For almost three years, I've talked about the place I've worked in, but have never actually mentioned the people I work with.

I think this may be a good time to introduce my team to you.

(and believe it or not, this is the creation of my boss.)

Things to consider as I prepare to go on a hiking trip in Tasmania.

1. Will I be able to keep up with super-fit outdoor maniacs Belinda, Joel and their one year old daughter? Yes, she is one and she will probably last longer than I can.
   
2. Will I be able to escape being gnawed on by the Tasmanian Devil?
3. Will I be so "lucky", I'll discover the one and only remaining Tasmanian Tiger, proving to the world that it isn't extinct, by being eaten by one?
4. Will I thoroughly enjoy myself, absorbing this wonderful view?

Be back in 2008.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Is it Christmas yet?

The silly season has certainly descended on me and I cannot wait for the Christmas holidays to actually begin so that I can actually get some rest.

Can't keep up with all the Christmas parties, gathering of friends, Christmas shopping and what not that have cropped up over the last few weeks.

I don't think I've had a free weekday evening, or for that matter, a free weekend in a while. I'm truly ready for a decent holiday where I don't get to do anything.

That will probably only happen next year though....hmmm.....

Met up with a bunch of friends at a national reserve for brunch, a game of cricket and generally just to hang out yesterday.

The day was sunny, warm and just that bit on the humid side. With all that rain we've been getting over the past week, I'm not surprised.

Who would have thought that by about 4pm, storm clouds would start to roll in, making it seemed like there was early nightfall that afternoon.

A few minutes after helping Daniel get the washing in, I started hearing pounding on the roof. It was like as if really big and fat raindrops were pelting it.

That was when Daniel sprung up, exclaimed "hail!", rushed out of the house, rushed back in yelling at Kylie-Anne to move her car under shelter, ran out of the house, ran back in again, ran around the house, emerged of the house with a couple of blankets to cover the car of his other housemate who was not home at the time.

The hail stones came fast and sudden and in an enormous amount. The ground was covered with the hail stones in a few minutes.

And as I stood there gaping at the hail falling from the sky, I got hit right square in the chest by one, leaving a rather nasty red mark.

The damages from the hail around Sydney were rather high.

Random pics of Sydney hail back in 2004.

Who would have thought there would be quite that many bats in the Botanical Gardens, located in the Sydney CBD?!

As Brentyn commented, "Sydney spent so much money on APEC, this is the only Christmas tree they can afford."

Evel Knievel has passed away.

A somewhat strange but true fact - I first learned of Evel Knievel from a Robbie Williams song. I have no idea which song that is now, but I'm sure there was a reference to him in it.

The only thing I knew about him was the fact that he was a crazy motorcycle jumper. I didn't realise he actually crashed that many times though.

But for those who may want to find out just what this dude was famous for, here's a cute little vid.

Initially, I was curious when I chose to read the news story about how a LG mobile phone battery had exploded, killing a man in South Korea.

I grew slightly more concerned when I read that just yesterday, a Nokia phone belonging to a man from New Zealand had also exploded when he was charging it.

The news article went on to mention that Nokia has acknowledged that there are faults in some of their batteries and that they may indeed explode.

I own a Nokia phone. Who knows when it may explode and kill me?

But I was really impressed with the news article because at the very end, there was an actual link that took me to the Nokia battery replacement announcement so that I can find out if my mobile phone battery is actually a murder weapon.

That was when I nearly had a heart attack because my battery model is the same faulty model.

However, after punching a few ID numbers found on the battery, it seems like it was not actually manufactured during the faulty period, so it's supposedly "safe".

I can only hope it's true.

Read the news article here.

Visit the Nokia website if you want to find out if you have a potentially exploding mobile phone battery.

I went to the stadium to see David Beckham yesterday evening in the Sydney FC vs LA Galaxy match.


It was good fun and I'm sure the rain actually stopped simply for the game. It was raining for most of the drive to the stadium and back, but the 90 minutes or so of game time was beautiful.

I could not help but have a bit of a giggle though. It was bizarre. Here are all these Sydney FC fans cheering for their team, but yet, the entire stadium will erupt into cheers when Beckham gets the ball.

How does one support one team and a player from the other team at the same time? Strange stuff. But it seems to work.

It was a fun night out, particularly because of the unbelievable amount of goals.

More photos here.

This just out - you cannot believe everything you read in the newspapers. Oh wait, you already knew that.

But visit the Regret the Error website any way.

Regret the Error is a highly entertaining website that publishes the various mistakes that newspapers around the world have been caught making.

Samples:

The president of Latvia, Valdis Zatlers, is a man. A graphic on Page A2 Tuesday incorrectly identified him as female.

Correction: Because of a reporting error, a review of the new Boyz II Men album in yesterday’s Sidekick incorrectly said that Four Tops singer Levi Stubbs is deceased. Stubbs, who is alive, no longer tours with the Four Tops

Read more at Regret the Error.

After working and living in Sydney for almost three years now, I think it may be time for me to consider settling in this country.

I'm thinking of buying a house.

To be more precise, I'm thinking of buying this house.

And in case the website gets taken off by the time you view this, try this instead.

This recent report I read about how Sesame Street, the Sesame Street that I grew up with, is now deemed unsuitable for young children.

Seems like it's because "Cookie Monster smokes and eats a pipe during 'Monsterpiece Theater.' And other characters may seem too grouchy, depressed, slow, or drugged."

I'm trying to decide what to make out of this report. I cannot help but wonder if we're perhaps "cotton-wooling" children of this generation and wrapping them in bubblewrap.

I grew up with Cookie Monster. Yes, the Cookie Monster who eats far too many cookies. And I liked Grover. Endearing, silly, somewhat slow Grover. I didn't even mind Oscar the Grouch!

And well, at my current state of adulthood, I'm neither obese, stupid nor grouchy. Sure, I feel fat at times, I do some unspeakably silly things at other times and friends tell me I am far too cynical and snarky for my own good. But I do not eat pipes during my spare time, for that matter.

I honestly don't think the Sesame Street characters have had that much of an impact on me, besides helping me understand phonics and spelling!

My values and principles came from my parents, not Elmo.

What have we become that we need to "protect" children from such "horrors"?

Maybe if we actually tried to spend time with children instead of letting television do all the educating?

To all those ebay-ers out there, you will appreciate this.


Link via Kristin.

Craig Stoltz made a very accurate observation about online communities at the moment.

I ... and (I'm guessing here) you -- are beginning to suffer social network circuit overload. It is the '07 version of the '06 RSS feed flameout, the '04 bookmarking debacle, and the '02 e-mail catastrophe...It's getting to the point where I hardly have time for my full-time job...My point is that this is unsustainable, for me and for all of us who by virtue of good intentions have been sucked into the social network vortex. We have become servants of a networks of networks of our own making.

I cannot help but agree with Craig. It's crazy what I've gotten myself into that I no longer have time for, well, a proper life!

I end up trying to keep up with all my online social networks that my relationships with people around me seem to be deteriorating.

Currently, I'm spending a lot of time in Facebook. But even so, there are certain things that I just cannot keep up with (like the various groups that I've joined).

My blog is now getting updated only sporadically and let's not even talk about my RSS feeds. I've got about 500 unread feeds now.

Have I become too sucked in?

Read Craig's full article.

Am I Right?

I believe that spicy curry is one of the tastiest dishes in the world.

I believe that books need to be arranged according to their height on the bookshelf.

I believe that the church should be more tolerant and accepting of homosexuals.

Am I right?

I think I am, but what I’ve just said is going to result in two general kinds of reactions. One of support, and another of disgusted uproar.

There can’t be two rights can there? And if there isn’t, who is right?

I’d like to believe that I’m right. I like to believe that my world view, my opinions and the way I approach certain matters is the right way to do it. After all, it’s worked for me and got me this far hasn’t it?

So when someone disagrees with me, when someone approaches something differently, and most of all, when someone doesn’t subscribe to my values, my opinions, my methods, I get frustrated, annoyed and somewhat disdainful of them.

And may the heavens show mercy on the person who does not understand what I’m saying. How can they be so stupid as to not see my point of view? How can they be so thick and not realise what I’m trying to express?

Haven’t I been just a tad egotistical, measuring everything against how I would think, feel, see, do? Just when did I become the yardstick of everything? Not since I last checked a second ago.

As far as I know, God is still in charge and I’m nothing more than a fallible, sinful human being.

So why am I demanding that everything be done according to my standards?

Maybe it’s time I start realising that we have all been created differently, with different priorities and different opinions. Maybe it's time I start realising that we all process things at a different rate and are guided by different value systems.

Maybe when I do that, I'll start being more tolerant of others.

Am I right?

I'm a public relations officer, but what is actually expected of me? I'm not sure.

I think I have an identity crisis.

I spend the majority of my time writing news articles for our internal publication. Chasing news stories for our internal production.

Occasionally, I come across a news story that I could also use to pitch to the external media.

But is there all there is to it? Nothing more than a news generating machine?

Isn't there more to public relations than simply news clips?

This is a shameless plug, but I think I can afford that sometimes.

Seventh-day Adventists will be featured on the ABC Radio this Sunday. Would be interesting to find out what non-Adventists think and have to say about Adventists and their emphasis on health!

Find out more.

As a writer, I realise the importance of actually researching a topic before going into writing about it.

This after all, makes the story more true to life, hence making it more believable.

This, however, is a bit too much. Excerpt:

Maybe you heard about the arrest of Jose Luis Calva, who is described as an “aspiring horror novelist.” Police found a draft of his manuscript Cannibalistic Instincts, along with pieces of his girlfriend stashed in various places around his apartment, including in the frypan. I know, I know, I had the same reaction: it’s pretty unfair to call him “aspiring.” It sounds like that draft was finished.

Seventh-day Adventists have an inferiority complex.

We like to shy away from telling people who we are, from saying that we belong to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Instead, we prefer to dance around the topic.

"Er..well..I'm a Christian."

"You wouldn't have heard of my church."

mumbling "I'm a Seventh...."

This lack of pride has led to many church members deliberately avoiding mentioning the dreaded words "Seventh-day Adventist Church" on any materials that they produce and even for events they plan.

There's no "proudly brought to you by the Seventh-day Adventist Church". Instead, it's usually "brought to you by [insert obscure non-descriptive name]" or "we are a group concerned about your happiness" or something like that.

And only when we are cornered, only when we don't have a choice but to voice up, do we hesitantly admit that we are from the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Why this lack of pride? What are we afraid of?

Is there truly something wrong with the Adventist Church? And if so, why are we still in it? Don't we need to ask ourselves some serious questions if we are staying in a church that we don't actually believe in, don't actually pride ourselves in?

And surely we have a responsibility to be honest to the public so that they know exactly whose materials they are reading, whose events they are attending?

It's not about overwhelming them with the Seventh-day Adventist Church logo or plastering the name of the church everywhere. It's a very simple common courtesy to inform people that something is sponsored by the church.

If we don't do that and only choose to fess up because we don't have a choice but to do so, or if the public finds out through their own investigation, wouldn't they feel duped? Wouldn't they feel that they've been deceived?

And wouldn't it spiral into a vicious cycle where Adventists develop a reputation of being devious and deceptive?

We choose to believe that people don't like Adventists and so we skulk around corners, hiding our identity.

However, we need to be more confident about who we are as a church. The Adventist Church has done good things and there are people out there who feel positively towards the church. And that is what we should reinforce, not the fact that we have an inferiority complex and are out to pull the wool over people's eyes.

I just found out why Mr Potato Head is so happy...


Full story here.