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.

Celebrate the Small Things: iPod Shuffle

It takes a bit of work to keep in shape, especially if you are like me: heading towards 50 and not willing to go on any sort of diet. I've exercised reasonably regularly over the years and am pretty satisfied with my weight and overall physical condition.

Of the many modes of physical exercise I have utilised, running has been a constant. It's odd because I don't really like it and it has certainly not become any easier with practice. I'm still tired and leg weary from the first step to the last. Running isn't fun, but I persist because I reckon it does me good. The end result is what motivates me to throw on my runners early in the morning and hit the road.

Of great assistance in this discipline is a little friend who comes with me. My children gave me an iPod shuffle (the only Apple device I own or intend to ever own) for Christmas several years ago, and it provides the beats for my foot pounding exertion. Loaded with an awesome selection of songs I love from band such as Switchfoot and As I Lay Dying, plus everything with crunchy guitars in between. I don't always listen, mind you. Sometimes the music is simply there in the background, calming my mind and allowing me to think. I couldn't punish myself this way without my iPod shuffle, so today I give thanks for this clever little device.

Do you exercise? How? How often? Do you listen to music while you do it?

P.S. Creeping Death by Metallica provides the best beat to match my gait.

Eight migrants and a cricket bat

Cricket is the national sport of Australia, and I am a cricket nut. I've loved the game since I was boy, and with each passing year I love it more and more. So, it seems only right to me that I should introduce this game, which in truth is so much more than just a game, to my students regardless of whether they are interested or not.

Most of my adult migrant students know nothing at all about cricket, but as I explained to them, cricket is a part of Australian culture. Even those who (gasp) don't like it, still know about it and understand its significance.

I developed a five week unit of study on cricket which culminates with a trip to the local park to actually play a game. I do this with my students every year in November as the international cricket season begins here.

Today was culmination day, 2015. I had eight ladies from Iraq, Cook Islands, Vietnam, Serbia and China. After some warm up drills we ripped right into a test match battle of Ashes like proportions, and it was a lot of fun. Not a great deal of skill was on display, but there was plenty of enthusiastic participation, and lots of laughter.

I love my job, and today was just another reminder why.

Photo sources:
http://www.doubleviewcarinecc.com.au/
http://worldinsport.com/funniest-cricket-things-ever-said/

What the Magpie Lark taught me

I was outside, enjoying a cigarette in the sunshine, with a pleasant zephyr blowing, when I spied a Magpie Lark attempting to fly into a closed window. It was sitting on the fence with its mate watching on. It had five goes at entering the window, and each time, merely butted its head and staggered (if you can stagger in the air) back to the fence.

Observing this display of bird-brainery, I was reminded of a common definition of madness: to repeat the same action over and over, and expect a different result.

Stay with me here. I guy came into church last Sunday roughly five minutes before the end of the service. He carried a burger and a Coke, and was wearing sunglasses and a cap. Unfortunately, I made a quick call on this guy without knowing a thing about him. I shouldn't have cared about his late arrival, with or without food. I should have been glad he came in at all. I don't like being judgemental and I try not to be, but it's a little tricky fighting habit sometimes.

Back to the Magpie Lark. I edged a little closer and saw the bird make it's sixth attempt, but this time when it reeled away following the collision with the window, it had something in its mouth: a bug of some sort. The bird was not stupid. It was determined.

Moral of the tale? Get your facts straight before leaping to conclusions. When have you jumped to an erroneous conclusion?

P.S. Daniel Craig did not visit my church.