South Africa is getting fired up for World Cup fever

I'd love to go- hopefully this is remembered for the football not for anything else. The last clip is well worth watching

Would anyone notice

Had a few people say this to me. Gotta say I feel the same way too.

Church welcoming doesn't end at the door

I realise our church is quite large. I realise our lives are getting quite busy. However I am getting fed up with our selfish attitudes towards welcoming new people. And I say OUR because I'm not taking myself out of the equation.

Often doing sound at church I am up the back and it gives a good platform to observe people and in particular our welcoming of visitors. And I'll be honest- we aren't doing the best at it. In fact we aren't even making people other than our friendship groups welcome. Have a quick think- who did you have a chat to in our Sunday's greeting time?

Firstly we need to be more welcoming at the front door. This is more than a hello- If you don't know the people- Introduce yourself- ask people how their week is going. If our friends are on welcoming have a quick chat or hello and move on- Lets not interfere with their welcoming ministry. Clear the entrance way so people can move in. Be aware that the teach people have jobs to do so don't start chatting to them 1 min before service time. Look around for new people or irregular people and even just say hello.

Then we have our welcoming time. Most people don't bother to get up. The ones who do get up first seem to rush off to chat to friends. The visitors or the people who aren't regulars sit quietly by themselves. (ever wonder why they aren't regular?) Eventually someone might come over to talk to them but often it is the same people every week.

I'm going to have a radical suggestion here- If we want to catch up with friends lets not do it at church. Chat up for a coffee on sat or after work. Even do it later on, in the day on Sunday. But lets not waste our opportunities to welcome/encourage visitors or non-regular attendees or people in a different age group in those key times: Directly before church, during church and immediately afterwards. Better yet invite them to things afterwards with you.

Common Willows lets pick up our game. I'm getting sick of people saying "Are they new?" about people who have been coming for a while- but are the first ones to chat to their friends. Maybe if the only time we see our friends is on Sunday- there may be something wrong.

Castle: "Space Cowboy" (Firefly/Serenity)

One of the best moments from Castle

Define desperate

Willows shopping centre had a Save the Fury thing on today. If you signed the petition they gave you a Loyalty card. Get 3 receipts from the food court and you'd get a free prize. One person were so desperate he was crawling under a table to grab a receipt. He then dashed to customer service to receive his prize to be given a teenage mutant ninja turtles pencil case set. Hardly worth it was it Isaac Andrews?

AFL add from 1979

Even though it it has been 30 years still a great song and game

praise song and dance

I just remembered why we don't do interpretive dance... make sure you watch to the end.

Even a Mascot has a bad day occasionally

I've always wanted to have a go at being a mascot. Last year I had a chance to be a stable on the strand mascot. it was good fun- I was worried something like this would happen- Nathan there is even a segway crash.

boy who cried shark!!!

When you are in the Ocean you can't really cry wolf so the next best thing is to cry shark!!!... Immediately you find the beach clears and you have the best surf waves to yourself according to Gold coast surfer Clint Kimmins. In order to clear out the beach a bit he posted on facebook stating that he 'just saw a guys leg get ripped off by a bull shark at Burleigh Cove. Soo heavy'.
Hmmm it worked apparently- who says facebook is bad.

Oh dear

I've had a bit of Trudy moment- after ages of looking at our church roadside Pulpit (message board) I finally got it. This is the sign here.
Now I just took it on face value- yes "God is watching over me" (as bombarded on TV with the Phill Joel song) but only just recognized the Avatar reference- This taken from our church website.
In the movie Avatar, the Na’vi greet each other with ‘I see you’. They dont merely mean I see you with my eyes, but the concept is borrowed from Sanskrit meaning ‘The god in me sees the god in you’ or ‘I see myself in you’. While we don’t subscribe to buddhist or hindu philosophy of divinity in all or all being part of the divine, the greeting is an apt picture of Jesus’ approach to us. He says to us: ‘I know who you are and everything about you. You are made in the image of God, and I want restore your relationship with me’. His expected response from us is also ‘I see you’, but this time ‘I know you are God, I wish to restore my relationship with you, so I place my trust in you’.

It also talks about Jesus being the Real avatar.
Pretty cool- but subtle? Too subtle? What do you think

The Axis of Awesome 4 Chords Melbourne Comedy Festival

I often thought about taking up the piano--- obviously I just need to learn 4 cords.

These are the same guys who did the Election rap before the last Aussie elections

Good Add

What can we do to help (made me shed a manly tear)

Johnny Cash "Hurt"

Hello is anyone out there

Well due to lack of comments I thought I'd try get a cheap plug/comment. I found this on Izaac's blog about how apparently Google alerts this guy Soulfan (who I'm not going to link to just to see if this makes a difference) whenever some one types in the words Guy Sebastian. Apparently it works. However Andrew Finden isn't too sure. However to make it worth Soulfan's while I'll tell a story about Guy.
I wasn't into Australian Idle at all and was going to AGMF (Australian gospel music festival in Toowoomba) with my sister (who is a big Guy Fan). It was announced he was going to preform but only 3 or 4 songs. I felt quite ripped off as apparently it was a big cost but as Bethany was hugely excited we were there very early (AGMF sold out that day) and had a good view kinda on the side of the stage. Guy arrived in a limo and did a couple of songs and whilst he had a good voice, wasn't too inspiring. He then blew me away announcing- "Well since this is Easter we have to sing some Easter songs that remind us about Jesus our Savior who came to earth to die on a cross for us..."
Now where we were sitting we could see his manager or someone with him and he didn't look too happy about this change of plan. Guy then sent off his guitarist and invited us to join him as he launched into some of my Favourite Hymns. Now I didn't expect him to know The old rugged cross and a few others off by heart but he sang them perfectly. His voice really bought out the emotion in the old Hymns hitting the notes right on. After a few songs he then sang Where angels or whatever that song was called and then went his merry way.
That gave me a huge amount of respect for him and his singing. Firstly that he was prepared to disobey his plans/set and then how well he did know those songs. His short message reflected far better the Easter event we were there for than many of the 'Christian' artists who were there as well who have millions of 'Christian Praise and worship' Cd's sold.
I just thought I'd put that out there- I also enjoyed seeing Jason Stevens in the clip for 'like it like that'
P.S. other people who read my blog need to post more too- if anyone does

Pointing to the Light

A friend of mine just got ordained in Sydney. I found out Sydney Anglicans get swords to celebrate this. I want one :) Maybe I will go to Moore. PCQ will need to do better to beat that. I vote Lightsabers to help us point towards the light.

Follow up on Tim Tebow

I thought I would write a follow up on Tim Tebow. I was just going to post a video but Aaran gets cranky about that. Tim Tebow seems to be a polarising sort of person. People either Hate him or love him. There are some people who are filled with hate whenever he is mentioned. Articles like this one have been written. The irony is he hasn't played past College Level. But I do say he seems to impress me immensely. He has put religion back into discussions, speaking the word of God with his voice and even his face paint and all he does is throw a ball around.

But can I just say I was disappointed by the softness of the Focus on the Family add at the super bowl. But it is well worth going to the Focus on the Family site and watching their full story. I think they have set up the website well.

Now Didn't Jesus tell us "All men will hate you because of me" ?(matt 10:22) Well I had to say I searched for a video of where Tebow got a concussion in Kentucky as refereed to in the video and it took me a while to find a decent one- all the rest celebrated that "That Christian Preacher quarterback finally got what he deserved. " I reckon good on him for preaching what he believes and not backing down. For daring to tell people about a God who gives Hope to the needy, love to the broken. If more of our Christians did that it would be a vastly different place- so I put the challenge out to you- how many of your work colleges know you are Christian? Are you setting opportunities for faith discussions. Or are you quietly sitting back hoping some one might ask you something about the cross you wear hidden under your shirt- or the fish on your car? I see the media attack people who do. How have you been persecuted this week because of your Faith?

Patrick Henry Hughes - Inspirational Story

Something to think about when we think we have it tough. Worth a watch about a kid who was blind and crippled but yet incredibly gifted in music. It is also a tale of love of his father.

Commercials from the superbowl

Often the best part of the superbowl is the adds. Here is some of my favourites

Hmmmm reminds me of some syndrome--- can't remember the name though

In a League of its own

enough said

Comment Spam

Sorry about all the comment spam. I've now put it on so you'll have to type in a word to comment. Sorry about that guys, I hate doing it on other people's blogs but I was getting too much garbage

Anti Abortion Add

Often the American Superbowl adds are the main reason people watch american football. Why because it is long and boring. What we see on aussie TV is the shortened version. This year Focus on the Family has teamed up with College football superstar, who Nathan (mistakenly) alluded to here, Tim Tebow to do an anti abortion add. It will be interesting to see if it airs.

Complaints about lost luggage

we've all lost luggage :) but never had this happen

Reprise

I Like reprises... probably my all time favourite is Jesus Freak (reprised)
They say to me an artist isn't too scared to muck around with their own work... This one is pretty cool too If you haven't heard the original it is here (triple J #30 in top 100)
Other worthy reprises to note- Can you think of any more?

Many in Phantom of the Opera

Prince Ali song in Aladin

Pink Floyd: Breathe

Many Disney movies esp Notre Dam, Little Mermaid

Team america theme

Timothy In Urbandictionary.com

Apparently you can look up your name in Urban Dictionary :D Apparently it means something... Well not too sure about that. :D

1.	timothy
	1. a person with a high degree of confidence. :D 2. a.k.a. mr. congeniality whenever you are with him,you never have to worry about getting lost in a far-away place ! he can actually pop a conversation with almost all kinds of people. i guess everybody knows him! 3. means FAST, swift, agile, exhilirating maybe because he's too skinny. ahaha:D you will be surprised with how fast he moves. his swift motions are crazy! 4. undoubtedly kind and sweet. he makes everyone feel good and he treats everyone nicely. 5. eats absolutely more than an average teenager could ever digest. surprisingly, he never gains a pound! 6. he is simply funny and fun to be with. you will never be bored whenever you are with a 'timothy'. just beware because at times, he can be a very very weird geek. haha. 7. smart and charismatic. he has the traits of a great entrepreneur in the future. "timothy" will be surely rich! girl1: hey, do you know timothy? girl2: yeah! who on earth doesn't know him? LOL

2.	Timothy
	a very, very fancy pornstar. using words such as precisely, of course, indeed etc. I am such a timothy
3.	Timothy
	Hebrew name meaning, honored by the gods. "Did you know, Timothy, means honored by the gods?"

My school discussion

Well I promised I would write about the my school website to stop filling up a facebook place. I will copy and paste the facebook conversation below. I will not be rehashing some of the remarks there but I will answer some points made.
Firstly let me say I am not a teacher. I also haven't done heaps of research on this and so Can be wrong on this. I will also be deferring to a far superior blog which I think everyone should read first here. I will be making some points on why I don't like the website.
My biggest problem is that it is based off National tests when each state has its own Education system. For example our year 7s are in primary school where most everyone else are in high school. Now everyone know that you learn different stuff in primary schools. So this rating is being based on a test which contains stuff our kids aren't even being taught yet.
Now that gives the teachers a choice. They are told at the begining of the year what focus areas will be on the exam. Do the teachers then say- Ok we focus on these areas to the neglect of other areas. or do we teach according to the queensland syllabus knowing that we wont cover everything before the exams but the students are better off all round. Which is the better teacher? The one who makes sure their kids know the exam stuff or the one who has good all round students. I think the later.
Secondly Do we take into consideration the factors which cause these results. Now can I just say school can fudge figures. For instance we have a census date where on day 8 funding is allocated to a school depending on enrollments. Some schools hold onto bad students- suspending them till after the date then expelling them to go find another school. The school where I work receives a lot of these kids who are normally the 'naughty' kids without receiving as much funding for that, hence a lot of times our resources are stretched and classes are skewed. For example if we do not get 6 more students by thursday a casual teacher will lose their job. However as soon as that date passes we get swamped with the worst kids from 'the better' schools because we have a reputation for correcting behavior. This means our class sizes are larger than most and kids placed into ability classes so the ones who need the most work have the least amount of one to one time. If those kids had been there from the begining they would have beeen another teacher placed with them. This skews the scores down for everyone despite how good the teacher is- we are swapped with kids other schools want to get rid of. Now can I just say just because we have those bad kids it doesn't mean you are getting a bad education. For example our schools has had more students enter into the Local high school's scholar program than any of the like sized private schools in the area. We have also won the 'Optiminds' (school science comp) 3 out of the last 5 years and have won Top of the Class competitions 4 out of the last 7 years. We also have a reputation for winning sport, Drama and instrumentals- all areas dominated by private schools normally. None of this will you find on the my school website.
Also we have a high level of indigenous kids. In our area we have huge problems with indiginous absenteeism. Also many of these kids come to school without breakfast or lunch. We tried starting a breakfast club but got swamped with over 100 kids coming. We do lunches for kids who don't have them but its a small drop in the bucket. What hope does a kid have of learning when he hasn't had anything to eat. (And there are many other issues) This is noted in small print the indigenous pop and absenteeism but the numbers are wrong. We as a school are trying to encourage kids to come to school but it isn't our job. That's a parents job and my school has won awards for working with the community to get kids to school but many kids don't even come for more than 2 days a week. When their score is averaged across the school our rating plummets. It doesn't matter how good or bad a teacher is- if you have a kid for less than 50% of the week you aren't going to teach them much. How then can you compare the results of our school to a private school.
Now can I just say I'm not against people finding out information about schools. but I think you should do that yourself. Go visit the schools. If you are a Christian I believe you can make a world of difference in a public school and your kids will have a far better world view and stronger belief system. After all can you honestly send your kids to the other side of a city and then say your honest about wanting to build an evangelistic relationship when your church is so far away. Simone wrote a bit of a blog which made reference to that here. But when God told us to go out to the world he didn't just mean to the good schools- he mean all the schools. I currently have 1 grade level with RE. The good school nearby has all but one covered. Bad Kids need God too and I think it is so much easier to have a good Christian chat to a kid who is crying out for attention.
I could keep going for days but interested to hear what you guys think- especially those who are teachers in state and private schools. There just isn't enough decent information to offset the scores on the site. people take things at face value. But here are some clips from stuff.

AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos urged parents to talk to schools directly to
get detailed information on school performance rather than relying on the website.
“While it is a worthy objective to give parents more information they should not be
given information that is misleading,” Mr Gavrielatos said.
“National test results were never designed to be used to compare schools and the
Federal Government has been repeatedly told they are not accurate enough to be
used this way.
“As one of the leading experts in educational statistics Professor Margaret Wu says:
‘It would be irresponsible for the government and education researchers to tell the
public that school performance can be judged from information provided on the My
School website.’”
“Schools cannot be compared on the scores of short, snapshot tests completed last
May, some in grades with as few as 5 students.
“It is misleading to claim ‘like schools’ are being compared when important factors
like school size, funding and resources and the enrolment policies of a school are
not even taken into account. They ignore whether a school has a selective enrolment
policy.”

The Facebook debate (I wasn't always being serious in some stuff I said--- Names Removed)

C thinks that the "My School" website was a very poor decision.

T

I just can't wait till we get to vote on our favourite teacher. Clearly I'm the best and most favourite chaplain at School X

L

me too. The idea of rating teachers is terrible too.

P

*To play devil's advocate* Why shouldn't teachers be rated? Every other professional is subject to intense scrutiny and ongoing assessment, pretty much for the duration of their careers. And teachers have an incredibly important job - we should demand a high standard from them. But I do have to agree C, basing school ratings on a few hours worth of tests from the year is pretty dumb.

C2

In Chicago, the schools balanced this table by recording everything the parents did or didn't do..as per school policies eg. did/did not provide healthy lunches, did/did not attend parent/teacher meetings, did/did not ensure home reading or homework was done and the list goes on...and it is all published online....That is the way to go...BECAUSE educating children is a two-way street which involves BOTH parent and teacher working positively together to ensure their child's future is bright and happy....

C3

I have no issue with rating Schools publicly and Teachers internally.

Schools should be publicly marked on their performance but it should take into account the various factors that are necessary to make an informed decision.

I think that it is hard to rate teachers publicly because they teach different grades, have different demographics and have been teaching for various levels of experience. ie it cannot be a single grade just like any performance review it should have a number of criteria which you are assessed against.

J

I think it's a good idea. The execution might not be great, but as someone who will hopefully have kids one day I want to know what options are set before me. Public companies are made to show their data, indeed they need to to sell their product. Why should something as important as education be left to word of mouth and hearsay?

Still, I'm interested to hear why you think it's a bad idea? I wonder if the teachers unions have gotten to you... :p

T

P and J to put it in med term we going to compare doctors, how many patients died for the doctor in plastic surgery compared to the the doctor in emergency or the the doctor in oncology. Doesn't matter what condition they came in but do they leave dead or alive? Also doesn't matter if you have a small practice in the north shore of sydney and one in the battle zone of Afghanistan.

J

No T, that's an unfair connection to make. That's comparing apples with oranges, and it also assumes that people are too stupid to take variables into account. If you wanted to compare two different haematology departments, go for your life. You'll find that the Royal Brisbane has a much higher mortality rate than the Townsville hospital (I pick these two because I've worked in both). Is that because it's a worse department? Of course not. It's because Townsville send all their complicated cases to Brisbane that they can't handle, and so does everyone else in the state, so by nature the patients in Brisbane are more unwell and hence more likely to die. That doesn't meant that comparing the two is a stupid idea; it just means that you need to use the right measure, and mortality rates clearly are the wrong measure. Or at least if you do use mortality rates as a measure, you need to factor in things such as complexity of case load.

People know that they can't expect Hughenden state school to produce the same level of academic achievement as Nudgee College, but they aren't so stupid as to think that factors such as cost of schooling and distance to travel shouldn't be factors in their decision. What they do deserve is to have all the information at hand so that they can make an informed choice.

To flip it, what would you prefer? If you needed a complex surgery in Townsville that was beyond the skill of the generalist surgeons there, would you prefer that we hid the information that it would be done better at another hospital? Or would you prefer that we told you that you would likely have a better outcome elsewhere but you would need to travel and incur cost etc and let you make the decision yourself? It's simply unethical to not give you all the options.

L

P, I think having teachers rated by professionals is a potential idea. Rated by parents is bad. Would you want to be rated by patients who have no idea what your job actually consists of? Think about this. A lot of parents are pretty blind when it comes to their kids. They think their kids can do no wrong, and when they hear bad reports from the teachers, they automatically assume it is something wrong with the teacher; or if the child comes home complaining about the teacher who gave him detention/failed his test, the parent sometimes assumes it's the teacher doing something wrong/picking on his kid, and not the fact the kid is actually misbehaving/terrible at maths.

You also need to consider this. Different schools will bring out different performances in kids, regardless of the teachers. Anna Bligh's gov came up with an idea a while back to pay teachers depending upon their performance. This is a very, very bad idea because you can have a fantastic teacher, but throw in a bunch of (often low socio-economic) students who have been taught to hate school/authority by their parents and don't have any parental support re: completing homework, no encouragement to actually behave or even ATTEND school, and you will still get kids who fail miserably. Teachers know this, and so would avoid schools in such socio-economic areas like the plague because they know their 'performance' will drop and so would their pay. It's the same idea. A lot more goes into a teacher's performance than simply their ability; a child's willingness to learn, and most importantly, family support, are vital parts in a child succeeding in either the academic, sporting or musical arena.

Of course you do get some outstanding kids who reject what their parents model for them, but they are the exception to the rule.

L

When I said ' A lot more goes into a teacher's performance', I should have put "performance" in inverted commas - because what they would be rating is not the teacher's true performance, but how it simply appears on the outside.

L

Actually J, you do get people so stupid as to not take variables into account. Sad but true.

T

to stop filling up people's walls I'll blog about it and we can debate there--- sorry all

P

I know this is a very, very long comment thread, but I wanna make a few statements:
1. No-one is suggesting we assess teachers without taking into account socio-economic status, rurality, funding, etc. That would be complely non-sensical and unfair.
2. Teacher assessment should be based on objective standards, not simply parent opinions, etc.
3. Parents have an extraordinarily large role to play in their children's education and in many cases teachers are wrongly blamed for the parents lack of interest/discipline/etc.
4. That being said, teachers should have to have a basic level of understanding - I've heard of English teachers failing on basic grammar, which is simply appaling. University entrance and course requirements should be raised to make sure we are getting a sufficiently high standard for our kids....
Sorry to spam you again C

L

The thing is P, to take all those things into account, you would need the teachers to be assessed by some sort of professional, which I think is a perfectly acceptable idea. But the "My School" idea is that teachers are assessed by parents, which I think is a very bad idea. You are very right that there are teachers out there with awful basic skills - in my opinion, they shouldn't have been allowed to pass their B. Ed. But there's a difference between a professional making that assessment - "Teacher X has a below average understanding of Grade 8 English" - and a parent's possible assessment.

Looking forward to Tim's blog so we can move the discussion off C status ;) haha.

T
P I agree with your point one but they are being judged off this regardless. I also want to make some comments about some doctors who also shouldn't be doctors but I wont :D

Ferguson on the Out?

As I alluded to earlier in my soccer post Ferguson could be be gone. To be possibly replaced by Mckinna who was his boss at central coast... Not too sure what I think. I've always like McKinna but I don't know if replacing one Scot with another is the right method. Guus is still looking for a job :)

Operation Kill

I just finished watching a TV mini series call Operation Kill. Fascinating. It is based off a book written by a reporter guy who went into Iraq with the Recon Marines (kinda like our SAS) with the 2003 invasion. Quite a brutal but yet honest movie. Definently not a 'cuddle on the couch with Girlfriend movie' but quite thought provoking. It is quite violent and heaps of swearing but I thought showed a small insight into army life and the effects it has on people. Also the effects of good and bad leadership on a community.

Not Posting much

Some one asked me why I wasn't posting as much, well I've posted more this month than any other month ever. So Nerrr :P

The shack revisted

Well it seems like the people who were slow off the mark are now reading The Shack. Tim Keller Included. Here is what he had to say

Invictus

Well I finally went and saw Invictus. Well worth it. Its the story about the 1995 Sprinkboks run to the Rugby World cup. Or rather the Political side of it all. I blogged about it back in Nov here. Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) is released from Prison and sweeps to become the South African President Traditionally in South Africa the Blacks played Soccer and the whites played rugby. Indeed even the Sprinboks name and colours were associated with the Apartheid party and thus the blacks would cheer for the opposition.

Mandela together with the Sprinkbok Captain (played by Matt Damon) worked on uniting the country with rugby.

I really enjoyed this movie. I felt it was pretty balanced and had some great lines in it. You saw the changing of the attitudes of the people reflected in the presidents bodyguards (half black half white). It was funny, inspirational and very historically accurate- which I like) well worth seeing.

Some great quotes :

Jason Tshabalala: According to the experts, we'll reach the quarter-finals, and no further.
Nelson Mandela: According to the experts, you and I should still be in jail.

Francois Pienaar: I was thinking how a man could spend thirty years in prison, and come out and forgive the men who did it to him...

Nelson Mandela: Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon.

Omid Djalili Kebab Song!!

Clash of generations in musical form

All Fowlered up

This has been a pretty tough week for me. I've been pushing people all year to take the Fury seriously- coping heaps for every loss but mocked when we win and then this happens. But it is all reported wrong in the media. I've still too annoyed about the whole thing to post about it myself. But finally someone started to post something putting some of the responsibility on the coach. I thought I quote this from the 442 website (ironically 4-4-2 is the formation we should have been playing,)

P-Plates vs Experience

Posted On 26/01/2010

By Kevin Airs

The other Fergie this week said: "Cross me and you're dead." Our Fergie was clearly listening and apparently decided to try out that tactic on Robbie Fowler.

The difference of course is that Fergie-with-a-knighthood has a lifetime of achievement and success at every level of club competition that he's been eligible for.

Our Fergie-with-the-P-Plates, erm, hasn't.

Fergie-with-a-knighthood might be brash and abrasive, aggressive and arrogant, even petty and vindictive. But he's entitled to be. He's won everything. He knows what he's talking about, probably better than anyone.

Fergie-with-the-P-Plates, on the other hand, has been assistant coach of a side which won the A-League Premiership.

I'm trying not to take sides here. Frankly, the Fowler- Fergie row is a mess and neither party emerges smelling of roses.

But the row highlights the problem with hiring genuine world-class marquees like Robbie Fowler and then putting them in the care of inexperienced coaches like Our Fergie.

His player credentials are as good as anyone's at domestic level - winning the Scottish Cup with minnows St Mirren before becoming part of Rangers' squad that won nine titles in a row.

Unfortunately his playing days coincided with a bleak period of Scottish international football under Andy Roxburgh and Craig Brown and he barely even got a look in, with just nine caps in his career. He deserved more.

As coach at North Queensland Fury, he's done remarkably well with a ramshackle squad, even given that Adelaide United have gone out their way to make Fury look good.

His first choice signings though were quite simply awful. (Jacob Timpano? Nice guy with talent - but he's made of glass and is just never fit. Ever. Bargains aren't bargains if they don't play - it's just a waste of salary cap.)

He's overcome a run of injuries and early exits from the club that have allowed him to replace mediocre players with genuine talent like Dave Williams and Shane Stefanutto.

And he looks like he is destined not to finish last (thanks, Aurelio!).

Last weekend, he actually had the chance to punish his intrastate rivals Brisbane Roar and could have seen Fury remarkably push for a finals spot.

Instead he decided to get involved in a silly power struggle in a feud that's been simmering all summer.

To begin with, a good man manager should never have let it get to that point.

(It irks me that the people in charge of running teams are now called coaches. Coaches teach football skills. Managers choose tactics, teams and motivate. Calling our managers 'coaches' often allows them to ignore that side of the job, it appears.)

Find a compromise. Do a deal if you must. Swallow a bit of pride. No man is bigger than the team - and that includes both players AND the manager.

Did Fury really benefit from the weekend's debacle? Well, they didn't win. And you have to say they stood a better chance of winning if Fowler had played than if he was in the stands eating ice cream with his daughter.

But in truth, Fergie...what were you thinking? Seriously?

You can't pander to an under-performing star just because he's your marquee and on a huge wage - look at Aloisi at Sydney, after all.

But Aloisi has been dogged by injury and poor form and has frequently deserved to be dropped or benched.

Meanwhile Fowler is Fury's top scorer. He's third equal top scorer in the league. He's played more minutes than any outfield player in the A-League. He's your captain.

More importantly though, he came here to play. He could be sitting on the bench at an English Premier League club for the same or even more money...but he's not.

He came here to play.

And if Fergie had read the interview he gave the Daily Mail, Fergie would have seen (if he didn't already know) that his family haven't settled properly in Townsville.

I can just imagine the conversation in the Fowler house on Friday night - "You're on the bench?? WHAT IS THE POINT OF US BEING HERE IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO PLAY?" (I may be projecting here, but, well, you know...!)

Fowler is not the only good thing about Fury - but he has undoubtedly made the difference this season in stopping the side from being easybeats. He's done his job in attack.

And yet Fergie wanted to drop him in favour of Dyron Daal, a journeyman striker that struggled to get a game anywhere else in the world. Yes, he's hit some form for Fury - but can't Fergie see what an unnecessary slap in the face that is for Fowler?

What's more, Fergie wanted to use a 4-5-1 formation, at home, against an out of sorts Roar in a must-win game.

Fergie is lucky Fowler even bothered to hang around to watch the game. Others with Fowler's wealth might just have packed a bag and gone home and thought nothing more about it.

(By the way, do Fury actually think anyone believes the tired old 'oops, it was all just a silly misunderstanding' line? Fergie: Fowler, you're on the bench, Middleby, you're skipper. Fowler: Oh right boss. See you on Monday. [Two hours later] Fergie: Anyone seen Robbie? No? Ah well, I'll just tell the TV he's refused to play. No, don't bother trying to phone him...)

You can play stars off the bench without offending them. In the euphoria of the 2005 Uruguay game in Sydney, one of Guus Hiddink's little masterstrokes was overlooked.

Harry Kewell had returned for a rare game in Australia at the height of his injury-plagued spell at Liverpool...but Hiddink kept him on the bench.

However, he knew Kewell only had an hour or so in him - but instead of starting him and then having to take him off at the crucial last half hour period of the game, he did it in reverse.

Harry came on late in the first-half - and made an immediate impact with his reputation intact, and both player and manager delighted...and soon, so too was the whole country.

That though is the difference between a coach with P plates and a coach with experience. It's not just tactics, it's man management too.

Fury have now conceded Fergie's position will be reviewed at the end of the season.

'Cross me and you're dead' can be effective - but like all conflicts, Fergie would do well to choose his battles carefully before launching into all-out warfare.

Sometimes you can win the battle - but lose the war.

football referee

the ref in the roar fury game should have given himself a red

Chaplaincy

Well I've started to think about planning for the year to come. These are things I'm wanting to get up and going on a chaplaincy side

1) Restarting the Christian lunch time group

2) Finding better ways to encourage staff

3) Launching a prayer ministry- as there are only a couple of us who are christians on staff I'm thinking it will have to be an e-mail co-ordination

4) Getting into the classrooms more.

5) Setting up a bit more of a support (Spiritual and emotional) network for me

Over the last few year i've found it easy to do the supportive thing but haven't really pursured the Spiritual sort o side of things. I want to get that back on the agenda- to make closer relationships, to be able to invite kids to things like camps and above all Glorify Jesus with what I do. Now I know it is a hard balance but I'm there to proclaim God though me and I think I can do that better.

Last day of holidays

Here's a cartoon to try and make it better

Ice chewers

Enjoy chowing down on that bit of ice??? You feel that the best thing in a Macca drink is the ice? But feeling very alone and socially ostracized for doing it. Well fear no longer- there is a support group just for you here. Ice Chewers is a place where you can share you stories, speculate on medical reasons and even share your best recipe for ice

I'll eat any ice I can get hold of, basically. But my favorite is to buy it in a bag from the store - the really clear ice that is usually starting to melt by the time you get it to your freezer. I actually keep a hammer on top of the fridge, and I use the handle of the hammer to keep the ice broken up. I like to soften the ice up with spring drinking water. Sometimes I can't even wait to pour the water, though, I start eating the cubes even before I add water to the (big!) glass I use.

Apparently ice addiction is one way the body tries to compensate for low iron levels maybe you need to get checked out. Anyone suffer from this???

The Fantastic Mr Fox

Today I went and saw "The Fantastic Mr Fox". Directed by Wes Anderson it was a great film based off one of my favourite books as a kid. Mum told me today when I was in hospital aged 5 she read it to me as I was recovering from surgery over and over again.

So I thought I'd take mum and I wasn't disappointed.

It was a bit different from the book but not enough that it was distracting. The Stop Action style really did allow the character's personalities to come out and the voices were spectacular. Well worth the watch when it comes out on dvd my only complaint was language. They didn't swear at all but used the word cuss. e.g. What the cuss are you doing, go to cuuss. What are you cussing about (that one was kinda funny). Kids might not have picked it up but it left nothing but to understand what they were saying. However it was a minor thing and a movie well worth enjoying

We Love Our Lamb- Address To The Nation - Australia Day 2010

The latest of the lamb adds --- they are getting even better

Fish slapping dance

An oldy but a goodie

Events that Australia will probably never win ICE HOCKEY

One of my favourite sports...

Commonwealth Bank ad, Florida or New Zealand?

I know we all have seen it but since the fury are playing wellington (NZ) today

Excuse me please I'm a Lions supporter (mostly)

Amy Cassidy and probably a few others just had a heart attack reading this title as everyone know I'm not. but they released a series of complaint letters and I couldn't resist reprinting them. So read and enjoy: (taken from here)

A tough request
Dear Lions,
I am a local Woolloongabba resident who lives quite close to your stadium. As you might know, the annual Riverfire event is on the same time as your match this weekend against Geelong (2007). In order for me and my guests to enjoy the full impact of these fireworks against the night sky, could you please turn off your Gabba lights for the duration of this display? The game could be halted while we all enjoy a better view of Riverfire, then you could quickly switch the lights back on to resume the match straight afterwards. Regards Rita

Our youngest rejection letter
Dear Brisbane Lions,
I am six years old. Thanks for the offer but I barrack for Collingwood so no way. I don’t want to join the club. Signed Lachlan

Not happy
Dear Sir,
Enclosed is my ticket for the one and only time that I have attended a Brisbane Lions match. That the Lions lost is not the issue, that I purchased a ticket to attend a genuine sporting event, and was defrauded of that by one of the most abysmal excuses for AFL that I have ever witnessed is the issue. Frankly, I believe that you have failed under the Trade Practices Act, and Consumer Affairs to fulfill your part of the bargain. Therefore, I am obliged to ask for a full refund as compensation for the Club’s failure to honour their part of the contract. Sincerely DJS

A back-handed compliment
Dear Lions,
I met Browny’s Dad a year or so ago and I must say that Jonathan’s Mum must have some real mongrel in her because Brian was as gentle as a Seeing Eye Dog! Ta. Paul

An email ‘about face’
(2008, Half-Time, Lions v Port Adelaide, Rd 4 - AAMI Stadium - Lions trailing by 35 points)
Dear Lions,
You idiots. I am watching the most insipid and pathetic performance from a football team ever in the history of AFL Football. I’m going to tear up my membership after this game from the sheer shame of it all.

(2008, Full-Time, Lions v Port Adelaide, Rd 4 - AAMI Stadium - Lions win by 20 points)
Dear Lions,
Your 67-point turnaround was a great and unforgettable effort Lions. How I jumped and screamed from my lounge room. I’m sorry that I might’ve been a little hasty with my email at half-time but I still don’t like the white guernsey. Go Lions!!!

From a Swans supporter
Dear Lions,
I am a Swans fan since the day I was born in South Melbourne in 1943. After the incident with Barry Hall and Brent Staker I cried because Bazza really is a lovable guy. Do you think you could ask Leigh to put out a plea to all Brisbane supporters not to boo the poor bugger when he makes his return? A sincere thank you to Leigh. Yours Lorraine

‘Don’t leave home without us’
Dear Lions,
Can someone tell me my membership number please? I am in China and do not have my Lions membership with me. Thanks and regards, Rod

Good on you son!
Dear Lions,
My name is Ben and I am 12 years old and have been a Lions supporter since I can remember. No one else in my family follows AFL except for me. I live in Geelong and as you may expect I tend to get a huge amount of grief from my classmates for following a different team but I have a Brisbane Lions jumper that I still wear every time they play. I’m not telling my friends that I even sent this email as they would destroy me but we’ll be sitting in Bay 5 for the game tomorrow. Go Lions! Ben

Some armchair advice
Dear Lions,
You probably get plenty of advice from armchair warriors but I have to ask you to tell Josh Drummond that if he doesn’t have a lead up-field, not to wave his arms around. This does nothing for the confidence of our players and everything for the opposing team. Tell him if he has no leads just to boot the bloody thing as far upfield as possible. Thanks guys, Charlie

Anthony Corrie fan-mail
Dear Anthony Corrie,
My name is Bec and I am a huge fan of yours and the Lions. I even have every player's birthday in my phone's calendar so this means that I knew it was your birthday yesterday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Also, I was wondering, I was at the game on Saturday night and I had a sign sitting in the front row. Did you see my sign? It said 'Happy Birthday Corrie! My Number 18’. I saw you kind of glance over at one point but I wasn't sure if you were looking at my sign or hopefully checking me out. It would be really good if you could email me back though. Thanks, Bec

That white clash guernsey
Dear Lions,
Are we running out of money and that’s why we can't afford to pay for any colours on our clash Guernseys? Regards Steven

and for those who do like AFL a short article on my God Parent's Grandson (Matt Lobbe) can be found here

Guy falling on Snow / Ice in Dublin, RTE Six one report

I'm sure you have all seen this but it is just too funny not to post lets have a vote, convenient to have a camera placed just where he slips
Faked (staged), Camera set up hoping/ water poured on sidewalk to tap people or Its probably a security camera or a unrelated story, This Camera guy is the luckiest guy ever

Events Australia will probably never win- BIATHLON

This is a kinda cool event, like Chess Boxing

The true JAMAICAN BOBSLED TEAM

Winter Olympics CURLING

With the Olympics fast approaching I thought I would do some quick little video on some of the my favourite and most obscure, and thus awesome, events that will be held. For instance curling ... Lawn bowls on ice.... WINNNER

What this year is going to bring

I've been asked a few times what is happening for over the next period of time so I thought I'd blog it for the benefit of those who haven't yet asked me.

I'll be back at Weir State School working as their Chaplain again. However I have to add studying to it as well this year. I'll be Doing a Diploma of Youth Ministries through YMIS studying externally through Brisbane. I'm looking forward to the challenge but it will be hard to be back studying again. I also foresee I'll be frustrated with some of the course content but we'll see. This runs for 2 years so assuming I don't get sacked at weir it will also be nice to actually finish something.

Added to that life will continue as normal- hopefully with a much cleaner room

FIFA World Cup bid for Australia

The official world cup bid video presented at the World cup draw recently. I will give a prize to who ever spots Townsville in the video and or whoever picks up the error in the video.
You gotta admit though it does fill you with pride for our country

Three Wooden Crosses

This song is a good reminder of our lives as testimonies

Rivers Of Babylon

I was asked about the song Rivers of Babylon whether it was a Christian song. I wasn't too sure of the full story and promised to blog it. Now having researched the answer, I say well yes but no. It was written by the Melodians in 1972 but is mostly famous for the 1978 Boney M version. I know my mum sung it to me as a lullaby so it is a song that has stuck with me for a long time.

Why it is Kinda a Christian song:

Well it is based off Psalm 137:1 and Psalm 19:14. Psalm 137 is a hymn sung by the Jewish people in exile in Babylon. To us I suppose we can identify- that we are kinda in exile as well- until the day we are able to join with others in God's Presence- there is a sense of expectation and loss.

Why it is Not a Christian song:

The song takes verses well and truly out of context- whilest there are large "Christian" music groups (one in particular) who do this often, I think it is enough of a departure from the original Psalm to disqualify it from being a "Christian" song much in the the same way System of a Down's "Chop Suey" is not a Christian song. But make up your own mind:

Psalm 137

¹ By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.

² There on the poplars
we hung our harps,

³ for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

⁴ How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?

⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill .

⁶ May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.

⁷ Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
"Tear it down," they cried,
"tear it down to its foundations!"

⁸ O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us-

⁹ he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.

Psalm 19:14 (New International Version)

¹⁴ May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

David Williams

Fury apparently have signed David Williams to a 2 year deal. I'm very excited- that is huge news as there was lots of clubs chasing the one-time socceroo. If only wasn't injured along with half of the fury team he'd probably be playing again soon for the roos....

and here are some danish highlights from when he was there.

The Night Before Christmas - Brandon Heath -

Mark put me onto this video--- Have a great Christmas everyone

Avatar

Decision reached... going to see it tonight in 3d at 8:30 at reading if anyone wants to join us they are welcome to.

Smeagol vs. PC

lol oh dear... why aren't i asleep

Avatar: The Movie

I've been looking forward to seeing this movie... but the question is whether to see it in 2d or 3d first... any thoughts?

Paul Washer's Shocking Message

There seems to be a return to the shocking sort of preachers. This guy Paul Washer seems to give a welcome rebuke to the churches of today. In the little I've heard and seen of him he is attacking the False prophets of today, and challenging us to repent and believe. Now I don't know much about him but from what I understand he became known through a message he preached at a youth conference. This is a shortened version of it- set to music to make us connect more emotionally (not done by him but by some one else)

Thought provoking post

Quite an interesting post here on as Christians encouraging people who are having a tough time. I think we do it badly...

They're taking the hobbits to Isengard - Lord of the Rings

hehehehehe made me smile

Experience Milne Bay

This was where I grew up---- warning there is some cultural dress shown which includes some topless women----
I lived east of the china straits on a small island- at 3:32 you the middle of the picture I'm pretty sure thats the boat we used to travel on.

Taking your trolley back

Something that annoys me terribly is when people don't take their trolley back at shopping centres. Today I saw a lady leave her trolley against the rails of the trolley return. IN THE CARPARK SPOT NEXT TO THE TROLLEY RETURN..... honestly 2 movements and it would have been in it. Now I know sometime places don't have easy to see trolley returns but- as Christians could this be causing a brother to stumble- I know I've said a few not nice words as I've finally found a parking spot only to find a trolley in it - meaning I had to get out and move it with my car in the middle of the intersection. Poor form I say poor form. In fact it is even worse than those people who don't throw their rubbish in the bin at hungry jacks- and please before you give me some rubbish about helping people to do their jobs- following that same logic I'll go out and kill someone so the policemen have something to do...

School holidays

well its school holidays and I have made a list of thing i want to have done by the end of break

1 Clean my room

2 Establish some good habits in personal devotions and quiet time.

3 Catch up with friends especially those I haven't seen for a while.

4 Do some touch up painting at mum and dad's place.

5 Get fit

6 Lose some weight (tough at at Christmas time)

7 Read some good books both fiction and Christian

What else should I be adding to this list? What is on your list?

Play Fair

Joga Bonito is a saying which in Portuguese means Play Beautiful- This was used in an add campaign by Nike where Eric Cantona bemoaned the lack of hard, fair play in football. The adds followed some of the top names in football. Henry was one of the main guys- however recently he cheated - deliberately hand balling the ball back to a team who scored costing Ireland a place in the world cup. Hmmm Hardly Joga Bonito

NIKE: TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL (high quailty)

And since we are talking football here is a pretty good add about the rise of a young guy who ends up starring for Arsenal and the Netherlands.

Balanced view of the world cup

You may remember I posted the Australian bid video for the 2018 and 2022 world Cups here. Our main rivals to winning this are probably England and the USA here are their videos and a few others- judge for yourself a winner.

England

USA

Russia

A kinda provocative one- Israel Palestine

Caught in the Crowd

One of the ladies I work with at school showed me this video clip. Its a good sentiment but one that is too common. I also would like to believe her that she IS sorry but some of her expressions make me doubt- and I know it is just the video clip but...
I've been working on trying to do less things that I regret being passive about. It has caused me to withdraw from some circles but it is something I'm going to continue to work on.
As the quote on my phone says "Which hurts the most: saying something you wish you had not, or saying nothing and wishing you had" I vote the latter... you?

True Union

Well I couldn't sleep tonight so I thought I'd stay up for the rugby union... big mistake. Decided I like union's free flowing game. Problem is it doen't happen much- so I think I'll stick to highlights on Sports Tonight. I think Union is in a fair bit of trouble world wide- less and less people are playing and watching. Already football (soccer) is well and truly taking over Union's ranking of fourth most watched sport in australia- and if australia gets to host the world cup it will take off. The problem for rugby is they had their world cup in OZ and it didn't make much difference to player's numbers or viewers once it was over. Well how do the americans get people to watch their boring sports? Make movies about their sports with high intensity highlights, add personal touch, maybe a bit of racial inequality to make you 'connect with the people'. Well union is trying the same thing with Invictus. Three of the biggest hollywood names in Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman starring with Clint Eastwood directing. And whilest I cringe at the prospects of terrible attempts at south African accents (Mett Demon) I'm actually looking forward to this movie. And who knows it may get me watching rugby.

Mulan-I'll Make A Man Out Of You (English)

This is for Pete- (and grace and Lisa)