m(o)use droppings

I've been having a bit of a play with iPad app Tactilize. Going with what you know, my first page features photos I took at the recent Bowl-a-Rama skate competition in Wellington on Feb 16, 2013.

I have to say when it comes to getting worked up about things, worrying about the National Bank being assimilated by tne ANZ is at best naive.
Now that the black stallion is headed to the glue factory some National Bank customers are up in arms. They seem to think becoming ANZ customers some kind of downgrade.
I doubt many of them minded when ANZ and National stopped charging fees for using each other's cash machines. But now it's "blub, blub, blub, I'm switching banks" and I see Westpac is running a campaign aimed at picking up the disgruntled.
If you're thinking of changing, just consider Westpac's history of bank acquisition.
I remember when it was two banks - the Commercial Bank of Australia and the Bank of New South Wales.
The name Westpac was dreamed up and based on some spurious geographic data (Western Pacific whereever that is) so the new bank could keep the W from the NSW bank logo.
What's so special about the National Bank brand anyway? I say that a long-term customer.
I've banked with National ever since they took over Countrywide Bank.
I was with Countrywide from the time they took over the Northern United Building Society.
I actually liked United, they were one of the first banks in Gisborne to gat an ATM.
Ultimately ANZ is just doing to National what National had done to others in the past. There's a kind of "the more things change the more they stay the same" factor in my becoming an ANZ customer.
My first bank account was with the Post Office Savings Bank, since then I've dabbled with several other banks, sometimes the choice has been mine and other times I've had the relationship thrust upon me by the eat or be eaten world of capitalism.
Now I'm back where I began, the POSB or Postbank as it became was acquired by the ANZ during the great asset sell-off of 1989.
So go on, have your little hissy and change banks, but just remember the bank you're changing to might not be the bank think it is for much longer.
I remember a former colleague got the shits with Westpac and took her busines to Trustbank. That showed them.
A few months later Westpac bought Trustbank and became Westpac Trust.
One step forward, two steps backwards.

I'm a cyclist, always have been, hopefully always will be.
As a kid I rode to school, later I raced with the Gisborne cycling club, I've worked as a courier in both London and New York.
I'm currently into the second season of my racing comeback. As you can probably guess, I've been following with interest the fallout from the Lance Armstrong affair.
I, like most people, was taken in by the Texan's heroics on the bike. Hell, when the going got tough out on the road, you know head winds unexpected showers, I used to say to myself 'what would Lance do?'.
It would seem the answer to my question may not have been the one I initially imagined.
It's always a bit of a slap in the face when someone you've admired fails to live up to your expectations.
The credibility of cycling has taken a bit if a hit following the USADA report into Armstrong and the testimonies of his former teammates.
Has it made me despondent?
No, not at all. I still get the same buzz out on the bike as I always did. I still get nervous when I front up at the start line and anxious during the race wondering whether I'll have enough in the tank at the business end.
Sure I'm enthralled by the emerging stories of cheating, intimidation and coercion, but ultimately they don't really have much bearing on my biking. I still have a mash the pedals harder than the rest of the peloton if I want to succeed.
I know I have to drop a few kilos if I want to keep up climbing hills and grow some nuts if I want to get down them at speed.
The actions of those at the top of my chosen sport make no difference to that.
So Lance, in the end it is about the bike.

I've just written a piece for the Manual Magazine website on This Ain't California, a skateboarding documentary set in pre-unification East Germany. The movie is screening in New Zealand as part of the International Film Festival. To read the piece click here: http://manualmagazine.com/201...

Take a glimpse at the magazine that helped shape my adolescence. I used to hang out for new issues of Skateboarder every month. Without it I probably wouldn't be the person I am today. The jury is still out on whether or not that is a good thing.