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not so well

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 17:09:39 +1000

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I'm down the southern slopes of NSW and whilst is very lovely and clear and crisp. I am not feeling 100% well. Not sure the cause of the problem, but it involves not feeling very hungry, a bit of a headache and a few aches in joints and my head. With a bit of sinusy blocking feeling. Nothing major just slight. Just enough to feel less than 100%.

No doubt it's the lack of pollution, my poor old city based body can not cope with all this pure oxygen.

Today I headed out to Cabramurra the highest permanently settled town in Australia and checked out Kiandra an old Gold Fields town. Love the driving and seeing Alpine shrubbery. SteveD warned me about all the snow that was still around, he needn't of worried. There is only a few little bits hanging around at 1500m the highest I have been - maybe there is more above that but I can't find any roads that are actually closed due to snow or with warnings. It's too close to the end of the season for any need to worry.

Tomorrow I think I would like to just stay in bed all day but I don't want to waste the time away so I will head off to some new and interesting location tomorrow. Not sure where but that is the fun of holidays - no plans just taking it a bit at a time.

vacation

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:40:08 +1000

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Tomorrow morning I'm heading down to Tumut for a few days. Everyone is wondering why. I stayed there for two nights on the way home from Mum's in Jan and along the way drove past some stuff I wanted to explore and didn't get a chance to. So I am heading back down to look at that stuff.

The weather sounds like it will be ok - a bit cold but I like that - but otherwise open to looking at things.

It will be nice to get away for a bit and I can look forward to coming back to play bass on Sunday night at church. And Monday night is a SydneyFC game, and even with their poor results so far this season I am still looking forward to heading into the SFS and watch the boys in action.

But first, tonight is SydneyFC's best chance to win their first game of the season so it would be tops if they did and I will enjoy watching it and maybe even having a beer to celebrate.

change

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 14:05:06 +1000

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change

Over the last 6 weeks our church has been going through a campaign to raise the money needed to fund the purchase and renovation of our new church site on Toongabbie Road. Sept 19th was Commitment Sunday where we brought our one off and three year pledge amounts. We had three goals and we got over the second goal and we raised more than we did in our last giving campaign 5 years ago.

As part of the Commitment Sunday we rearranged the church and had communion. I was a bit busy at the evening service and didn't grab a photo, but I was there on the Friday night and grabbed a shot of the set up at least.

For those who are wondering where we are up to with the new project...

We have sold the three houses we owned and are in the final phases of contract signing to sell the church. We have funded the purchase of the property through those sales plus about $250,000 of pledged giving. Which is a great blessing and the valuers rekon we have got the property at a bargain price so we should realise a capital gain on that amount pretty much straight away. Which I rekon is A Good Thing when it comes to handling church finances.

We have also pledged enough to cover the cost of replacing the asbestos roofing and getting new guttering installed at the same time which will go a long way to ensuring the absence of leaks and eliminate any possible risk from the fibres.

We are still awaiting to see what, if any, zoning changes we may need to apply for but we should know about that in the next couple of months.

The cost of the main renovation will be funded through a loan which is going to be serviced by the sub leasing of some of the site. We have a few other items of about $300,000 worth that we didn't pledge to cover last Sunday - extra kids spaces, indoor sports, and enough operable walls to surround a football field ;) just kidding but there are a lot of plans for multi purpose rooms relying on operable walls. So we will have to wait and see when that part of the vision will be carried out and where that will be coming from.

Over all it has been a pretty cool few weeks - and all thanks to God.

I preached last night and I said the things I usually say - but most of all I got to encourage us that we need to ensure that what we build is not like the Taj Mahal a beautiful testimony to a dead love, a tomb, but instead we need to have this as a testimony to the love we have for the living God who loves us and so fill that place with Life. The life that comes from trusting in Jesus and his work for us on the cross, the living Jesus whose resurrection brings us life, hope, peace. Expressing our love for God not in the brick walls and colour bond roofing but in our life as we live it day by day and not just in that building but outside that building.

and still no win

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 23:19:24 +1000

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SydneyFC continue their streak of not winning a game with today's 1 all draw with Gold Coast United.

Many people will be very down on Sydney for their inability to capitalise on the one man advantage they had for 20 minutes after Curtis got sent from the field for an infringement that occurred before he had even managed to touch the ball.

This is a misreading of what happened today.

With the game locked at 1-1 when the send off occurred Gold Coast hunkered down and Sydney kept on playing the way they always do. Get the ball from their box, head to half way, pass it back and forward across halfway until the opposition have come forward and then try and send the ball through to get in behind the oppositions back line. With Gold Coast playing 4-4-1 all that meant was that all that back and forth just gave Gold Coast time to get back and bunch up in defence.

And yet, even with that happening, Sydney managed to get in two shots - with Brosque I don't know how managing to pull of a shot that having been a few centimetres the other way could have easily given Sydney the match. Combine that with another shot that just didn't bounce their way and the final result could have been much different.

Sydney was in the game and pretty much played to their game plan for all of the 90 minutes. Sure there were still some defensive lapses but for a team that has had so much removed from it since last season to go almost a whole 90 minutes playing their own game, scoring first and almost gaining a win from a team in defensive lock down is a great result and bodes well for the games to come.

Having said that - they have to beat North Queensland, 2nd last on the table, this coming Wednesday. Not for their chances of making the final 6 (though that is important too) but if you can't get your almost back to full strength team into a position where they can beat 2nd last then it would seem to me that you are looking at spending a lot of the season at the bottom of the table with little result to show for your effort.

If the effort and focus Sydney showed today can be repeated on Wednesday I am confident Sydney can get their first win of the season and start the long process of getting off the bottom of the table. And who knows, maybe even Carle will return and Sydney will field it's first ever full strength side of the season.

quaint

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 22:14:20 +1000

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quaint

In the middle of Wellington is this quaint little intersection. For a capital city it's a quiet place. But I liked it. I liked that it was compact and open. And felt a lot like home. Just with less people. The weather was great - don't think it got over 17 but it was cool and refreshing the whole time. Sure it was a bit windy too and it did rain a few times - I had to change seats when the Stadium roof decided it was time to drip on me. But I like it cold and so I enjoyed it and it was obviously a city designed for the cooler weather - unlike Sydney which I think is designed for 22 and sunny with a light cool breeze and anything else sees it being way too cold or way too hot.

SydneyFC manage to once again not win - but that is the season for them so far and I thought they played better in the bits where they played well and not as bad when they played badly. A win would have been nice though.

Hired a car for two of the days and went for a bit of an explore to the seaside along a tight windy road - good fun. The only down side was SteveD and KateS getting a bit unwell and not being able to have as much fun with us as we would have liked.

It was my first OS trip since I visited the Soviet Union for 20+ days back in 1989. I liked going to a place that was similar to home but still different. The other main places I would like to visit are Scotland, Ireland and England. But next year, I think, will be a return trip to the NT so it would probably be the year after that before I go. But that is a very very long way away - so no plans just thoughts.

travelling lite

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 22:00:19 +1000

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travelling light

Catching up on some 52 photos I will share two of the shots I took over in New Zealand - as always more can be seen at the flickr set.

This first one is my packing for the 4 days - just the essentials ;)

The weekend of Sept 11th was the weekend we headed over to Wellington - SteveD, KateS, LeanneC and AleeshaJ came along for the ride as we popped OS to follow SydneyFC for an away game and explore the town of Wellington.

Twas a good 4 days and I enjoyed Wellington alot - sort of like being at home really. We had lots to eat and had a good time hanging out and seeing things.

I'll share some more in the next post.

adventure

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:22:45 +1000

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Friday morning I fly off to NZ - assuming it is still standing - to Wet & Cold Windy Wellington to see Sydney FC play against the Wellington Phoenix.
With the way Sydney FC are playing at the moment I am pretty sure they will lose so anything better than that is a bonus.
It's gunna be fun :)

Foiled!

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:40:50 +1000

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foiled! : B2 admires the final result

On Saturday night our Kids Church put on their annual extravaganza called, appropriately, BIG SATURDAY NIGHT! And they are always huge. This years theme was Space and so the team decided that we had no choice but to cover the inside of the church with Aluminium Foil - naturally.

The effect was most impressive and the images don't fully do justice to the glory that it was. However that is all I have so if you want to get a close up of how it looks to line the walls of your church in alfoil visit the flickr set to find out.

I played bass this time [previous years I have done the video projector or sound desk - I guess if I sing next year then I will have the full set!] and had a tops time doing it, the only regret was that there weren't more songs :)

Took 6 hours to set up and 6 minuets to pull it all down - but it was worth every minute of the set up.

a bad start

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:17:18 +1000

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The funny thing about it is that SydneyFC as a club are notorious for their season starts being, shall we say, less than stellar. And this year the distance from SydneyFC to Stellar is quite large.

After four rounds the 2009/2010 A-League Champions are currently equal last along with the n00bs of the A-League Melbourne Heart. Both sides have reasons for there placings and there is a certain irony that the team that once had Aliosi, Bolton and Colosimo in their line up now stands equal with the team that inherited those players.

Lack of depth is probably the main reason for the disastrous start. Both Bridge and Brosque have played only a handful of minutes. New signings in key positions have played well individually but even the pre-season games have not been enough to gel them into a conherent attacking unit. And although Foxe looked great in the preseason the defense has, at crucial times, been lacking.

However it is not all negative.

The Brisbane game showed the flexibility and discipline of the team. Whilst woefully under powered with the loss of both strikers and no one to replaced them that was a serious threat [Danning may have skill but he is still very rusty] it was a very pragmattic game plan that Sydney played out - playing a very defensive game Sydney was unlucky not to get away with the 0 all draw that they seemed to have gone out to get.

Last weeks game was full of controversy and the repeal of a red card. But it also showed the promise of Sydney FC. There were some much better passages of play. Some shots on goal - and some well off - a more solid showing in defence. The defence seemed to have more control and focus and Cole had moments where he wasn't all bad.

Of course it also had 5 minutes of dummy spitting. What concerns me is that, with the removal of the red card, the team may feel justified in their behaviour. They reacted to the goal keeper send off like spoilt children and whilst I am not surprised that such misfortune was the final straw, to completely loose all discipline for about 5 minutes and collect almost a card a minute in that time is not good for the game and indicates a very rocky path ahead for the Sky Blues.

This week is a home game against Adelaide. I have not heard whether Brosque is available, but the team has a new striker and so I would assume that it will be another rocky game for Sydney as they try and fit in the new player. If they come away with 1-0 win that would be an amazing result given the events of the last 4 weeks.

Having said all that, it's only been 4 rounds, SydneyFC are not dead yet and they clearly still have the heart for it - so it will just be a matter of time.

COMEONSYDNEY!

the dogcow goes moof!

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:20:51 +1000

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moof!

Today my workmate Matt brought along a bunch of mousemats he found in his garage. His Dad used to work for Apple back in the day and that glorious mousemat was the prize item amongst the gear he had accumulated.

Read more about Clarus the dogcow who goes moof!