Jan 30 2008
2008 is going to be great!
What a year 2008 is going to be. It started off with my brother Nathan getting married on the 3rd of January followed by a day of recovery before Rachel and I took off to the South Island to introduce my other brother Aaron (or Aze as he is more affectionately known) to a large part of the country he’s only ever seen on TV or in books. It was great! Finally those long hot summer days that I remember as a child returned, albeit 20 years later. Living in New Zealand had almost bought us to expect the usual rain and cyclones that seem to gather when the holidays start and depart when it’s time to return to work.
It was a good chance to get down to the better parts of New Zealand and spend some time with Aaron who is intending on moving to Melbourne at the end of the year. I don’t get to see enough of him, or Nathan for that matter, so it was good to be able to hang out for some extended time.
The rest of this year holds a lot of promise. Another season of American Idol is underway. We’re launching Throng into Japan shortly - making it our first foreign language site - along with some pretty cool new initiatives that are likely to revolutionise online advertising as it is known in New Zealand.
There are the Beijing Olympics in August which I am totally looking forward to. Having been there and seen everything first hand at the end of 2007 I’m pretty excited about seeing what the Chinese can do.
There are two big elections this year. The US one: Obama will win because he’s all about unifying the country. Unfortunately, someone wont like that idea and he’ll probably end up getting himself assasinated. And then there is the New Zealand election. There are too many things that could be said. Too many people doing more than enough talking for everyone. I think there will change. But I just want to be inspired.
One last thing, fatherhood. And what a whole other world of challenges, journeys and fun that will be.
Hi Regan,
Since you mention China - I’m a NZer living in China, in Qingdao the site for the 2008 Olympic Games sailing competitions. In fact the complex is 5 minutes walk from my home. Watched it go up the past 3 years I’ve been here.
I read the NZ Herald article on upgrading broadband today and tracked your website from there.
You may be interested in www.twine.com which is a new service attempting to make use of the Sematic Web. At this stage it’s in Beta but if you’re interested I’ll send you an Invite. May be some useful contacts for you internationally plus you can set up your own twine/group.
Father of 2 wonderful daughters, now aged 21 and 17. Yes, fatherhood is precious.
Murray
Murray Peat
(ex Auckland - Auckland Grammar - Auckland University - eldest brother of Dr Bruce Peat at Middlemore Hospital, Goldline home builder Dennis Peat & Detective Stephen Peat)