The longest part of filing a return is waiting for all the information to actually turn up so you can submit it.

Smiling at the typical Auckland (and National) cynicism at the prospect of another weather event in Auckland. 

Cyclone has made landfall in Northland and Aucklanders are all "I suppose I should go get toilet paper just in case this turns out to be more than a shower"...

And the rest of NZ are "Stand strong AKL - you'll get through this [eyeroll]" 

I just got a junk email on my work address (which ends in .govt.nz). I can only imagine that some sort of AI attempted to figure out my name from my email address, because the email started with "Hi Government Of New Zealand"!

As I am now apparently the entire government, yet it be known that all complaints will be summarily ignored 😁

Behodar:

 

I just got a junk email on my work address (which ends in .govt.nz). I can only imagine that some sort of AI attempted to figure out my name from my email address, because the email started with "Hi Government Of New Zealand"!

 

As I am now apparently the entire government, yet it be known that all complaints will be summarily ignored 😁

 

Not bad. I was mistakenly ‘only’ the Vice President of a reputable international company in North America. 🙂

Offline and about to head north and straight on to Norway. Happy Easter! 🙂

Tinkerisk:

 

Behodar:

 

I just got a junk email on my work address (which ends in .govt.nz). I can only imagine that some sort of AI attempted to figure out my name from my email address, because the email started with "Hi Government Of New Zealand"!

 

As I am now apparently the entire government, yet it be known that all complaints will be summarily ignored 😁

 

 

Not bad. I was mistakenly ‘only’ the Vice President of a reputable international company in North America. 🙂

 

 

 

Handle9:

 

Our NZ tax returns are filed for another year. I'll probably be less happy when I actually have to pay the tax but it's nice how easy it is to do a tax return in NZ.

 

Are you talking about the year ended 31 March 2025 for personal returns and did you do it online? If so, I’d be grateful if you could tell me how to find the place on the IR website where electronic filing can be done. Have looked all over and can’t find it - actually looks like that functionality for 2025 isn’t open yet.

eracode:

 

Handle9:

 

Our NZ tax returns are filed for another year. I'll probably be less happy when I actually have to pay the tax but it's nice how easy it is to do a tax return in NZ.

 

 

Are you talking about the year ended 31 March 2025 for personal returns and did you do it online? If so, I’d be grateful if you could tell me how to find the place on the IR website where electronic filing can be done. Have looked all over and can’t find it - actually looks like that functionality for 2025 isn’t open yet.

 

Returns and transactions then clicked through to the correct period. 

My return is very simple as it’s just for a rental property with no other New Zealand assets. It doesn’t rely on any automatic deductions. YMMV obviously. 

Getting my motorcycle learner’s license. 

Went to the AA yesterday to deal with the paperwork. The lady asked me when I wanted to do the theory test. Ended up doing it right there and then. 

Scored 100%, although since I’ve been driving for 40 years or so, it would have been a tad embarrassing if I hadn’t!

 Just waiting for the motorcycle I ordered to arrive in NZ now. I must say though that the idea of collecting it and my first ride being through the centre of Christchurch doesn’t really fill me with longing! I wonder if they’ll deliver it to home….!

My 17yo daughter sings in a band at school. She decided to pick up a guitar last year and dive into YT. She's refused our offer to pay for lessons, preferring to teach herself and have her band members help. She now has a decent range of songs on both acoustic and electric.

For the last couple of days she's been playing Radiohead's How to Disappear Completely. She knows it's one of my all time favourite songs (I'm not ashamed to say I bawled my eyes out when I saw Thom sing it live in Christchurch recently) and she didn't want me to hear her practicing before she was happy with her progress.

She still has a way to go before nailing it from start to finish, but she's actually doing an amazing job of it and I get to hear it live again and again and again :)

I am feeling extraordinarily pleased with myself today.

Last night the Flirc I depend on for compatibility purposes suddenly stopped working. No matter what I tried, I could not get any response from it. It seemed well and truly dead. This is a big deal because I have everything programmed into my old Harmony One remote and because it was many years ago I have no idea how I did it. Nor do I have any idea where the Flirc software I used at the time has gone. There have been many generations of upgrades between then and now.

After fiddling uselessly with the Flirc for awhile, I decided to check out the website in the hope of maybe finding some kind of diagnostic tool. What I found was that Flirc seems to have gone completely over to the Dark Side. There is no kind of support of anything unless you buy a new device. You can’t get past the gatekeeper for any query or download or anything else unless you buy a new device. Everything seems exclusively geared to forcing the purchase of a new device. Flirc has truly become a money machine. I hope this is not a portent of the future. It is sure a log way from the origins of the interweb.

A new device is not all that expensive and I don’t have a problem with that, but the principle of the thing really annoys me. The fact is, I bought the old device, bought and paid for it. But I can’t seem to get support for it unless I buy a new one. That is not how I do things.

At this point I imagine everyone is jumping for their mouse to inform me how wrong I  am, how wonderful Flirc support is, how I must have clicked on the wrong URL, how I shouldn’t rely on such old stuff, how my attitude needs upgrading. Maybe, maybe not. I don’t care. I found a better way.

First, I brought the Flirc into my computer room to do some better checks. Next, I went to Internet Archive to find period-correct software to go with it, since the Flirc people weren’t being any help. Finally, I fired up one of the many antique computers I keep for compatibility purposes. I have a whole collection. I can even go back as far as Windows 98, though  I haven’t needed to for a long time. I do use Win 7 a lot though, and even XP from time to time. Much better than emulators and also it surrounds me with the other stuff, much of it useful, from that time. I still use a lot of software that modern computers won’t even sniff at.

I fired up the Flirc software and immediately recognised it from my distant past. I’m sure I also have it buried in a backup somewhere but this was much easier. What it told me was that the Flirc device was well and truly dead. This was good information because I had been planning to pull the IR sensor out of an old TV remote as a replacement and now I knew that wouldn’t work either.

As one does in these situations, I started randomly fiddling. The software didn’t respond at all. It just kept saying the Flirc wasn’t connected. So I fiddled some more. I tried turning things off and on. I tried upgrading the firmware. Hey. Suddenly it said it was connected! 

I did some more checking and plugged it into the Shield. Everything seems to be working fine! Damn! 

Of course I do realise it may fail again at any time but I do feel very pleased with myself right now.     
  

I got a good giggle at myself after reading @Rikkitic 's post above and realising that her related wanted post was not actually for a Forward looking infrared camera as I had initially taken the acronym for!

I too thought that "Flirc" was a brand of IR camera, so it's not just you!

I thought it was old tech but apparently there is still a niche market for people like me. But I wont be buying any more unless they get a little more user friendly.

Don't judge, but tonight we had KFC.

While in the queue the car in front of me kept raving up his engine , just being a right tw@t.

It was not going to make the queue go any faster....almost.

When it go to his turn they told him he was not able to purchase from that store, he was not wanted as a customer.

ROTFLMAO....I am sure he impressed the blonde with low self esteem in the car with him

But nice to see the world bite back now and again. I thanked the staff and wished them a great night.