The rantings of a madman

Love

2011-09-07T12:46:00.001+10:00

Is everyone deserving of love? Or are we undeserving and that's what makes it love?

Marriage

2011-08-24T10:31:00.003+10:00

As a Christian I believe homosexuality is wrong. And so as a Christian, I can't agree with the notion of homosexual marriage.

But when asked whether homosexual marriage should be legalised, I realise that I must base all my arguments, one way or another, purely on the secular.

So on this topic, I have the following questions that I feel are unanswered:

- What purely secular debate exists? Where in the public forum is that debate? Are there physical/psychological/economic benefits of one family model over another? Children are the vulnerable in society - how are they advanaged or disadvantaged by gay marriage?

- Should the church be vilified for dogmatically opposing homosexuality? Is that not its prerogative?

- If gay marriage were legalised, is it reasonable for the church to refuse to facilitate such weddings?

- Why is the homosexual community infatuated with marriage? Doesn't the civil union serve exactly the same purpose? Isn't marriage somewhat representative of an "oppressive church state"?*

- Should the decision to allow or deny gay marriage be based on the outcomes of democratic debate, or simply "reason"? If we rely on democracy, the Christian church, along with the other major world religions, will have a loud voice. If we rely on reason, we need to be presented the facts.

I guess some of these questions relate to my own curiousity, and others directly relate to determining a solution.

I'm worried that my personal beliefs on homosexuality are taken as homophobia. It's worth remembering that I don't believe in sex outside of marriage. I'm pretty sure that I'm not phobic of these people. At the same time, I've lied, stolen and cheated to varying degrees... yet those degrees don't make a lot of difference. I'm not overly phobic of myself. But I probably should be.

*This seems to me to be the reason why heterosexual couples in committed relationships no longer seek marriage.

What would you do?

2011-08-24T10:22:00.003+10:00

I earnestly and sincerely believe. I'd like you to believe it too. I realise that you might not. That saddens me.

But if you believed, what would you do? Is it a function of how much you care about me, that would determine how hard you tried to convince me?

Maybe it's the fact that faith is required?

The pompous chosen ones

2011-08-24T10:15:00.003+10:00

I never considered that being "chosen" or being "one of the elect" is akin to putting oneself up on a pedestal.

People seen to be putting themselves upon pedestals are considered rather poorly.

But then, it's ok, as long as I don't tell anyone/don't offer anyone else a spot on that pedestal with me and the rest of Christianity. Or maybe it is okay to offer - just don't force it. I'm not sure.

But I guess there are a lot of barriers that need to be cut through before the offer might be received. So perhaps, I'll wait til then?

Human nature

2011-05-12T09:07:00.000+10:00

There's a petition that's going around Facebook warning that Ugandan legislation could be passed that demands the execution of homosexuals. I haven't checked the facts on this.

I was privy to a FB post relating to this where a Christian commented along the lines of "While I don't believe that homosexuality is right, please sign this petition to stop them being executed in Uganda..." What an uproar! There were a number of homosexuals and a number of Christians who subsequently commented. One particular person of a homosexual persuasion was irate that this person should have written the disclaimer, and accused the person of being homophobic. It was all a bit primary school style, as said person then went on to say "you're not my friend any more..."

That debacle got me thinking about a couple of things.

I heard a story of a gentleman who made the mistake of holding the door for a feminist. "Are you holding the door for me just because I'm a woman," she spat at him.

I'd like to think I'd hold the door open for anyone: man or woman... straight or gay.

Similar to the person who started the furore, I am a Christian who, based on my reading of the Bible, can't condone homosexuality. I recall a conversation with a friend from uni several years ago. She was an inquisitive non-christian who had asked questions in her childhood and hadn't gotten any of the answers she was chasing. So I recall that we would discuss things. And in one of the discussions homosexuality came up. She made a couple of comments. First she said, "But you're not homophobic, you wouldn't not be friends with someone because they were gay." Next she said, "You wouldn't have problems with going to a gay bar, for example." I agreed with the first statement. The second statement, I couldn't quite agree with. I had to admit that I probably would feel quite awkward going to a gay bar.

~~~

I've always been a little confused by the conundrum... why would God create people who are of a sexual orientation that is contrary to his word? There is a movement that pushes the notion that sexuality is pre-determined. Yet many of the voices in Christian leadership are quick to jump on the line used in the 70s, that homosexuality was a lifestyle choice. Because that was the catchcry when things really heated up, the church leaders argue that they can't have it both ways.

The issue of homosexual origins is not something that I can relate to, and for the moment I'll stick to being unsure about who is right on the subject.

But the question of "why would God create people who are of a sexual orientation that is contrary to his word?" is one that I think a little light can be shed on, at least in terms of establishing a more representative situation.

The term that gets me is "human nature". Human nature is generally equated to selfishness. Selfishness is then defined as putting yourself before others, including God. And what are the two greatest commands according to Jesus? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and love your neighbour as yourself.

From the Christian perspective that homosexuality is wrong, surely there are enough parallels between homosexuality and human nature, that by understanding human nature, why I have selfish tendencies, why I worry about myself first and then God and others come second, surely if I can understand that a little better, I might be better able to understand why God made people of a sexual orientation that is contrary to his word.

The only problem is, I don't really understand human nature.

Worship

2011-05-11T08:37:00.002+10:00

Over the years I have had instilled in me the "importance" of not referring to music as worship. The reasons for this are pretty straight forward: our lives are to be a living sacrifice, and that is our spiritual act of worship. So, the reasoning goes, to say that we go to church for worship should be just as nonsensical as saying that we go to church to breathe (courtesy of Phil).

So I've found it quite challenging to be in a church where we talk about music as worship. Every time I hear the term "worship leader" I cringe. But I'm feeling a little guilty for that, because, when it's all said and done, we're kicking up a fuss about a little bit of church jargon. And from what I can see, the people I'm interacting with who refer to music as worship are just as much trying to live out the worship mandate.

So what am I suggesting? I'd be loathe to suggest that we shouldn't point our the oddity of referring to music as worship. But at the same time, it would be the opposite of worship if bringing it up were to spread discord. A slow evolution in our word usage might be the best approach. It's interesting that this issue of worship is generally agreed upon by people on both sides of the fence, so there is a fair possibility of change. But if there is no change, it is such a minor issue. My cringe response is far too over-the-top considering the importance of the issue.

An interesting side-note... at dad's school, there is a group that organises lunch-time worship, as well as running worship in chapel. Anyway, I had the opportunity to meet attend one of their events at one point. The students had two options: to either attend this worship event or to be out playing soccer, organised by another teacher. Interestingly, there were several girls there who did not want to play soccer, but who weren't Christian, but they were quite happy to come and be part of the worship service, as it was the lesser of two evils. Yet, the worship leader was earnest in praying for the kids out playing soccer that one day they too would join them in the worship group. Being out playing soccer is just as much a part of life as singing praises to God. And if our whole lives are worship, then it can be just as much an act of worship as anything else.

Discernment Part 3

2011-05-09T11:04:00.002+10:00

It was an interesting discussion I had with my sister, confined between the crackles of Skype. She raised some interesting points, as she tends to do!

The main point that I took out of it was that of considering God's sovereignty. God is in control of the good and the bad, in control of my actions and deeds. So in the light of God's sovereignty, it seems quite reasonable to attribute a leading or a calling to God.

But where does that leave "testing the spirits"?

And there's a frightful lot of stuff that can be said of God's sovereignty and what it is for God to be in control.

Discernment Part 2

2011-05-06T14:27:00.002+10:00

"I feel called..."

This is another thing that I struggle with. What is your experience of feeling called?

I don't know what this means. I know what needs to result from it. I know that it's based on scripture.

Do I feel called to work in the wind energy industry, to go and do my PhD, to be umpiring football, to be getting married?

These are all opportunities that have arisen, that I've taken (or am about to take). And because they seem to be working out pretty well, I feel comfortable, a rightness about what I've done, what I'm doing, and what I'm going to do. And things have worked out remarkably well to date. I have had food, clothes and shelter my whole life. And the way that life has worked out in these last three to four years, I feel pretty comfortable attributing things to God. I am grateful to God for opening doors, and for somehow steering me... But damn! I haven't a clue how he's done that!

Well, let's have a look.

Back in college, I had good marks, and so engineering seemed to be the logical choice. That choice was made on not much more than a whim. The engineering degree was hard work. I didn't like it much. It was pretty boring. Engineers have a knack of making the most interesting topics so bloody boring.

Yet somehow, at the end of it was a sense of achievement, and feeling inspired, because I was thinking like an engineer. But I didn't have a job. I had applied for a heap of graduate jobs, and gotten no lovin. I never questioned, "was engineering right for me?" I didn't even assume it was right for me. It just was. It was the most unspiritual thing.

And then I got a job, working in the wind energy field - I had wanted to do that. None of the other jobs that I'd applied for would have given me that opportunity. In fact, I'd been looking at doing a PhD in that field... but as that started taking shape, this opportunity came up first. And away I went.

And then the GFC, and I was doing bugger-all wind energy work... but they were talking about a PhD project... so I jumped on board. And after living in Hobart for over 10 years, I packed up and headed to Melbourne.

I remember being single, just before I left. I remember thinking, "don't be stupid and fall for any Hobart girls when you're just about to move interstate." What a silly thing to think - I hadn't had a girlfriend in my 25 years of living, why would I suddenly get a girlfriend? Sure enough, I had lunch a few times with a lovely lass before I left... and enjoyed the company, but left it at that...

Sure enough, we started going out a month or so after I moved to Melbourne. Yet that felt right. It's been a relationship that God has blessed. We were engaged less than a year later. We haven't lived in the same state since several months before we started going out.

So all this happened. And it's all good. Opportunities have arisen. I've learnt new things.

But I know that God didn't make the GFC happen just for the sole purpose of me moving to Melbourne, so that I could marry a girl from Hobart. Don't I?

I think that if I only acted on what I "felt" called to do, I wouldn't get out of bed in the morning. But I've got work to do. I've got people to see. I have a life to live. And somewhere I might glorify God.

Discernment Part 1

2011-05-06T14:00:00.003+10:00

I wonder if I need discernment.

As in, discernment to know what is of God, and what is not.

The idea of God speaking to me... God told me...

I've set up a boundary, a limit to what I'll say. "This is what I'm thinking. It may be from God. It may not be."

I know that my imagination is reasonably fertile. I also know that my involvement in Christian circles has given me the ability to say appropriate things at appropriate times.

In all honesty, I don't know if words are mine or are given to me, and if given to me, who by?

Conservative Isolation

2011-05-04T08:08:00.004+10:00

I get worried that we as conservative Christians tend to burn bridges a little too easily. I have heard numerous times from various people that I respect "Their focus is all wrong", "They didn't refer to the cross in that sermon" or ultimately "We just can't partner in the gospel with these people".

Coming from a quite conservative background myself, I have a lot of time for these statements. And I believe that these statements have ensured a wonderful Christ- and Cross-centred theology. And I wish and still hope that more and more churches would hold firmly to the gospel that was first taught.

I, however, am greatly discouraged when I encounter these statements being put into action. Whether it be the children who aren't allowed to go to the church down the road for a special kids event because they may encounter some erroneous teaching; or the refusal to join with other churches to turn out and support the Franklin Graham crusade several years ago, or the look of shock and horror when someone admits to having been to Hillsong (many of my friends would now look at me with quite a puzzled look "what's wrong with Hillsong?").

In the words of the bumbling cop from Doc Martin: "It's a slippery slope from Panadol to heroin".

In a recent Facebook debate I had with my dear friend Phil, I argued that people might be sensitive about being told that the WWJD movement was sinister. An article at Meat for the Soul argued that the WWJD movement, because it was a slogan, would be reinterpreted as a summary of the gospel, and it rightly stated that it is a heretical summary of the gospel. Here was an article that Phil and I both agreed with. But I took issue with it, because I felt that rather than speaking the truth in love, it belittled and accused anyone who had made any attempt to live by the question "What would Jesus do?"

From the hindsight view of an eighteen-year-old, I've seen a church that tried so hard to distinguish itself in its whole-hearted devotion to sound teaching. Its reviews of other churches and their practices were once brutal. From my eyes as an eighteen-year-old sympathetic observer, I recall their struggle of trying to mend those bridges. I'm not sure if all of the bridges have been rebuilt yet.

Raptor eats cheerleader

2010-05-12T17:02:00.001+10:00

My goodness gracious me... funniest thing I've seen in quite some time!

http://www.geekologie.com/2010/02/not_enough_meat_raptor_eats_ch.php

Leviticus for Littlies

2010-03-24T18:30:00.003+11:00

Ok, so the previous one was epic. Sorry about that. I really need to get to the gym, so this one should be much shorter.

So. Stu wisely suggested teaching the Levitical Laws as part of "Our Story". What a corker of an idea, you sonofagun.

Yeah, so how does this work itself out?

Well, rather than saying to the littlies, like I may or may not have heretically done in the past, "Oh, look, it's the ten commandments, it says don't murder. And, wow, if you don't respect your father and mother, we're gonna come round right now, string you up and throw rocks at you 'til you're dead." Hmmm. Actually, I don't think I've ever said that to anyone. But there have been elements that seem far more harmless that I've probably used before.

Anyway ladies...

And blokes.

The upshot of the previous post was to say, no, we are not bound by the Law. Nope, we're bound by a far more all-encompassing principle, that leads to another principle... you know the ones, because you were paying attention.

So to the kidlets, we can say that this is our history; these are the laws that God gave to the Israelites. They are good rules. But they're not just rules that we need to follow because they're rules for rules sake. Nope. We need to link them back as ways in which we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and how we love our neighbours. So do we have to fulfill the sabbath? Nope. Because that's a law for the Israelites in their theocracy. It is however good to set aside time to dedicate to God. But that's also interesting in the context of our whole lives being worship, and our whole lives being dedicated to God.

2010-03-24T17:29:00.002+11:00

Ok, so I was talking about my confusion with the law and all that. Discussing it with guys who have three letter names, and Dave and Darrel or Darryl... ie names starting with D. So Ken copped it first, and then D&D and then Stu and D&D. Happy with that cos D&D comes to 3 characters.

I digressed.

So. The law. God made it. It is good and perfect. Yep. We're happy with that. Almost. But I'll explain the omitted bit later.

Introducing Dan. Dan fits the name mould beautifully. He was giving a talk at CU on "Why die". In it he made the point that because of Jesus we didn't need to follow the pernickety laws, but rather to stick to "Love God with all your heart soul mind and strength" and "Love your neighbour as yourself". Such amazing freedom, because those food laws, despite being God-made, good and perfect were kind of annoying, and not all that easy to uphold, especially when bacon tastes so good.

Yes, I eat bacon.

Now. I said to myself, that's wonderful that Jesus has died for my sin of eating bacon. I don't need to worry about that anymore. SWEET! Bacon all round.

But then I stumble across Paul. Paul, you go and ruin it for me. You go and say, we're saved by grace through faith. With you there, mate. I'm happy with that - as we've discussed, I like bacon, so this grace thing is my only hope. But then... what are you doing Paul? You go and ask the question, "Shall we keep on sinning?" And I'm thinking still, well, was eating bacon a sin in the first place? Well, maybe it was if it was in the law, but then it's not really cos Jesus died for it, and then there was Peter's bacon on a sheet from heaven experience... But no, that line is just not working. Paul whacks down the big "BY NO MEANS". Ok. Better not get back into that bacon... it was tasty though. Because as Paul points out, dammit, continuing to sin crucifies Jesus again and again... making baby Jesus cry*... but worse... don't want that.

Anyway, so I've been setting up all these alters around the place... and sticking to the Saturday sabbath to play it safe...

And then I have this wonderful discussion with Stu. I was one of the three grade seven bastions in the school Bible study that Stu used to run about 11 years ago in the Calvin High School days. I think he's gotten wiser... because the first thing he said was, "Just ask her out". So maybe soon... but a bit more prayer first...

I digress again, but that was the first thing he said to me...

We were sitting at a table... and we had props... which is a very theological issue - and hopefully this discussion will go some way to answering the question of whether they were appropriate.

We had, a pair of glasses, representing God**, a wire from ear plug (head phones... gah, confused... you know the ones...) down the middle as a dividing line. We had a Bible representing the law on the left of the dividing line and on the right was my wallet representing the new covenant, or my Christ, or Christ's death and resurrection...

So, after establishing that Stu wasn't going to be preaching some prosperity doctrine (I was a little concerned about the whole wallet thing), we established... well what did we establish?

The Bible... representing the Law... the Old Testament Law, was:
1. Made by God.
2. Good.
3. Perfect.
4. For the Israelites (see what I did there... I put a 4 next to a for... I'm a dag.)
And it's point four that is the point that I missed above. I missed it completely. For the Israelites, living in a theocracy, they had the Law. And we ask, what was the purpose of the Law? Well, let's use dot points again... or numbered points cos I don't know how to get dot points in these blog posts...

So the point of the law?

1. A reflection - or to steal a word from the NT (that's New Testament...): a shadow of God's righteousness.
2. To convict of sin.
3. To govern a theocracy - that is, the Israelites, in the Promised Land.

So, outside of the law, Abraham was righteous, by faith in God (I get a bit squirmy here, because he trusted that he'd be the father of a great nation, rather than in the saving grace of Jesus Christ... but he had faith in God. Yes it does matter what you put your faith in...).

We too, are outside the Israelite theocracy.

So when Jesus says, not one iota will be scratched from the Law, what's he saying? He's saying, you can choose to live in that theocracy, and you have to obey every law. Everything. And fail. Sucked in.

Nah, but seriously, we see the Law as a shadow of goodness, a shadow of righteousness, like Mona Lisa under a drape...*** Yep, it's good. Everything about it is good, but you're not getting the whole story, or the whole glory... even if it's a pretty drape.

Whereas, in Christ, that's where we start seeing the perfect mirror image of God's righteousness. It's on that basis that we can consider Christ. It's on that basis that we can apply Christ's laws: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and Love your neighbour as yourself.

So, as I return to my bacon sandwich, I realise that the Law against eating, or merely coming into contact with bacon was not to save me from a sinful uncleanness, but rather, as a group of laws and regulations, to point out to the Israelites that they were imperfect and needed saving somehow.

Unfortunately this post has been so long that my bacon sandwich is now cold and riddled with salmonella, that I was forced to throw it away anyway... but I would have enjoyed it.

As kind of an epilogue, I asked how does this relate to how I teach Leviticus to Sunday School kids. And then I asked about how it relates to homosexuality... which led to a discussion on polygamy, which was quite interesting. So, next post on teaching the Law to Littlies...

*This is a quote from the Simpsons, I think, and also that film where they say "Shake and bake" all the time... Tailgater nights... Taladega Nights... yeah that one... a classic example of sculpting Jesus into the form that we want him to be in... the big buffoon prefers to think of Jesus as a baby... which doesn't work really all that well theologically, I don't think... but it does make a point about the humility of Christ... something to ponder, maybe?

**See, image of God. Banned by ten commandments. Feeling hot under the collar at that stage...

***Please don't get antsy with me because I'm using an analogy where human made Mona is compared to Christ/the Law/the righteous glory of God. I know that Mona is kinda cool, but not perfect, and there's probably a story behind it that involves sin... but take a step back, sink a mug of cold ginger beer and then look at it again through refreshed eyes. I mean, you've probably got really tired eyes if you've made it down to here, cos this post is pretty epic. And I still wanna get to the gym tonight and growth group is coming up...

2010-03-24T17:08:00.002+11:00

Well dressed at church? Yeah. Maybe. Nah.

Interesting sermon from Ecclesiastes. Big positive from it was to consider Christ in everything you do. I didn't necessarily agree with the outworkings of that. What do we wear when we go to church? That was one very good question. Do we just wear whatever, or do we get dressed up to come to "The House of God"...

But I stumble when I hear reference to a "House of God". The thought of God's omnipresence... earth as his footstool... the idea of church as where two or three are gathered in my name, there I (God) will be also...

But the idea of what we present before God, that it should be "First Fruits", that is important.

But let's just tear it down first. Filthy rags... they're ringing bells. Cheers Isaiah. Man looking at the outward appearance, but God looking at the heart. So what's your heart doing. It's a funny one, because we get trained up in our different ideas of what is right and wrong... and food sacrificed to idols suddenly pricks our consciences... or yours and not mine... so what am I meant to do about that? Huh?

But our whole lives are to be a spiritual act of worship. What a blessing... and what a curse if we've got wear our Sunday best in the shower... Why should we care what others think? Maybe because we shouldn't be stumbling blocks... and we should be all things to all men. But shouldn't we come, just as we are?

I started this post finding it kinda irksome that an application of "Considering Christ"* could be that we have a Sunday Best. Not much has changed.

At what point does my brother's weaker conscience, if this is what we're talking about, impact on how I dress, in the context of my next post?

*I think that's the best way that I can summarise the sermon...

Eat v Exercise

2010-03-24T17:04:00.002+11:00

Hmmm... food.

Yeah. Friday night. 2xmains. Saturday night. 2xmains. Sunday night. No dinner. Monday night. McDonalds. Tuesday night. Bread.

Exercise.

Friday. Stretching. Sore calves from training the night before. Saturday. Umpiring football games. Again, sore legs. Sunday. A little basketball. Monday. Gym. Tuesday. Training: yoyo test - similar to beep test.

Each day. Big breakfast. At least four slices of bread. OJ.

Lunch. Not weekends. Weekdays. Pasta. Or $4 2pm special.

I think it works.

2010-03-18T14:07:00.002+11:00

I've decided - by observation, rather than choice - that I'm the annoying guy in Bible study groups, and probably in life in general, that asks annoying questions. It's something I pride myself on, but it's also something I'm a little ashamed of.

Take for example, last night, at growth group, studying Ecclesiastes... yes, this is Cluedo...

Studying Ecclesiastes, so generally it can be a bit depressing. I think that's the way it is. That's the point it's trying to make. Everything is meaningless under the sun. If you slave or if you slack, if you shave or if you shake, it makes no difference.

Chapter four - or maybe late in chapter three, it says that the only motivation we have is being better than our neighbour... which is an interesting insight into envy.

Suddenly (assumably) Solomon starts chatting about how it's so much better if you're working with someone else - because they can lift you up if you fall down, when you lie down, you keep warm, and a cord of three strands is not easily broken.

So who was the annoying sonofacabbage who ask "Who is my neighbour? Is it the guy you're working with? If you're just trying to get one up on your neighbour, and that is your motivation for everything, how does it work with this lovely bit about warming each other up, and all that?" It got a few laughs. I sad it as deadpan as I could muster. Damn I said it well... but it got laughs! Because it's pretty funny the idea of rather than helping up your friend, you kick him when he's down, and in particular imagining a wise old Solomon with a long whispy beard, waggling his finger, saying he expects no less of you than to kick the poor bugger while he's down. Because everything is meaningless under the son.

So two things. I disrupted a lovely discussion where everyone agreed that the author was just making the point that life is about relationships, and the importance therein... so I'm a rude bastard.

The second thing is that I'm struggling to buy this sudden change in tone. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, there's this sudden Australianistic focus on mateship. Solomon, who do you think you are? You're not an Aussie, you have no right to understand mateship. I really struggle with this, because, in the context of everything before and everything after, everything is meaningless under the sun. So you and your mate, working together, toiling, whether in perfect conditions or otherwise, that work, albeit done as a team, is meaningless. Gah. It's hopeless.

I dunno. It just seems strange to me to see this random glimmer of hope in the middle before returning to the dumps...

2010-03-11T12:28:00.002+11:00

I’d love to think of an idea that would change the world. I want my life to be significant. Which is ironic, as I’m a dabbler. I dabble in writing, I dabble in music, I dabble in sport. I'm an engineer. I'm a Christian. I guess the last two are more than mere dabblings. They both define different aspects of my character. I think it's fair to say that engineering gives me a chance to be significant. And being a Christian takes it away again - and then somehow puts it back.

It's one of the things that I really struggle with: that desire to be significant. To write something that is big. To play music that will rock the world. To run like nobody's ever run before. But who am I to judge whether I am a good writer/musician/sportsman. Everything is by comparison. Am I such a good writer that people will read me, such a good musician that people will listen or an athlete that people would watch? And dammit, I know the answer to that.

As for engineering... I'm not the most practical person. It was ironic that I failed my theoretical learners test and passed my practical provisional licence test. Hugely ironic, I though. Admittedly, everytime I'd study for the test, I'd read half the book and fall asleep... I digress... I'm an engineer. Not the greatest one, but good enough to be paid a respectable wage for the work that I do; good enough to receive generous scholarship to study and research. That's what I do. And people value my work. That gets the tick of success. Valued in the world. A bit more than dabbling, I think it's fair to say.

It's always hardest to write about being a Christian. Is it even necessary? I try to live it. But aren't I being irrational? An irrational faith. I'm forced to wonder about this more and more, the longer I don't have my hands over my ears and my eyes tightly shut. Without those wonderful filters I am forced to admit that in many instances I just don't have a deep enough knowledge of the subjects being discussed - even as a person of reasonable intelligence who has had various theorems and hypotheses explained and re-explained. My mind is sieve-like on some of these things, so covering all of my openings might somehow stop this information from spilling out... but no, I'm running wild and free, willing to listen, attempting to understand and for the moment willing to side with the mocked - whether that be a Christian taunted by an all-knowing scientist, or with the scientist enduring the taunts of an all-knowing Christian.

So my final question, am I such a Christian that people will change?

Jinny

2009-09-16T23:36:00.001+10:00

When Jinnny left the market the drawl was beyond slow. The crackpot professor from somewhere south was slurring over the specials. Fairy floss. Two bags for a dollar. Yoyos at five dollars each. If he were at home, it’d only be the fact that he smelled of weed and had bloodshot eyes that made him stand out, but amongst the Australian crowd his drawl was almost indecipherable. Jinny assumed he was chewing tobacco. It had to explain the lump and the chewing in his mouth.

In the hour that Jinny had wasted, she had avoided a thousand people, one with the noise, alone. Her crimson top, her gregarious headwear... she hadn’t been able to decide on the shorts or the dress, revealing or concealing, it was summer, everyone would have their legs out, she’d cover up. Long black and white stripes, lengthening her little frame. Two strands of golden blonde hair plaited into her natural darkness, extending her lean mirage.

And in that hour, “It’s the chemistry professor.” “He’s made quite a stir.” “The snags were under-cooked.” “That accent... couldn’t they get someone normal to do it?” “The girl over there, I like her dress.” “June loves Tim.” “I wonder if Michel’s coming down.” That last voice was in a French accent, as well as Jinny knew French accents from her fourteen English-speaking months.

Her friends stood in a tight circle. The death metal band that played sweetly on sunny days mesmerised them into blindness as the little girl wandered past. She stood, and they spoke quickly. Excitedly. In some dreams she would be naked and they still wouldn’t see her. Anne arrived. The circle widened.

“Bye. It’s too hot.” And Jinny walked slowly, anticipating a wave, a slight head turn. The professor wouldn’t be quiet. She heard every word.

Romans 5:12 - 20

2009-08-08T18:43:00.002+10:00

Hmmm. This one seems to go back and forth, if this, then that, because this because that...

As far as I can tell, Paul's pointing sin back to Adam and salvation back to Jesus, but there's still a reference to Jesus as the second Adam at the end of v 14 (Adam... a pattern of the things to come).

There seems to be quite a thrust on the significance of sin, and when we are considered guilty - somthing about no law.

Overwhelming this is the idea that all have sinned, and that through one ma we have all sinned, thus we are all tarnished.

Trumping that, but paralleling this (perhaps a reference to the second Adam) is the idea tha one righteous death pays for the sin of many.

One of those truths that's fundamental to our faith and is good to be reminded of. And it all fits tegether so well.

Romans 5:1-11

2009-08-01T10:20:00.000+10:00

Suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character and character hope.
How does suffering produce perseverance?
Doesn’t suffering usually have the opposite effect?
Read in context of the parable of the sower.
The seed on rocky ground – no root, when trouble/suffering/persecution comes, it wilts.
Conclusion: We need a solid grounding. Strong roots.

Since we have been justified through his blood, how much more will we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if when we were God’s enemies we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, how much more having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

What’s the idea? Saving upon justification? Saved by life, more so than by death?
Is this just an emphasis of God’s grace?
Reconciled – “made right”?
Saved –“a place in heaven”?
So, death paid for the sin. Resurrection gives us the benefits.
Why do we have that last sentence? It sounds like there’s a second reconciliation on top of the payment for sin, and the saving. Is that right? It doesn’t make sense to me.
Perhaps the emphasis should be on our rejoicing in God. Because of the aforementioned reconciliation, we rejoice!
Conclusion: Christ’s death paid for our sin. Christ’s resurrection saves us. And we rejoice in God because of this.

World's Saddest Shave...

2009-04-10T22:41:00.003+10:00

I have signed up for World's Greatest Shave - succumbing from pressure from the power's that be in the umpiring fraternity... so the trim might as well go to a good cause.

Anyway, it's all a bit scary, and I've had far too much fun with my hair that it's developed a life of its own. But it all comes off on the 24th April at the Hydro building in town.

If you want to make a donation to this cause head across to http://my.imisfriendraising.com.au/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=296886

The head massages just won't be the same...

King Island

2009-03-24T22:03:00.003+11:00

With John working on KI, and Seth keen for a visit, we needed an excuse to go. The 16th King Island Imperial 20 was just such an excuse.

In the days leading up to that main event, Seth and I travelled the length of the island, going from the lighthouse in the south to the lighthouse in the north - where I also went for a dive. And to my dismay, the diving was crap. Poor visibility. A few abalone - but I only ended up with one size one. And I was getting absolutely hammered by the sea. I do better in the Derwent, I thought to myself.

But I didn't give up. A couple of days later we found another spot near Currie - where we were staying. The blokes were our with their weathered trucks, stringing up kelp to take it to the kelp factory. And so we found a nice cove, and in I went. I found nothing at first, but I kept swimming. There were small ab about. Then I spotted it. A monster greenlip! And another one... they were everywhere. Abalone heaven. I picked up my ten ab in about half an hour. Notably, the water was quite warm compared to the traditional Hobart climes. So we cleaned and cooked ab all day, the day before the main event. Not sure of the wisdom of diving the day before.

For the record, the abalone recipe consisted of a layer of King Island Pork under a layer of King Island Abalone, under a layer of King Island smoked cheddar or King Island blue. That was then baked at 150degC for half an hour. Then consumed! These ab were thick and about 17 or 18cm long. Very big. Very tasty.

Then... the main event. The foot race from Naracoopa to Currie. 20 miles. 32km. To hell. The race didn't include the way back from hell. So many times did I just want to say "No, I don't want to do this. I just want to stop. And eat those sublime desserts that were at the KI cheese factory..." But I didn't. I made it in 2h34min51s. (roughly 30th out of about 70, though my handicap put me right at the back - maybe 60th of 70.) And my goodnes, it hurt! I now have only 7 toe nails - or maybe 10 - but I don't know where 3 of them are anymore.

Other highlights of King Island were the carcass competition and the cheese factory - not being a cheese eater, I just stuck to the tubs of dessert and was extremely impressed - and annoyed that I didn't get more. Belgian chocolate and Toffee caramel flavours.

The carcass competition related to the King Island Show that we missed - which was on the day before we arrived. All the animals were hooked up, and you could examine them all - the quality of the meat, etc. Some useful insights were gained into the food that I enjoy so much... kind of - it's still easier to just eat the stuff and not worry too much.

Perth Shenania

2009-03-24T21:37:00.002+11:00

I got to Perth at the end of the month of February. It is indeed a place of gorgeous weather, tasty food and wine, and family. It was the family reunion/cousin wedding, and I managed to get 4 days there.

So, on the Saturday we went to the Swan Valley for a wine tour and a pretty tasty sort of lunch. Saturday night we ended up playing 500 till about 1am.

Sunday morning began with lawn bowls at the local bowls club. I scored 22 points in I forget how many ends. I am assured that it wasn't too bad for a first timer... It was a very relaxed morning that one. It was a 4pm wedding - so the early afternoon was spent beautifying myself. I wore a suit and a collared shirt. The wisdom of this was questionable as it was about 40degC and very muggy. It was a lovely wedding - albeit rather warm. We were a bit worried that there might have been some fainting action - the bride was well dressed and the bride and groomsman had three-piece suits. But all survived. There was a lovely bit of choking up during the vows... it made it that bit more real, I suppose - having said that, I can't recommend people intentionally choking up just to make it look a little bit more real. It'd be a bit silly really.

There was roughly half an hour break between the wedding and the reception - they were both at the winery in the Swan Valley. All the guests were needing water. Because the bar tab hadn't commenced the staff came around offering bottles of water for three bucks each. I received a death stare from one of them when I suggested to my brother that rather than get water, he should get beer, because "it'd probably be cheaper..." The reception was lovely. The speeches were quite tame - which was surprising considering some of the people involved (c'mon, they're related to me.) And then the dance floor! Nothing ventured nothing gained... but in the end, I probalby lost weight - it was a solid couple of hours of random girations. Having said that I did well off my aunt, a cousin and my sister-in-law, in terms of scoring another couple of half mains and the majority of an extra dessert... Weight probably held its own.

The next day I caught up with John from primary school and we went for a kayak on the Swan River. We cruised through the Perth Yacht Club, past boats that wouldn't have looked small next to Greg Norman's Aussie Rules. That was followed by a trip to a festival - it was a public holiday and so we weaved and dodged through the masses and eventually bought a fedora... or I did. I do like my fedora. It is very cool. It will feature in future blog posts. Major problem though: if I get a hair cut, my fedora won't fit.

Tuesday involved random wandering about Perth. I even ventured out to Claremont to the big music store there, feigning buying a clarinet so that I could have a play. No woodwind for four days would have been too much. Then the midnight plane to Melbourne, en route to King Island.

Melbourne Shenania: the Non-Tennis Saga

2009-01-25T22:29:00.003+11:00

Pictures may follow.

Anyway... Melbourne.

So, ridiculously early morning on Thursday. Up at 4:20am, to be picked up at 4:35. I got to bed before 11, so I was doing better than most of the others (apparently they only started packing when I went to bed).

There were 6 of us boys heading across for 3 days of Australian Open tennis action (plus a Sunday of wandering around Melbourne like lost sheep, looking for the cleanest toilet in the CBD). I had also taken my soprano sax to get its 12 month service (which was more of a 20 month service, but who's counting?)

Ok, this one's a bit of a long story...

So, I had my sop with me and we got in early, so I had intended to just drop it in at The Music Shop, in Clarendon Rd, South Melbourne. I had done the whereis search and found that it was only 900m from where we were staying. Anyway, I saw that, had a quick look on the old computer, but didn't take too much notice. So, when we arrived at our hotel in East Melbourne, I took my sax with me, intending to just drop it in on the way from our walk to the tennis - a couple of kms from our hotel. We got onto Clarendon Rd and started walking. I was sure we were heading in the right direction, but the street numbers were heading in the wrong direction. It was suggested that I turn around and head back in the opposite direction, but I insisted that it was farther up, and was wondering whether there was another section of the road ahead. The road ended and we went through Melbourne Park, and I was rather confused - but still convinced that there was another Clarendon Rd somewhere in Melbourne.

I asked passers-by if they could point me in the direction of it, and most people were quite unhelpful, with every answer revolving around a tram. So, I caught a tram. I had $2.65 in coinage for the tram ride. I needed $2.70. The system doesn't take notes. I always find it ironic that a) the inflexibility in the system renders someone who wishes to follow the rules a common criminal (fare evader), b) where they would otherwise have been able to score $2.65 for my patronage, they instead scored nothing, and I still got my ride into town, and c) it's so non-user friendly in the instance where by a set of unfortunate circumstances, you're not carrying ample shrapnel.

Anyway, having arrived at Fed Square, I proceeded to walk past Grant Hackett, then stop, and have Grant Hackett walk past me, and then continue on before walking past him again. I finally found an information person who was very useful. And he had a map, and showed me where I was and where I wanted to go and the best route. It just so happened that I had walked in completely the wrong direction off the tram... oh well, I was now on the desired path.

I walked the few km to The Music Place on Clarendon Rd and dropped my sax in. I explained that my sister-in-law's brother had looked it over and had a little list of tweaks that would probably be useful. So they were all happy with that. Then I asked "Would it be ok if I checked out some tenor saxes?" "Nope." "Course you can. What sort of sound are you after? What have you played before? Who do you listen to? Are you after a beginner, intermediate, or professional instrument?" It was a serious case of 20 questions, and I really don't listen to much music. Even as I write this I'm not listening to music. But I explained that I like the idea of a slightly dirty sound - as opposed to the sharper, brighter sounds that you tend to get from your Japanese manufacturers.

So, I tried a few horns - I started with a non-laquered vintage style tenor sax. I wasn't having much success with it. I tried another again, before finally getting onto a black nickel horn. A black silver colour. Shiny, but still with a dark sound. We were getting somewhere, but with the mouthpiece I was struggling to get a decent sound. So change of mouthpiece. The hardened rubber mouthpieces (plastic mouthpiece) generally have a darker sound, while the brass ones have the sharper, brighter sound. So, at first we stuck to the hardened rubber mouthpieces. I kind of produced a muffled sort of sound. It just wasn't working. The guy who was selling it to me, finally says, "You need something with a bigger opening, we'll try this one. These guys have everything upside-down and back to front - their brass mouthpieces sound really dark whereas their hardened rubber ones are very bright." Anyway he puts it on and I give it a blow and the air just flowed, the sound just flowed, it all came out. An enormous sound. Big dark sound. Oh, it was a thing of great beauty. I could sustain a big sound for a goodly lenght of time. I could get reasonable attack. I was hitting notes better than with the other ones. I was confident to give it lots of air (ie blow hard). So I was sold on the Jody Jazz metal mouth piece.

"So, what's the story with price?"
"Oh, that's not important. Don't let a minor detail like that worry you."

So I didn't.

Hmmm. Oh well. Significant dent in hip pocket later, and I was wondering how the hell I was going to get my tenor back to Hobart. We hadn't checked into our hotel yet, so I couldn't just take the sax back there, so I decided to leave it at the shop and pick it up later - which I did. I ended up getting up early the next morning and jogging into the shop - a good seven or eight km away. It was a good little jog, and so I picked it up, and took the tram/walked back to the hotel. I was back just as the other guys were finishing breakfast.

Anyway, apart from having the old "demonstration tootle", and the "I'm playing outside on the balcony tootle cos you don't want me playing in here" (where I got a "shut up" so I stopped, then a "we want more music, play more music" so I started playing again for a few minutes), I let it be.

Anyway, the story of getting the sax onto the plane was also quite gold. So I'll recount that before starting on any tennis. There was no way that I was going to let Tiger airlines take my precious baby under the plane. It was coming with me. The boys were, for the most part, of the opinion that, no, I was not going to be able to take it on as carry on baggage.

I got to the check-in counter and the lady weighs it and it was under the 7kg limit. But she says "I don't think that's going to fit. You're going to have to check it in." To which I reply, "No, it has to come with me. It's not going in the hold." And she looked across at the guy on the counter next to us and she said "What do you think? I mean, it's under 7kg..." And he just said "No. Too big." Anyway, I reasserted that it was, under no circumstances, going in the hold, but that I didn't mind if they had to stow it specially once we were on the plane. She looked at me and said, "Yeah, that's fine, it's just that I don't know if it'll fit. I'll tell you what, I'll let it through, but if the security people won't let it through, then you'll have to come back and check it in." "Ok."

The security guys didn't have a problem with it, and when it came time to stow the luggage in the overhead lockers, there was heaps of room for it. I reckon I could have bought a baritone sax and stowed in there without any problems, there was that much room.

So, my stresses dissipated rather quickly once I got all that sorted... anyway, that's most of the non-tennis part of the saga...

Where are they all going?

2009-01-21T20:33:00.002+11:00

Where is everyone going? Three going away parties have just been and gone in as many days - last Friday it was a sad farewell to the 'bat, or Wombat as he is more commonly known. Saturday night was farewell to Mr ABC in an Australia themed party - appropriate considering he's heading to be the Canberra political reporter. (Is "the" the right term? There must be a few of them. Either way, we're talking radio reporting.) And Sunday was a farewell to the Chief. Big Dave heads to the Alice for a spot of teaching.

Somehow I snuck in a bit of a shindig of my own in on the Saturday afternoon - after racing a 3km track race.

Coming off a solid night on Friday night - solid in terms of a few ales that slipped down all too easily - I was feeling raring to go for a big breakfast... The breakfast was indeed significant: abalone and swiss cheese wrapped in bacon and baked for a half hour or so; croissant and jam; a bowl of fruit salad; and finally a taste of rhubarb. I was hardly in a mood to push myself to death's door, as is the status quo for running such events. So I just followed out my training partner and gradually got slower as the race progressed. We ran the first km in 3min23, the second in 3min27 and the last also in 3min27. But it was that second km where I just felt that I couldn't be bothered hurting and pushing myself, so I just let them go - and I settled in about 25 - 30m behind the group I should have been running with. Anyway, with 150m to go, I thought, "gee, I'm not too far behind", so I kicked, and finished on the tail of my training partner in a time of 10min18.22s, less than 2s outside my personal best. It was that really weird - I put very little effort in and got remarkably close to a pb (10min16.5s). So I was pretty happy with that as it suggests that I'm starting to recover from the Christmas gorgement.

Sunday also saw me head to the cricket for the Australia v SAfrica blockbuster. It looked like it was going to end in tears when Australia only ended up with 249, but our Hilfy bowled us to a win in a rather nerve-racking final over.

The crowd was about 16000 people, so the traffic was mayhem, and I did not want to be a part of it. So, I did the old switcheroo into my running gear and ran for 95mins (about 20km) at a lovely pace. It further added to my running confidence as I felt like I could have easily continued for some time, despite some shin issues - which is the reason why I have been hitting the beach of late (in a wetsuitless capacity).

On the way back from the cricket, the traffic was all gone. I had just gotten back over the bridge, still well into the 70km/h zone. There was a white mini-bus puttng along at 60km/h. I'm getting a bit hot under the collar. I mean, why so slow? Anyway, I come racing up next to it (at 70km/h) ready to give a bit of an "unimpressed glance", I look up, to see Ricky Ponting sitting at one of the window seats. So I smiled and waved. And he looked back at me... with that "Who the hell are you???" look.

Anyway, off to the tennis now for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

2009-01-12T20:38:00.002+11:00

Run run run... I'm building up the kms, I'm getting into some strength work. Not quite where I want to be... but I'm heading in the right direction, I think...

Monday and Thursday night sessions are involving a lot of rep work - upwards of 5.5km, which, in the context of typically doing less than 4km, it's a bit of a shock to the system. However, with an increase in rep work is an increase in length of each rep, and thus a decrease in speed. So, we're doing a lot of 800 - 1000m reps. The first catch is that the recovery between reps is rather small - normally around 200m jog. The second catch is the short reps that are thrown in amongst the longer ones or after the longer ones.

For example, tonight, we ran a 1km rep, 200m recovery, 400m rep, 200m recover, repeated 4 times. Doing it on grass, and not being 100% sure of the length of the laps, but assuming they are roughly 400m laps, it all works out more or less. So the 1km reps were all about 3min20 (3min20, 3min10 - pull up a bit short, prob corresponds to 3min15, 3min25, 3min23) and the 400s were in 69, 70, 69, 69. The idea was to run the first and third 100m as a sprint, and the second and fourth 100m as a stride. So I was a bit disappointed that the km reps were inconsistent and a little slow, but was happy with the 400m reps - both consistency and speed.

Anyway, I was feeling a bit sleepy, so maybe I could have been a bit quicker. Another solid session tomorrow with Pete... gonna be another hard week.

Cadbury Half Marathon

2009-01-07T22:23:00.002+11:00

Sunday, 4th January, saw me run the Cadbury half, a 21km course from the Chocolate factory, out to St Virgils, back to the Derwent Entertainment Centre, and back to Cadbury's.

I've done quite a reasonable amount of running, though it's all been in the form of rep work. The problem however, is that I simply have not done enough kms in the form of long runs. I should have at least been doing one 15-20km run a week and I haven't done anything near that since before Burnie 10 in October. As a result, I got to the 16 or 17km mark and suddenly blew up. I went from running 4min kms to 5min kms. In the end I ran 1h28m25s in 33rd (the paper had me at 1h28m45s, but I think they got the times out by one place.) So, there's plenty of room for improvement.

At the end of it, apart from being exhausted, I had developed some sizeable blisters on the underside of my feet. Three days later, and I'm starting to get over them. But my legs are sore: calves and quads in particular. But, I suppose I've gotten through two training sessions and a game of touch footy so far, so I can't be doing too bad.

New Years

2009-01-01T11:57:00.002+11:00

Well, wasn't New Years fun!

I endured a significant amount of indecision in the lead up, but eventually things happened.

I had the grand plan of rocking from party to party with a carton of ginger beer. A fantastic idea. I had Captain Darling on board with the idea. My first party that I was to tackle alone was a catch up with a friend from uni, her partner, their bub and Tex, who they work(ed) with at the Republic. I thought the party was meant to start at 7, but 7 was just the street number. It had kicked off at 5. Oops. Anyway, they had plenty of prawns left, and salads and a meaty kebab, so I indulged.

Tex is an interesting guy. He was elected to Sorell council because of a dare that occurred at a dinner party. He was on the dole, with long hair and living in a fybro shack when he filled in his forms. He was subsequently elected unopposed. He gleefully told us about the accusations of corruptions levelled at Sorell council. The story went that the head of the Tasmanian fraud squad investigated it, and when he found everything was above board, the Sorell Council published the police report, which made the person who levelled those accusations appear rather foolish. (The greens hadn't tabled the accusation, but were convinced that there were indeed dodgy dealings, and were also shattered to hear of the full investigation yielding no results.) The individual, according to Tex, then tried to sue the Sorell council for publishing the police report. Anyway, much could be written about that unidentified individual, but that can wait for another post...

Then I played Twister and did some Yoga moves back in Kingston. All started to get out of hand when people wanted me to take my clothes off... So I quit while I was ahead. Too much sugar in the ginger beer. It was awesome.

Then into town for the fire works. Ah, fireworks! They were pretty.

And then randomly running into people I knew in town. Good times all round.

And then knocked back another two ginger beers at the party in Kingston after town before heading home.

Good, solid new years...

The End is Nigh

2008-12-30T23:47:00.002+11:00

Thank goodness for that, 2008 is almost over. But it's pretty crazy, it's just another revolution of the Earth, taking us back to the place we started. I'm a big fan of evolution. Moving on. Moving forward. What's going to change this coming year?

And why would it only change from 1st January? It makes so little sense. Yet it is a perfectly reasonable time, it appears, to review things and make wholesale changes. As good as any other.

Anyway, this coming year will contain more struggles, I'm sure. Hopefully a few different ones though. God please send creative struggles! And help me through my current set. Anyway. Let's not get to introspective...

Welcome to Boxing Day

2008-12-26T10:33:00.002+11:00

Ah, family... for the first time in a little while, we had the whole family together - sister, brother, sister-in-law, mum and dad. Storm cooking was the order of the day for Christmas Eve, while backyard cricket and foosball were the order of the day for Christmas day. Unfortunately, the family couldn't last together for Christmas day with A-S leaving on the 6am flight to Sydney - she had to be back in Redfern in time for her Christmas service. I think they call that commitment.

An interesting point that she made, though, unrelated to anything Boxing Day, was regarding some carols that she was organising. She managed to convince the powers that be that it would be beneficial to fork out a couple of grand to get someone to run the sound for them (including provision of gear). The question "Why can't we just use the Church's gear?" was a regular obstacle, however, she somehow managed to make a good business case or something... Anyway, what I got out of it was the fact that so often we want to just take the cheapest option, when the cheapest option, in this case, would have meant significant increase in stress-levels for all the organisers - having to have a last minute pull apart of the church sound system in the auditorium (there were indoor carols on at the church the night before), trying to reconfigure it outside in trying weather conditions, then the packup. Then there is the issue of poor sound quality - trying to get a system to do what it's not designed to do... So, I'm relieved, for the sake of my sister, that they were able to just hire the gear and someone to run it. This example, in my opinion, is pertinent not simply to sound systems for carols' services.

Anyway, that was a large aside.

So, Christmas, it was fab to catch up with the fam. And then to finally have a Christmas without gale force winds and driving rain. The weather was so good, in fact, that I ended up going out for 9 holes of golf with Ben that evening. Why is it that the more I play the worse I get? I hadn't played in months and ended up playing (crappy) better than I do when I've been bashing at least semi-regularly.

Today, Boxing Day, sees me head to Rob's place for Boxing Day Test Match viewing and a significant amount of backyard cricket. I am looking forward to it.

The Combo

2008-12-20T21:15:00.003+11:00

I have two weeks holidays for Christmas and New Years. Then back to the grindstone, then off to the tennis for a bit of first week Australian Open action.

Many people have been quizzing me regarding the persistence of my mo, which I began growing in the name of men's health and all things manly. As many of you would be aware, my mo did not reach a state of manliness in that initial 30 day period, however it has begun to thicken out, albeit, in a rather light, whimsical hue. Now the reason for this persistence pertains directly to the tennis trip... with six of us boys heading across, and the insisence of wearing a tennis uniform, I thought, how better to complement it than with the "Mo-Fro-Combo". Definitely the go! The addition of plenty of sweat bands and head bands, I think, will make the look sensational.

But, by 26 January, there will be no direct reason for the mo, so I may be enticed to remove it...

The Photo

2008-12-14T12:40:00.002+11:00

The Corner of the State... Where the turbines flourish

2008-12-11T22:19:00.002+11:00

Myself and five of my wind farm buddies... aka colleagues, came from Hobart and Melbs to checkout the magnificance of Studland Bay, Woolnorth (near Smithton, aka Mifton). We had tower climbing training on the Wednesday in Legana, Launceston, before heading to the very top left corner of Tasmania: Smithton.

It was a pearler of a day - one of the few days in that region without wind. The wind farm is quite large (140MW) - built in 3 sections. We went to the third section called Studland Bay, and it consists of 25 Vestas 3MW V90 turbines. They have a hub height of 80m and blade diameter of 90m (hence V90). So we climbed up to the top (despite the fact that they have lifts, we had to climb because it was our first time). It's logical to climb up to the top, as, despite there being rest platforms every ten or twenty metres, there is nothing to see at these places.

So, you climb to the top of the tower (which is about 4m diameter at the base, perhaps a little wider, and tapers in), then up another ladder with dirty rungs up into the nacelle. The nacelle has plenty of space for 3 people to look around. But I wouldn't want to live in there. (Thought I'd just mention that the turbine is shutdown when we climb and the blades are mechanically braked, so they cannot turn at all.) So I checked out the gear box, the generator, the yaw motor, the pitch hydraulics, the control panels, then we climbed up outside. You get out onto the roof, eighty-odd metres above the ground, and there is a slight non-slip surface on some parts of it, but there is a slope off to the edge - and there sure as hell isn't any railing or fence on the roof, though you do wear a harness which is attached to a safety point. If you slip, it'll save your life, but it won't stop you from brown pants syndrome... anyway, I sat out there for a fair while, surveying the scene, both from the point of view of a renewable energy engineer, but also just cos it's pretty speccy. You're right on the coast. You've got a view onto the islands to the north, to the other wind farm across the bay, at Beauty Point (1.75 MW V66s) and the amazing cliffs next to which they're built. And you can look out to sea, and just see sea. That's out to the west. I think, next time, I need to bring a punnet of cherries with me, because it'd be a wonderful place to just sit and eat cherries, and spit pips over the side. That and a cricket bat. I'd love to try playing turbine cricket! It'd be a one ball a side match, I think, with easily accessible boundaries, but to have the photos, and to say you'd done it, would be awesome.

Anyway, there are some speccy photos which I will endeavour to get off the cameraman. I don't have them quite yet.

Everywhere

2008-12-07T22:24:00.002+11:00

What have I been up to, you ask. Well, this weekend just gone was as jam packed as any recent weekend on record.

Thursday and Friday I was at the Australasian Wind Engineers Society Workshop. There, I discovered why I don't call myself a wind engineer. That involved conference dinner on Thursday night. Friday afternoon was spent at the Cascade gardens drinking their fine beverage and indulging in a gourmet bbq. I then went home briefly so as to have dinner with my sister before she flew out, before my main dinner at the home of the conference convenor. As everything was all rather slick, time wise, I didn't get time to change out of my Hydro gear before heading back into town for the second dinner. So, after the second dinner, it was my typically "worky" night on the town. I was itending to meet up with Jesse from work... which i did eventually, but first I ran into a group of umpires out on the town for a buck's party. Quite amusing, because they were a party of four, two of which were field umpires that don't particularly like me. There was another field umpire there who I get along with well, and a goal umpire who I also get along with. One of the ones that doesn't like me made inference to the fact that I was there at one stage, while the other managed to continue completely impervious to me. It was an impressive effort really. I'm not sure what I did, but it would have been quite amusing if it wasn't so sad.

So that was that bit...

Ended up getting to bed around 2am. Being designated driver doesn't stop me from being out late...

So I washed a bit of grime off a couple of cars on Saturday morning/early afternoon, before heading to the athletics track for a 3km race. I managed a very solid 10min 16, which I was quite pleased with. It's crazy, it's a 7.5lap race. You go around nicely for the first 3 laps, it starts to hurt a bit during the 4th, but it's not too bad, then all of a sudden, every step is a mighty effort. I was holding on the back of a couple of guys, and I learnt something about mental strength. At each point you're so much closer to just letting the pack go and just "doing it in my own time". Either way, it hurts, and I was hurting so much that I feared I wouldn't have a kick, so rather than kicking at 150, which is when I knew the other guy would kick, I went with 250m to go. After the race I had nothing left, I could barely stand. Interestingly, the first 1500m was in 5min 14s, the second was in 5min2s, so the back half was a lot quicker.

After that, I went home and packed some gear to go to Launceston - I made it up for a bonfire/mate from uni's birthday. The bonfire involved petrol. It was crazy. Nobody was injured! I was up at 6am, then I went to bed! I left at 10:30am to make it back for the 21st. The 21st involved backyard cricket, which was my first bash for the summer, really. Sent down a few deliveries. There was a bit of crap, but there was a bit of rhythm starting make its way into my delivery stride.

I could only stay at the 21st for around 45mins, so that was a bit disappointing, but I had my last game of Gaelic footy for the year. Ended up being a pretty good game. We won pretty easily in the end. Winning is nice.

Anyway, now it could be time to sleep.

Dissatifsfied: Third Instalment

2008-12-04T22:31:00.002+11:00

At this stage in my blog, I was going to talk myself up, like a CV... I've done this, this and this, and yet I feel really dissatisfied. When I achieve something, I expect to feel a certain sense of accomplishment, and lately, it just hasn't been there. I don't know if I'm talking about the last 10 years or maybe only the last few. I don't think it matters. Yet, I still have that sense of "just missed out" every time I just miss out. It's just not fair to have a sense of failure when you don't succeed, but not have the equivalent sense of success when you do really well. I think I tend to just talk up my enthusiasm. And then, because nobody else really cares, I don't know if I feel rejected, or whether it's just that it saps a large part of the success feeling that I am numb to.

Another consideration is that these things are generally so insignificant in the big picture.

The third consideration is that when someone is interested, I am worried that it is either feigned interest, that I am talking too much, that I am boring them or any other such selfish thought.

I have a lot of time for justice, especially when I've been stung by something. If many people are likely to come after me, I'm there for the long haul. In that sort of thing, I think I'm pretty persistent. But have I had any worthy changes? The odd one, but not much...

The Questioner: Second Instalment

2008-11-29T01:51:00.003+11:00

Back in grade 2 (I only did that once...) I recall receiving a Merit Award for "Asking thought-provoking questions in news sessions". I think it related to a boy who had had a "friend" over, but conveniently let out who the friend was... so I started the grilling, and the mob let it continue for what felt like another 20 minutes. The poor girl.

Ironically, it wasn't me who was told in grade 7 to look up the word pedantic - though it did prove to be a useful addition to my vocabulary. It was actually my best friend in primary school. He's a pretty smart cookie - we're talking chemistry Olympics smart. I went to his wedding last December and stayed with his family for 10 days. Some people are just as awesome now as they were 10 or 15 years ago. Thank God for those people. Admittedly there was significantly less tree climbing when I went across for the wedding than when I would visit when I was a little tacker. But there seems to be a theme of attention to detail. I think it's one I should be proud to be associated with.

Anyway, it's not all beer and skittles. For starters I'm just plain odd. I mean, a French kid who doesn't like cheese (unless it's melted, like on pizza). Go figure. I remember throwing up cheese sandwiches in primary school because I found the taste so revolting. Or olives. I don't like olives, but I like the idea of them and the flavour that they add to a dish. Or vegemite... that stuff just freaks me out - who cares what it tastes like. I have the phobia of sandwiches, spreads and dips. No buttered or marged bread for me, thanks. I don't know why I'm like that. The sad truth is that it was probably because my dear sister began like that - and grew out of (most of) it, and I didn't. Yet, what I eat, I eat lots of...

Darker even than food likes and dislikes was my intense dislike of boredom. Depends on the day, but I think I cope better with it now. In fact, I'd better - being the pinup boy for boring... I remember walking home from school some afternoons, absolutely fuming, ready to throttle someone with my bare hands. It's easily written, but when push comes to shove and those sort of thoughts linger in your mind, you get scared - or at least I am now. What if I lost control? Those hideous thoughts continue to plague me. Why did my mind go there? I don't know. I don't want it to go back there.

10 year reflection First Instalment

2008-11-26T22:31:00.002+11:00

Tomorrow night is dad's farewell do. In case you missed it, he's finished up at Christian Schools Tasmania after a 10 year stint as Executive Director. So, it's about time for me to look back at my last ten years.

I remember that night in Perth, we were around the dinner table - Nicolas, Anne-Sophie, Mum, Dad and I. And Dad says, "I've been offered a job. Guess where it is."
"Melbourne." "Sydney." "Adelaide." "Brisbane." "Darwin." "Canberra." "Alice Springs." "C'mon Dad, where else is there?" "Oh, I know, Hobart!" "What? Like Port Arthur?" I'm pretty sure Nicolas came up with some wise crack about Port Arthur. It definitely came up in conversation. But as this far off plan gradually became more and more real, I became more and more emotional and quite upset at the thought of leaving Perth.

I remember the night. It was only Mum and I at home, and the call came through from Dad that he'd received an official offer. And I wept.

Mum, Dad, Anne-Sophie and I went for a week in October 2007 to Hobart. We spent the week looking at houses. I was actually relieved when on the Thursday I was allowed to go to school for the morning. So, I lay claim to being a Channel Primary past student. Then principal Mr van der Schoor asked me what footy team I barracked for, to which I promptly replied "West Coast Eagles". "Ah, you should sit next to Jeremy then. He goes for the eagles too."

Mrs Wilcox was the teacher, and she seemed nice. Everyone was meant to bring some food packaging to class that day. Mum had sent me in with a few Fantales, so, thinking it'd be mildly amusing, I layed them out on my desk in front of me. Tough gig. Didn't get a laugh.

The kids were pretty tough, I noticed. They played cricket at lunch with a hard leather cricket ball. I was just about to join a club that summer, so I really had no exposure to the pain and suffering a cricket ball could cause. And, as much as I loved cricket, and had played extensively on the front lawn in Perth, I most certainly couldn't send down my little medium-pacers in the right direction. Even in grade 3 I had a reputation of sending down the odd beamer - a habit that'd be quite amusing and a wee bit disconcerting for many a young batsman at the Kingston Beach nets of a Tuesday or Thursday afternoon.

So we crossed the nullabor in a V8 Holden Statesman. And I arrived in Tasmania a precocious 12, almost 13 year old. I have a precocious streak that is most embarrassing. I have said so many sentences that I look back on and just cringe at. "Why do you speak funny?" or, to my uncle in France, as he was practicing his English on me "Il sera plus simple pour toi et pour moi si tu parlais en francais." This translates (assuming my spelling is more or less correct) as "It'd be easier for both you and me if you spoke in French." I was eight. Those are just two of the major cringe comments that I've made.

I also recall telling a friend of mine, when she asked for help with a calc assignment, "Of course it's right. I don't make mistakes." At least in that instance I thought it was bloody obvious that I was being sarcastic. Her jaw still dropped.

Anyway, the story. I repeated grade 7. Grade 7 is the first year of high school in Tasmania and the last year of primary school in Perth. So, it's always a nice little conversation starter: "In my first year of grade 7..." Anyway, in my second year of grade 7 I played a lot of sport. I joined the local golf club. I took up table tennis. I played in the cricket team. I joined the local junior footy club. I was a member of the debating team. I did public speaking. I did all my school work. It's a situation that is mirrored now, as I umpire footy, do athletics, play Gaelic footy and touch footy, and compete in the odd half marathon. I also did the energy essay competition - a few more dollars on the line for that than any of the public speaking stuff though. I had played chess in primary school, and never managed to find time to return to the chess board in any form of competition.

And both then and now there is church. I dare say I gave a lot more time to church activities then, but even now it's a significant part of my life. And all the time in between it has been a prominent piece of the pie chart of life.

High school was interesting. At first people thought I was a bit of a tool based on my one day at Channel. A pretty accurate assessment. But somehow, I started to get a reputation as a smarter cookie... perhaps it was more of an acceptance. It's still not clear. I found a friend on Facebook from primary school. I may or may not have thought she was cute, back in the day (she's now in Hollywood with a recording contract). Anyway, in conversation she came up with the comment "We always knew you were very clever". Ah, sweet flattery. Anyway, as is always the case, there were always smaller friendship groups. I got on with all of them but was never really a part of any of them.

But I guess I have several people to thank. Every lunch time I'd play footy. And every Wednesday was the Bible Study. And Nathaniel would every week encourage (I almost wrote nag!) me to come to Bible Study. Eventually I succumbed. I was still in that second year of grade 7. It was a great learning time, and I was already a questioning sort of bloke, if I recall. At that same time, at church, there were seven or eight of us who were between programs - we weren't considered ready to go to the Bible study program and were too old for the previous program. So we did some wood work and other such activities for youth group. There seemed to be a couple of years of that. Each year the minimum age would get a year older as the younger people already there would struggle. It'd always frustrate me. Eventually the year came where I was allowed to go. And it was eye-opening. There was a whole heap of stuff that I hadn't seen in certain perspectives. And a whole lot of questions to ask. And I also began to get frustrated at people's lack of questioning. I began to form a picture in my mind of the typical non-questioning Christian. And hating them with a passion. (NB I need to put a disclaimer in there. Not being particularly passionate, and certainly not being one to get fired up and certainly not one to start hating people, especially not my Christian brothers and sisters, it seems oxi-moronic for me to write that. Perhaps just moronic. Either way, I wrote it, and I feel it expresses a significant portion of the frustration that I have felt over the last 10 years.)

Anyway, it's time for bed, so that can perhaps be my first instalment of my 10 year reflection.

The week that was

2008-11-24T18:03:00.003+11:00

Hmmm, the latest...

Well, a solid second in the national energy essay comp... equal second, but technically first. We scored 10k from Babcock and Brown. They're almost broke now.

And Point to Pinnacle... was stoked - knocked over 10mins off my previous time - 1h52min39. Corresponds to 38th. I latched on to the girl who came second for the first 15km. Then she burnt me off. But she only beat me by 40s... so didn't drop off too bad. It's a pretty hard half marathon, especially without having done lots of long runs, like I should have. So was stoked with the result.

I was quite amazed, cos I hadn't had a decent night's sleep since Tuesday night... and Michael and Deneickah's wedding was the day/night before. I was expected to fall in a ragged heap and possibly not make it.

And Anne-Sophie has popped in for a visit, much to mum's delight - as it's her birthday today. So I took pretty much all of today off.

My imminent adventures

2008-11-16T22:38:00.002+11:00

I have a rather full week coming up. It was Nicolas' Birthday today - and celebration thereof occurred after church/shopping for birthday present/touch footy/shopping for birthday present/Gaelic footy training/Gaelic footy game 1/Gaelic footy game 2.

All a bit crazy.

Anyway, this week has the usual stuff - not much on Monday - no growth group this week - that's been changed to a Wednesday which is when I have touch footy. Then Tuesday has the usual training and lunch time touch footy game. Wednesday has the usual kick of the footy and touch game as previously mentioned, and somewhere in there is packing. Thursday 7am I fly out to Sydney and attend a conference on I think it was decentralised electricity grids and other interesting renewable energy stuff. I'll have to brush up a bit on that stuff before I go. It's not really my area, but I'm in town, so I've got to make it my area. And Thursday night I have the NEEC presentation - we find out just how final our essay was. Friday I'll go to the morning of the conference and then spend the rest of the day with Anne-Sophie.

I fly back to Hobart Saturday morning, and I attend Mic and Deneickah's wedding Saturday afternoon and evening.

Sunday morning is point to pinnacle.

Monday is mum's birthday.

So whilst in Sydney I shall endeavour to shop for dad's birthday which I missed cos he was away, mum's birthday, and also for the wedding. We'll see how I go.

So it's a slightly daunting time coming up, but should be a lot of fun.

Black S...

2008-11-13T21:57:00.002+11:00

Who's going to read a post that starts with "I was running along..."

I was though, and we had about 150m til the end of the gentle 5km lunch time loop in the Meehan Ranges near Cambridge. I was in front and running on the left side of the track. I saw a black sti... nope, three metres away, definitely a black snake. Long black snake. Crap (not quite literally). I got high. Very high. And the snake reared as I soared over it. As far as I could tell it was about a 1.2m long tiger snake. Warm weather - 31 degC.

I had been cruising along quite gently, my pulse wouldn't have gotten much over 100. I swear it leapt to 160 or so in an instant.

Eventually I landed. And I sprinted.

Thankfully the guy that was behind me was a civil engineer... ok, that was a bit harsh and not true...

Thankfully the guy that was behind me didn't get got either. I've heard it's always the second person in line that gets got. I am grateful that this was not the case on this occasion.

The echidna was cute though.

Writing

2008-11-09T14:15:00.002+11:00

I have a few writing projects on the go... What an awesome life it'd be to just be a writer. One piece is called Paper Back Dolls... it is indeed about a writer, and it's not all butterscotch and lime green cordial in the life of this writer. Somehow the story is about his wife, who is an artist - I don't know what wondrous work she has completed yet, but she suffers from bipolar disorder. And so the relationship is typically rocky... but there is a reliance, one on the other. Anyway, I think it's quite interesting.

I want to write a kids book too, that would be fun.

Race

2008-11-01T18:33:00.002+11:00

I'm now a bona fide athlete. I raced a 5km track race this afternoon. Don't know where I came. A few people lapped me. I finished in a time of 18:06. Next 5km time, I hope, will be well under the 18 minute mark.

As far as race analysis - I went out a bit quick, but went through 2km in 7min, which was my aim. At 4km I was 14:40 or so, and finished in 18:06. So, that means that my start was ok, my middle was crap and my end was ok. I'm hoping that a few more races will get me used to running those middle kms.

Renae says to keep it anonymous...

2008-10-31T22:38:00.002+11:00

"Bernard is not horrible... he's just slightly troubled."

Who said that?

NEEC/Turbines/Training

2008-10-23T19:46:00.003+11:00

You may recall that I was blogging about the National Energy Essay Competition. Well, we've got some results... but they're strictly confidential! It was a 10000 word essay, and they had about 100 entries from across Australia. You had to be below 31 as of some random date... don't actually know exactly how we went... oh well.

I also found out that we have tower climing training and a site visit to Woolnorth. That will give me some much needed credibility as a renewable energy engineer who works primarilly in the wind sector.

I also had my first training session for the "summer" today. 15 200s with 200m jog recovery. Why do people who have no sense of recovery take the pace in the recovery??? I don't know. Anyway, my legs were hurting before I started, and now continue to hurt.

Burnie 10

2008-10-20T18:24:00.002+11:00

Burnie was filled with drama on Sunday as about 4000 people charged off the start line.

I was fortunate to have met up with a guy I had previously trained with who was classed as an "elite" runner, and so I warmed up with him, and lo and behold ended up in the elite runner's section of the start. Stoked with that.

So, I set off, too quickly.

First km in 3min24. I was hoping to run under 40mins for the first time in my life, so when I saw that first km split, I was mightily worried.

Second km split wasn't much better at 7min. At training, running a solid 2km rep, we'll do it in 7mins, and then have a few mins off before doing anything again. So again, quite worried.

I didn't check my watch again til half way... cos I was absolutely buggered. But the clock said 18min 30 at the turn... a time that I wouldn't be too displeased with for a 5km race...

And then on the way back was the wind. Wind in the face and my legs were not up to maintaining my previous speed, so I couldn't just sit behind anyone.

But I tried to hold on to people where I could. At the 7 or 8km mark I dropped back, thinking I'd have a red hot go for the last km. And so I did...

I put the foot down with a km to go - as much as I could muster. I turned on to Wilson St - 400m to go - a nasty hill to the finish. And somehow I sprinted. There was the initial hill - about 200m then a flat for about 20m and I eased up on that then realised that the hill hadn't finished, so I sprinted again, another 200m. I sprinted and caught up all the people that I had let go at the 7 or 8km mark.

But my transponder didn't register, so they registered me after... after the people I pipped had gone through. 6s. So, I'll tell you my story. I stopped the clock at 38min45s. I staggered through the stalls holding onto the side so I wouldn't collapse. (It should be noted that I have had several comments about frothing at the mouth... so I can't have been a pretty sight) I was given my little medallion... and my water bottle. Then it is a blur. I next remember being slumped against the Sussan's shop front. I think it was a shop assistant who asked if I was ok... I'm not sure what I said. Can't have been convincing because before I knew it, some St John's lady was there looking after me, getting me ice and towels to wipe myself down with... and more water. I was a wee bit buggered.

Anyway, saw lots of people I knew, which was great. Ride home was fun. Jonnie and I got stuck behind a bus of mainly chicks. They were waving at us to pass. They obviously didn't like us, cos every time they tried to wave us through was when there was oncoming traffic... so we bided our time... and they kept waving and laughing at us.

Eventually we got past...

And then we stopped... I think it was driver change at Campbell Town, and ended up behind them, again.

Again they were waving at us to overtake.

And again it was unsafe to do so.

And then they started doing footy umpire signals... I feel bad cos I don't kow who it was... Hmmm... And they continued to laugh at us... I was wondering at one stage whether I'd forgotten to do up my fly, but it really wasn't visible from that angle - even if it was... which it can't have been... my shorts didn't have an openable fly... too much information?

Galacticatica

2008-10-09T21:22:00.002+11:00

Flaws of the creatures ending their lives when they die and live crying for the feet and deepening the gap between teeth, nails and metaphor.

Where is my mind these days? Perhaps it's in my back pocket.

Didn't quite make it

2008-10-04T19:12:00.003+10:00

I ran today. I got a quarter of the way up the hill and had to stop. We were 20x below world record time. My legs had nothing left. Nothing at all. So we stopped for a stretch. Then we kept going. And we ran up at the same rate as we did on Monday, so it was a bit crappy, but good to do. Legs are pretty buggered at the moment.

The big game/more preseason training/day off

2008-09-29T18:14:00.002+10:00

The north v south game occurred at Bridgenorth Oval on Saturday. It's a small ground - only 140m long, according to google earth. (The centre square is meant to be 50m long and the 50m arcs are meant to be 50m long each, so 140m length ground is rather short.) Anyway... the long and short of it is that we lost by 15 points.

It was scrappy in the first half as the ground was still pretty wet. In the second half, the skills improved but the margin seemed to be pretty close all day.

Personally, I was feeling pretty flat - I didn't have the acceleration that I had enjoyed during my umpiring season, so that was disappointing. Interesting to note that the fitness was fine, it was just that I didn't seem to be able to get any speed with my sprints. My highlight was a beautiful shirt-front. One of the Lonnie boys who was built like a cube of muscle (I'll say muscle, it makes my story sound better) had been running through the midfield, collecting the ball and charging through and kicking into the forward line. Anyway, in the third quarter (maybe it was the fourth) he's come through and I've lined him and he's gone down like a sack of spuds and the ball's spilled free. It was a bit freaky cos he was a helluva lot bigger than me. I really didn't get into the swing of things til the second half - I had a couple of kicks into the forward line and neither of them hit targets, which was crappy. I picked up a couple of tagging jobs too, which I was quite happy with.

What else was there?

More preseason. I took the day off work today with grand plans for a blackadder marathon, but alas, it wasn't to be.

Instead, I took my car in for a service, walked into the uni from there and checked out Justin's final year engi project which involves wind monitoring masts. Then we went back to Kingston and did the infamous hill run.

I started out pretty quick, but my legs were tired, so it felt quite slow. As the run continued, I struggled more and more, and just tried to keep up with Justin. At the final 500m, it flattens off a bit, and I had mate, so we belted to the top of the hill. We made it up there in 32min40s, a personal best by 2min30s. We were quite happy with the achievement.

Congratulations must also go to Haile Gebrselassie for breaking his own world mark by 29s in the Berlin Marathon. He ran it in 2h3min59s. Corresponds to sub 3min kms all the way through. I've done a couple of them in my life... just a shame that we had to overshadow this remarkable event with our own world record hill run. Ah well, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Preseason Begins

2008-09-20T13:32:00.002+10:00

The weather is crazy. The sky has erupted and the the shockwaves are shaking the windows.

Ok, slight exaggeration, but it was raining pretty hard and the wind was pretty strong...

I went for a run this morning with Justin and we attacked the hill up to Leslie Vale. As we left, it just started to spit a bit. Undeterred, all decked out in shorts and T-shirt, we headed off. It's a solid 7km up to the top of Leslie Vale and I was starting to feel my breakfast quite early on... Nearing the top, the heavens opened and slapped us with cold stinging rain. But we were going up hill, into the wind most of the way, and we did it in about 35mins, so that was quite impressive. The way back down was really very blowy - a struggle to stay on the road.

But we got there... and back in 64mins, and still with a fair bit of petrol in the tank. So I'm hoping to crack some PBs for Burnie 10 in October and Point to Pinnacle in November.

And then, hopefully that'll set me up for a big footy season...

It's pretty crazy, there's more snow on the mountain again. It seems to have been awfully white for an awful long time.

Boundary Umpires versus Field Umpires

2008-09-16T20:47:00.003+10:00

In what was billed to be... actually the game didn't actually get a billing. It was just a social soccer game between the field umpires and boundary umpires, with the field umpires kitted up in new shirts, each individually named. The field umpires, after a season of soccer practice looked to be the raging favourites, but many still were bearing the scars of their defeat to the boundaries two years ago. The boundaries came into the game with a big bench, many of whom were very young. But the young kids weren't to be disappointed, being given plenty of opportunities to get a few kicks throughout the game.

The game started with yours truly in goals. Possibly not the wisest move considering my general lack of co-ordination. Anyway, us boundaries, attacked early, to no avail. Then a shot, with a solid save by me, resulted in a corner, which preceded to miss - got caught on my wrong foot for it and wasn't in the ball park...

Their second goal came soon after, again, with me in goals.

Down 2-0 at half time, we had to step up. I got rid of the goalie gloves and passed them to somebody competent. And before we knew it I was having a wild strike from 30m only for it to ricochet back to me for a lame second attempt. One of the fieldies instinctively put his hand down to stop the ball, giving us a free kick just outside the box. The field umpires started swearing, and the freekick was turned into a penalty which was duly converted.

There was shear jubilation, as we can't say we were expecting to score too many goals.

The field umpires responded quickly, replying within the next couple of minutes.

From there it was down hill for the field umpires. We scored a second time, and then, we sent a third in from a corner which their goal keeper shovelled in for us. But alas, the lack of proper goals meant that the referee couldn't tell whether it went through. The referee asked around, before ordering the corner kick to be retaken. The resultant corner resulted in a shot at goal, which went about cross-bar height through. The story goes that one of the field umpires allowed the previous goal on the basis that it would not be a good look if his side won, having conned a goal off the ref. So the previous goal stood, giving the fields possession. With about 5-10 mins to play, there was talk of "5 minutes each way in extra time" "golden goal". Slack defence from the field umpires ended that talk quick smart, as none of their 5 strikers made it to the back half to defend.

With 2 minutes to play, we withstood a couple of corner kicks before the final whistle sounded. A solid 4-3 win for the boundaries!

Seat Belts

2008-09-07T12:14:00.003+10:00

I was driving home from church today, and I was 100m up the road when I realised that I hadn't put my seatbelt on. Considering my driving skills, it wasn't exactly a risk I intended to take...

But in the 5 years or however long it is that I've had my licence, that's the second or third time that I've done that - just forgotten to put my seat belt on. I don't know why.

Grand Final

2008-09-06T22:59:00.003+10:00

I do enjoy grand finals, and today was no exception. I umpired Huonville and Lindisfarne in the SFL Regional League Grand Final. It was all tied up at three quarter time. But despite Lindisfarne being undefeated all year, Huonville kicked away in the last quarter for a surprise victory.

Having run my previous two games in a three-umpire boundary umpire system, there were doubts as to my ability to run out a full four quarters. But I got through. And it was good to umpire with guys who wanted to be there. There was a really good vibe today in the crew, and it was really enjoyable.

We had about 4300 people there, who made a good deal of noise. There's nothing like a good crowd and some sunshine (of which there was plenty) to lift your spirits.

And the grand final fudge combined with the old beer in the shower, whilst stretching also make into my highlights.

My favourite things

2008-08-31T20:33:00.002+10:00

I'm looking forward to the summer because:

I'll still be fit from the footy season and I won't have had to stop running, so my running times should improve.

I'm looking forward to diving. Catching and eating lots of crayfish, ab and trumpeter.

I'm joining the boys on the tennis trip.

I'm looking forward to long cruisy runs through the Meehan Ranges.

I'm looking forward to the touch footy season.

A Boundary Umpire's Perspective

2008-08-30T18:47:00.002+10:00

Well, another final bites the dust. This week it was Glenorchy vs North Nobart at KGV in the second semi final. The leagues top two teams were fighting for a spot in the grand final in a fortnight, while the loser would face off against the winner of Clarence and Lauderdale in the preliminary final, next Sunday at North Hobart Oval.

With a very solid crowd, in the order of two or three thousand people, and some lightning fast footy, the stage was set for three exhausted boundary umpires. Being the "number 2" umpire, I umpired the first 14 minutes with 9 time Senior grand final umpire Bidgood. Those opening 15 minutes were frenetic, the ball being run end to end, with perhaps two stoppages in that period.

At the 14 minute mark I was replaced by back to back grand final umpire Gourls, elevated from assistant coach to senior semi-final umpire. He has one of the biggest throw-ins in Australian Football. (Probably second to Zephan, who is simply freaky.)

Taking up position for the full second quarter was me. Thankfully, the game slowed a little for the first few minutes of that quarter. Gradually the tempo lifted, and the ball was being moved in an end to end fashion, as it had done at the start of the first quarter. The primary difference being the reduced penetration into the forward line. Nonetheless, hard running was required for 27 minutes of football. The difference at the main break being only 8 points.

In the third quarter the footy kept moving quickly, though, there were an increased number of stoppages. Yours truly ran the second half of the third quarter. Interestingly, after being off for the full half time break as well as the first half of the third quarter, I was feeling fresh, but flat. I felt like I had the legs to run hard, but I just didn't have the spark, the big acceleration that I'd had earlier in the game. This was apparent to keen observers.

The last quarter, of which I ran the first half, again, was frenetic. Goals were kicked at both ends of the park. The ball was being transitioned seamlessly from one end of the ground to the other. In that first half of quarter the spark was back. The big acceleration, the hard running, that extra gear, they were all there for those 13 minutes. North Hobart piled on a couple of quick goals to suddenly be up by that margin. The ball, deep in the Glenorchy forward line, was suddenly cleared, and the end to end play continued. Yours truly, seeing Gourls with his tracksuit top off and seemingly ready to go, eased off, hoping, hoping that the two time grand final umpire would be ready for the change over. But no. So somewhere, somehow, I restarted the legs, pumped the arms and sprinted down to the goals. The North Hobart player, on the run, forty out, kicked truly. I tried to get down there, but the earlier deceleration had taken its toll, costing vital seconds as I raced down to meet my partner for the ball relay. One burst through the middle and one final burst off the point of the square and my job was done. I backed out and let the two old horses see out the rest of the match.

The game became scrappy and the Bidgood machine had about fifteen throws in the second half of that last quarter. North Hobart, three goals up, didn't score another goal - but they repelled every Glenorchy attack comfortably. North Hobart finished up 3 goal victors, ready to face the winner of Clarence and Glenorchy in the Grand Final.

I think I'm weird

2008-08-28T21:59:00.002+10:00

I was driving along today, with about 360km on my trip meter. I had about 1/16 of a tank left. So, I was wondering, "What's the fuel economy of this car?" I was thinking in terms of km/tank of fuel. I decided that fuel efficiency was definitely not the correct terminology as that would imply that there was a comparison between how much fuel I used and some minimum amount of fuel possible to be used. So I patted myself on the back, which is no mean feat whilst driving, and continued with my sums. So, I concluded that for this tank I should be able to get 416km to the tank. My calculation was as follows:

I had to divide 360 by 15 and multiply by 16. So, I thought, there are 52 weeks in the year, thus, there are 26 fortights. There are 14 days in a fortnight which is almost 15 and 360 is almost 365. So 360 divided by 15 is roughly 26. Now 26 is almost 25 and 16 is a multiple of 4. So 25 times 4 is one hundred. Of course, it's not much of a jump to get to 26 times four - that's just going to be 104. So, all I had to do was then multiply by 4 again, which gives me 416.

I ended up getting petrol with the needle just above empty with 391km on the clock. Then I got home and ran the calc through the calculator and discovered that 360 divided 15 multiplied by 16 is 384.

So the bottom line is, I was miles out.

2008-08-21T21:29:00.002+10:00

Well, our entry to the National Energy Essay Competition is sumbmitted.

I can now get some sleep.

But I feel obliged to party as hard as I worked. Hmmm, we'll see.

NEEC Synopsis Summit: Latest Draft

2008-08-18T23:57:00.002+10:00

Synopsis

Low cost energy and the need to be green: these are the two key drivers for energy in Australia and the world. Australia needs to look beyond the short-term hurdle of capital expenditure and make wise investments that will pay-off handsomely in the future.

Australia’s current reliance on gas and coal has resulted in it being the largest emitter of greenhouse gases per capita. Emissions of nitrous and sulphur oxides and fine particulates mean that the cost of this generation extends to health costs, environmental damage, as well as climate change. Once these are accounted for, the net cost to the Australian economy of implementing wind and solar technologies is lower than the net cost of generation through fossil fuels.

As coal power plants come to the end of their design lives, the natural progression is to upgrade them with renewable alternatives. By 2050, the proposed electrical generation breakdown is as follows: 30 percent wind, 20 percent solar, 18 percent geosequestered coal, 12 percent geosequestered gas, 7 percent hydro, 7 percent coal, 5 percent other renewables and 1 percent gas generation. Thus, the generation target for 2050 is a 93 percent reliance on low emission generation.

Reliance on intermittent generation requires demand-side management. It will allow up to 15 percent load to be shed without significant economic impact, thereby increasing the penetration of renewable generation. This management will be aided by improvements in weather forecasting allowing times of low generation to be predicted weeks in advance.

Domestically, this will see non-essential loads such as refrigerators shut down momentarily to cope with peak demand. Industry has the opportunity to provide extensive load shedding in exchange for discounted power tariffs. In some energy intensive sectors, this is already commonplace.

Despite improvements in efficiency, Australia’s demand is predicted to more than double over the period 2010-2050, with existing electrical generators supplying 12 percent of that power in 2050. The new generation of electrical supply can either follow the current trend of reliance on fossil fuels or make a step change into renewable energy supply. It is that step change that will allow Australia to reduce its electricity associated greenhouse gas emissions to 60 percent of current levels by 2100, and play its role in minimising the global climate change phenomenon. For this to occur in the required timeframe, immediate bipartisan support is required followed by decisive international action by 2020. This radical change in policy relies on the rapid deployment of new technology. The rapid deployment will result in fast-tracked refinement of the technology. That change will spur development to levels last seen in the era of the World Wars, minus the bloodshed.

Post 2050, fossil fuels will become depleted, resulting in reliance on new technologies including wave power and solar thermal. The lack of fossil fuels also implies a reliance on electricity to power transport. Despite the stated limitations it is possible to see a highly evolved energy sector powering Australia to social, environmental and economic prosperity.

NEEC Synopsis Summit: Latest Draft

2008-08-18T23:57:00.001+10:00

NEEC Synopsis

2008-08-17T13:13:00.002+10:00

As previously discussed, I am in a team for the National Energy Essay Competition.

The honour of penning the synopsis has been bestowed upon me. And so I present to you the 494 words as they currently stand. I would love to hear feedback on whether they make sense, whether they capture your attention, and does it answer the essay questions, which are:

Part A (7,000 words)

Provide your prediction for the changes in primary energy demand, sourcing and facilities for electrical generation in Australia’s geographical regions supplied by the Eastern and Western electricity grids for the period 2010 through 2050

Part B (3,000 words)

Provide your view of the likely longer term energy sources, amenable to Australia for its electrical energy needs to 2100, allowing for future scientific evolution of energy production for industry and society in the context of energy changes witnessed since the industrial revolution.

Cheers.

Synopsis

Low cost energy and the need to be green: these are the two key drivers for energy in Australia and the world. However, Australia needs to look beyond the short-term hurdle of capital expenditure and make wise investments that will pay handsomely in the future.

Australia’s current reliance on gas and coal has resulted in it being the largest emitter of green house gases (GHGs) per capita. Emissions of nitrous and sulphur oxides and fine particulates mean that the cost of this generation extends to health costs, acid rain as well as climate change. Once these costs are accounted for, wind and solar technologies are not only cheaper options, but they will provide sustainable energy solutions well beyond 2100.

As the coal power plants come to the end of their design lives, replacing them with renewable alternatives such as wind and solar power plants in partnership with geosequestration will result in an 80% reliance on low emission generation.
The price of reliance on intermittent generation is the requirement for demand-side management. In times of low solar radiation and low wind speed, demand may need to be reduced by up to 15%. This can be managed through weather forecasting and the development of dynamic demand control; that is, switching off loads that do not require continuous supply.

The demand side, as well as continually improving efficiency, must be capable of coping with infrequent cuts to supply. This occurs on both the domestic and industrial market. Domestically, this requires appliances with their own thermal capacity to be capable of short-term shutdown. Industry will negotiate with the supplier regarding which loads can be cut and for how long. While on face value this appears to discourage industry and impinge on the economy, the reality is that industry has the potential to sell the right to have their power cut, or receive discounted power for this service. Energy intensive industries such as smelters already make provisions for this during times of limited generation.

Despite improvements in efficiency, Australia’s demand is predicted to more than double over the period 2010-2050, with existing electrical generators supplying 12% of that power in 2050. The new generation of electrical supply can either follow the current trend of reliance on fossil fuels or make a step change into renewable energy supply. It is that step change that will allow Australia to reduce its GHG emissions to 60% of current levels by 2100, and play its role in minimising the global climate change phenomenon.

This radical change in policy relies on technological improvements that will leave Australia as the front-runners in renewable energy technology. Those changes will cause the levels of development last seen in the era of the World Wars, minus the bloodshed. Yet Australia must act immediately with bipartisan support, outside of the traditional governmental framework, otherwise the cost will see Australian society decimated, unable to cope with a food shortfall, unsustainable fuel costs and the dirtiest air on the planet.

Olympics

2008-08-15T21:13:00.002+10:00

I'm going mainstream here. I've watched a bit of the Olympics. I conclude that swimming is ok in small doses; handball is an awesome sport; and I'm looking forward to the athletics.

Why is it that I'm looking forward to the athletics. Afterall, it is just a bunch of people running round and round in ovals.

I think once you've tried to do it, to run around the orange track, over and over again, knowing the pain of lactic build-up, of exhaustion, there's something about watching "how it should be done". To put it in perspective, the last lap of the 5000m is probably run in about 55s. That's over 5s quicker than my quickest 400m.

The 400m runners run their races in the time it takes me to run 300m. In the marathon, if I double my half marathon time, the marathon runners would beat me by an hour.

Gee, that was good for my self esteem.

2008-08-14T20:12:00.001+10:00

I am very weak. The force is no longer with me.

NEEC/Footy Finals

2008-08-11T20:58:00.003+10:00

I am actually going in the National Energy Essay Competition - I'm in with two other guys, so they'll be able ot make all the arguments make sense. It's a lot of work though and the reason that I haven't had my eight hours of sleep per night for about the last week.

Anyway, it's the business end of the footy season now, for us boundary umpires. Coaches are trying to rank each umpire ranking us on our running, our throwing, our decision making, positioning and how good our sigals look.

This season, my game plan has been to run flat out from the opening bounce and then try to hold on as long as possible. But, let's face it, 2h is a long time to be running flat out. And so it's now Monday. I know where I'll be umpiring next Saturday. I know that I'm going to be watched again. And quite frankly, it's quite daunting to go into a game knowing that you're going to have to nail every acceleration point, over the whole game, knowing that every throw in that you have is crucial. Is it really that much of a high pressure thing? I suppose the closer you are to the top, the harder it is to move up. And the easier it is to fall.

Anyway, might be having some weight loss surgery tomorrow...

Cold

2008-07-29T17:45:00.003+10:00

Apparently I have succumbed to the cold going round. I suppose I normally have it for a few months and work through it. But not this year. It's kinda bad - thinking I'm ok, then get to lunch time and think, nope, could be time to bugger off home. You never know, I might actually get better.

The nostril scar tissue isn't too far away...

Energy Arguments

2008-07-21T21:31:00.003+10:00

What a scary though: Hydro Tasmania Generation making a profit. will they know what to do with it? Either way, it sure as hell has been raining this month.

I was just thinking, so much of the stuff we hear on the news is so directly related to mechnanical/renewable engineering. Barely a news bulletin goes by without reference to global warming, petrol. It's everywhere. I reckon it's worth doing the hard yards to get to that position - to be able to define where we are and where we are going in these quite challenging times.

But, the only problem is, with all this training, all this learning, I'll be darned if I know exactly which direction we've got to go.

I was meeting up with a couple of my engineer friends, and the topic came to nuclear power. I said, I just don't know what's going on. You can have two exceptionally intelligent, well educated people, and they can have polar opposite views on the subject. Then you have to wade through the stuff that isn't quite so well educated. I think that's where the education is really useful. Well constructed arguments are difficult to see through, irrespective of how right or wrong they are. But going back to basics, and understanding that allows us to equally present well constructed arguments. Passion is deceptive, though.

My General Health

2008-07-10T22:12:00.003+10:00

My scammed internet is running really slowly at the moment. I wonder if it means that other people in the neighbourhood have discovered it and are shamelessly downloading hideous amounts of 1s and 0s.

Anyway, I've pulled a couple of Uni-esque sort of nights the last couple of nights, which has been a real struggle. The drive home seems to take an eternity from Cambridge to Kingo. The reality is its only half an hour, but at one am, knowing that you have to front up the next day, it's really not attractive.

Last night/this morning (one and the same at that hour) I was doing the Cambridge to Kingo drive. I was driving along at 90km/h cos I was running low on petrol, but it was still well into the 110km/h zone. In the breakdown lane, was this guy walking along with his big hiking pack, strolling along as if nothing could be more normal than seeing some twit driving home from the Hydro office at 1am. Weird dude.

I also had my blood pressure tested and I was found to have low blood pressure. Not enough stress in my life. So, a couple of late nights later, and it was back in the normal range. Had my cholesterol and blood sugar checked too. They were both low - contrary to family history. I am a picture of good health - despite the fact that my shins have started hurting again...

Oh, and mum and dad leave like next Tuesday or something like that. It's all pretty crazy. They'll be gone for four months, going up to do some volunteer work in Darwin as well as some well earned R and R.

Energy

2008-06-10T20:37:00.002+10:00

I was thinking of writing an essay for some big energy essay competition. Was too much of a hassle, so I thought I'd just do a blog post.

I wonder where the future is going. There's some good stuff around and about - lots of wind, solar's improving slowly, there have been some big developments in wave/tidal and hydro is always a solid performer.

Of course, being in the wind industry, I've got a bit of an idea of what's going on there. The size of wind turbines is starting to stabilise at about the 1.5-3MW/turbine size (blade length of about 50m at a hub height of 70m). But as the amount of power produced by wind energy increases, so does the reliance on it to produce. Therein lies a pandora's box of technical problems. Everything from lack of parts, and not enough qualified people to maintain them, through to the questionable fault ride through capabilities of wind turbines (Faults referring to electrical faults as well as big wind gusts, etc.) and accurate short to medium term wind speed prediction.

However, because countries like Germany and Denmark have significant feed-in tariffs (a guaranteed price for all energy produced by the turbines) there has been a large market for the turbines. And as such, the technology is also developing to begin to solve (or lessen) the aforementioned problems. It means that we can start to rely more and more heavily on these renewable energies.

Insofar as the intermittent nature of the wind is concerned, there is very good reason why the turbines are connected to a grid, and, in this Australian context, that grid spans from South Australia, down to Tasmania and up to Queensland. While the wind is still in South Australia, it's likely to be blowing elsewhere.

The grid issue is the key reason why energy storage is not as big a deal as it could be. The grid itself acts as a battery, sapping all the energy that a wind turbine can produce.

The intermittency issue is an interesting one in terms of solar power - in particular photovoltaics (solar panels). It would be quite cool to have a global grid that covers the world, so that no matter what point in time, the sun would always be shining on the cells. It's not likely to happen any time soon.

The big issue that I see hitting hard is fuel. I can only really talk about what I've heard in my studies, because I haven't had anything to do with that side of things since then. Biodiesel is looking good. It works, but it needs to be done properly. The most interesting thing I heard was talk of farming algae in pipes and harvesting oil from it. Some amazing yields were possible, but they have to refine it somewhat.

What are some of the good or bad ideas that you've heard?

And where did those little electric cars go?

And why can't Tassie have decent cycle access - it's appalling at the moment.

About time for another post

2008-06-08T22:59:00.002+10:00

Well, I've just moved back to Kingston after a month in South Hobart.

Good times were had there. I was living with Nomis and his dog-in-law, Darcy. Darcy is a pointer who has far too much energy. Being a placid thing myself, it really did take the word awakening to the next level.

But it was all good. The place was maintained in relative order and our stomachs were always looked after.

Anyway, Nick and Naomi had their wedding for which Phil Price and I were groomsmen. They're married. So I guess it was a success. The speech went well - I think. I wore a box all day - so it was a relief to take it off during the speech. Kinda freaked the bridesmaids out a bit.

What else is new? Hmmm, my sister in law's brother, who is a woodwind guru checked out my sop sax. Gave me a few tips and techniques and pointed out a few adjustments that need to be made to the instrument to get into pristine condition.

And a bit of queen's birthday cleaning tomorrow, methinks.

Boys' week at the opera

2008-05-23T21:36:00.003+10:00

Well, I've just come back from a boys' week at the opera (it was phantom of the opera, which I have been corrected many a time that it is actually a musical). Went to the footy and gave the boys far too much of a running commentary on the boundary umpires. Went to church in Redfern, and then closer to the city after accidentally going over bridge a couple of extra times. I drove in Sydney in Anne-Sophie's car, which makes some interesting, if not charming noises.

Went out to the Blue Mountains on Tuesday, played soccer with Anne-Sophie and her Moore friends on Monday, and went to the show on the Tuesday evening. Caught the shops and was unimpressed with Sydney fashion, so have decided I'm going to have to design my own clothes. Found only one place that sold stuff I liked, but the price tag didn't quite agree...

Then there was the expletiing virgin flight cow who changed my seat allocation from a good one to a bad one. Why? Just because. So it was an empty seat (or rather lots of them) at the front in "Premium Economy" with the back absolutely chockers. Because I hadn't "paid the fare", even though I had entered into a written and verbal contract with them such that I'd have access to seat 3A. Wasn't impressed...

Saturday Night

2008-05-04T15:14:00.003+10:00

Just moved out to South Hobart for a month. Quite a weird experience. May require a bit of getting used to. I'll be settled in after a month and then I'll have to move out.

Went to the end of the fringe festival market last night. I've never seen so many dreadlocks. They were everywhere. But I seemed to be the only one with a decent 'fro. But it fitted in because it was slightly different to the mainstream. Very different culture to what I'm used to. To be honest, I felt uncomfortable. Maybe it was because I didn't have an entourage of friends, maybe it was because everyone looked poor/hippy. Either way, there was something there about a life that I didn't want to live - getting wasted on pot and grog, relying on markets to earn a crust or to buy clothes. In all of that, there's still something else that irked me, and I can't put a finger on what it was.

Then there was the hip hop band afterwards. Had their own unique style. But they were two chicks, who, when it came down to it, were sluts. Not particularly pretty girls, but they sang about controlling their boys. You could say it was about empowerment. But it was about ignoring their sexual history and sleeping with who they liked. Or pulling out excuses if the guy wasn't performing. Again, just a weird world that I have been so sheltered from. A weird world that I don't feel comfortable with, despite my awareness of its existence.

I also learned that it only takes a couple of seconds to smoke a cone. Two drags, and that was it. That was very confronting. Real people having a good time.

I was taught to play backgammon.

In the morning I was on kidz bizz. One kid had a car and was rather distracted. I took the car off him. Mean bugger I am. "I want it back." "You'll get it back." "I want it back now." "So?" "Um." "You think that just because you want something you're going to get it?" "Um..."

I come from Flanders...

2008-04-26T02:10:00.001+10:00

Has anyone ever noticed that Nicolas and I have a disturbing resemblence to Rod and Todd?

Families

2008-04-26T01:56:00.003+10:00

Anzac Day weekend is the traditional weekend for the Rowcroft Reunion... this year in Perth. It began in 2002 when my grandfather passed away and it was the first time that the whole family had been together in quite some years... since then it's been an annual event occurring at various locations around the world.

It's a bit weird with my family. I feel like I have very little in common with them. Then other times, it's like they're the closer than my immediate family, then five minutes later I'll wonder whether I ever actually knew anyone. One weekend a year and that's apparently enough to get to know each other. I'm not convinced.

I think back to my time in France and we'd sit around the lunch table til 6pm and I'd be bored out of my brains because the adults were talking politics. It makes so much sense. All of a sudden people have something that spans the breadth of life that is relevant to everybody and that they are passionate about. But as a twelve year old whose French aural comprehension skills are pretty good for an Australian, it really doesn't make for scintillating lunchtime conversation.

The art of family and the art of conversation are two things that I find curious. Two things that I haven't truly mastered or come to fully appreciate. Why do I not want to talk to people? Granted, they're strangers often. But I often find myself sitting at lunch with someone/group of people, eating in silence, racking my brains, trying to find an interesting and relevant topic of conversation. And then I become conscious of the fact that that is what I'm doing and so it then has to be the perfect conversation starter and then I finish lunch and go back to work.

Yet, somehow, I still tell myself that talking with people is the most interesting way to while away the hours.

Something... ah... controversial

2008-04-15T21:25:00.002+10:00

In a recent consersation I was told to write a controversial post. So here goes...

I had growth group on Monday night. I've decided I'm going to be a bit more reckless, a little less contained, cos frankly, I was getting bored and uninspired and not as challenged as I should have been (other than, in some cases, my patience, which is a worthy endeavour in many an instance).

So, I think I'm going to try to return to being me... and hopefully growth group will be better for it.

Had Kidz Bizz on Sunday, which went really well, thank God. The highlight was rapping. Each leader had to do a verse (or in my case, I did the chorus). It got a few laughs. It was unaccompanied and I had only glanced at the words once before (course I didn't do the fully original make it up as I go along, yo dude yo. It's amazing what you can pull off if you just go headlong into something.

I umpired two games on Saturday. It hurt. It's always interesting when you start telling kids to "Stop acting like rednecks and just play footy". I was pretty buggered, so I had a kip at half time in the seniors. It all worked out pretty well.

And I got Sibelius 5, so I've been getting back into composing, which is fun, but it means I go to bed a bit too late every night and I don't post on my blog enough...

First Game Back

2008-04-05T22:02:00.002+11:00

I had my first game for the season: North Hobart v New Norfolk (The Dees v Norfik), which was a good close game all the way through til halfway through the last quarter.

With a point the different at 3 quarter time, the two teams traded goals. About halfway through that last quarter, with Norfik down by about a goal, a Norfik player took a mark or was awarded a free kick. But, being a bogan twit, he thought it was appropriate to land a clenched fist into the midriff of his opposing player. The field umpire promptly reversed the kick. The Norfik redneck then mouthed off. A 50m penalty was awarded. He kept mouthing off, another was awarded, and so the free kick was taken on the goal line. That stupidity lost them the game. One guy just losing it was the difference between the two teams. The Dees ran away with it and won by a few goals. I've never understood how someone can be so selfish in a team game, to swing fists when your team has momentum and is a goal down halfway through the last stanza. Then to mouth off afterwards and give away a goal is just unforgivable. Or close enough to it. He was one of the best players, but if I was coach, he wouldn't be playing next week.

I have to say that the standard of the footy was quite impressive. I was a bit crook and lacking some match fitness, so I struggled in the second half, but it was quite a solid game. It was one of those games that are quite physical, but aren't actually all that fast. (Though I'm pretty sure it did speed up in the second half.) One way or another, my calves are in hellish pain at the moment and walking is a struggle. I'll be right tomorrow I reckon.

I'm Jerome, I suffer from PDT.

2008-03-10T10:13:00.003+11:00

30degrees at 1am in Kingston. Who'd have thought it? Anyway, it was quite an evening - spent drinking coke and eating chips in front of the box. I blame it all on a case of unusually severe pdt.

Post Dive Trauma is one of the most debilitating conditions known to divers around the globe - short of drowning itself. And, it is usually associated with the start of the dive season or the return after a lengthy lay off. And of course the post dive staple: deep fried food. This condition renders the sufferer slob-like, with barely the ability to change TV channels using the remote control - there's certainly no energy left to press mute during the ad break. What's more, if there was, the victim would be comatose before the show resumed.

Anyway, I managed two dives in a row, and managed to claim a grand total of zero fish. Anyway, the water is far colder already in March than it was at the height of summer. Hopefully I can turn my poor form around this afternoon. Or maybe I've got to stop being so fussy and get some leatherjacket and be willing to make the time investment to clean abalone... but it's tough when you factor in pdt.

2008-03-01T17:00:00.002+11:00

Well, I had my touch grand final this morning - that is, Saturday morning at half past ten. It was a tight affair, being level at 3-all at half time, then 7-all at full time. Of course, this was against a team that had had the wood over us all year - they beat us at the start of the season when we had a couple of work-horses missing, and then in the first final, when we played against them with five men and went down 8-1.

As touch finals do, we had to drop a man each at full time, so it was five a side for two minutes. I had spent the majority of the second half on the ground, so I volunteered my services on the pine. Two minutes came and it was time to drop another player, so it was four a side. At that stage, I subbed back in. It's frenetic with four a side, yet nobody managed to score. Another two minutes went by and it was time to drop another player. So it was three a side. One of their players got through, but because he was dummy half, he couldn't score, and had to pass it to a team mate to score. (When a tag is made, there is a roll ball, that is, the person who is tagged must step over the ball, rugby league style. If the person who picked it up is tagged, there is an automatic turn over, rather than having five touches. That person is the "dummy". That person is also not allowed to score.) So I was waiting for the pass back to my opponent, and managed to make the tag, as required. There were a few other runs to and fro, but essentially it blurred into one until Justin got the ball, on the right hand side of the ground after I passed it back to him. I yelled to run it into space, which is what he was going to do anyway. Mark, who has some ridiculous speed, was sitting out on the left wing, ready to recieve the pass from Justin, but the defence peeled off Justin and went to Mark and I, leaving an opening through which Justin was able to belt through and score. So we won!

Southern Touch Mens Division 5 Premiers. Thanks to Uniform City.

There was some gold sledging. If you buy me a beer, I might be able reproduce some of the gems that were on offer. Just remember, "Don't listen to the Golliwog".

Day 1

2008-02-18T22:01:00.002+11:00

Well, I've finished day 1. It saw me get through some basic stuff. But the biggest news is that the place is a veritable rabbit warren. All we need now is rabbits. Interestingly, when I went down to the security dude in the basement, I noticed a phone number on the wall for a dog-catcher... Interesting. Rabid dogs racing through the hallways, bared teeth, leaving a path of glistening slobber; I can see it now.

At least my photo id is better than my driver's licence photo.

Sam and Mel's wedding

2008-02-12T12:39:00.000+11:00

I spent last weekend in Adelaide for Sam and Mel's wedding. So there are now two Mel Nugterens, but the confusion won't last long as the original Mel Nug is getting married in, I think, 39 days (according to her mother).

Anyway, it was a rather large family event, with converging on Adelaide from all over Australia and New Zealand. Of course, there was a very Dutch flavour too.

I was very well looked after - billeted out to family friends and then I shared in the aftermath with Mel's parents.

The reception was great - the gift of dance was used delightfully, while the speeches were a real mix of light-heartedness and emotion and the cousins performed some musical tributes to the happy couple.

Not being a camera person, I think the best bet is to wait until we get some posted on Facebook...

Job Details

2008-02-07T20:40:00.000+11:00

So, I finally landed a job. It's in the renewable energy section of Hydro Tasmania Consulting, mainly focusing on wind energy, and doing consulting work for Roaring 40s and the like (not sure who exactly "the like" is.). So, they want me to start straight away, so my sustained holiday is coming to an end - which is a little sad. But I've got a job doing stuff that I'm interested in, which is not necessarily what I'd be doing if I'd got a job earlier. So I thank God for that.

I was meant to be going to Perth for the start of next week for a site visit with Rio Tinto, but I've had to withdraw from the process. I would have loved, if nothing else, to see the mine and get a feel of how it all works up there. I suppose it's a bit of a mystery to me. But that's life, and things have fallen into place really nicely. So time to celebrate.

Pfft

2008-02-06T20:53:00.000+11:00

Have you ever noticed that you're running up a gruelling hill, the most horrific grimace plastered across your face and you run past someone, just out walking the dog or taking their kid for a walk in the stroller. And they're always frowning. But as soon as they see you, all of a sudden they brighten up and pull out this massive grin.

Taking pleasure in other people's pain... it all seems a bit harsh really.

Another Interview

2008-02-05T13:32:00.000+11:00

I've noticed that it's all the hard, non-curriculum things about uni that you talk about during an interview. It's about all the difficult people you've worked with, about the tough assignments that don't add up the way that they should and about the insanity of the work load a fortnight after mid-semester break. And because you have a piece of paper which says Bachelor of Engineering with Honours, it means that you have a happy ending, and so they're all happy.

But, you're still not guaranteed a job because you don't stand out, or you do stand out, or you have wavy hair, or heaven forbid, curls.

Meant to be in Perth next week doing a site visit to the Rio Tinto mine in the Pilbara, and then I hear back from Hydro about my interview. It's all happening, as they say.

Day Trip to Melbourne

2008-01-30T12:36:00.000+11:00

Just got back from my whirlwind Melbourne tour. Dad had been eyeing off a camper trailer for a little while and at 1:30pm on Monday, he floated the possibility of me picking it up from across the Strait. He finally made up his mind that we were getting the unit and that I was going. And that I was going to take the 8pm ferry from Devonport. So that was at about quarter past two. I was on the road by a quarter to three.

The trip to Devonport, and to Melbourne for that matter, was very uneventful - punctuated only by screenings of Ocean's 13 and The Flying Scotsman.

Having arrived in St Kilda at about 7:30, I had a bit of time to kill before The Music Place opened at 9. In the end, I managed to get myself a new mouthpiece for my little curved sop and a new box of reeds. So there went a couple of hundred bucks...

My directions to get to Frankston were from the ferry terminal, rather than from The Music Place, but I managed to get on the right track with the old "bear left on to St Kilda Rd. 1.6km. 2mins" whereis directions.

After getting the camper, I visited Nate Campbell. I called him when I was in Frankston. He said, "I live at 96 Kensington St, Kensington. That's like North-West Melbourne." Somehow I managed to find it with only those directions... and then get back to the boat rather early...

So, I was quite proud of my Melbourne navigation, considering that I didn't have any Melways or anything. (And the fact that I've managed to get myself lost in Hobart before.)

Fun times were had driving in Melbourne. My first time ever driving through the city in Melbourne was with a camper trailer on the back at peak hour.

On the boat, I randomly met up with a mate from engi. So we drank draughts all night long. And then there were the two Swiss tourists who we met. She had quite long legs... he was a banker.

And made it back to Hobart by a quarter to eleven on Wednesday morning.

Latest news and current affairs

2008-01-18T11:29:00.000+11:00

Well, it's Friday. Another week will seamlessly flow into the next. And frankly, I'm happy with that.

Again, this week has featured running. I dare say a few more kms than most weeks, but generally at a slightly lower intensity. I had been struggling with the long rep work, so hopefully the couple of long runs I went on will help to build up the leg strength I need for those long reps.

Anyway, I have my first race since those athletics carnivals. I'm running the opening leg of a 4*100m relay, representing the umpires against various SFL footy teams. As much as I don't want to lose to them, there is a certain realisation that at school I was only ever about fourth or fifth fastest in my house - so I never made the 100m finals at the carnivals. And my training has hardly touched on anything useful for running 100m - other than a few warm up strides. So, nervous times.

In non-running news, I had a lovely birthday on Wednesday. It was all very relaxed. I've also been talking with various people on the job front. Nothing concrete there, but various things do seem to be firming up. But it remains to be seen exactly what the future holds. Thank goodness for God's hands.

We've been catching heaps of squid of late. They taste good. I went out on the boat with dad, and it was hard work trying to find a spot where there wasn't squid. Leaving Kingston Beach, we got over half way to O'Possum Bay before we found a squidless spot. Unfortunately, there weren't any other fish either. So we picked up about 30 squid that day, which makes for a fair bit of squid cleaning - which somehow I managed to avoid on the grounds that I was waiting for a phone call from Rio Tinto.

Anyway, looks like we won't be buying bait for a while...

Jobs and Autographs

2008-01-14T20:30:00.000+11:00

Whilst having a bash down at the Calvin cricket nets, there were a few kids playing. They didn't have any gear, so I lent them some of mine. They asked if any of us played in a team. Everyone looked at me... "I played Kingborough third grade. I was pretty useless*." The kids were excited as anything and asked for my autograph. When it was revealed that I didn't have a pen on me, one of them ran home and grabbed a crayon and some paper...

So, I made their day, and signed their paper and their cricket bat. Probably not good long-term prospects, when they realise how terrible a cricketer I actually was/am...

*As far as being a useless cricketer, I have proof:
I was playing down at Kingston Beach for the Borough thirds. In the sheds, the captain gave us all an inspirational talk. "You each have a role. Each of you know what your role is..." There was a solid five minutes of it.

As we walked out on to the field I quietly said to the captain, "Streety, I'm not exactly sure what I'm in the team as. I mean, am I a bowler or a batsman?" To which he replied, "You're a third grade cricketer."

Anyway, enough cricketing antics...

Jobs, now where did we get to? Well, I had an interview with the Hydro today. They bought me lunch, so I'm not complaining one way or the other. They made it sound like they really want me, and are willing to get competitive to get me. I've applied to Roaring40s whose position was that there were several applicants and that I was the one who had to get competitive. Rio Tinto, well, they're in Perth/Pilbara and I have a phone interview at 4pm tomorrow with their senior engineer. I don't know if they have any other people that they're considering for the position.

Anyway, that's jobs. PhD may or may not get a gurnsey. Not sure.

What else is new? Hmmm. Still running. I always have enough energy for the short strides at the end, having run so slowly during the reps, much to the coach's disgust. They don't seem to understand that I can't run anything over about 400m at any pace, let alone rep those distances, but somehow, after trying, I can still do my strides at decent pace. Confusing.

So, if I'm talking about running, then not much must be happening... we did win our touch footy game last week 14-2, so that was pretty cool. And we only had 6 players. (There's 6 on the field at any one time.)

Um, it's my birthday on Wednesday. I'm almost an old fart. Anyway, the traditional drowning of the sorrows will occur on Friday 18th January. Meet at Bar Celona around 8:30 or so. Anyway, if you can come, and you want to come, you're more than welcome. If you can't come, you'd still be welcome, but hey, that's life. If you don't want to come... fine. I think that about covers it...

Flinders Island

2008-01-03T10:30:00.000+11:00

I'm home after 6 days on Flinders. Here's a bit of a rundown:

Day 1: Seth, Alex and Tim picked me up a smidgen after 5am and we drove up to Lonnie to catch the 8am flight to Flinders. We flew on a 12-seat Cessna.

Having arrived on the island, John picked us up and took us back to his place where Owen and Andrew were finishing breakfast. We decided to hit the golf course and consequently spent the next few hours scrambling through thick bush. Our group of 7 zigzagged our way across the course finding lots of balls and losing almost as many.

That afternoon/evening we went out to Trousers Point and hit the water with snorkelling gear. Lack of weight belt made things a wee bit difficult. There weren't actually many good eating fish about - wrasse, banded morwong and the odd boarfish (boarfish are illegal to spear but taste good). But it was, nonetheless good to hit the water.

Andrew is a cooking genius and was heavily responsible for the bbq that we enjoyed that evening.

Day 2: We scaled Mt Strzelecki. It's about 750m high and we started at about 20m elevation. So quite a solid climb. I managed to conquer it in 65mins, a feat I was quite chuffed with. And the views were grand, overlooking the Furneax group, as well as giving us a view all the way to the Tasmanian mainland, some 20km away.

Again, that afternoon, we hit the water for a snorkel.

Day 3: It was a Sunday, so very few things were open. We had to go to the next town to find an open shop - where they charged us some $6 for a red capsicum... That afternoon we headed to a different beach/dive spot. This time the place was crawling with leatherjacket. Leatherjacket a good eating, but not great. Either way I speared a few of them and we managed to find a couple of size abalone.

Day 4: This was the highlight of the trip: a boat charter where we stopped at a couple of dive spots and did a spot of fishing and it coincided with New Year's Eve, so we had a seafood banquet followed by a few other shenanigans.

The first dive stop was at a ship wreck. Lots of chunky ship paraphernalia lay strewn through the water and on the rocks. Again, there were leatherjacket aplenty. The guy who took us out went down with SCUBA gear and picked up the biggest cray I've ever seen. The carapace was over 20cm long. You needed two hands to pick it up. The second dive spot was the place for abalone - we picked up 8 of them and there were plenty more to be had if we wanted them. We stopped for a fish and landed a some very nice size flathead. The flathead on Flinders are massive.

That evening we cooked up the seafood and feasted. John had the idea of replicating one of his science pracs after dinner: making Coke bottle rockets. A couple of minutes after midnight we had the rocket ready, complete with a bicycle flashlight and parachute. We gave it a couple of successful launches before settling down to watch the lightning storm as it approached. We lay on the grass for some time before we noticed some heavy water droplets falling on us occasionally. Quarter of an hour later, tucked up in bed, the heavens exploded releasing a phenomenal amount of water.

Day 5: We took out the coke bottle rocket, and rather than sending up flash light and torch, we sent up eggs - sending them about 40 - 50m into the air. Then the tennis ball got launched. Based on s=ut+0.5at^2, we calculated a height of about 60m, having allowed a bit for air resistance. Not a bad effort for a bit of compressed air and water.

That afternoon we went to the beach and attempted to play beach cricket. It was going swimmingly until the tide began to come in and engulf the pitch. Our tennis balls split as well, which didn't help our cause...

Day 6: The final day. We went up another mountain - a solid 45min climb up rather steep, rocky terrain. We came across a lovely big echidna and a not so lovely black snake - probably a tiger snake. There were so many flies at the top, but much to my relief, they seemed to congregate around people other than me. There were a few skinks and there are a fair few blue tongues over there too.

We managed to get ourselves packed up in time for the 5pm flight... quite happy with that effort.

2007-12-27T11:12:00.000+11:00

Well, Christmas has come and gone, New Years was 361 days ago and I'm sitting down for a good old blog.

Christmas, as always was great. Family Christmas on Sunday, before friend and vague acquaintances on Tuesday. Good way to get to know people, I spose.

So what have I been doing of late? Reading, trying to get a decent sound out of my sax, playing board games, hit the cricket nets for the first time in a while yesterday and I booked a trip to Adelaide for the S&M Nugteren wedding in Adelaide in fab Feb.

I also noticed that it was 44degC in Perth yesterday. Ahhh, the memories. Haven't had that in a while. It was snowing on Christmas eve here in Tassie. And it's been generally cold the last couple of days.

But the Bureau promises warmth... for Friday... the day I leave. But I leave for Flinders Island, so hopefully it all corresponds to warmth up there too.

I've heard the fish, cray and ab (fish rather than abdominals) are nothing short of amazing, so I intend to find out for myself.

Graduation spells the end of Mocember

2007-12-18T09:01:00.000+11:00

Graduation is today. Which is kinda cool. So, I'm thinking I'm going to have to erase my mocember effort - it lacks the required definition and will probably just look blurry on photos, which is not a good look.

In other news, I think I'm getting fitter... having suffered the ignonimity of running behind dad a few weeks ago cos I was so dead, I've managed to overtake him quite comfortably now. So that's good.

And I got tix to the cricket, which is not something I planned, but should be a bit of fun, nonetheless.

Been starting to hit the dive trails. Been twice in the last week. Some definite early season form, only snaring one fish each time. (The second time I actually got two fish, and got them both into my catch bag, but alas, when I came to shore, there was only one fish in my bag. I guess he'll live to fight another day...)

Anyway, I've heard rumours that Christmas is coming to town.

Perth and related shenanigans...

2007-12-06T14:03:00.000+11:00

Well, I'm in Perth. Perth is great. I love Perth. Anyway, let's not get too teary now.

I'm in Perth for the wedding of my best friend from primary school, and he and his family have shown me overwhelming hospitality, for which I am eternally grateful.

Last weekend, we went up to Lancelin, 1h north of Perth where we engaged in minimalistic bucks party shenanigans. We filled several hundred water balloons and covered them with tomato and bbq sauce, before heading out to the sand dunes for an epic water fight. The team who ended up with both the thongs won. My team lost our thong early in the piece after a dominant run by our opposition, that tore apart our lines of defence. But there were still unpunctured water bombs, so the fight continued. A diversionary flanking resulted in one member making it to the opposition base, allowing him to lay hands on the prized footwear. Just before being splatted, he was able to unload his cargo into a bush, before returning to base, as specified by our rules of engagement. The flanking operation also was forced to return to base, having been saturated by bomb contents. The ensuing meeting of our team determined that we should repeat the previous manoeuver. This resulted in the successful collection of the cargo and return to base. The rest of the war was played out without the sacred footwear changing hands.

Anyway, the wedding is on Saturday, rehearsal is this evening, I leave just before midnight on Sunday and I catch up with family for Sunday lunch. I visited a whole bunch of family friends yesterday - none of whom recognised me at first! I also visited my old primary school, which has grown into quite an expansive campus - it is k-12, so it is quite significant. My visit coincided with the last day of school, so I was able to see some more family friends, and ran into the parents of one of my best mates from primary school.

Today, I rang a guy up from Rio Tinto, and sent off an application there. It will be interesting to see how that goes. There is some serious thought that has to go into what happens to me in the next few years. Anyway, pray for me if you would.

And the touch footy team had another good win on Wednesday night without me. So things are on the improve there. Next week we play the top team, so that'll be a really good challenge - we're second on the ladder at the moment.

As far as marks went - I get to graduate with upper second class honours on the 18th, so I'm quite proud of that, despite the fact that I was quite disappointed with my exam marks. They liked my thesis, and that was the thing that counted the most, so that's pretty cool.

Anyway, time to be sociable, so I'll hop off the computer now!

Touch Footy Update: Big Win for the Mighty Cobras

2007-11-29T11:53:00.001+11:00

Last night in a battle of the Div 4 dropouts (they and us moved from Div 4 to Div 5), the Cobras rolled their opposition 10-1 (their 1 came from one of our players having maroon rather than black stripes on his shirt). All of a sudden we're showing some solid defence and some creative attack. And it helped that the other team had no idea.

We managed to win with only one substitute, while they had about five. And I swear some of their boys were on the angry pills - one big bald bugger with no neck wouldn't even shake our hand afterwards. It didn't help that they didn't know half the rules,and weren't willing to listen either.

Anyway, I managed to score once and came up with one vote - which may have been for picking up the hats after the game - saving the refs a run. I'll take it! Good times.

In other news, I'm looking at another company - a big international firm that does a fair bit of different stuff - and they have a workshop in Moonah. Might drop in today.

Oh, and I leave for Perth tomorrow night. Anne-Sophie arrives back in Tassie from Sydney in the morning. And I get my results tomorrow. My knees are already rather weak. Hopefully I got through. Hopefully. We'll see how we go.

Movember

2007-11-28T17:12:00.000+11:00

Well Movember is almost over, so I decided to start growing a mo... I'm possibly a little late with it - at least I have a good reason for having a crap mo seeings as I have started so late in the piece.

The race that stopped a nation

2007-11-26T19:36:00.000+11:00

Well, I went to Maryborough. We worked hard. We lost. We learnt. We had fun.

We worked frantically on our four-wheeled carbon-fibre beast - arriving at Maryborough on Thursday morning, working all Thursday on it, all Friday on it, got it past the scrutineers on the Saturday morning, worked till 1pm on the Saturday. The raced started at 1:30. We pulled it off the track at about a quarter to two and let it back on the track at quarter past four. And then there were numerous hindrances that slowed us down.

Essentially, the drive-train was crap. To give you an idea, I was doing 3min30 laps(1.3km track) during the afternoon. We gradually improved things and I got it down to a 3min02 lap. The other rider managed a best time of 3min20 on that vehicle. He then completed a few laps with another vehicle from Tassie and completed a 2min17 lap - knocking 1min03 off his previous best and set a Rosny College record for fastest lap time. The drive-train of the quicker vehicle was by no means good.

Anyway, we raced til about 3am or so before hitting the hay. We got up at 7 to give it another go. Unfortunately, the drive-train had suddenly worsened. I managed two laps and Reuben (the other rider)after much coaxing for the sake of photos, managed three. The rear sprocket was wobbling really badly, suggesting a bent rear axle. Nobody knows what incident could have caused it.

On the plus side, the four wheels meant that rather than taking the racing line, you could accelerate into the corners, throw yourself around and keep accelerating, without getting off that inside line. We never looked like rolling.

So for my 3min02 lap, the average speed corresponded to 26km/h. For Reuben's 2min17 lap, it corresponds to about 34km/h. The lap record was 1min45. That corresponds to 44.5km/h. The track speed limit is, in theory, 60km/h.

So, looking at the efficiencies, based solely on times, the drive-train efficiency (including extra wheel - all the other vehicles were 3-wheelers) was ~25% worse with our machine. However, the fact that our machine could take tighter lines, it had reduced frontal area, reducing aerodynamic drag and was about 5kg lighter, meant that the drive train would be about 35% worse. Assuming that the drive-train of the better vehicles was about 80% (finely tuned drive-trains have efficiencies upwards of 98%, but they cost big bucks, and experts are tuning them, furthermore, in the race there would have been significant deterioration, so I'd say 80% efficient is a conservative estimate), then the efficiency of the drive train of our 4-wheeler would then be around 45%. We'll say 49% to be generous. Now, assume power input is proportional to velocity (which is not quite right, I know). So if we doubled the drive-train efficiency, we would say that we could double the average speed to 52km/h, which corresponds to me setting a lap record.

But, unfortunately, aerodynamic drag is proportional to velocity cubed... so on a bicycle, this means that, while pedalling at 30km/h, 80% of your input energy is going into overcoming aerodynamic drag. So, 52km/h average speed is no longer a realistic target, even with the reduced frontal area and drag coefficient of the HPV (They are both linearly proportional and aren't reduced quite as much as is required to make our machine record-breaking.)

So, room for improvement all round.

24h Endurance Race at Maryborough and Weight Loss

2007-11-21T12:00:00.000+11:00

Well, I'm all packed for Maryborough. Maryborough is 2.5h west of Melbourne, so it's gonna be a bit of an epic trek to get there, considering we're taking the boat.

The race is from midday Saturday to midday Sunday, I think. Heaps of scrutineering and presentations and all that sort of stuff on Friday. And still got a reasonable amount of work getting the vehicle in shape - got all the parts now, just a case of assembling the jigsaw. We did our last lot of carbon fibring last night, so that's done and dusted.

I've also been getting fit... or starting to. I trained again with the running group last night and realised how unfit I really am. It's struggle street all the way. But on Monday Justin and I managed to get to the top of Leslie Vale, which was 40 mins of solid uphill running, 5 mins break at the top, then 32 mins to come back down the hill. So the fitness is starting slowly to return. I have lost 2kg since exams though, so I've done a few kms.

Antarctic Division

2007-11-15T11:47:00.000+11:00

Well here goes. Off to the Antarctic Division to see if they'll tell me to bugger off again... hopefully not. I'm kind of sick of getting knock-backs. But at the same time, it means holidays, and plenty of opportunities to muck around, writing, playing music and kicking back.

Meant to be running with the running group tonight. It's a bit scary because I'm not in the greatest shape at the moment, so I'm going to really struggle. We'll see how it goes.

Played touch footy last night. A much improved performance to the ones that saw us demoted in recent weeks. I'm not sure if we won or not. The original word was a 6-4 loss, but they had forgotten to mark down a try we scored after the final siren (play continues after the siren until someone is touched, or there is a score). Furthermore, they played two suspended players for the first half, one of whom scored four times, and had amazing speed. You apparently lose one try for every suspended player you play. So that would have us 5-4 up. But the shirt of one of our players had dark maroon stripes rather than black stripes because the manufacturers buggered up, so they were talking about taking a try off us, so it might be a 4-4 draw. Who knows...

Right, off to get some work.

I'm alive

2007-11-10T12:16:00.000+11:00

I started preseason training yesterday... running, weights, etc (I'm not sure what the etc is referring to) but there are no two ways about it, this uni business makes you very unfit. And trying to recover leaves you very sore (or me in any case).

I've been relatively productive already since those exams - got some contact lenses sorted, got a trip to Perth booked, and done a bit of other random stuff.

Then there's been the partying... it's all been good times. Holidays really are fantastic!

End times...

2007-11-02T10:32:00.000+11:00

2h15mins of assessment left in my degree! And it's worth 80%.

I had my intelligent systems exam yesterday, which went relatively well. It's always a pain when the lecturers are vague about what won't be in the exam - this guy was saying how different the exam was going to be. It was the same format with different questions, which would is what one would expect... it just added to the confusion.

I really don't like exams (except for 1st year maths and 4th year enviro). I put heaps of effort into getting internals done (even if they're worth next to nothing) because I don't want to submit something that's substandard. So I'm generally too tired to really study properly - and there just isn't time to study in the lead up to Swat Vac.

So, you're exhausted and all of a sudden you have to cram 13 weeks times 4 subjects worth of new material (remove 2 weeks cos... just because), so 11*4=44 weeks worth of work crammed into 2.5-3weeks... I find it a bit of a struggle. Anyway, I'm almost there! It's all almost over.

Will I miss it? It'll be strange, different and unusual, but I love holidays and never struggle to find things to do. So hopefully I'll be able to catch up and keep in touch with everyone. It's always the people you miss the most.

My thermo exam...

2007-10-29T22:01:00.000+11:00

Had my 3rd last exam ever today... it didn't go too well - I somehow discovered a perpetual motion machine - a turbine that put out more energy than a corresponding compressor used up to run the machine. Sheer genius!

Then we had a problem that was quite literally "off the charts". A process was meant to be cooling and ended up heating it so the air was over 100 degrees (ie off the psychrometric chart that we were given).

And then there was a problem with finding the required surface area of a heat exchanger... I though all the formulae would be given. I was wrong.

So yeah... bugger.

Blog... Isn't it about time?

2007-10-22T18:40:00.000+11:00

And I'm back... just quick before my exams.

Got three of them.

I've submitted my thesis. I went to the second half of the pot luck formal. Mum's in France. I'm meant to be racing an HPV at Maryborough Victoria late November, planning to go to Perth early December, new years on Flinders, maybe, before going up to Yamba/Maclean, there's touch footy, preseason umpire training, diving, writing and general holidaying also coming up... but no job. Oh well, I might get a holiday.

Saints Sail to Six Straight

2007-09-30T15:20:00.000+10:00

Good news: a solid win from the southern Saints over the northern mob after a bit of a scare. Some quality footy and some absolute crap was played which saw a 21point southern win to take the tally to six-zip in the traditional north v south grand final footy match.

Everyone was falling like flies in the last quarter with heaps of people cramping up. Scott van Tuil was seen on crutchers at various points since the win and Keith van der Schoor is nursing a broken finger.

It was certainly a tighter contest than the afternoon's onslaught, but that was almost not the case as Justin vanderVelde dominated the first quarter with four goals. The coach deserves a shellacking for moving him out of full forward.

The G-Train was very smooth in his transition to the Australian football code with some strong marking. Rick Laning was a handy inclusion, having just returned from the USA. He toiled away in the ruck all day. Jono Haynes was a late exclusion, having come down with a flu on the morning of the game. He never seems to come away from these footy games unscathed.

Anyway, looking forward to next year now.

Instruments

2007-09-28T16:32:00.000+10:00

I heard back from David Temby - the guy who made my soprano sax. He called to say that he received the instrument and that even when he played it, it was out between the octaves. So he's changed the neck and tuned it a bit and it is now in tune.

He strongly recommends that I get a new mouthpiece for it though, which means that I need to head north to the big Melbourne smoke to try it out and make a purchase.

Exciting times - and I feel a bit relieved to know that it's not just that I'm a really crap player that I was so far out of tune.

I tried Nick Mollison's French Horn the other day too. Very cool. He looked very perturbed when I took to playing it out of the side of my mouth rather than the front. I played a bit of didgeridoo and I play that out of the side of my mouth, and the technique is similar - except meant to come out of the front of the mouth. I, of course can't cope with all this change.

Feeling inspired to learn trumpet now.

New world of words

2007-09-25T10:29:00.000+10:00

Last night I was very stupid. I got inspired to write. So I wrote, and it was 1am before I shutdown the old (new) laptop and lay down my weary head.

But the true moment of enlightenment came just now whilst reading the Australian Standards Online (No, I'm not a completely sad bastard - I was doing it for my honours), anyway, I came across the word "frangible". Cool word, I thought. It turns out that it is from the old French, and means breakable, or fragile.

It's kind of interesting the thought of designing stuff that has to be easily broken. Like those "Break glass in case of fire" panels.

I spent the summer designing stuff so that it would break really easily. Not many people aim at low breaking points, so it makes the task that much more difficult.

I remember trying to perform a destructive test where failure should have occurred when I applied 30kg. I gave up at 150kg. It was kind of funny - it was all held up by al foil (120 micron, rather than your usual 10-20 micron stuff). The pics tell the story I think... In each of those little boxes were 10kg of ball bearings. The big buckets were full of water - 20kg each. All held up by bending around some al foil...

Anyway, the stuff, quite simply, was not frangible enough.

The rantings of a madman

Love

Marriage

What would you do?

The pompous chosen ones

Human nature

Worship

Discernment Part 3

Discernment Part 2

Discernment Part 1

Conservative Isolation

Raptor eats cheerleader

Leviticus for Littlies

Eat v Exercise

Jinny

Romans 5:12 - 20

Romans 5:1-11

World's Saddest Shave...

King Island

Perth Shenania

Melbourne Shenania: the Non-Tennis Saga

Where are they all going?

Cadbury Half Marathon

New Years

The End is Nigh

Welcome to Boxing Day

The Combo

The Photo

The Corner of the State... Where the turbines flourish

Everywhere

Dissatifsfied: Third Instalment

The Questioner: Second Instalment

10 year reflection First Instalment

The week that was

My imminent adventures

Black S...

Writing

Race

Renae says to keep it anonymous...

NEEC/Turbines/Training

Burnie 10

Galacticatica

Didn't quite make it

The big game/more preseason training/day off

Preseason Begins

Boundary Umpires versus Field Umpires

Seat Belts

Grand Final

My favourite things

A Boundary Umpire's Perspective

I think I'm weird

NEEC Synopsis Summit: Latest Draft

NEEC Synopsis Summit: Latest Draft

NEEC Synopsis

Olympics

NEEC/Footy Finals

Cold

Energy Arguments

My General Health

Energy

About time for another post

Boys' week at the opera

Saturday Night

I come from Flanders...

Families

Something... ah... controversial

First Game Back

More Stories from the Sea

I'm Jerome, I suffer from PDT.

Day 1

Sam and Mel's wedding

Job Details

Pfft

Another Interview

Day Trip to Melbourne

Latest news and current affairs

Jobs and Autographs

Flinders Island

Graduation spells the end of Mocember

Perth and related shenanigans...