Celebrate the Small Things: Reception please

I once sat with my hand on it to ensure it worked. On another occasion I put sticky tape on it, and that worked temporarily. Sometimes, I simply endured it the way it was:annoyingly sporadic and frustrating. I considered buying some equipment to permanently fix it, but I baulked because it didn't quite make sense to me that a particular piece of technology would do the trick. I just didn't want to spend money on a possible solution.

I love cricket, and last Thursday, Big Bash 5 started. Covered live on Channel 10, the first match of the tournament featured my team, Sydney Thunder. I donned my lime green cap and settled on a beanbag in front of the television with a Cowboy on the rocks buzzing with anticipation.

In the beginning the reception was okay with only the odd interruption here and there. I hoped it wouldn't get worse, but it did. I became desperate. I had to be able to watch the game. Had to. I tried the sticky tape trick again, and also considered sitting with my hand on the cable. However, the first time I did that I was watching a thirty minute soap opera. A T20 cricket match lasts for three hours.

Then a great thing happened. I found another cable hidden in a drawer which when connected, once and for all solved the reception problem. Game on baby!

Victory was mine. I rejoiced, and to add icing to my cake, the Thunder won the match and in doing so recorded their first ever win over their opposition: Sydney Sixes.

Today I celebrate a little thing called an antenna cable. When you have you had a technical problem with a television which very nearly destroyed your life?

Celebrate the Small Things: Soft Close

I'm a little late with this post, but I had a wee drama with my computer. When I say a wee drama, I actually mean a world destroying catastrophe: my world that is, not the whole world.

I upgraded to Windows 10 and discovered to my horror that all my files had apparently been wiped. I checked the hard drive and I had 610GB free space out of my 683GB available space, and my files were nowhere to be found. After following online help instructions I discovered a folder called windows.old and inside that, was directed to one called Users. This was where my files were supposed to be, Alas, there was nothing, nothing but empty folders. In shock, I packed up my laptop and raced off to the local computer repair shop.

Unfortunately, it was closed: open only Monday to Friday. I then sped to the next closest store which, to my dismay now housed an employment agency. On to the next suburb where I imagined there might be a computer a store. No such luck. Then I remembered a locally famous shop which frequently advertises on the radio and has a very well known, and annoyingly catchy jingle.

As I entered, I received a cordial greeting and an offer of assistance to which I replied "Please tell me it's not the end of the world."

15 minutes later and without having to part with so much as a brass razoo, my files had been found: all of them.  My relief was indescribable. My gratitude such that I had offered the guy a free copy of my book, but he was a fantasy or tech manual kind of guy, so he graciously declined. 

Speaking of relief: today I am celebrating soft close drawers, cupboards and toilet seats. What a great innovation! We've only lived in our current home since August, and I've never had a home with all these silencing wonders before, so I am still thrilling at this very clever invention. Soft close? Yes!!

Have you ever had, what appeared to be a computer disaster, and then had it quickly and cheaply fixed? Or a computer crisis which was an expensive and extremely troublesome one? Do you love soft close seats and drawers?

Celebrate the small things: Fairy Tales

If I had to choose a favourite movie genre, I would say romantic comedy. There's just something wonderful about the warm and fuzzy feelings generated by a well made blend of comedy and romance. The first stirrings of love, often looking more like irritation than attraction, and often as a result of chance or happy circumstances, blossom until the inevitable complication interrupts our journey to the much longed for happy ending.

The popularity of romcoms is due to the desire we all have for love. The need to love and be loved, is a basic and powerful driver in our lives.

In class yesterday we watched While You Were Sleeping which is a classic of the genre, in my view. I love it. My students loved it too and commented that it was nice to watch a film which made them feel so good. Although I had to explain "warm and fuzzy" to them, they understood the dream: our love affair with fairy tales.

Love is a small word to describe a force which really does make the world go around. Fairy Tales are cute little stories which mean so much to so many people. Today I'm celebrating them, and their significant and universal impact on society.

Did you have a warm and fuzzy moment this week?

It'll All Make Sense When I Get There

I've been challenged a lot of late about my faith which some say is futile. Accused of intellectual dishonesty because I choose to believe in and follow Jesus Christ when he is allegedly no more real, and certainly no more a god, than the tooth fairy, I have simply stood on the reality of my experience of God in my life. Apparently my experience is not enough to build my faith on.

The evidence I'm told is heavily against the Bible being the Word of God, and God himself, if he exists is clearly not worthy of anything other than contempt based on what the Bible says about him. I'm feeble minded and weak willed because I need to believe in a fairy tale as a crutch, or so I'm told.

I gave my life to Christ nearly 30 years, and nothing has happened to me since then to make me doubt for a second that God is real, and that I need Him in my life. There is much I don't understand, but I don't feel the need to know everything.

I do not pay lip service to live and let live: I respect everyone's right to the faith/religion/spirituality they want. The bottom line is we all believe or disbelieve what we want to believe or not believe. In the light of the current hysteria about religious fundamentalists, I can only shake my head and wonder why people are surprised by evil, and why they can't separate the radical minority from the moderate majority.

There is much I don't understand, but I don't need to have all the answers. I know this however, that Christ is the strength of my life, and I will walk with him for the rest of my days on earth...until he calls me home. Until he takes me higher.