Ramblings
Thoughts, observations, life, and whatever else was worth writing down.
2026
2025
2024
The 300th Post
Here's to fifteen something years of blogging. And reaching 300 posts!
#75Hard: Completed
75 days of 75 Hard has come to an end. Stats, stats, and more stats! #75Hard: Completed
#75Hard: The Halfway Point
Halfway through 75 Hard, it's time to break down the progress made. Now with stats! #75Hard: The Halfway Point
Back To The Backlog
I always dreamed of vanquishing my game backlog; but new games lured me astray. Vowing a no-buy '24, I'm battling the beast with a laughably optimistic, yet possibly doomed, plan.
75 Hard
This year, one of my goals is to do 75 Hard.
Looking Back & Looking Ahead
Join me on reflecting on my New Years Goals - the ones that made it last year and the new ones for 2024. Looking Back & Looking Ahead to 2024.
Kyle's Games of the Year '23
The annual - Kyle's Games of the Year returns for 2023. From the best games played this year to the worst. What's your pick?
2023
2022
Making Australia Recession-Proof
I have three ideas to help Australia (or any country) out of its recession. And also set it up so it won't face one again.
The Literal Game Plan for 2022
The plan on how and what to play for this year means I might actually finish the games I want to finish. The Literal Game Plan for 2022
2021
Games of the Year 2021
A look back at some of the best games I have played. From Gears! Tactics to Omno, here is what I recommend for Games of the Year 2021
What Happened to Empathy?
Somewhere along the way, the world has lost its empathy for others.
Learning To Write Again
Lockdown 6 has broken my brain and I intend to combat that by Learning To Write Again. It's going to be rough, but we got to start somewhere.
Too Lazy to Change
What do you do when you're too lazy to change? Where do you go to from there?
From Fools to Pros
I have finally written a book! Ok, so more like put together a photo book. But it still counts. It's called From Fools to Pros!
Bully Yourself?
Is it possible to Bully Yourself? Or are you just being honest in your failings? Sometimes we need some honesty if we're going to be better.
The Tram Jam
What should have been a normal tram ride, becomes a game of tram-hoping.
Melbourne So Far
With it approaching 3 months of living in Melbourne, the biggest adventure remains renting an apartment. Here's an update on Melbourne So Far
The $26 Million Mentality
What would it take to be the type of person you want to be? What does it take to have The $26 Million Mentality?
2020
My Top 10 Games of 2020
These are my personal top ten games of 2020. Spaning PC and Xbox alike.
Divisiveness
Society is suffering from massive divisiveness, and there doesn't seem to be an end.
Moving On
After ten years in New Zealand, our next adventure awaits. We're not sure what awaits us in the great unknown, but it's still and adventure!
Desperate to Be Heard
People are so desperate to be heard that they just end up yelling about nothing.
Not Quite An Achievement
Unlocking Xbox Achievements can teach you about yourself sometimes.
Sunday Fireside [12/07/2020]
On Wednesday I said goodbye to a dear friend of mine.
Sunday Fireside [21/06/2020]
Career and fitness are the focus points for this week's Sunday Fireside [21/06/2020]. More looking forward than reflecting on the week.
Sunday Fireside [07/06/2020]
Level 2 Lite is here so normality has returned, with everything that entails.
Leaving Social Media
Social media seems to be doing more harm than good, and I don't want any part in that. That is why I am Leaving Social Media.
Sunday Fireside [10/05/2020]
Sunday Fireside [10/05/2020] seems less like a fireside and more like a dairy, as I update on all the things that have happened during lockdown.
Working Through Lockdown
As we slowly start to come out of lockdown, people rushed off to get take aways. But what can we take away from this lockdown? Working Through Lockdown
Sunday Fireside [12/04/2020]
For this week's Sunday Fireside [12/04/2020], I mull over the lockdown and what good can come from it.
Sunday Fireside [05/04/2020]
Another Sunday Fireside to allow me to get my thoughts out into the world. Sunday Fireside [05/04/2020] seems to focus way to much on my fitness journey.
Sunday Fireside [01/03/2020]
After a hiatus, I am back and attempting to make these fireside chats regular. March begins with Sunday Fireside [01/03/2020].
In Defence Of Superman
In Defence Of Superman. I like Superman, and here is why.
"You’ll Never Survive”
January 2020 marks 9 years since I immigrated to New Zealand.
Sunday Fireside [19/01/2020]
The first fireside chat of the year, and the decade (!) brings a bit of a change. Read this weeks Sunday Fireside [19/01/2020].
The CATS Movie Review
You may have heard how bad the CATS movie is. Well I am here to tell you all the rumors are true. Come read The CATS Movie Review.
2019
Sunday Fireside #4
This week's Sunday Fireside Chat focuses on traveling and getting fat. The two are not really connected.
Life is Full of Hard
Life being hard is a good thing. Without challenges to overcome, we get lazy - in body, mind and spirit. Life is Full of Hard
Friday, August 9th
Looking towards the future for today's Winning Wednesday as there is a lot ot get excited about!
What I Have Learnt
What I have learnt in my years working in I.T. Because sharing knowledge makes the world a better place. What I Have Learnt by Kyle
Sunday Fireside Chat #3
Sunday Fireside Chat while feeling a little fragile lets you reflect on a few different things.
Personal Sacrifice
Thoughtful Thursday wonders about the sacrifices of the families of the Apollo Space Program. What do you think about Personal Sacrifice?
Suddenly People!
Winning Wednesday celebrates The Xboxcast and all the viewers as we return to regular schedules.
Sunday Fireside Chat #2
The second Sunday fireside chat is here. Looking back on the past few posts, the past week and the week ahead.
#StormArea51
#StormArea51 and "me n my alien" memes have really tickled my funny bone this week. And I am loving it!
So Many Buddha
When is it enough? When it is golden enough? When it is big enough? All questions I don't have an answer to. This Thoughtful Thursday - So Many Buddha.
Being An Adult
Winning Wednesday is back with a small victory story only adults will understand. Join us as we celebrate a minor milestone in Being An Adult.
Sunday Fireside Chat #1
Sunday's are great days for reflecting on the week past and looking forward to the week ahead. Lets start with Sunday Fireside Chat #1.
This Post Is Satisfactory
Fun Friday begins with a game that is giving me a lot of fun - Satisfactory: the factory building simulator sandbox! This Post Is Satisfactory
Twitter Is Not Real Life
Twitter is not real life. And we need to remember that. So lets all be better.
Win Wednesday: Pushing Upwards
Winning Wednesdays by getting slightly more active than a potato. With push ups! Join us for a challenge.
The 2019 Blog-A-Day Challenge
My plan to blog every day. For at least the next month. Now with a schedule!
A Clean And Green New Zealand?
New Zealand could learn a lot from Singapore about being clean and green. It's time to make the slogan a reality. A Clean And Green New Zealand?
FIRE: Starting A Small Spark
I am on a journey to FIRE. A small spark now, a bonfire later. Will you join me?
The Zero Waste Lifestyle
Have you thoughts about trying out a zero waste lifestyle? The rubbish free is a challenge we're going to try.
Inspiration
We often look to those that are so far removed from us, we have no hope of emulating any point of their life, when we should be looking at those we know.
What It Is
Just a quote from the talented Dylan Moran - a famous stand up comedian.
The Curious Case Of The Night Time Running Man
Our story starts with the turn of the year 2019. A chubby and unfit geek decided to change those facts. The Curious Case Of The Night Time Running Man
Finding Financial Freedom
"When we're working for meaning instead of for money, we do our best work and can truly make a difference in the world." I believe everyone should be aspiring to make a difference.ccount healthy too.
The Fitness Journey
Fitness is a journey, not a destination, and we need to figure out how we get underway.
Goal Setting: 2019 Edition
With the start of the year, millions of people sit down and lie to themselves. "This year" they say, out loud, "this year I will get abs."
2018
A Small Social Experiment
Are you encouraging your friends?
Adulting
Responsibility is not going away, so rise to the challenge.
If You Could Not Fail
Failure is always an option.
Improvements
There are so many things to improve, and yet we just don't.
The Next Small Step
The one in which I reflect on a small career shakeup after 6 years in the same place.
Facebook Comment Lifestyle
Facebook comments in real life? Its happening now.
Mentorship
We are the mentor-less generation. And we don't know what we're missing.
An Open Email To NOW
I try and convince my ISP to put me in the front of the queue for a fibre install.
Negating Burnout
Being busy for the sake of business does not make you a productive person.
Spare Time
What do you do in your spare time?
Motivate Me
"If you want to change the world, you better make sure your room is clean first."
2018
A new year, the usual pressure to have resolutions about it, and an honest look at what last year's break year actually turned into.
2017
Too Much Or Too Little
Its far to easy to put on Netflix.
Farewell Cassini
After twenty years, Cassini goes into Saturn. A goodbye to a mission that ran for most of my life, and to the pictures it sent back.
An Apple A Day
Up before 5am with tea and a hashtag ready, watching an Apple keynote. An account of the madness, and of what was actually announced.
Update No. 2017
Back after a long absence, with an explanation nobody asked for and an update on where this site is going.
Dealing With Loss
Chester Bennington died this weekend. On grieving somebody you never met, and what Linkin Park was the soundtrack to.
Mind On The Mission
When we see the vision of the company, the project, the hardships we are working through, we suddenly become aware of the bigger picture. We are suddenly working towards something and not "just working here".
Hands Held High
Four lines of Linkin Park, and nothing else. Written the week Chester Bennington died.
Dear Chester
A thank you letter to Chester Bennington, and an open door to anyone who needs one. The kettle is always on.
Lessons From Podcasting
The things I have learnt doing four trials and one special edition recording (which is coming soon!).
Birthdays & Brokenness: 2017 Version
Oh yes, that reminds me, it may not be broken, but it sure is sore. And swollen. And bruised. Its not having a fun time, is what I am trying to get across.
Thirty Two
I have eight years left till I am Forty. 8 years. That's not that long at all!
Climate Health
The New Zealand budget has raised a few eyebrows when it comes to their contribution to climate change. Especially when compared to their Mental Health budget.
The End
I set out to blog every day for a month, and while it was not easy and with a few missed days, here we are. 31 days later
Relaxation Station
I understand this is not a very good post for being the second to last day of my Blog-A-Day challenge, but its still a post.
Reflections On The Week
Fear not, dear reader. For I have a plan going forward.
Real Talk
Today, we need to have a chat. Some real talk. Me to you.
Change Is In The Air
The theme is due an update and there are projects coming. A short note about what is changing around here.
Being A Good Person
No one ever purposefully goes out their way to harm or hurt people. Well, some people do. And we have a name for those people - arseholes.
Communication
Good communication, bad communication, we are beings who have build our entire society on communication and being understood.
The Week Past: Part Two
A second week of trying to blog every day, and an honest account of why an hour a post is harder than it sounds.
Everybody Stresses
I am under some form of stress about something or other. Or maybe its my brain worms again.
Lightbulb
This, dear reader, is the story of a boy. A boy in search of a light bulb.
Social Competition
People have forgotten that's its OK to not talk about themselves.
The Week Past
Also, don't let dinner burn because you forgot about. But that life lesson is a for free. You can thank me later.
The New Phone
The Lumia 950 XL is dying and something has to replace it. Working through the options when none of them are quite right.
Professionalism
Professionalism: The idea that we are to generally behave in a manner that doesn't lead to an embarrassed next day around the water cooler.
Kill Tomorrow
Would you believe, dear reader, that there are people out there who believe, and will argue, that global warming is a hoax, or made up, or even a Chinese plot?
A Blog A Day Challenge
An experiment: a proper blog post every day, on whatever I find interesting. Here is the plan and what to expect.
Motivation
A year ago I decided it would be a good idea to get injured. A story about a shoulder, and about starting again.
The Blessings Of A Wednesday
An ordinary Wednesday, a neighbour's parrot, and an email that turned the day into something else entirely.
Stories Of I
Some people will use you to talk about themselves. Lets stop this type of behavior.
2016
Explorers
Waiting until every problem on Earth is solved before going to the stars means never going. Why exploring and fixing things are the same instinct.
Potatoes Potate
A potato is a person happy with the status quo. On not wanting to be one, and what it takes not to be.
Destination Mars
Musk, NASA, Boeing and The Martian have all put Mars back in the headlines. What a crewed mission would actually take.
A House. A Home. And A Start.
Married, honeymooned and house hunting, all in the first weeks of 2016. Buying a house is nothing like buying steak.
I Take This Vow
Seven days before the wedding, trying to find words for something words do not really cover.
2014
Change. Beginnings.
Change does not arrive overnight. Where it actually starts, and why it has to start with us.
Change. But Why.
The case for changing how we live, made better by a video than by anything I could write. The information is free and out there.
Change. An Intro.
I started this blog to open minds and then lost sight of why. Going back to the original idea.
How We Met The End
Ten years of How I Met Your Mother, a 17 inch screen at Varsity College, and how the ending landed.
2013
Return To The Old Country
Flying back to South Africa for Christmas. Dates, times, and a standing invitation to anyone who wants to see me.
Revolution
Our society looks a lot like Rome did, entertainment and luxury holding it up. Why I think a revolution is coming, and what kind.
Manners Maketh
Manners cost nothing and are worth a great deal. On an all boys primary school, a mother who did a good job, and civility.
10 Years
Looking back at 10 years
My Shoes Are Green, Its All Windows 8’s Fault
It has become acceptable to boast that you have no idea how computers work. Windows 8 gets the blame, and it does not deserve all of it.
Idiotic Belief
Christians are not idiots and atheists are not immoral, and the stereotypes on both sides do the same damage.
Xbox One
Somebody behind a counter not listening to you, and your order coming out wrong. What that has to do with the Xbox One reveal.
Window To Your Phone
My first proper tech post. Every iPhone since the 3G, the iPhone 5 shaking my faith, and where I went next.
Opening the Parachute: Most Likely Part One
Parachute Music Festival, from down in front of the stage. Part one, with a warning about where my beliefs sit.
2012
The Hospital (A Sequel)
The last chapter in the broken arm saga. A bent black cast, a hospital appointment and an end to the shenanigans, hopefully.
Pre-traumatic Stress Operation 2012 Details
The sequel to the broken bones post, adapted from an email to my mother. Surgery details, and the road to it.
Unkissable
I have been through the list twice and I tick every box. Certified kissable, certificate pending.
Calling The Rain
An Eluveitie song, some very big words, and where the inspiration to write actually comes from.
Birthdays and Brokenness
Typed one handed with the medication wearing off. Four sleeps to my birthday and a broken arm to go with it.
Tears
Life is a gift and the leading cause of death. On drinking it in, and on poking the things marked do not poke.
Wedding Bells (But Not Mine)
Nine months from meeting a stranger to being asked to be his groomsman. I have no idea what a groomsman does.
Remembering Eleven Years
Eleven years since the towers came down and the world stopped. On remembering what it meant.
Compassion
The posts have slowed to a crawl and people have noticed. On compassion, and on not being as amazing as I joke.
Home
Reading the news from South Africa and finding I no longer care. What that says about home, and about leaving.
One Giant Loss For Mankind
Neil Armstrong has died. The last great pioneer, humble to the end, and what he showed the rest of us.
A Year On
A year since Atlantis was towed off the runway for the last time. What retiring the Shuttle cost us.
Worth
I have written about my own existence more than any other subject. On knowing when to stop beating that horse.
Directions
An apology for the silence, and the real reason behind it: a case of stage fright brought on by friends saying nice things.
Puzzle Pieces
We expect our hopes and dreams to fit together like puzzle pieces. On what happens when they do not. Not a happy post.
Lost: A Follow Up Study In Existentialism
The subject I keep coming back to: meaning, worth, and the constant need for more. It started when my best friend got engaged.
Three-In-Three
The conclusion to Three-In-Three. Not accomplished, not even started, but written down, which is where it begins.
Three-In-Three
Part III of Three-In-Three, on companionship. Someone to share the good times and the bad, which is what most people are really after.
Three-In-Three
Part IV of Three-In-Three, on work. Do something you love and you never work a day, which is a saying that exists for a reason.
Three-In-Three
Part I of Three-In-Three, on location. Why it gets said three times, with New Zealand as the case study.
Three-In-Three
The long winded introduction to Three-In-Three. Everyone has dreams. Very few work out the first step.
Genetically Modify This
Genetically modified food sounds frightening and mostly is not. We already modify ourselves, and have for a long time.
Faith
I do not talk about my faith often or loudly. This is where it comes from, for anyone who actually asked.
2011
And Steve Has Done His Job
The first computer I ever used was a Mac, and I could just use it. On Steve Jobs, and on things that work.
Close Encounters of the 4th Dimension
Time governs the whole of it, from the time we are born to the time we are meant to settle down. A look at the fourth dimension and what it takes from us.
The Space Shuttle
After thirty years the wheels touched the strip at Kennedy for the last time. What retiring the Shuttle says about our priorities.
Life's Meaning (A Study of an Existential Crisis)
The everyday tasks that cause neither pleasure nor discomfort, and the question of why we do any of them.
Teenage Dreaming
Two kinds of dreams, the ones you have at night and the ones you aim at. What happens when the second kind goes off.
Green Grass?
The grass is not always greener, and the person telling you that usually means something else entirely.
Bin bin Laden
Watching Obama's address on a live stream from rainy New Zealand, and what the announcement actually meant.
Serious 101
Three months of being a hobo are over. A house, a cat and a fridge, and a guide to settling down.
The Beauty of Hindsight
Hindsight is 20/20 and it shapes us. On mistakes, missed opportunities, and what looking back is actually for.
Flying Squirrels
A flying squirrel does not fly. It leaps off a branch into nothing and hopes. On doing the same thing.
Absolutely
What happens when you find that person. The butterflies, the feet not touching the ground, and the way her eyes go when she laughs.
The Crossroads
Stone Sour's ZZYZX Road, and the point where you have to decide which way you are going.
2010
Best Friends, High School and the Shaven Monkeys
Spice Ham equals Spam, therefore, Spiced Monkey must equal Spunky!
The Beautiful Life
On there being too much beauty in the world to stay angry at it, and on learning to let it flow through rather than hold on.
The Lament Of Mr Nice-Guy
I think I am a nice guy. On what that actually costs, and on standing up for friends who did not ask.
There’s A Dragon In The Dungeon
Saving throws, ten sided dice and gnomes. A first go at Dungeons and Dragons, and why it got its hooks in.
The Search For Self
We want what we cannot have and resent what we do. On being a complicated and thoroughly illogical creature.
Life, The Universe and Everything
Death as a motive force: get a job, find a flat, get a toaster. On what all that running is actually for.
Addicted to Consumerism
Question society and your sanity gets questioned back. On consumerism, and on what it costs to say the mass might be wrong.
Stupidity Kills
All over the world, girls with no brains have been flocking to see these movies and dragging their lust-filled boyfriends along.
Africa’s Cup? I Don’t Think So
South Africa proved it could host the world cup and why it shouldn't.
Guys, Girls and Games
A trend I have noticed and do not like: how girls are taught to feel about gaming, and who is doing the teaching.
RIP Paul Grey
Paul Grey will be missed by all the maggots around the world. RIP Paul Grey
Friendship
Humans, cows and even have trees have friends.
EVE Online
I can appreciate when passion for gaming comes through in a game, and Eve Online has that in spades.
Volume 3: The Privacy Issue
There is a lot of buzz about privacy recently. But for now, have a cookie. Volume 3: The Privacy Issue
The Human Condition
Humanity destroys. It’s what we do. We are are so good at it. it is a part of The Human Condition.
The Start
In order for anything to happen, there must first be a catalyst.