Saturday, July 30, 2005

We thrashed 'em


8-0 was the score today at full time. Scott our striker got a bag of 6, I had a rebound that I didn't hit hard enough and another team mate poked it away, and there was another to a 3rd team mate. The game was played in good spirits by both sides and Nundah Wavell lost gracefully.
We played the ball to feet most of the time, controlled it well and passed off to each other well. This is the start of a good run to the finals.


Posted by: Jethro | 5:18 PM |

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Advertising Web Site ScaryGood


The beer ad was created by the Advertising agency ScaryGood.
They have done some awesome ads.
Thanks Duncan for the the link.


Posted by: Jethro | 10:04 PM |

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Losing weight

In the last three weeks I have lost 9 nine kilos. For the first time in about 2 years I am consistently under 100 kilos sitting on 98 tonight. That was after soccer practice, so I will probably gain 1 with fluid intake. I guess it is down to the soccer 3 times a week. (plus a virus that cause me to drop 5 kilos in 48 hours.)


Posted by: Jethro | 11:27 PM |

Hanging on for grim death

I saw the absolute classic case of this today. I fed some woodroaches to my fish. In the first tank they lasted only seconds before being gobbled by the Managuense's.
In the second however they attracted scant attention. I guessed this so only dropped 3 in. The water currents sucked them down and one landed on a rock. It was in the full wash of the current and you could see it rocking backwards and forwards as it clung desparately to this false bastion of hope. Instead of swimming for the surface it hung on to the rock (presumably holding its breath) for several minutes until it eventually succumbed and drifted away obviously dead.

So often I see humans do the same, clinging vainly to ideals or philosophoies that they have propounded to themselves until they are convinced that they are true, only to have life wash them away when the falsneness of their ideas are shown up. Ideas like religion, good living, evolution, humanism, atheisim, even the good old aussie "She'll be right mate" approach to life and things eternal.
Check out this website thats shows in pictorial form what this means.
Feel free to ask me by email or comment if you want to know more.


Posted by: Jethro | 10:19 PM |

How many days to Christmas

My kids asked me so I used Excel to work it out - am I obsessed?


Posted by: Jethro | 10:18 PM |

Big Beer Ad

From Esurientes - The Comfort Zone


This is fabulous hilarious!
It's the latest beer commercial for Carlton Draught using a huge cast flapping about to Orff's O Fortuna chorus, from Carmina Burana (a secular Oratorio, not an opera as so many journalists think. Just a little pet peeve of mine!). I think it's internet only, as it hasn't been seen on tv (or has it?).
I know, it's already appeared on another Aussie site, but in the interests of showing this ad to as many people as popular, I seized the opportunity to 'borrow' the photo and spread the word. (Thanks Augustus Gloop!)
It's very quick to download. And so very Aussie! You must see it. Fabulous!


Posted by: Jethro | 8:57 PM |

Erin at the creek

See this cute photo of Erin taken at the creek today.


Posted by: Jethro | 4:26 PM |

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Everything happening here


The lawnmower man and his sidekick are buzzing the grass, the builder is working on the drain in the shower and the tv point that need fixing, the kids are running around and getting ready to start the day, and I am trying to work before someone comes over to visit shortly - its an almost impossible task!


Posted by: Jethro | 9:07 AM |

Sunday, July 24, 2005

We lost a tough outdoor match.

The end result was 5-1 against us, but that didn't really tell the story. Several of their goals were soft runaway shots where their main striker used his brute stength to bully our little fellows. When I was marking him he only got away from me once and that was by shoving me. THe other striker was extremely wary of me when I smashed him into the ground with a full hip and shoulder tackle. I was not called up for it as the ref didn't see anything wrong in it which was fortunate as I was just inside the 18yd goal box.


Posted by: Jethro | 9:07 AM |

Friday, July 22, 2005

Laughter is the best medicine

Check this greeting card out.


Posted by: Jethro | 12:54 PM |

Commercial TV rant

Last night I wanted to watch Stargate Atlantis, virtually the only TV show I watch followed by the Tour De France. Last night was stage 18 and in teh Central Massif and effectively the last chance for the hill climbers to make break aways. We were halfway through Stargate when the jolly TV channel switched to live coverage of NOTHING ab out some explosions in London. IT was pathetic journalism. The newscasters at Sky TV who knew NOTHING about what was going on were talking to dodgy people on mobile phones who hadn't seen anything and had to go because the cops told them to get off the phone. Oh and there was also a lot of chopper camera footage of NOTHING except buses that weren't going and han't exploded. They also had a "bomb-know-it-all" explaining how to make bombs, and why they probably hadn't gone off. As if he knew what was there!
Do you think they returned the programming to Stargate? No. The 3 main commercial channels were showing the same feed - what a waste of time that was.
So I switched to SBS to watch the Tour De France. At least SBS wont be silly I thought. For example when Princess Diana died they were the only channel that kept normal programming. And I was right. They didn't show any bomb stuff at all. No, SBS made another VERY silly mistake. They promised their viewers (rashly) that they would cover all 21 days of the Tour De France LIVE. Now up to now they have done so albeit starting the races halfway through really isn't in my book quite keeping the promise.
But they have also been promising their viewers that they will cover the
English v Australia cricket test. Now France and England are quite close and their time zones for daytime events virtually are the same. Hmm a problem - which promise will I keep? Oh well seeing as the cycling pundits have had 18 days we will just show the cricket instead. We know they are faithful viewers so we will burn them off with some cricket. Cricket sends me to sleep. I was listening to the commentators in my half sleep and I was dreaming that I was in a tunnel - constricted (did I mention I was claustrophobic - so this is a NIGHTMARE) and the commentators were saying we would have a tea break shortly - and in the dream I heard this and knew I was going to be pulled out fo the tunnel shortly - and I could go back to watching the cycling - surely they would switch over. But no... I gave up and went to bed.


Posted by: Jethro | 8:26 AM |

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Bike Ride Review

The inaugural church bike ride went well. You can read my review on the church website here.
It was a fun 200kms. I then watched Armstrong and the rest of the Tour de France ride 200kms through the Pyrenees (sp?). Thats some impresssive riding. Last night Cadel Evans showed what the Aussies are made of after the devastating accident in Germany as he worked from 11th place to 7th with a massive ride.
From the official tour site.
"Cadel Evans claimed first-place points at the top of the final ‘hors category’ col this year and demonstrated that there’s plenty of depth in Australian cycling. The former mountain bike star’s team-mate Robbie McEwen may have won three sprint stages already this year, but today it was Evans who ignited the action in the mountains. He was part of the first real escape of the stage that tackled the feared Col de Marie-Blanque and the Col d’Aubisque and Evans confessed that it was his last real chance to gain any real advantage in the race for overall honors. No, he can’t wrestle the yellow jersey off the shoulders of Lance Armstrong. Not even Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich or anyone else with far more Tour experience is capable of doing that. Cadel’s ambition was to elevate himself from 11th overall to the top 10.
“I just wanted to get as much time as the course allowed,” said Evans afterwards. “It’s not every day that you can steal more than three minutes from Armstrong.” "


Posted by: Jethro | 9:55 PM |

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Amazing weather photos

My wife has been taking a lot of photos of sunsets lately. We have had some awesome ones.
Chek out this website of amazing storm photos.


Posted by: Jethro | 9:21 AM |

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Soccer

We lost our opening match of the new indoor season. Not worried though, as we could have beaten them if we had tried.
Outdoor we had a good result. Going ahead 3-0 at half time we then scored within 2-3 minutes of the second half. Late in the game I tackled a guy, kicked the ball to the sideline but not hard enough and ran to it, but he was faster and came around me, took the ball off the line, and then ran to the edge of the 18 yd box where he passed to the middle and the shot was scored. That was really the only dangerous attack all day. Shortly after I came off for the rest of the game. We scored again about 2 minutes later and I watched the last 5 minutes from the side. A good win 5-1.


Posted by: Jethro | 9:11 PM |

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Wow Google Earth is cool

I can find our place blurry, and lots of other places with enough resolution to see the back yard.
Check it out - look for your backyard!
Google Earth.


Posted by: Jethro | 9:37 PM |

Sunday, July 10, 2005

We lost

Read all about it here.


Posted by: Jethro | 9:15 PM |

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Soccer News

Last night we won our indoor semifinal 2-0. I kept and saved some goals, but really we just outplayed them.
Sunday we have the final, so far we have been bridesmaids too many times - we are on a roll and really want to win this one.
Today I played my outdoor game and played the entire match. I came close to scoring in the goal box after a corner kick was headed down to me and I dropped to the ground and leg swept a powerful shot straight at a wall of defenders in front of the goal. It rebounded and I suffered a cramp in my calf keeping me on the ground for a half a minute.
It was a tough physical game - a top of the table clash as we were playing the top team. We ended up with a 1-1 draw, both goals coming from penalties caused by accidental handballs in the box. The referee was a bit intimidated and made poor decisions in both cases. The second one (against us) was actually against the linesman's call who saw clearly that it wasn't a hand ball, but I think the ref wanted to balance out his previous poor decision. That sux. Still a draw isn't a loss.
I am enjoying playing centre back, in that in my 20 odd years of playing soccer its a position I have never played before this year. However I am relishing in shutting down my opponents by playing tight marking and readng the play better than them. In the first half the centre forward had one kick of the ball when I let him run and he actually hurt himself doing it. In the second half he hung back a lot and I ended up marking a much faster player, who got past me a few times. The only two times it matter I made saving tackles. I even got close to having a fight with a bit of an argy bargy and I ended up with a cut tongue when he clocked me across the jaw. Thankfully I could see the ref watching and refrained from decking him. I then beat him in the next two tackles and that showed who was the better player.
This team will be a good team to play in a grand final. They have only one strategy and that is for their midfield to hang back and then try and kick long balls for their forwards who all try and head it on to each other. It is easy to read and easy to defend against. AS soon as they look like doing it I dropped back 5 metres and in most cases picked up the ball from their header, or we were able to make tackles while they were trying to control it on the ground. In contrast, our team mostly plays balls to feet and short snappy passes, meaning we were able to beat them skilfully on the ground. They didn't like it when I started mentioning it out loud each time they tried their silly header thing. Sometimes they would have 2 or 3 headers in a row but by then they had used up all their options and we just cleaned up.
More news after the indoor final on Sunday.


Posted by: Jethro | 11:30 PM |

Friday, July 08, 2005

British Explosions

I am always the last to find out these things - seeing as I don't read the paper, watch the news on tv and rarely check online news sources.
My life is easier for not having to mess with head with all that anyway.
Still the explosions in Britain are close to home to my cousin who lives in London.
I am really annoyed at the way the press and the foreign secretary automatically jump to the conclusion that it is al Qaeda responsible. There is no proof of this; just conjecture. They are making statements like "the attacks bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda"
This organisation's name - if it still even exists - has been used by the press and the leaders of these countries to build up the hatred against radical islam by putting a name to it. It is not an organisation, or even necessarily one person - the (missing?) leader Osama Bin Laden, who is causing this. What this is is total intolerance of another's religious views, to the point where they will kill to make their point.
There! Got it off my chest - now I can go to work.


Posted by: Jethro | 11:22 AM |

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Thanks Angie I am feeling better

After feeling a lot worse (it was obvious I had the same virus as the rest of the family) I now feel a lot better. I aim to be right for soccer friday night, semifinal, and also for our outdoor game on Saturday. If we win the semifinal we are playing the final on Sunday at 12:30pm.
Now its off to spend a lot of money, new tyres and a service for the car (most), and some toys for the kids (little) that have been promised to them. Then off to a client. First I've got to get petrol else I'll be pushing the motorbike!


Posted by: Jethro | 7:29 AM |

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Final Origin Result

State of Origin final result NSW 32 QLD 10

And London won the bid for the 2012 Olympic Games.


Posted by: Jethro | 9:48 PM |

Sport Fest

I keep forgetting to blog about Roger Federer winning Wimbledon Grand Slam 2005. He totally outplayed Andy Roddick.
NSW just scored another try in the origin, now its 24-0. Crap!
This Friday our home AFL team the Brisbane Lions play arch enemies the Collingwood Magpies. I also will record that for Jono.
Every night at the moment SBS is broadcasting live coverage of the Tour De France. I love watching this being a bit of a cyclist in my past. It is an awesome display of teamwork and brute strength. I can't wait until they hit the mountains. Can Lance Armstrong take another title? What do you think?

Update - while I was writing this NSW scored again - this is useless. If I wasn't listening to Rampaging Roy Slaven and H G Nelson calling it on triple J (and recording it for Jono) I would turn it off. 28-0.


Posted by: Jethro | 9:18 PM |

Exploding head and rubber legs

My head feels like the pressure inside is going to burst my brains out through the side of my head. My legs don't want to hold me up. I am achy and grumpy - how grumpy? Ask my wife.
I decided to go to soccer training to try and sweat it out and that certainly helped. I felt useless most of the time, weak and somewhat disoriented. I did manage to get a good sweat up and felt better afterward.
Now I am lying on the bean bag on the lounge floor watching the State Of Origin Rugby League match 3 - the decider. So far NSW is 18-0. Not good. I am recording it for my brother who is in the Ukraine, else I wouldn't bother watching.
I did do some good work today though. In between other projects and clients, I have mostly finished the re-constuction of one of my company websites, Jethro Consultants. It has no information put into it yet, but I have finished all the configuration except the news feeds. Do you like the colour scheme? As you can see I am planning on starting some forums for my clients for help with various small / medium business questions and support.
I have also developed a test / sandpit area available for clients to play in and see what a drupal website can do for them.


Posted by: Jethro | 9:07 PM |

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Big Bike Ride

I went for an unexpectedly long bike ride, over 300kms all up.
I rode into the city to see a client and due to finishing early, I decided to see where Jude was. Well she was just about to leave to go pick up her dragons. So I decided to go too. I rode 130kms up the highway to Cooroy and then turned off to head toward Carters Ridge. However I missed the road I needed to go down and ended up following Black Mountain Road (which is a windy gravel road) over Black mountain and then out to the highway again near the Imbil turnoff (Kenilworth Skyring Creek Road)which is the other way to where I wanted to go. However I was low on fuel so after a couple of phone calls to Jude I headed north to a fuel stop about 8 kms away. I got fuel and headed back driving into Carters Ridge only a few minutes after Judith arrived having gone a more direct slower route.
It was great seeing all the turtles, snakes, fish and lizards these people had in their place.
Then we left, and I decided to take the long (fun) way home. I headed toward Kenilworth, and then up the range to Maleny, then back down toward Woodford finally heading home via Caboolture.
This was an awesome ride for a number of reasons. First I hadn't planned it and I just went with the flow. Second the bike performed flawlessly, the powerful 1700cc (102 cubic inch) engine hauling me up the gravel roads, and mountain climbs effortlessly. The bike snaked through the hairpin bends in 3rd or 4th gear easily and I thundered down the straights. The suspension handles bumps, potholes and rough gravel roads without a murmur, though I did find some washboards that got me vibrating a little on one gravel hairpin bend.
Second I followed some of the route (in the opposite direction) from the ride we have planned for the 17th July with some friends from church.
The only drawback I found was that once I got up to Maleny, and then coming down the mountain toward Woodford, was freezing cold. Once I was back down the air was relatively warm though brisk. But the top part was so cold my hands were frezzing up on the throttle - not good. The good news is I will warn all our riders to wear thermal pants or rain pants for warmth and also winter gloves and full face helmets. I was wearing jeans, summer gloves and an open face helmet. At least my jacket kept me reasonably warm, but I will be putting in the liner before the next ride up here.


Posted by: Jethro | 12:47 PM |

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Foggy

This is what I saw when I looked out the door at 8:30am this morning when I got up.


Posted by: Jethro | 9:23 AM |

Friday, July 01, 2005

Cichlasoma manageunse

Here are the two Jaguars displaying mating activity.
More pics.


Posted by: Jethro | 2:17 AM |

New Fish Tank and Miranda's Birthday

Belatedly I posted some photos of Miranda's birthday cake , one, two and three.
I also have put a bunch of photos of my new fish tank (replacing the great big one) and my old tank where the jaguars (managuense) are mating (I hope).
There are also some pictures of the chocolates, plecostamus and one convict.
They are South American Cichlids (excluding the pleco).


Posted by: Jethro | 1:44 AM |