Day OneHundredAndThree of being Aflickionless...

Maz & Russell went to look at another place today, this time out in Mt Roskil (near May Road). Maz really likes the place, plenty of room for all of the stuff and then some. 1 double bedroom, 2 single bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 dining room, separate toilet and bathroom, good size kitchen, laundry and carport. So tomorrow she is handing in the form for the house. The biggest mission is going to be finding a flatmate, but the rent will be fairly alright for whoever ends up being the flattie (Maz made sure of that when working on the costs).

This evening while getting dinner (Wendy's...Maz & Russell even ate in), Maz clicked that she has also been paying for food over the last week. So while eating dinner she told Russell that she was temped to text facebook status with "Maz Smutley...is going to hold a wee poll. She thinks that Russell should be paying for food considering that she is paying the rent. Who agrees?".
Russell didn't like this very much (Maz was really going to do it too) and after a sigh he said "You'll drag my name through the dirt and make me look bad". To which Maz responded with "You drag my head through the pillows every night and you don't see me complaining". Haha touche as SJ's mum would say. Wonder if he got the point?

Maz needs Skype...wait...Maz needs a mic.

Southbound motorists trying to get into Auckland city were reduced to a crawl after a cement mixer rolled on an inner-city road just before peak-hour traffic this evening. The Golden Bay Cement truck was lodged at the side of Sam Wrigley St in the inner city, just off the Cook St motorway off-ramp. The truck was eventually moved after nearly three hours. The off-ramp, the second exit into the city south of Auckland Harbour Bridge, was closed for over an hour before reopening after 6pm. Inspector Barry Smalley of the police northern communications centre said the truck didn't cause as many problems as might have been anticipated.

The Warehouse is recalling a batch of convection heaters after potential safety concerns were identified. The recall applies to Evantair CH-2000A basic and turbo model convection heaters purchased by customers between January 2005 and December 2007. The two recalled models have the following barcode product descriptions: 9417648400979 Heater Convection Basic 2000W (CH-2000A BAS), and 9417648400962 Heater Convection Turbo 2000W (CH-2000A TUR). The recall follows a customer complaint about a heater which was fire-damaged when left switched on overnight.

The final results of the smacking referendum have been released, showing the "yes" vote was slightly higher and the "no" vote slightly lower than preliminary figures issued on Friday. The "yes" vote was 201,541, or 11.98 per cent of those cast. Preliminary figures were 191,495, or 11.81 per cent of those cast. The "no" vote was 1,470,755, or 87.4 per cent of those cast. Preliminary figures were 1,420,959, or 87.6 per cent of those cast. The total number of valid votes cast was 1,682,717 compared with the preliminary figure of 1,622,150. The number of invalid votes cast was 1685, or 0.1 per cent of the total.

Auction website Trade Me crashed for several hours last night following "significant hardware problems". The website's disaster recovery procedures had to be implemented after "some issues...that affected our database clustering software at one of our data centres", the "tired" Trade Me technical team announced on the site at 12.45am today. The site experienced an outage at 6.55pm which lasted 15 minutes, but was down again between 9.05pm and 11.50pm. All auctions affected by the outage would be extended by 24 hours, the company said.

Shoppers buying sausage meat could have got more than they bargained for - small metal flakes. The discovery has prompted Goulds Fine Foods to recall the 500g tubes of The Valley Sausage Company sausage meat. Goulds said that the sausage meat had been sold in supermarkets in the lower North Island and Wellington region. All stores had been notified and all the remaining product had been destroyed. Goulds said there had been no reports of illness.

Scientists at the police's electronic crime laboratory have created a computerised system to help detectives examine seized computers and other items containing microchips. Other government agencies such as the Customs service are trialling the technology, and the scientists say there has been strong interest from other enforcement agencies around the world.

Drivers trying to squeeze the last kilometre from an empty fuel tank now face the prospect of a hefty fine if they run out of petrol on Auckland's motorways. Acting on a request from the police, the Transport Agency is proposing a bylaw that would make it an offence to run out of fuel anywhere on the 72.7km network. Police want the deterrent because of the number of stranded vehicles blocking lanes and endangering other motorists. During a three-week period in July last year, 148 vehicles - including three trucks - ran out of fuel on Auckland motorways.

And some entertainment news as well today...The price for spending eternity above Marilyn Monroe is more than $4.6 million. That's how much the crypt directly above the actress went for in an online auction that ended on Monday. The eBay.com listing says the space at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery above Monroe is being vacated, making room for someone else. The listing also offers the detail that the current occupant is "looking face down on" Monroe, who was laid to rest at the cemetery in 1962. Bidding for the auction started at $500,000 on August 14. The final bid was $4,602,100.

The Rolling Stones charge £5 million (NZ$12m) to perform at weddings. The ageing rockers – made up of frontman Sir Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Ronnie Wood - have been named the world's most expensive wedding act, ahead of Sir Elton John and Kylie Minogue who only demand £2 million to play at nuptials.

Jessica Biel is the most dangerous celebrity on the web. Security technology company McAfee has reported that searches for the 27-year-old actress are more likely to lead to online threats such as spyware and viruses than searches for any other celebrity. McAfee said fans searching for the actress have a one-in-five chance of ending up at a website designed to damage one's computer. Its the third annual report on the subject from McAfee, which last year found that Brad Pitt was the "most dangerous" celeb online. (now everybody say..."mmmmm Jessica Biel")

SIDESWIPPING IT...
A reader realises a valuable life lesson: "I recently signed up with the IRD online to check my student loan balance. Imagine my excitement to see I had an $800 refund due from the year 2000! Then imagine my disappointment to be told I cannot get the money as too much time has passed. Sigh. Life is so unfair."

Rules are made to be broken

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Don't put your big hunk of meat on my table" - Dee to Hez about putting the dog meat on the outside table

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
Max: 17°C
Min: 12°C (overnight)
Humidity: 92%
Rain and fresh northerlies. (Translation: don't you love that word "FRESH"...current wind chill is hmmmm FRESH)

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
What is it with Sports Tonight playing background music during the articles???

DAILY FOF MOMENT
That Maz never noticed that she had been paying for dinner for the pass week, plus she does 100% of the rent. WTF? Fail!!!