I was born and bred in Hamilton, New Zealand, and in early 2005 I made the decision to move to Europe.

Between 2005 and 2008, I lived between Helsinki, Finland and Nice, France. During that time, I also spent a couple of months each in Thailand, Czech Republic, Italy, Germany and Japan.

On 27 November, 2008, I moved to Mumbai, India (I couldn't have picked a more unfortunate date to arrive!) and I now spend my time living between both countries or travelling both for business and pleasure.

Work and Goals

I set up my first company in 2004 in New Zealand, and in 2007 set up a branch office in Finland. In 2009, I came up with the idea to start an ISP in India which has also spread to New Zealand.

For the time being I am 100% focused on Hayai India and Hayai NZ respectively, but this idea is looking to spread to the Pacific Islands and Nepal in the very near future, so my goals for Hayai are to serve Broadband to "the other 3 billion".

Things I like

Golf, Tennis, Karate, Cycling, Driving, Travelling, Learning Languages, listening to and playing music, photography, videography and multimedia stuff. Stand up Comedy. Sound and sight are important to me. As is food (cooking and eating). And my hands. People, Cultures and Languages. (Free and) Open Source Software. Hospitality.

Things I find Interesting

International Business, Venture Capital, Finance. Economics, Taxation (weird, I know), International Law, eLearning, Tourism, Hotels, Relaxation, Meditation, Health, Electronics, Mobile Devices, Sound and Video production, Drupal, Design, User Interfaces and usability.

My views on education

I like to tinker, and despite my past views on education (I disliked school), I'm big on education, but not necessarily traditional school - I appreciate people who are self-taught, because I think it shows that they're motivated.

Things that get my adrenaline pumping

I love to drive, I love fast cars, I love the idea of the Autobahn, and I *loved* driving at fairly excessive speed on it (over 200km/h in some parts (as well as the Austrian, Hungarian and Turkish highways). My favourite makes of car are certain types of Porsche, Mercedes Benz/AMG/Brabus/Maybach and certain types of Jaguar.

Music

Put simply? Very varied. I like a wide variety of music from all around the world. This can range from Bach, Brahms and Beethoven to Sibelius, from Nigel Kennedy and Vanessa Mae to Yo-yo Ma, from Buddha Bar, from Alan Parsons Project to Electric Light Orchestra to Pet Shop Boys, from The Eagles to Rod Stewart to Metallica to Black Sabbath, Apulanta to CMX to Lordi to Zen Cafe, Cherry Poppin' Daddies to Glen Miller, Santana to Yngwie Malmsteen, as much of "The Rough Guide to..." albums that I could find, from Crowded House to Dire Straights, DJ Tiesto to Benny Benassi, Elemeno P to Green Day, to Mika to Lily Allen and (literally) hundreds of others.

Books

The last fiction book I read was "The Asian Connection", by Glenn Carley. This is not a coincidence - its my dad's third book. He has a couple of new ones out but I've not read them yet.

Am currently reading "How to win friends and influence people", having finished "How to stop worrying and start living" both by Dale Carnegie. I keep "The Teaching of Buddha" handy and I'm working my way through "The Human Brain" by Susan Greenfield.

Otherwise I stick to informational stuff like newspapers, certain types of magazines such as National Geographic, Harvard Business Review and whatever else I find interesting.

TV/Movies

I don't watch TV much, but I keep a variety of shows handy, mostly British - my favourites include QI (Quite Interesting), Mock the Week and Top Gear. I also keep several documentaries handy from channels such as National Geographic, Discovery, History and a few others, covering topics like health, money, politics, religion, the future, science, space, disasters, technology, travel, weapons/martial arts.

I am also a heavy consumer of various Video-streaming sites such as Guba.com, TED.com, BBC World, CNET/ZDNet and TVNZ.

I enjoy films such as Koyaanisqatsi and it's sequels and films like it. I enjoy theatrical media such as Cirque du Soleil and Stand-up Comedy from a few people, such as Russell Peters, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Frankie Boyle and Billy Connolly, but my #1 favourite movie of all time would be 1 Giant Leap: What about me? followed by 1 Giant Leap.

Quotable Quotations:

Sometimes I get what I want. Sometimes I don't get what I want. And sometimes I get what I never expected.
-Ramesh S. Balsekar

If someones standing in line in front of me at the café, and they can't decide what they want in the half an hour it took to get to the register, I should be allowed to kill them.

While some people drink at the fountain of wisdom, others merely gargle.

I lost my head when I found my heart... I act stupid, due to cupid...

Women should have labels on their foreheads that say 'Government Health Warning: women can seriously damage your brains, genitals, current account, confidence, razor blades, and good standing among your friends'.

"The only difference between the women I've dated and Charles Manson is that Manson has the decency to look like a nut case when you first meet him." --Richard Jeni

If my father is Welsh and my mother is Hungarian what does that make me? Well-Hung.

A slashdot post citing references? You, my friend, are way out of line. --Slashdot user #318230

Ah yes, how dare we obey our own laws. You ignorant fool, it doesn't matter if what we do in Canada is illegal in the USA, it matters if it's illegal in Canada. Want to change it? Too fucking bad. It's our country, you have your own. --Slashdot user #989335

Happiness is only real when shared.

"Never invite vegetarians to BBQ's, it’s like inviting lesbians to a dick sucking festival." --Eddie Olavarrieta

...There's a lot of porn piling up on the internet... it doesn't download itself! -Greg House, M.D.

"Why are you suspicious?"
"Because it's either that, or accept that you've done something nice. Then I have to deal with the Horsemen and the rain of fire, and the end of days".
James Wilson and Greg House

Witch, n. (1) An ugly and repulsive old woman, in a wicked league with the devil. (2) A beautiful and attractive young woman, in wickedness a league beyond the devil.

Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect; it just means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections.

"Come to the edge", we said; and they said "No, it's too high".
"Come to the edge", we said; and they said "No, we will fall".
"Come to the edge", we said; and they very reluctantly came.
And we pushed. And they flew.

Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.

"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."
- Albert Einstein

New Rule:
If you're going to insist on making movies based on crappy, old television shows, when you have to give everyone in the Cineplex a remote so we can see what's playing on the other screens. Let's remember the reason something was a television show in the first place is the idea wasn't good enough to be a movie.