That's better!

It's cooler here now. This is good. I'm sick of the really hot weather. Maybe if i was on the beach it'd be fine, but going to work everyday just isn't. So this is much more my pace!

Mum turned 60 yesterday. Happy birthday mum! Makes me feel old. I mean, I remember when 60 seemed so old, but mum isn't old like that at all! And if that's the case, it means that she doesn't seem that old because I'm getting older myself... sobering thought that...

Had Jay, Jode and Eman and S-pack around for dinner on Saturday night. What a great family! Seth decided to face plant our kitchen tiles. No lasting damage, but a nice little bruise. The thing is, as sad for him as it was it just looks so funny when a beautiful little baby who is just sitting there suddenly loses balance and topples over. Legs go up, limbs everywhere, with no control at all...

I'm hungry and it's nearly time to finish work for the day so that's it... Not really very exciting huh? Still, I posted, and that's at least something.

sore and hot

This post isn't really a complaining post, just thought i'd put down some things from the last few days... It's been hot again. Yesterday was Australia Day (wohooh!) and a public holiday for us, but it was 40 degrees again here in Melbourne. This HAS to be one of the hottest Januarys ever. I did some good blokey stuff like go to the hardware store and buy things to stick into walls to put other things on... very manly huh?

The trouble is I can barely move. I started a new gym program on Wednesday that the fitness instructor Troy made for me... It hurt... a LOT... I figure once I'm used to it it'll be fantastic, but until then I'm just sore. My thighs are just two big bruises.

That's it for now. Hopefully more to follow...

unplugged...

So, last night was basically church unplugged. It was a great night. Different. It was hot. For those not living in Melbourne you probably won't know, but it was 44 degrees. After 43 the day before. Given that and the fact other church things were on at Waverley, we weren't really expecting many people.

So it was quite a pleasant surprise to see the 50 or so we did have. It was in the youth hall, as we are still carpeting. But that worked really well. Stevie made his long awaited debut on the acoustic guitar, and was ably accompanied by Brad and Dusty. I sang a few songs and we had great fun. A great relaxed vibe.

The good bit though, was Frij. The big Cpt. Robertson. He gave a fantastic message on participation in the church. He reminded us about the fact that we all get given spiritual gifts as Christians and that we need to use them in our local church to help our community. He shared his experiences planting a new church in Noble Park, and it is great to here a man with so much faith and a great sense of reliance on God. It was truly inspiring. Thanks Frij. You're a top bloke, and you have a great message.

Adelaide and a christmas cat...

OK. No posts as I've been in Adelaide for dad's 60th. Great fun, seeing the family, having too much to eat, people dropping in constantly for 4 days. All good!

Came home and our cat has again decided it must be christmas, and was kind enough to leave us a present on the carpet in our room... We had Brad and Aaron staying around, and they looked after him just fine, so no idea what the deal was. He just likes leaving us christmas presents about once per week. AND he never has the decency to leave them on the kitchen tiles. OH NOOOOO. He needs to leave them on the carpet - every time! Maybe the tiles are too cold for his bottom...

*sigh* I just wish he wasn't such a legend of a cat - otherwise I think we would have made him into dim sims by now...

New Age better than 'religion' and war

I was sitting in church on Sunday night, and Dave was talking about destiny. At one point he held up a Womans Day magazine, and on the front cover was a little overlay thingy (that's the technical industry term you know!) which was about finding your purpose and destiny. It was very much a New Age type advertisement for courses etc.

What I started thinking about though was why is it that this type of thing is readily accepted by a lot of people in this day and age yet something like Christianity turns them off so much? I know it's not a new question, but it's one I haven't pondered for a long time.

The things I guess I came up with as likely were these:

- a lot of New Age teaching very much allows you to do basically whatever you want, while just keeping sure you don't hurt others too much in the process.
- I don't see any wars being fought at a country level over New Age teaching, which is a lot more inclusive than most organised religions such as Christianity and Islam.

So how do we compete with this? And I do mean compete. See, I may be as sure as anything that what I believe is real, but until someone else can see that for themselves what I believe is just another organised religion, and one that by it's very nature requires at least a few changes. And even if those changes are helped by God, it's a tough 'sell'.

But then again, that's what the Spirit is for. That's the bit that does beyond our strength and into the realm of the supernatural...

Food for thought anyway.

Had a few drinks with Dean last night at Eastland at the Balsamic Lounge. Spent I guess 2 hours just sitting and chatting about some rather interesting topics. I realised that I just dont' get out as much and do things like that anymore. I guess it's something to do with being old and married, but I miss it. I'm a reasonably social animal and with everyone having kids and getting married it's interesting just how much things have changed. One thing that did occur to me was it doesn't have to actually be like that, but maybe I just need to make a bit more effort nowadays. That I think I can handle.

Maybe I should add it to my New Years resolutions...

I may have eaten a bug...

True. I may have...

I had lunch at wagamama noodle bar (the yummiest noodle bar in the world - just ask Bubz and Z!) Unfortunately, at the end I was eating the salad and down the bottom as I was finishing was a rather large winged insect struggling in the (yummy) dressing and sauce from the rice dish.

Now, normally I'm not phased by this kind of thing, but this was the END of my meal, so no opportunity to check the rest of the food. It occurred to me if there was one, there may have been another, or a couple of others, or...

Turns out that they only use organic salad ingredients (a good thing - both for me and the insect). Therefore, sometimes things just don't die like good chemicals would kill them. Instead, they get eaten.

Still, I didn't pay for the meal so all around it wasn't too bad.

Now, having said all of this, I would still heartily recommend them. I have eaten there (well, at the ones in London anyway) MANY times and always loved it. They still get my vote.

Happy New Year from the Mansion

Happy New Year all!

Spent New Years Eve with friends at 'The Mansion'. Ate great BBQ and swam all night (what did you expect - it was 42 degrees even at 7pm!!!!) Those of us who stuck around to see the new year in jumped in the pool to celebrate the event, then went and did it again a few minutes later just for good measure. I also have a new nickname. That's right. It turns out we are using the model name of our sunglasses as nicknames, so from now on I'm Fury. Aaron is Razor, Luke is Rage, and we decided that Brad is Beige (Rage sunglasses from Bali, so an unfortunate joining of the two makes him Beige...). Sounds like we are all super heroes! Except for Brad... he just sounds like a girl.

Anyway, enough rambling. I'm back at work, so life is back to normal now. Hopefully my mind will kick back into gear and I'll be a little more profound and thoughtful here again.

I have a number of New Years resolutions that I will share here. That should help keep me accountable.

1. To keep blogging. At least 4 times a week unless I REALLY don't have anything to say...

2. So, I currently weigh in at around Gold FM. This needs to change. Not healthy. Therefore I need to get to a different radio station weight... SBS FM would be nice, or Light FM would be better still (quite an appropriate name too!) So it's exercise at least 4 times a week with a healthier diet as well. *** I know, I know, it's a cliche and everyone does it at the new year just to slip 2 weeks later. That's why I'm sticking it in my Blog to help make it a little more public. And by using FM radio stations at least it's a little different and novel for a day or two!!!***

3. Get 1 or 2 new I.T. certifications. (In my job, it always pays to get one more). Going for CISSP first, and then maybe CNA or ITIL Foundations.

4. Spend more time doing fun things with my lovely beautiful wife!

There. That will do for now. Let's see how the years pans out!

God bless all.