Friday, December 31, 2004

Happy Christmas to me and to the kids too

Well I got the new bike today.
Whooppee!

And then I went and bought the kids a brand new Yamaha PeeWee 50cc motorbike, helmet and gloves.

Party on!

Pics of the old blackbird CBR100XX before I took it to the shop.



Pics of the new bikes





Posted by: Jethro | 11:56 PM |

Funeral Part 2

I just wanted to put down some of my thoughts about the funeral while they were still fresh in my mind.
This wasn't my grandmother, yet I had met her numerous times and even gone and stayed with her and Grandad once.

I really wanted to involve the kids, though they hardly knew their great grandmother (due to living so far away). They were really well behaved in the service and then at the graveside. They seemed fine with the concept that this was just great grandma's body going into the ground and that she was dancing with the angels in heaven.

I think the thing that choked me up the most was during the funeral procession when the local copper directing traffic stood at attention with his hat held to his chest as the hearse and family cars went through the intersection he was managing and then in my rearview mirror I saw him with his hat back on directing traffic. The respect he showed my wife's grandfather made me very proud of him.
Of course most people in the town of Monto would know Len. He painted the street numbers on the curbs for every house in the town. Part of an emergency response system so that fire engines and ambulances could locate houses easily. That's the sort of bloke he is. Grandma was his proud supporter and his best friend for 53 years.

We will miss her, but her spirit lives on with Grandad Len.

He invited us to stay - said there were spare rooms and he would be lonely now. We will arrange a trip soon I think.


Posted by: Jethro | 1:20 PM |

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Funeral

We drove 4 1/4 hours northwest (460km) to Monto to attend Judith's Grandma's funeral today.
Then we drove back.
We are alll buggered!


Posted by: Jethro | 8:34 PM |

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

New Bike Yamaha Warrior Midnight Edition

Its nearly mine!
Yamaha Warrior Midnight Edition
Paperwork to be done - registration and stamp duty and all that guff, then I will need to sign all the stuff on friday and hopefully take delivery then also. Thursday we are off to a funeral so I can't do it then.
So Friday 31st December 2004 should be a great day!


Posted by: Jethro | 11:25 AM |

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Christmas 2004

A fanatastic day!

We started off at 3AM when the kids decided it was time to open presents. More to the point my wife started then as she made them go back to sleep as I snored blissfully.

At around 6:30 we got up and started presents. Lots of fun!
I received a leather belt from Paraguay, the Lord of the Rings Extended DVD versions parts 1 and 3 (I received part two for my birthday), a blue flashing LED pen, a scented candle, a toolbox and lots of joy from giving presents to the kids and wife.

We then had family and friends for breakfast - cooked bacon and eggs and sausages etc, waffles fruit and cereals.

Boxing day we celebrated Jadeen's birthday, the highlight was the new pushbike I gave her.

Finally yesterday we had the street party with the home group. We had all our home group plus 3 families from the street here. Total 32 people. The kids were all well behnaved (partly due to the computer LAN we had running of Insane Racing). The adults enjoyed plenty of conversation and then some music as Ken played guitar and harmonica and I dragged out the violin to fiddle away a few tunes.

Photos to be posted shortly.


Posted by: Jethro | 3:45 PM |

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Closed for Christmas

Closed for Christmas!
Normal programming will resume shortly.
Have a safe and Merry Christmas.



Hint - Do NOT leave the 3 yr old unsupervised with the 6 tear old's paints she got for Christmas!


Posted by: Jethro | 5:54 PM |

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Cruising on the Blackbird and Warrior news

Today I had the privilege of being asked to take a young lady who turned 21 yesterday on a long bike ride. It was actually planned about a month ago by her scheming mother!
She and her husband are bikers from way back, but currently their largest machine is a 400cc scooter. Check out the photos from our last ride together.
Sam is also a bike rider currently on a small scooter but has just acquired her full size bike license and looking to purchase her first big bike.
So I was off at 6:45 am to pick up Sam. After bringing her back to our place to kit her in a better jacket, gloves and helmet we headed for the hills.

The day was perfect for riding; slightly overcast and warm. We headed through the back of caboolture (Moorina, and Caboolture River Road to Woodford, then took the Kilcoy Beerwah highway up toward Peachester. Virtually no traffic and long straights and gently curving bends saw some fantastic speeds (Sam's fastest ever she said later). Hitting the turn off toward Maleny we were into switch backs and steep hill climbs. The new tyres performed flawlessly and I felt extremely comfortable sling my ass off the saddle to drop into each corner. Sam was a great pillion sitting back and grabbing the rack so as not to be in my way. She had a great view from the secarpment as we climbed up and up. The 4 cylinders screamed up to 10,000 revs and gurgled back to 7000 as we flicked in and out of hairpins and sweeping curves, hardly touching the brakes as the engine braking and the steepness of the hill was enough to set most corners up.

Reaching Maleny we fueled up and then headed to Montville. This time we were on the other side of the escarpment looking out over the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. A leisurely coffee (breakfast) was followed by Sam doing some shopping as I took care of some business via phone.

Leaving Montville we headed down to Nambour relishing the tight switchbacks and steep descent. We then cruised gently back to the highway where we joined a double stream of traffic. The bike was effortless and nimble as we negotiated the traffic in record time. Most vehicles saw us briefly as we flicked past them. Some never saw us at all!

Today I made an offer on a brand new bike.
Have yet to firm up the deal but if it goes ahead I will be trading the CBR1100XX for a Limited Edition Yamaha Warrior. 1670 ccs of Performance Cruiser!
Check this write up out.
It seems the Harley V-Rod looks better and drags faster, but is outperformed in comfort, road handling and performance everywhere else by the warrior.


Posted by: Jethro | 12:59 PM |

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Great photos of African animals and landscapes

Check out Alan and Leeane's web pages.
Click this link then click Holidays and Africa to see the pictures. Alan works for one of my clients. He and Leeane recently went on a 3 month round the world jaunt - spending most of the time in Africa.
He has some absolutely amazing photos in here of African animals and landscapes. He may also let you use them if you ask him nicely!


Posted by: Jethro | 10:39 PM |

New tyres and oil change for the CBR1100XX

Today I got new tyres for the CBR1100XX. Expensive! but worth every penny.
I purchased the Bridgestone BT20's for front and rear. I also purchased an oil filter and 4 litres of semi synthetic engine oil.
I thought I was going to have to take the fairing off to change the filter but no!
The first thing I did was use Google to see if there were any instructions out there on how to change the oil filters.
Forget crappy manuals written in half english!
I found a bunch of sites. The most useful one was Super Blackbird. Here I found comprehensive instructions. I took photos as I went so that I could add to his great instructions these photos.

[Photos didnt come out sorry!]

I also found some great write ups on the bike.
Buying a used CBR1100XX Super Blackbird in Australia
Ciao - a review of the bike


Posted by: Jethro | 4:45 PM |

Latest web project

I have finally completed the revamp to the KROSTech LAN Party website. Its a good thing this is not a client site. I started changing this site in July, did some more in September and now its nearly finished.
Please let me know what you think of the colours. Doug didn't like the green. He did say he needed to lie down in the next sentence!


Posted by: Jethro | 2:25 AM |

Monday, December 20, 2004

Some more links to friends who I have visited lately

I am awake now!
Here's some more of the links I was going to do the other night and fell asleep half way through creating the entry. When I dropped the mouse I woke up and decided it was time to go to bed.

David Heddle has finished his novel and is pondering how to get it published. Read the synopsis.
Darren has been punning pictorially in his blogger idol entry.
Real Live Preacher loves the Incredibles He also wrote two fantastic artices about his grandad. Part one. Part two. Makes me want to write about mine. Maybe I will.
Genuine has a all new superhero look. What does it take to be linked on his site?

Ok that will have to do for now - more later!


Posted by: Jethro | 9:26 AM |

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Blogging around

I have saved some of the links I have come across i the blogs I read regulalry.

Journey with me through some very different country.

Pressed quotes from Spurgeon on the absolute requirement of Divine Intervention in the regeneration of man at the point of conversion.
Russ from Coffeehouse pointed to this article about Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's opposition leader mystery illness.
Jono my brother writes an interesting article and interview with a student participating in the orange revolution in The Ukraine.
Bill Gates gets 4 million spam email per day!
And now I am falling asleep so I will do the rest later.


Posted by: Jethro | 11:50 PM |

I had a date with a beautiful girl tonight

I just went on a date - to the Gold Class movies - on the CBR1100XX! and best of all with my favourite wife!


Posted by: Jethro | 11:06 PM |

Friday, December 17, 2004

Operation Auxin Sentencing has begun - but where are the real criminals?

Follow up to the major child pr0nography (deliberate spelling error) operation Auxin.
Earlier post on operation Auxin.
Link to article by Rev Dr Gordon Moyes

Sentencing has begun in this case with the first guilty plea entered on the Gold Coast.
Another guilty plea from Perth. Free registration required)
Follow up in parliament with legislation pending making it tougher on offenders.

Thats all good news, but where are the court cases of the the real offenders, those who actually sexually assualt small children in order to create this material in the first place?
Not to make light of those convicted for possesion; 265,000 pieces of pornographic material represents in my view a serious obesession, not "a journey of enlightenment and understanding of his own sexuality and human sexual relationships" as the defendant advised his legal counsel to offer as an excuse.
However in my mind the worse criminal is the perpertrator of the assualt. The damage to the kids minds and the potential inability to ever enjoy a natural sexual relationship with their spouse is appalling.


Posted by: Jethro | 1:05 AM |

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Erin hurt her foot

Wee Erin hurt her foot yesterday. This morning the bruise and lumps were still there and she was still walking tenderly on it. So off to the doctors for x-rays. However no broken bones, just a strain.

The server this site is hosted on had a memory failure last night and that was compounded by the major carrier in Australia (Telstra) having some connectivity issues. Hope you weren't inconvenienced. Of course if you use RSS to syndicate this site then you wouldn't have noticed anything amiss at all!


Posted by: Jethro | 1:27 PM |

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Thunder and Lightning, Super Blackbird, Road Rage

Its all happening over here!

Sorry for not posting last couple of days.
Transferring servers for this site followed by a lightning strike taking out my ADSL router on my other server are my excuses. I haven't had connectivity for 2 days (felt like I was blind!)
Back online now!
Full story on the tech site.

Still in the middle of all that business I found some time to play games with the kids, take some cool photos of my girls, and even play some multiplayer Sacred with my wife and a friend.




I took my CBR1100XX for a spin tonight to the city and back for a client's Christmas party. On the road home I met some inconsiderate road users. We have a rule here that you cannot stay in the outside lane (the fast lane) if there's nothing in the inside lane. Althought its not technically illegal to undertake (pass on the inside) it can be dangerous (particularly on a bike) if the other driver suddenlly decides to pull over just as you are in their blind spot (even worse on a bike). So like most bike riders as I come up behind a driver camped in the right hand lane (take your tent pegs when you leave please!) I give them a few seconds courtesy time to check their mirrors and the inside lane and politely pull over. When they don't (and he didn't) I flick my high beam pass button.. I waited 5 seconds or so. I knew he had seen me cos he was looking at the mirror when i flicked it a second time. He refused to pull over so i decided to turn my high beams on full. This is VERY bright on the Super Blackbird even from 20 metres back. After 10 seconds or so of him ignoring me I indicated for 2-3 seconds and then passed on the inside. He had the gall to flip me the bird!

The second driver was the opposite. A driver who was going 60kms in a 70kms zone pulled over to the inside lane when a single lane became two. He was good. I had only been behind him for a couple hundred metres as he had turned onto the road from a side street. As I passed him I then indicated and turned into his lane to take an exit on the next intersection. He decided to put his high beams on.
So when I got to the exit I stopped. Completely. I was in the right to do this because the road markings required me to give way to any other traffic. There was none, but I made sure there was none for about the 30 seconds or so it took him to turn his high beams off. I drove off and within about 200 metres he had them back on again, though well behind me this time.

Some people!


Posted by: Jethro | 9:58 PM |

Saturday, December 11, 2004

JAM Creativity has a new look and Dave has got his own blog

Judith has learnt some CSS (taught herself) and she has posted up some of her latest paintings on her JAM Creativity site. Check them out! they are awesome.

My littlest brother Dave has finally got his own blog after hogging the family website for sometime. He writes really interesting stories about his really interesting life travelling around.


Posted by: Jethro | 11:54 PM |

The countdown to Christmas has started

Actually it started some time ago - around 11 months ago. Shortly after Christmas last year the kids wanted to know when Christmas was happening again!
I guess that means they must have enjoyed it.
Excitement currently is near fever pitch. Not only is it nearly Christmas but the 5 year old Jadeen, turns 6 on boxing day. So double excitement for her.

This year we are not going away as in previous years for a number of reasons, including Judith's grandmother still critically ill in the intensive care unit of a private hospital here in Brisbane.

We are hosting a breakfast here on Christmas day for sundry relatives and friends.
The rest of the day will be pretty relaxed as per usual.
Boxing day is Jade's birthday and we have some great presents for her. I am upgrading her pushbike and the new bike is pink and pretty. She has rapidly outgrown the little bike and its time for the training wheels to go back on and set it up for the 3 year old. Jude has painted a large canvas sort of pink swirly colours with several black dolphin shapes gyrating across it. I think that will be a hit also.

The day after boxing day we are hosting our annual (second) Christmas street party. This is already looking to be bigger than last year with our whole street (6 houses) coming (I think) as well as others in the neighbouring street and the home group also. They are also inviting people so we could have upward of 30 people here.
That will also be exciting as I will invite them all to home group next year.

I have a bunch of work on over the holidays - it just doesnt seem to stop.
In between working on clients' projects I need to redevelop several websites including Jethro Management, Jethro Consultants, KROSTech and the Miller Family home page.

I also need to complete Judiths main site home page, and the new template for her several blogs including her new craft blog and a planned recipe blog.

Finally I am in the middle of redesigning our network infrastructure by installing a Small Business Server to handle internal intranet, data storage and backups and roaming profiles.

I am going to be busy!

In other news - I completed the installation of a 2hp reverse cycle airconditioner into my office so at least I can work in comfort though the summer (and winter).
Photos to come for those who wanted proof of my DIY abilities!


Posted by: Jethro | 1:30 AM |

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Photo Friday Reflections

This is a photo of a house we looked at buying. The owner / builder was an amazingly creative guy. Unfortunately the price just kept on going up as he did more and more stuff to it.
It ended up selling for over a million.
Reflections are twofold; the water reflecting the house and the reflections I have everytime it pops up on my screen saver including "what if we lived there now?" and "how the heck would I have made the mortgage payments?"



Photo Friday Challenge Reflections.


Posted by: Jethro | 1:06 AM |

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Paul Borden Visited our Church

What an amazing day and what an amazing bloke. Paul Borden's passion for churches to see miracles from God is incredible. He teaches and preaches with excitement and candour.
The information provided to us at leadership level last Saturday was incredible.
Setting the right boundaries and controls on the organisational structure actually is not limiting but rather freeing. Scary yes, because of the accountability, but then we were not called to hide our talent in the ground. We are going to be accountable regardless, so we might as well give it our best shot. I note from that parable also that there was no difference accorded to the two servants who produced different results, but only to the servant who didn't produce anything.
Sunday he preached from 2 Samuel 8 particularly verses 5 and 14 where it says God gave David victory wherever he went. He credited this to Davids obedience here to commands not to rely on horses and money but on God. Militarily this was a stupid move, but spiritually it was awesome. Humanly speaking he should have been smashed in the valley of salt between the Edomites and the Arameans. God gave him victory when he risked it all on God.
Imagine what victories we would see if we were willing to obey to the point of risk like this!


Posted by: Jethro | 1:26 AM |

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

More details on Aspergers

This family has 6 kids. 2 have aspergers and 5 of them are autistic.
i have been working with two of them for some time now. i am regularly counseling another 16 yr old brother as well as the mentoring of the 18 yr old.

Some observations I have noticed are:
Overheightened sense of obligation, social responsibility and very sensitive to changes around them - this results in being easily upset over insignificant comments.
Extremely intelligent.
Maniuplative of others around them.
Very little understanding of how their actions and words impact on others outside of the manipulation.

How I am dealing with it.
I have ignored temper tantrums and outbursts from day 1 and treated them as a normal person.
I have not allowed them to use their disability as an excuse and instead forced them to be real with me.
I am working with the elder lad now in the areas of being organised, accountability and wisdom and discernment as he deals with issues around growing up and moving out.
I have promised them that their confidences are safe with me and will not be repeated to their parents or anyone else. I have discussed this with their parents also whom I obviously have a good relationship with.


Posted by: Jethro | 9:26 AM |

Sunday, December 05, 2004

I am mentoring an Aspergers Syndrome lad

I have formally taken on a mentoring role for a young lad with Aspergers Syndrome. He turns 18 in 2 days time.
I am looking forward to learning a lot from him as I also pass on a lot. He has a number of difficulties relating to the Aspergers, but these can be overcome through recognising them, and then creating some habits and some actions that can be used to overcome them.
Today we had the first session where we set the expectations and anticipated results for the two of us and then worked towards setting some basic goals for the next fortnight. He has created a blog and will be using that for keeping a journal of his progress.


Posted by: Jethro | 10:55 PM |

Friday, December 03, 2004

Ukraine Update 3 December 2004

More photos and stories from Kiev where my brother Jono is camping in the square while the election protests are on.
Camping
NZ Flag flying in Ukraine
More stories


Posted by: Jethro | 11:43 PM |

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Travelling again

Lots to post tomorrow. Nothing today!


Posted by: Jethro | 1:46 AM |