Spy Journal Personal

Monday, October 31, 2005

Wrap up

Had a pretty full on couple of days. Completed some work for some clients on Thursday night (Friday morning actually at 2am) and then had to go and deliver to them on Friday. The new PC wasn't ready to collect (it will be Tuesday) so I came home early. It seems weird not playing indoor soccer on a Friday night.
We did stuff with the kids instead.

Saturday all day was the LAN.

Sunday we went to church in the morning and then in the afternoon I had to go to the church board meeting to present financials. When I got home I had a snooze on the couch and then went and rode the mountian bike up the hill in the bush for an hour. I was able to get up the really steep fire break in one go today so I was happy with that. Came down the gnarly jump track and got some air. I still don't dare the big jumps though.

After that we played slot cars with the kids. Miranda came home during this (she had been away with her grandparents) and Grandad played briefly also.

Then I took some amazing photos of the sunset. Or should I say I took some photos of the amazing sunset! God painted a nice one tonight!

More photos.
Sunset
Sunset
Sunset
Sunset

Friday, October 28, 2005

Cubby House

We are building a cubby house. It is excellent. The kids love it and I have been having a great time working with my dad on the project.
I have posted a bunch of images in the creative gallery on the miller family website.
Here are links to some of them.
Safe Work Practices #1
Safe Work Practices #2
Jade and Erin Watching
Miranda Helping Grandad
Painting

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Rats

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A rat released on a deserted island off New Zealand outsmarted scientists and evaded traps, baits and sniffer dogs before being captured four months later on a neighboring island, researchers have said.

Scientists from the University of Auckland in New Zealand released the Norway rat on the 23.5-acre island of Motuhoropapa to find out why rats are so difficult to eradicate.

They got more than they bargained for...

Despite all their efforts, including fitting the rat with a radio collar, they couldn't catch the crafty creature.

After 10 weeks on the island the rodent decided it had had enough. It swam 400 meters, the longest distance recorded for a rat across open sea, to another rat-free island where it was eventually captured in a trap baited with penguin meat several weeks later.

Lifted from the Truth Laid Bear

Perhaps this was overheard at the Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament:

Now that I know you choose paper I clearly cannot choose rock. But since I know that you will now choose paper I can safely choose scissors to soundly best you. But I see that you are clever. You would know that I would choose scissors because you knew that I know you have the dispostion to choose paper. Therefore I clearly cannot choose scissors because you would counter with the rock.

stolen from pinkkitty

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Great day with Dad

Almost too tired to blog - but I just wanted to say I had a fantastic day with my Dad. As soon as I got home from picking him and mum up from the airport I took him out with me. We went to 2 clients, the dentist (to pay the bill), the bank, the shops and looked at fine china and crystal, a second hand book shop with 1 million books in it, a computer shop to pick up a new PC for a client, ate greek yoghurt and banana smoothies, Subway and McDonalds, and played soccer. At least I played and Dad watched. This will be the last game for a while for the indoor as we are not playing the next season of 14 games. We will sit out and play again the season after. Tonight was the 200th consecutive game played by our Parklife Soccer club with me racking up my 148th as the second highest in the club.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Reposted from my blog July 2004
This poem I wrote on 19th October 2000.

My Bride

I really am a good guy you know
I just didn't understand the meaning of go slow
I took no prisoners, made all the fast breaks
I didn't realise I was making mistakes

I chipped all the corners, scratched all the edges
Like a maniac attacking a pair of box hedges
Without concern for the bed I was making
I roused up the dragon, from sleep she was waking

Like lightning striking from a clear cloudless sky
I was hit! "why me?" was my responsive cry
"what did I do?" or "was it my lack?"
but no answer was forthcoming back

I pleaded, cajoled, ranted and raved
It was like talking to oneself in an empty cave
The dragon lay brooding, considering my case
And I unaware was making mistakes

I should have known better, should have learnt from the past
But sometimes that's tricky when life's going so fast
To take time to think - why how would that leave
Time for the rest when you live life at speed

The answer came like a brick from the sky
Smote me on the forehead, right between the eyes
Just shut your big gob and listen you lout
Maybe that way some things you'd find out

About this passionate warm loving creature
She isn't a dragon just about to eat you
But rather a fragrance, a gentle breeze
The sort that can appear then disappear with ease

To find her is rewarding, like uncovering treasure
She's challenging, my mate, she's sure got my measure
And if I take the time and effort to discover
She'll probably morph into a passionate lover

I guess what I'm saying is that it's not always easy
Sometimes I live like everything's breezy
I really should be stopping to think and to ponder
How I can nurture my soul mate and wonder

Why do I hurt her when I only ever
Want to love her with all my endeavours
This lady this special girl by my side
Hey there gorgeous, will you still be my bride?

(c) Timothy Miller 2000

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Dad's 65th Birthday

It was my Dad's 65th Birthday on Monday.
Here is a picture of him on our family website.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

New Camera is almost here

The insurance paid up quickly, but the place they used to supply the camera had some difficulty locating one as most of their suppliers were out of stock waiting for a container to come in.
I was told yesterday it should be here in 1 or two days.
It is a Canon S2 IS. As usual Darrens Digital Photograhy Blog has a great review on it.
Heres the guff.

The Canon PowerShot S2 IS is the successor to the Powershot S1 IS which was released last year. The S2 has a big 12x Optical Zoom lens (with image stabilizer), 5.0 megapixel image sensor and 30 frames per second video shooting (for up to 60 minutes and stereo sound). It shoots still images at up to 2.4 images per second at shutter speeds of up to 1/3,200 of a second.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Klu Klux Klan and race wars

I just read a very interesting transcript from a TV interview by Andrew Denton with a previous Grand Imperial Wizard from the Klu Klux Klan, Johnny Lee Clary.

The blurb states:

Life is full of journeys but rarely do any of us travel as far as Johnny Lee Clary. A former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, now a Christian preacher, his journey from a world of hate to one of tolerance has been remarkable indeed.

Quite an insightful (brief) look at the workings of racism and prejudice.

I was chatting to a mate the other day who came to Australia from Serbia/Croatia during the recent conflict. When I asked him what side he had been on his comment was, "It doesn't matter". I thought and said that if all our generation could have that attitude, then this would be the last generation of racial conflict to the point of genocide.

The rain has come

Finally!

We are in the middle of a big drought with serious water restrictions and most dams at very low levels.

Thursday night it belted down and we got 90mm. Last night it rained again and it is still raining. The plants are loving it.

I can't go on the motorbike ride we were going to go on today - oh well. I'm just glad there is rain.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Photos from my Soccer Team 2005

I went to the soccer presentation night tonight to collect my trophy. I also managed to score some photos of the team and also an awesome one of me heading a ball. I play for the Rivers Baptist Soccer Club in the QBSA league - and was in the Mens Division 5 this year.
Check them out!
The first is my header.

This one was taken after the semi final game we won to put us straight through into the Grand Final. We were feeling pretty euphoric.

The last one is taken before the grand final match on the field we played on.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Ambrose will not win this race

Neither will Murphy. There are at least 2 other cars from the Gary Rogers Motorsport team that I can see that are heavily damaged as well as the Larkham Orrcon car. It looks like there may be only about 10 laps to go once they clear this up.
Skaife/Kelly and Richards/Whincup are going to be slogging it out for the prize of winning the 2005 Bathurst 1000 once they get this cleared up.
Coming up in 2 weeks at the Gold Coast Indy there will need to be some serious repair work to be done.

20 laps to go

141 of 161 laps completed and a yellow flag has bunched the top drivers up again in a sprint to the finish. This race has had a lot of crashes, this is the 7th yellow flag.
There has been a deal of controversy regarding the wearing (or not wearing of balaclavas). At the moment Murphy, Whincup, Kelly and Skaife are all up there with a chance. Ambrose is right behind them and is my pick. He has already been penalised twice, once with a drive through, and once with putting a balaclava on. In my opinion, even though this is a requirement for both safety and insurance purposes, penalising drivers with stop go penalties etc is ridiculous. Take it out of the points they win instead.
I hope Ambrose wins anyway.

NEWS FLASH!
Just as I went to publish this they had just kicked off with 18 laps to go. As they rounded Griffin bend (2nd Corner) Ambrose was behind Murphy. As he pulled along side and passed Murphy it appears that Murphy rammed him into the wall, and the ensuing pile up involved about 10 or 12 cars. Both drivers got out and had an in your face finger pointing argument. More news as it comes to hand!
The 2005 Bathurst 1000 is full of controversy now!

20 laps to go in the 2005 Bathurst 1000

Saturday, October 08, 2005

My Birthday

I can't understand why I haven't blogged for 6 days!
I have been extremely busy.
Mostly relaxin!
Monday I rode the mountain bike up the hill and down again and through creeks and mud for an hour and a half. Tuesday I watched Fawlty Towers with Jude. Wednesday I played squash for two hours. Thursday basketball for two hours and Friday two games of indoor soccer 40 minutes each with no subs.
I did some work too!

On to my birthday. Today I turned 38 for the first time in my life! HA!
So far I have received a set of clamps from Jadeen and Erin (for woodworking), a board game called Mouse Trap from Miranda (that is fun!) and a fantastic birthday meal at the HogsBreath Cafe. Jude made an awesome mud cake, part white chocoloate and part brown. YUM! I know there are some more presents coming.

I also watched the prelude to the big race tomorrow, the Bathurst 1000 2005. It was pretty exciting qualifying and practice sessions, as well as the Porsche cup and some other races. One Porsche rolled at 280km /hr on the fastest part of the circuit right as the radar gun recorded his speed. The driver walked away from the crash unhurt.
Tomorrow I will spend around 9 hours in front of the TV watching 1000 kms and 161 laps being driven over the mountain.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Soccer and Liquid Sculpting

Check out the amazing photographs in this website called Liquid Sculpture. Martin Waugh, the photographer, has captured splashes and droplets of water frozen in motion in some awesome photography.
I wish I could do this. Once we get a replacement camera I will give it a try.
The Blue Sloth will probably appreciate this as he is a sculpter also. Check out his work here.

Friday night I played an awesome game of indoor soccer. We won 7-4. I played particularly well, beating my man most of the time. I use the dropped shoulder step away, the look away pass, the step over the ball and use the outside of the foot to push away and a lot of strong body work. I set up a goal at half time that was awesome. As we prepared to kick off I whispered to Eugene to pass the ball forward about three feet and I would blast it at the goal. He did and I did missing by about 6 inches to the right only to have the kick off called back as we had gone too early. I said to Eugene, same again, only I'll fake it and pass to you through that gap.
The whistle blew, Eugene rolled it to me, I took a step and an almighty swing which I planted beside the ball not kicking it, and then tapped it past the lunging player through the gap and onto Eugene's feet. Eugene took an extra stride and was on the goal line only fumbled the shot and ended up with it on the back net. A defensive player rushed him and somehow he planted his foot onto the ball and while actually behind the mouth of the goal kicked it along the ground, it hit the keepers feet and went in. All up about 6 or 7 seconds from the whistle.
Another time I knew we needed a rest as we only had 5 players (no subs) so I took the ball into the corner and used my body to keep it away from the defender. Another came to help out and I had to be strong and keep it away from them, mostly by twisting my body different ways to where my feet were finessing the ball. Eventually as the second one pressed me from the sideline I faked heavily in his direction drawing the other defender who was blocking me from getting out along the goal line nets. I swivelled that way taking the ball along behind me and looked up across the goal mouth to see Pat diagonally opposite. I swept the ball across the mouth of the goal to him for a perfect shot at goal only he hit it high. I had some other moments that I enjoyed including some great saves while in goal. In my opinion it was one of the best games of indoor soccer I have ever played.

LAN

Just got home from the LAN.

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