Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Neeeeed.... sleeeeep...zzzz.z.zzzz.zz


Monday, August 29, 2005

All is well


John Gollans late father-in law Mr Wellings wrote this when his wife passed away. Certainly a great message!

"While God may not have necessarily planned that this should overtake me, he has most certainly permitted it. With God's permission comes God's provision, and so all is well."


When Trust Breaks


I once wrote a somewhat confused article about ingetrity.
TOday I have on my heart the aching that comes from broken trust. A very good friend who should have known better has broken the trust of his wife, his friends, his church and another person. He is now facing up to the enormity of his actions, the legal, financial, friendship, family and church.
My heart aches for him and his wife who is deeply upset. My heart aches for our friendship. My heart aches for the church that is hurting, and for the young lady whose trust he broke.

Trust is a mutual thing. It is a very tenuous concept that is very hard to encapsulate with words. It is more than belief, it is less than dependence. Its that meeting ground on no mans land where a truce flag is raised. Its when two people let down all barriers and guards and allow the other to know them intimately, and to make certain promises about respecting that. When one party breaks the truce, thats when trust is broken.

He broke that truce with his wife, the other woman and his God. His heart I am sure is now breaking as are mine and theirs.

Breaking trust breaks hearts.


Riding the motorbike can be dangerous


On the way through the city today I was travelling down the freeway when a black Range Rover in the inside lane decided it wanted to be in my lane. I was about square with the rear door when she started to move over without indicating. I honked the horn, she looked and rapidly moved back and I waved to her. I hope she understood that I was happy to still be alive and riding my bike!
About 60 seconds later I was braking hard behind a truck that had locked up its rear wheels braking hard. There was a traffic snarl on the freeway near the airport interchange.
Its good to have eyes and ears that see and hear and the ability to negotiate traffic. I am glad to be alive today!


Sunday, August 28, 2005

2GB RAM


I am so glad i put 2GB of RAM in this pc whe i bought it. I bought Golden Dragon Geil RAM also.
I am currently using 1.09Gb RAM according to my task manager - my wife reckons I do too much at once...
Currently I am:
  • recording a movie from camera 76Mb

  • Browsing 15 websites in Firefox 60 MB

  • Outlook - 47Mb

  • Working on an Excel spreadsheet - 23Mb

  • Copernic Desktop Search - 23Mb

  • 2 Explorer windows open - 19Mb

  • Trillian - instant messenger running MSN, Yahoo and ICQ clients - 15Mb

  • Playing live music from the web - 10Mb

  • Recording live music from the net - 3Mb

  • Windows search tool 8Mb

  • and a bunch more

  • Saturday, August 27, 2005

    We are in the Grand Final!


    We won today against the top team 4-1. We scored first after about 20 minutes of intense back and forward. There was a strong wind blowing and we elected to play against it first half. A lot of balls were kicked high and bounced long and us backs did a lot of chasing.
    However with about 5 minutes to go in the first half they scored against us in a tussle with our keeper.
    Both teams started the second half with a raised intensity level. However we struck first and after that their team dropped the ball a bit. We responded with each goal lifting and pushing hard. Chewy rallied the guys in the midfield with constant encouragement and all out attack. Each player added something special during the game. It was a semi final to be proud of. Nowe we get a week off while the team we beat last week (who won today) plays the team we beat today for the other spot in the grand final in 2 weeks.

    It is good, our main keeper has had the last three weeks off looking after his knees and this helps him be ready for the final. Our second keeper broke his finger two weeks ago and our main striker has been playing keeper. I subbed for him towards the end of the game today. He has injured his shoulder twice in both of the last two games. Other players have niggling injuries. A week off will freshen us and we will come into the grand final in the top of our game.

    This is the team of misfits that was glued together at the beginning of the year with no real chance given to us. 5 under 16s who didn't have enough to make a team asked to play in the men's league and then 4 older more experienced players like myself were fit to play. Along the way we collected a couple of extras who have been fantastic.

    This morning we went to the beach for a quick swim - it was cold brrrr! I found it a good warm up for the game as I worked hard in the water for 3/4 hour. I also had no dizzy spells in the game and felt pretty fit and strong. I have had a few dizzy spells this year and have come to the conclusion through trial and error that it is a reaction to energy drinks - possibly the high sodium content.


    Friday, August 26, 2005

    Weird


    It seems like the only things I talk about in here is soccer and work.
    Lately it seems as if that is all I do.
    However I do take time to play with the kids and the wife. Mercedes is always coming down to my office to say Dadda. I often pick her up and play with her - its funny how little things amuse her. Today she had a plastic toy rolling pin. I lay down on the floor and for 5 minutes rolled it across the tiles and she would go get it and bring it back.

    In the meantime I have almost all the websites back up - there's a couple of development sites we haven't done yet. I did all the clients sites first. We lost a few image thumbnails on one for about 20 images. I got the client to reload them and that was fine. I am creating a lot of lost thumbnails on the millerfamily.biz site as they were corrupted.

    Now its back to it!

    Oh and soccer news - we won 5-2 indoor soccer tonight and tomorrow is the first semifinal for outdoor!
    Thaks for wishing me luck, but we are going to make our own luck and take it to them and win it!


    Wednesday, August 24, 2005

    Its dark in here


    My main gateway server crashed on Monday. A power surge damaged the UPS and two hard drives as well as the motherboard CPU and NICs. Although it would turn on we couldn't get it to boot up and the CPU was not displaying the correct speed. We configured the backup so I was online, but the main problem was that there were a number of web sites (including clients ones) still on that server. I was in the process of transferring them off. The backups were not quite as recent as the live data - it never is! We hoped we could get the data off and by putting the drives into another server were able to mount them and recover most of the websites - there was a lot of damaged sectors on the drives and some data was unrecoverable.
    Yesterday I purchased a new server and it is installed and configured and running
    The main problem now is that the other server I use in the States is for some reason not allowing me to write the files to its drive. The websites are ready to go but I can't get them live. The server techs are working on the problem now.

    People can't see the sites ... can some one turn the lights back on?


    Sunday, August 21, 2005

    Soccer results


    We won 6-1 yesterday beating 2nd place on the ladder and putting us into second place on goal average - our points were tied.
    Now we have two shots at a grand final berth.
    I was physically exhaisted after the game. I spent a fair amoputn of time marking a guy who was over 6 inches taller than me and a good 20 kgs lighter. I out headed him on every contest but getting my body up that high was hard work!

    Indoor soccer on Friday was another matter, we went down 6-1. I think we are all struggling mentally coming off the back of the grand final loss last season.

    Today we went to a christening in a Catholic church of one of the indoor team mates babies. It was good to see them taking their responsibility seriously.

    I was saddened by the nature of the Catholic symbolism - its ritualism and granting of spiritual powers to inanimate objects; water, oil and candles. The statement was made that the child was now a child of God through its being baptised even though it didn't know what was happening. I have never come across the part of the Bible that says that. Even though I had heard about the praying to Mary, I hadn't reaised how fervently that was done. It is sad to see the heavy reliance on symbolism and praying to dead "saints" and Mary taking the place of a true relationship with Jesus Christ.

    I am not denigrating the Catholics or my mates faith, rather the teaching that has sadly distorted from what the Bible says. We are not to pray to others than God, symbols should only be symbols not be granted spiritual power. Annointing with oil and making signs of the cross do nothing, they can only be symbols. And we do not be come a Christian by being baptised as an infant.

    It was good to see that all the team came to support them on the occasion and I pray that as M and V raise their two children that the Bible will be relevant in their day to day lives and that they will come to the personal knowledge of the saving grace of God.


    Thursday, August 18, 2005

    Telling the Truth


    Last night we had a little situation here.
    One of the two kids who sleep in the same room was thumping on the wall. I went into ask them to stop and they both vociferously stated that it was the other doing it. Obviously one of them was lying.
    I took them to the laundry door to the outside (dark and cold) and they both continued to swear it was the other and that they didn't do it.
    Taking them back to the bedroom and stopping the crying we had a discussion about lying and why it was important to tell the truth. Well they continued to both state that the other had done it and they were telling the truth. One (who has done a bit of lying lately) even went as far as to say she was telling the truth "for once".
    I left eventually with the statement that there was no tv for either of them until one of them owned up and they could go to sleep now.
    In the morning the one who has been telling lies came and owned up. She apologised to Jude and I and also her sister who had been wrongly accused by her.
    In all I think they both learnt a lesson about telling the truth.
    There is a lesson here for us adults also to see the imporatance of being truthful with our kids and spouses, business partners and associates, friends. Not only do we hurt ourseves but we can also hurt others.


    Wednesday, August 17, 2005

    New Baby


    Congratulations Josh and Bec on the safe arrival of Thomas Alan (sp?).


    Soccer result from weekend


    Forgot to post this - better late than never.
    We won 11-1.
    We decided to go all out and smash them so as to get a great for / against percentage.
    We are still third on the table but the 2nd place team we play next week and if we beat them we will level in points and go ahead on percentage. This puts us in 2nd place for a double bite at the grand final. They had to win their game on Saturday by 15 goals to better us at the percentage and they didn't.


    Tuesday, August 16, 2005

    My wife is amazing


    In the middle of all the busy days that my wife has she still thinks of others and goes out of her way to help out. A mate and his wife are expecting their child any day - in fact it is late. She made lasagna and pies and other goodies and is taking them over today so that he will have food to eat while she is in hospital. She still finds time for all the work I give her to do and the kids schooling. In fact as our friends leave next to the beach she is taking the kids there for rockpools and other beach life school work.


    Monday, August 15, 2005

    HD WMV Movies


    Microsoft has created a bunch of HD WMV Movies and made them available for download
    Windows Media Audio and Video 9 Series is a breakthrough set of codecs that enables multichannel audio and high definition (HD) video at resolutions up to 1080p. See high definition in action for yourself with these downloads. To deliver ultra-high quality, these clips were encoded at 24 frames per second (fps), and at the resolutions noted of either 1280 x 720 (720p) or 1920 x 1080 (1080p). (Resolutions vary per clip.)
    Broadband needed and it would pay to have a graphics card capable of supporting a resolution of 1920 x 1440 for the good ones. They look fantastic and there's lots of IMAX movies there - great for the kids!


    Saturday, August 13, 2005

    Blast from the past


    My best mate Ant emailed today and then I rang and chatted. I haven't seen him for about 2 years when he was last in Queensland boxing the golden gloves - I watched him win it.
    He has been in WA for the last 4-5 years and has now moved back to QLD - yippee - still 8 hours drive away but closer than he was!


    Wednesday, August 10, 2005

    Awesome news


    Had some great news today.
    I was chatting with a mate and the conversation turned to his family, who used to have pretty distant relationships. He said that had changed now thanks to me. I was nonplussed until he reminded me that a couple of years ago I had suggested to him that if he wanted the family culture to change then he needed to drive that change positively by deliberately saying I love you and showing affection. Well now he is very close to his sisters and mother becuase of doing this. I also have used this deliberately with my siblings and parents - who are probably reading this - to change the culture of our relationships. I believe it has worked here also.
    I love you Mum and Dad, Jo, Jono, Dave, Rufus and Pris (and Frank and George and Nicki and Benji and Melanie and Johanna)
    Can't leave any one out - I love you too Judith my darling, and my gorgeous daughters Miranda, Jadeen, Erin and Mercedes!


    Monday, August 08, 2005

    Heart Memory


    This article talks about heart transplant patients where the recipient has had memories that could have come from the donor.


    Saturday, August 06, 2005

    Blingo


    Blingo is Google with prizes - join and win when you search!


    Dinner


    Look at what I made myself for dinner!
    Recipe here


    Thursday, August 04, 2005

    Nearly Finished


    I have nearly completed the Jethro Consultants Website to the point where I start marketing it.
    Free Web hosting with your own domain name! - You heard it! Now get in quick before I stop the madness.
    Seriously - I will provide Spy Journal readers free bloghosting on their own domain name within certain limits.
    Check out the website.


    Lists


    So here I sit listening to a varied selection of music as I rip CDs.
    Today I bought a new bookcase for my office and then promptly stacked all my software and music cds in the bookcase instead of having them sitting in packing boxes.
    As i did this I noticed there were some I was positive I hadn't heard play on my music collection. So I decided to rip them while I blogged and read email.
    Heres what I have listened partially to while they ripped:
  • One World Electronica

  • Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Mozart

  • More Tchaikovsky

  • Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodies

  • Ministry Creative Vibes 1994-2004

  • Heineken Music released by Ministry - Thirst

  • The Great Duke Ellington

  • Michael W Smith - this is your time

  • The Ibiza Sselection CD2


  • While I am into making lists I might as well list all the books in my current readng pile and to be read pile beside me in another small bookcase.
    Currently Reading in no particular order
  • The 5 Love Languages for Kids - Gary Chapman & Ross Campbell

  • Genesis in Space & Time - Francis Schaeffer

  • The Power of 2 - Anthony C Scire

  • Mind Siege - Tim LaHaye

  • The Magic of Thinking Big - David J Schwartz

  • RealLivePreacher.com - Gordon Atkinson (Personally signed by Gordon)

  • The Church Beyond The Congregation - James Thwaites

  • What A Daughter Needs From Her Dad - Michael Farris

  • World of Ptavvs - Larry Niven

  • Dare To Dream and Work To Win - Dr Tom Barrett


  • In the to read pile - no particular order
  • Growing the Distance - Jim Clemmer

  • Traitor's Knot - Janny Wurts

  • Soul Tsunami - Leonard Sweet

  • Eye Witness Falklands - Robert Fox

  • The Silent Cradle - Margaret Cuthbert

  • In The POresence Of My Enemies - Gracia Burnham

  • People Of the Lakes - Kathleen O'Neal

  • Winning Without Intimidation - Bob Burg

  • Time For Truth - Os Guinness

  • Your Health and Food Additives - Peter Taubert

  • The Gladiators - G J Whyte-Melville

  • The Pursuit Of God - A W Tozer

  • The Contented Achiever - Hutson, Crouch, Lucas

  • Travelling Light - Max Lucado

  • What Choices Do I Have? - Michael Kerrigan

  • Wisdom of the Ages - Jim Stovall

  • The First Book of Life Skills - Larry James

  • The Battle For Truth - David A Noebel

  • Dream Making in a Dream Taking World - Dr Steve Price

  • Focus on Your Dream - Jeffrey D Smith

  • Pelmen The Powershaper Trilogy - Robert Don Hughes


  • Series I am looking for a book in before starting. Please tell me if you can locate these
  • Gene Wolfe - The Book of the Long Sun - I am missing book one "Nightside the Long Sun"

  • Julian May - The Saga of the Exiles - I am missing book one "The Many-Coloured Land"


  • Feeel free to keep giving me books to read - just don't ask me if I have read it yet!


    Tuesday, August 02, 2005

    Anger


    I was reading this morning in "The Five Love Languages for Kids" about how anger affects kids.
    Here is the statement that grabbed me.
    "A child's immature handling of anger is a primary reason the child will reject the parent's spiritual values."
    And just before that it explained how it was the parents' responsibility to teach the child how to manage and handle anger.

    The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman