the vet as I knew they were open till 2pm. The vet that normally comes down to my house to see Casey, was off and the other vet couldn't come down I couldn't get her there either. I just wanted to make sure she was ok and wasn't going to get any abceses (sp). I kept Casey inside all day Sunday while I was out.

Today I rang the vet and he came and saw Casey, and checked her over and found the spot with Casey screatching in her meow cat way, never heard her like that ever, scared me abit. Casey has an open wound..bite in her tail and that is the sorest part, she may have a bite in her leg too, but she been through enough with the vet. You could see she was real sore. The vet gave her pain relief and injection of antibotics too. Now I have to give her some antibotics, starting from tomorow via paste, given via a syringe type tube via the mouth, so I hope I can get it in her when she's on my lap LOL

Now for the vet bill

~*Digital Camara Gone*~

A few hours after the people had left, after cleaning all the mould, I had noticed my Digital Camara was not where I had put it (ready for me to take to the v8 Supercar racing). So I went on a hunt for my camara and couldn't find it. I thought when I get in my manual chair tonight I will go through the trolley the camara was sitting on and make sure it's not been put in another trolley shelf.

Last Sunday which was Easter I went out with my family for the day and took my digital camara with me, in my bag. I hadn't used it, so it stayed in my bag all day. Later that night I checked the digital camara's battery to make sure it had enough power for the following weekend so I can take it to the V8 Supercar Racing. The batterys were ok, so I put the camara into it's camara bag and put it on top of the trolly, where it normally sits.

Tuesday came around and the people came around to clean the mould off the walls, there were three of them. The guy was doing the lounge and I was in the lounge all the time except at the end when I went and checked the other rooms to see if everything was back to normal. The guy had to move the sofa to get to the wall, then he moved the trolley where my digital camara was sitting on top. I helped him move some other things and put them on the sofa, he moved the trolley and got to work. I was still in the room watching music on tv.

After it was all done one of the lady's asked me to check the bathroom and bedroom to make sure everything was back where it should be etc, so I did that. Now at this point is where I left the lounge.

Back to the lost digital camara, I still couldn't find it and this was really strange. Dad had dropped the van back on Wednesday night, so he too had a look around, even in places I couldn't get too. He pulled out the sofa and had a look to see if it had fallen there. Nothing. It feels awful, as I could have put the camara somewhere and it's just not coming to me. I rang my Tenant Manager and asked him to contact the people to see if they had accidently picked the camara up with the other things. I also found the lady's cell ph# and rang her and asked her the same thing (not wanting to accuse them) and she said she will get back to me. She rang me back to say she talked to her boss and her boss said I should get my tenant manager to come help look. I told her that I've had my dad look and I'm just checking with everyone who's been at my home over that time etc. I even think, she said that she still hadn't asked the guy who cleaned the lounge, but she did say that he wouldn't do that, to risk his job. Who knows, he might not be trusted!

I rang the Police in the weekend to see if they could come out and do a police report, but my local poilce station was closed and the other Branch wouldn't come out. I rang the local Police station this morning, they asked me to go to them to do the report and I told the lady, I can't as I can't get into the station as it has steps and I use a wheelchair. She then told me to come to the back of the station, then ring them on my cell ph to say I'm outside. I said it's a week tomorow, she said that's ok, anytime this week you can come up. Tomorow is another public holiday too so I can only get up there when the weather is fine.

~*V8 Supercar Racing*~

I went to the V8 Supercar Racing yesterday and it was awesome a part from the crappy weather of wind and rain which left me with wind burn I think My brother and I sat in the disabled stand which was up on top of a hill so we could see the whole track almost!! Great place for the disabled stand and it was covered and had a lot of room which was good. They had two disabled porta toilets by the ramp too When I used the toilet, I had to reverse back out to swing my footplate a side to be able to transfer, as there wasn't enough room for the chair to move.

The v8 super cars sounded awesome at the start as they roared there engines then skidded off to a good start, I loved the starts hehe.. Think the first supercar race was 30 laps and this is where John Bowe lost control of his Ford on his own and crashed into the safety barrier at 220+km and a peice of wood off the safety barrier flew off and hit a photographer's leg, which is now broken The race was stopped while the safety fence was repaired and this took an hour. The race then started again with no pit stops this time as they were all done and Mark Scaife in in HOLDEN won!! YEA!!

Check out the news on this accident here

Before the last supercar race, they had some other cars racing and Formula Fords so that was kewl. I missed a drag car doing some smoke burn outs, but the I saw the smoke as it came up to the top of the hill hehe where I was, looking at all the neat Holden stuff and trying to get some freebies.

The last and 2nd supercar race started abour 4.30pm and it was a great roaring start, aww the noise of those v8s...you gotta love it... 50 laps this time and it had its spills and slides and safety cars coming out. Mark Scaife in his Holden Racing Team car WON!!! YEA Holden won again!! This means Holden has won 12 times at Pukekohe race track.

Mark Skaife on the way to his win at Pukekohe see here. aww I love the look of the red and white Holden Racing Team car with it's lights on heheh

Picture taken from here
New Zealand's Greg Murphy was the man I wanted to see win, it be his fourth win here at Pukekohe but he got in a crash on the first race on Saturday which almost totaled his car But they techs worked on it all night and he raced and got a massive cheer from the crowd Check here I bought a Murphy hat too

A Porsche GT3 flipping over the safety fence into the srowd..here

Next year will be HUGE as it's the last time it's going to be at Pukekohe, then we have the Street race in Hamilton which will be kewl to go too

~*Mould*~

I live in a small Housing NZ flat, it's 2 bedroom and open planned living room, dining room and kitchen. I've been here for about 7yrs now and love it, although I do get lonely. But I have all my online friends to chat too.

Mould, yep, I have mould growing in my carpet under my couch. The mould is almost the length of my couch too, it's discusting!! It stinks when the couch is moved too. I guess I'm used to the smell now since I'm living in it I have mould on the wall too where the couch is, mould above my bed headboard going up the wall and onto the ceiling and some in the bathroom and laundrey. During the night, I wake up with streaming watery eyes and a blocked nose from this mould. The mould everywhere, mainly the lounge is now a Health and Saftey Risk.

Lounge


Above headboard of bed



I have informed my tenant manager at Housing NZ sometime at the end of 2005. When she came to do the 6month house expection, I told her to pull the couch out, she said I just have a peek and so she did. I then showed her the mould in my room and told her how it is affecting me at night etc. She noted it all down and I said the carpet needs changing, and she said yep. She said I can choose the colour carpet out of two colours LOL so I said good. She also got a guy to come out later that day to look at the outside where the water wasn't draining. Basically the water is coming down the slope from the Golf Course to my flat and has no where to go. The mud on the side of the flat is also blocking the vents in the bricks. This all means the flat on that side is so damp and wet causing problems. He said they would need to remove all this mud, put a drain in on this side of the flat and down the back of the house and hook it up to the main drain, to drain it all away. They are also going to have to prevent the dirty mud from going into the drain.

Nothing had happened since all this talking and looking at what was causing the problems, yet the guy said it has to be done before winter I emailed my tenant manager again with 3 things that were discussed and needed doing. The gutters were done, but nothing else. She then moved to another Office in another area I rang her and said what is happening, she said I'm not doing anything with my clients now, contact the office.

I have a new tenant manager now and I went to the office on 6 April to meet him and dicuss the mould problem, having photos in my hand of the mould. He was quite embarressed that it was at this stage and nothing had been done. He came around the next day and had a look at all the mould areas and looked at the carpet. He said that the whole flat will have new carpet and this will be an URGENT JOB!!! Finally something's going to happen He was really nice, talked about DVD's I liked too, had some interest. I also asked him if he can orgainse someone to come clean the mould off the walls as my carers can't do that and I have no one else, and he said, yes I will see what I can do.

Today: I just had three people come clean all the mould off the walls!! WOW this is awesome, it looks all clean in those areas too. I feel really happy that this has been done and will thank my tenant manager. Will find out when the carpet and outside willbe done..these will be big jobs, lots of furniture moving

After living here for 7yrs I think I've finally got a good Tenant Manager So once all this is done, I can move onto the other little things I've asked to done over those 7yrs.

~*Happy Easter*~

I had a pretty good Easter:) I went out for lunch with family at Mission Bay and it was nice. We walked along the waterfront and went up to Massey Point. I hope you all had a good Easter too.

Six-Wheel Revolution

Features Sampler
From the print edition of New Mobility October 2005

Six-Wheel Revolution
By Mark E. Smith
When it comes to innovations in mobility products, the influences on our lives are often subtly profound. For Jenny Smyth, a 32-year-old Web designer, the latest innovations in six-wheel power chair technology have fostered independence far beyond what's promised in glossy manufacturer brochures. "My six-wheeler allows me to now get into my laundry, and even turn around, which was a shock, as I didn't even think that it was possible," says Smyth, who has used a six-wheel power chair for 11 months.
Smyth's everyday success with six-wheel technology isn't unique, with users of all ages and lifestyles enjoying the benefits of the most important trend in power chairs to evolve into the mainstream mobility market over the past five years.

This was taken from New Mobility here

To read the whole Article, which is pdf format, click here - coming soon

~*Happening Things*~

It's been awhile since I blogged something interesting, so here I am. I really enjoyed watching the Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, Australia over the weeks it was broadcasted on TV. The Men's and Women's Hockey games were very tense to watch, very close games. It was even better to see the last GOLD medal go to the New Zealand Netball team, what a game that was!!! Way to go KIWIS!! I also enjoyed watching the closing ceremony and all the fireworks..

I bought a Hydration Pack the other day and have attached it to the back of my powerchair. It's better and easier for me, than having to carry a watter bottle everywhere. The tube of the hydration pack is just long enough too, this was one of the problems I had, when finding a good pack. As when ablebodied people wear these packs, the tube is just long enough to go over there shoulder and reach there mouth, as for my situation, there needs to be a longer tube. It's not perfect but it works.

I have a new neighbour too, she seems nice. My neighbour before moved just before Christmas to Hamiltion, his home town.

~*Melbourne Commonwealth Games 2006*~

I watched the opening Ceremony last night and it was awesome! Loved the fireworks all over the city and the whole thing really. Today I've been watching some swimming, rugby and others sports from the games.

Jusr watched the Final Men's 200m Butterfly swimming event and BURMESTER Moss from NZ got GOLD!!! Yeah!! This is New Zealand's first GOLD Medal..wahoooo..more gold to come!!

~*Pasifika Festival*~

I went to Pasifika today with Mum and Dad and it was pretty good, it was my first time at this Free event.

Pasifika Festival is on every year in March, when it is the South Pacific's largest Pacific Islands community event. It is the only day you can visit Pacific Island villages without leaving Auckland. You will see, smell, taste, feel and hear the uniqueness of Auckland's Pacific Island community. Be entertained by everything from contemporary arts and music to traditional food, handicraft and cultural performances. Immerse yourself in the total Pacific Island cultural experience at Pasifika.

It was really crowded too and I couldn't get near many of the stalls or food stalls which was frustrating for me as I too wanted to check out the stalls, to see the different things/food in the different villages. My neighbours are Fijian and they were in the Fijian Village, but I didn't see them. One thing I enjoyed heh was eatting Half a Pineapple filled with chopped pinapple, watermelon, passionfruit and topped with ice cream, this was so good and was also a huge seller for the Fijian Village.

I enoyed seeing Nesian Mystik singing, that was a huge bonus to watch them sing live and I was fairly close to the stage too. Nesian Mystik sang about four songs then Adeaze (2 brothers) came on and sang too, both these bands are NZers. Here are some photos of Nesian Mystick...
From where I sat

.....::Close up::.....

I also saw David Wikaira-Paul (he's Tama off Shortland Street) singing too and he wwas really good. It turned out to be a 'very' hot sunny day and I didn't go prepared so I got really sunburnt on my face and arms. I heard on the news that it would rain and it would be increasing over the afternoon so that's what I prepared for!! Typical NZ weather changed, but it was worth it for the day out. Overall it was a enjoyable day out.

~*Show Your Ability Roadshow*~

Show Your Ability Roadshow is a one day show in six different places in New Zealand. Invacare and Hatfield Mobility are supporting the Show Your Ability again this year. Pulling together suppliers of rehab and home healthcare equipment. It's an event where occupational therapists, phsiotherapists, Needs Assessors, ACC case managers, and Service Co-ordinators can meet and try out NZ's disability equipent. Also there for Jenn to view equipment and try some powerchairs.

I was at Show Your Ability Roadshow today, which was really neat, lots of new and updated equipment to see and hear about. Invacare's stand was right near the door and it was a huge stand with some new powerchairs to see and try out. I didn't try any of them, but did see how the New Standing Dragon Vertic powerchair working. Invacare also had a new powerchair called the Adventure Alber.

Standing Dragon Vertic Powerchair



Grant Demoing the Standing feature
Link to PDF brochure for Invacare Dragon Vertic

Adventure Alber Powerchair - Good outdoor chair

Click here for more info on the Alber

Invacare also had the TDXA powerchair there which isn't a new chair. It's made at Invacare in Australia and the TDXA has Rollerchair seating on it, comes with 4 pole motors and Dynamic controls.
TDXA powerchair with Rollerchair Seating


This is the Typhoon
with Electric Tilt/Recline, Seat Lift and elevating legrests

Ok that is all Invacare's powerchairs.

Now here is something a bit different, it's called
The Explorer
Great for sand, farms and area's a normal powerchair can't drive on

WOWZERRRSSSSSS

~*Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony - Invacare TDX5*~

Great to see Vancouver Mayor Sam (a quadriplegic) waving a 16-foot Olympic flag in the ceremonial hand over at the end of the Turin Winter Olympics - using his TDX5 with a special attachment.

Vancouver Mayor's Special Flag-Waving
Device to Help Quadriplegic in Handoff - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/22/AR2006022202716.html

Here is a picture from the closing ceremony (taken from the Olympic website http://www.torino2006.org).



What a special moment for him:)

~*Speedway*~

I went to Speedway last night with my brother Ben and it was a good night. We found a good spot to sit at this time. It was the Sprint car championship tonight and I was going for Allan Wakeling (Kohan car), the car in the above picture and he won too!! The sprint cars were doing 30 laps and he started near the back, then was in second spot. Half way through the last lap the USA guy leading the race lost some control over his car on a corner and Wakelling (Kokan) took the lead and won the race LOL you should of heard the crowd roarrr. I went into the puts to have a look at the cars half way through the evening and at the end of the night I went onto the race track with a friend of mine also in a powerchair and we drove around abit. Ben and I then went through puts again before heading home.

Photos taken from http://www.springsspeedway.com/index.sm

~*I got a New Toy*~

I finally bought myself a new toy it's the Iriver T10 512 MP3 Player and it's so kewl!! I got it cheap too as I bought four!! LOL My brother Ben decided against the IPOD Shuffle since the Iriver had more battery life and the FM feature and a few other things he liked about it, which the IPOD didn't have, his wife Ang wanted one too, so we asked around for some good cash discounts on 3 Irivers. We got one, then my sister Anna wanted one too (she did want a IPOD Nano at first) so now we were looking for four of them. We got a great deal and I picked them up yesterday. LOL I was coming home with 4 Irivers heheh felt good too.

I had a play with my new mp3 player and it's pretty easy too use, light and small and it's red, not pink like some people say...think they are colour blind. Ben came over after work wanting to play with his new toy too and he was really pleased with how easy you can get around the settings and how compact it is. It was Ben's birthday on the 12th so he got his as a present. Anna should get her's today or tomorow and she can't wait.

Now I'll be wheeling around the streets listening to music from my Iriver

Here are the specifcations for the Iriver T10 512

FEATURES: Plays up to 17+ hours of music, 512MB internal storage, Supports subscription music services, Vivid color display, Up to 53 hours of battery life, Skip-free and sport-ready, Built-in sport clip, FM tuner and FM recorder, Voice recorder, Plays MP3, WMA and OGG music files, Enhanced 3D audio (supports SRS WOW), Fast USB 2.0 transfers, 1 year warranty.
PACKED WITH: Iriver earphones, USB 2.0 interface cable, Printed manual, Installation CD, AA battery.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows XP (SP1 or higher), Windows Media Player 10, CD-ROM Drive, USB Port

~*Sudoku*~

Yep I finally got into having a go at Sudoku. Mum is pretty addicted to the puzzles and while out shopping we saw some really cheap Sudoku puzzle books, so she told me how you do the puzzles which sounded not as hard as I thought, so we got two books. I have now done a couple puzzles and try and do one every night. The book has Easy ones then gets to the Harder ones. It's pretty easy to do, not much thinking and I like doing them. Check out the website too http://www.sudoku.com/

~*New Toys I Want*~

• XBOX 360 Premiere Edition:

Wireless controller, 20GB Hard-drive, Media Remote, Xbox Live Silver, HD Video & Audio connectivity

• New Computer:

Intel P4 3.2 GHZ, Windows XP Media Centre Edition, 200GB Hard-drive, 2GB RAM, 256MB Video Card, DVD-RW, 19" or 21" Monitor and all the other kewl features you get.

• Iriver T10 512 MP3 Player:

FEATURES: Plays up to 17+ hours of music, 512MB internal storage, Supports subscription music services, Vivid color display, Up to 53 hours of battery life, Skip-free and sport-ready, Built-in sport clip, FM tuner and FM recorder, Voice recorder, Plays MP3, WMA and OGG music files, Enhanced 3D audio (supports SRS WOW), Fast USB 2.0 transfers, 1 year warranty.

PACKED WITH: Iriver earphones, USB 2.0 interface cable, Printed manual, Installation CD, AA battery.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows XP (SP1 or higher), Windows Media Player 10, CD-ROM Drive, USB Port.

• Nokia 3G Cell Phone: I'm not sure which one I want yet, but with 3G
  

or

Oh what come's first??...decisions, descions..money..money...sighs..WIN LOTTO

~*XBOX 360*~

I've been debating about Pre-ordering a XBOX 360 Premier Box and VIP Premiere Pack for awhile now. I have never had an Xbox, only a PS1 which was good at the time. I've never been a serious game player so this is one reason why I'm debating over it at such a big cost too. But since I'm jobless and not doing a lot, I might get into playing games more on the Xbox and using it's other features, as playing games on a PC is a bit slow. I was thinking I could use the Xbox for playing games and watching DVD's (even though I have a non-multiplayer DVD Player) and also download some Arcade games. I would use my PC for my usual surfing, emailing, forums and the games I already have for my pc. I have also checked out the Xbox.com website and found two games I think I'd enjoy playing, which are The Elder Scroll IV: Oblivion and Kameo: Elements of Power.

The XBOX 360 Premier Edition Box $719.99 includes:

1. Wireless controller
2. 20GB Hard-drive
3. Media Remote
4. Xbox Live Silver
5. HD Video & Audio connectivity

VIP Premiere Pack $169.95 includes:

1. Wireless controller
2. Game: Perfect Dark Zero
3. Limited Xbox 360 Faceplate
4. Xbox 360 DVD & VIP Access to the 360 Website
5. Demos
6. VIP Premiere Card for giveaways (not sure if this is from the shop I pre-order from)

I have up till March 20th to get my pre-order in if I want it. If I pre-order the Xbox 360 and the VIP Premiere Pack for $889.95, then I get $200 FREE Surival Pack, which includes, Xbox 360 carry bag, Xbox t-shirt, Xbox cap and playable demos (which I don't really need..but it's FREE). I also get my name put into a Draw for a Plasma LCD TV. Or I just buy the Xbox 360 Premier Edition Box for $719.99, but still, that's a lot of money. Errrr Decisions..decisions

Oh I found this XBOX Song LOL http://www.ggl.com/news.php?NewsId=2106

~*My Struggle with Ulcers!!*~

I don’t wish ulcers upon anyone! They are painful, interfere with daily activities and take months to heal.
Sometime between January and March 2004 I had many mosquito bites on my left ankle from wearing nothing on my feet, had a couple bites on my right foot too. In that time I had noticed that one bite on the side of my left ankle must have got infected and had a small oval scab over it.
Near the end of April the scab looked bigger and was getting sore and I couldn’t understand why, as I thought it was a healing scab. Few day’s later the scab had a red ring around it and the scab had spread over my Achilles tendon scar.
I was at the doctor’s picking up a prescription, while I was there I asked my nurse to take a look at it. The nurse said it was an ulcer, and I asked her what she meant. After finding out, she said I would have to get a dressing put on it, to ease the scab off to see what damage the ulcer has done and how deep it was. I kind of freaked out a bit as I didn’t want to find out how deep it was. My doctor did not come and see it, the nurse informed my doctor, and he asked her to organize the district nurses to come out twice a week to dress it. I was not given antibiotics at the time.

A week or two later the district nurse came over and talked to me about the history of it and how I got it and did the dressing. She arranged to get a district nurse out to see me twice a week. The scab eventually came off and the ulcer looked deep and I was in a bit of pain. I was taking Neurofen which my doctor said was OK to take for the pain.
I had not just one district nurse, but almost a different nurse each visit. This was hard as they hadn’t seen how the ulcer was before and what was being done, they just went by what was written in my chart. There was no continuity.

In September I developed an infection, this time I had two heavy infections in my ulcer called Pseudamonas and Staphylococcus A. These infections had given me two more ulcers, on the side of my ankle and my skin had broken down too. My skin and ulcers were being treated with many medical dressings, sometimes the ulcers would start looking good, then a different dressing and I am back to square one. My doctor had looked at the swab results and put me on antibiotics which I reacted too so I had to ring my doctor for something different, My Mum rushed up to the doctor’s to get the antibiotics as I needed them fast and I was too sick to leave the house. I reacted to these too and was quite sick for two weeks while taking them. I had to elevate my leg as much as I could as my leg was very swollen and at times felt like it was going to explode. I said to my doctor that I need more pain killers as I had finished a bottle of 96 Neurophen capsules. As the pain was still there and getting worse I was given Paracetamol but to take it only when needed.
Over this time the pain at night got so extreme I was crying in pain, having to sit up with my legs hanging off the edge of the bed due to the pain and pressure of the oedema in my feet and legs. I also found it very painful with the pressure of my ulcers against the mattress. There were times I wanted morphine or something stronger for the pain. I dreaded going to bed at night, knowing how much pain I was going to be in. This went on for three weeks to the point I couldn’t take it anymore. Paracetamol didn’t work so I rang back and I was given Codalgin which helped a bit.
My brother luckily had finished work for a few weeks and could come and stay with me and sort something out to reduce the pain at night. He put pillows under my leg so there was nothing against the ulcers and got up in the middle of the night a few times to recorrect the pillows and get my leg in a comfy position. After the first two nights, I was managing to get some sleep and having less pain, it felt good.

The ulcers were not healing, my skin was almost raw, was red, sore, swollen and still infected with Pseudamonas. My Mum had arranged a private appointment with a Wound Care Consultant. We discussed why the ulcers were not healing, what treatment options I had. I made my decision to get help from her. I needed to change my doctor to one in the same IPO as the wound care specialist nurse so the cost of dressings would be covered. The following week I went to the Medical Centre and the Wound Consultant told me the treatment plan. I was to have compression bandages done every day for two weeks to get the oedema down plus full elevation of my leg. The plan of attack was to get the oedema down, then treat the infection, then treat the ulcers. Two weeks later my leg oedema had gone down almost back to normal size and the infection was starting to get under control. The infection was treated with Iodosorb cream which needed changing daily. Four weeks later my ulcers were under control and healing was showing. After having nine months of treatment from the district nurses to 4 weeks of treatment with success is a huge improvement.

I developed an ulcer on my right leg near the ankle as I had banged my leg on my wheelchair and had some pressure there too, while the left leg ulcers were healing. We treated the new ulcer with Iodosorb and a batch of antibiotics for a while as I had a couple small infections of pseudomonas. I was using a compression stocking on my other leg now while skin was healing, so we started using a compression stocking on my right leg too as there was a little oedema there too. This took a couple months to heal and did in time for me to go to Australia in April 2005.

I am wearing compression stockings every day now on both legs to help the skin heal back to normal, this will take 12 months. Wearing the stockings will also keep away any oedema and help circulation. Ulcers and pressure sores are similar so I have to watch out for pressure on my legs too. Be aware of any scabs, pressure sores and red sore areas as you don’t want to deal with what I had to go through, with a lot of pain and exhaustion.

Ulcer Being treated by District Nurse: note swelling of leg

Ulcer's being treated by Wound Care Consultant

Leg in Compression Bandages