Things are relative

I started today in a really bad mood and here's why: We got our rent increase notice last night and they want to put up the rent by $20 a week. OUCH! And then this morning while taking my bike out of the garage, it fell off the side stand and pushed the gear level through the stator cover on the side of the engine. So that is another $220 to buy a new one and also the week or so of having to have Michelle cart me to work and back until the part arrives and I can fit it onto the bike. So I've been feeling that the world is against me, and then I read about this: http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/05/musician_steven_curtis_chapman.html Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter was run over in their driveway by accident and was killed. Now... how big are my problems actually? Not very. I have to apologise to God for putting things out of focus so often in my daily walk with Him.

Revival!

I think I'm going to revive this blog for my personal stuff. I have a more technical blog over at http://dotnet.org.za/derek/ but I don't want to spam that up with posts that aren't related to .NET or programming. So, let me know who is still reading... If anyone at all! :) Guess no-one is reading.. :(

I've moved: http://dotnet.org.za/derek/ :)

Hick! My record so far is 125metres. I dare you to try an beat it. I seem to be an excellent drunk!

Well, have have loads of news... Firstly, the move to the new house went really well. We have already settled in and have unpacked most of the things. Only a few odd boxes remain. (We've unpacked all the even ones so far. Har har. Lame joke, but so what.) And Telkom have connected up the phone, so we have internet and email from home again! Phew! A week without being connected at home... I'm not sure if it's a blessing or a curse. And second, we had our first scan for the new baby last week. It's now 23mm in length. And on the video you can clearly see the arms, legs, head, spine and heartbeat. Which was totally awesome! Anyways, more later when I'm in more of a mood to type. Oh, and if anyone is still reading this, then please make a comment, or send an email to derekadk at webmail dot co dot za. Thanks! I want to know if I should bother updating this regularly or not. Cheers!

Um.. I'm back. I was thinking that I should go back to check on my Blog.. To see if it even exists, and then I started reading some of the previous posts, and it was great to remember back to when I wrote those things. So I think it's something I need to carry on with. So anyways... I'm BACK! ;o) I'll have to test and see if my commenting at Haloscan still works too!!

Right. That's it. No more from me. This is my last entry. Thanks for reading!! God Bless and Goodnight.

Well, I've not written anything in a while, but it's been kinda hectic lately. Firstly, Melanie's funeral last week was really hard on all of us. She will be missed, but I know that she is rejoicing with Jesus. We've invited Richard around tonight to watch some bike racing and for supper. So I'm looking forward to that. And this coming weekend, I HAVE TO put new tyres on my bike. The ones on there currently are finished! Completely bald in the middle! Heh heh. Sunday morning, we will probably go watch my friend do his first radio control car race, and then spend the day with them at their place. It's also MotoGP this weekend too, so there will be MEGA bike racing on TV! Speaking of TV - We've just bought DSTV and now have crystal clear picture on all channels at home, as well as about 50 other channels through the satellite. Awesome! The old "bunny ears" aerial we had was terrible and all the channels used to be snowy. AND.. that's not all.. We've moved offices as well, and I'm now sitting hear the window which is nice!. I get sunshine on my desk from about lunchtime. Makes a person really sleepy! Heh heh

I had a great weekend. Although it ended on a sad note. Friday night I spent with Michelle at home. Which is always good! Saturday morning we met up with our friends, Kylie and Jonathan, and while the girls headed off to the mall, Jono and myself went to Swartkops to watch a radio controlled aircraft exhibition there. It was incredible to see these scale models flying around. And the most amazing of all were the jets! These things are about 1.5 metres long and weight about 25kg! And are true jets! The few that were there were scale replicas of the American F-15, F-16, and F-20. And Soviet SU-27 and MIG-29. Also the Eurofighter. And when these things were started, they sounded exactly like a real jet... heck they WERE real jets! Amazing to watch! Apparently they have a TRUE SPEED of over 250km/h when flying!!! WOW! They also had the normal petrol engine scale models and some fantastically detailed WW1 biplanes as well. Later that evening we went to go see the new Matrix movie, and even though the special effects were awesome yet again, I was a little disappointed in the movie. There were too many "non-relevant" scenes in the movie. And if I think back to the first Matrix, every scene added to the storyline, but in this movie there were so many irrelevant scenes that, in my mind, just wasted time and made the movie longer. I'm hoping they redeem themselves with the final part to the trilogy in November. Sunday morning we got up late, I did some shopping, and then we went to a friend's 30th birthday bash at Boston BBQ. A fantastic "eat all you want" place. Where you can also try out some interesting dishes like Kangaroo, Impala, Kudu, Crocodile and others... As we were leaving, I got an SMS that a friend of mine, Melanie, passed away that morning. She has been suffering a long time with kidnet failure, and all sorts of things related to diabetes. So she is now in a better place with a perfect, Godly, body. So even though I'm sad at her passing, I'm glad that she's not suffering anymore. Her husband, Richard, is staying strong and was at church last night.

Well, Gary's funeral yesterday afternoon was a real testimony to the true character of who Gary was. I really pray that I have as many people at my funeral when my time comes. There were about 200 people there, and I pray that I have such an influence on my friends and family and people that I know. On the funeral program, there was this poem and I feel that I have to repeat it here: WHAT IS DYING? A ship sails and I stand watching till she fades on the horison. And someone at my side says "She is gone!" Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all; She is just as large as when I saw her; The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says "She is gone", There are others who are watching her coming And other voices take up a glad shout of rejoicing, "There she comes!!" And that is dying. Rest in God's presence Gary. We will all miss you, but we know you're in a better place. This morning when I got to work, I reversed into the parking bay, and scraped my new car against the carport post. DAMMIT!!! And I've scratched the paint off the rear wheel arch. Not too bad, but the white undercoat is showing. So Avis has to get a quote for that and let me know what I have to pay. *sigh* Lekker stupid Derek! Well, I've just finished cutting Michelle's hair. REALLY SHORT! She wanted a bob-kindof-short-layered-Meg-Ryan-kinda-look, and I think I got it right! Maybe hairdressing is my calling!!! ;o)

We went ice skating last night with the CMA youth. It was a Christian Event at the rink and they played only contemporary Christian music.. Quite good fun! We had a great time! It was organised as a promotion for the upcoming Godly Revolution!! Which is going to be a blast! Last year was fantastic, and I think this year is going to be better! On a sadder note, I'm leaving work at lunchtime today to attend Gary's funeral. We've been asked to go on our motorbikes and wear our colours jackets.

This past weekend was good and bad. Bad because we lost a friend in a motorbike accident on Friday night. Gary was riding back from Midrand towards Roodepoort, and there were roadworks on the main interchange. Gary lost control of his bike and crashed into the concrete barrier. The paramedics say he was killed instantly and didn't suffer. He was 22. *sigh* Michelle is taking it quite hard as they were good friends. This weekend I also went to my first live rugby game. The Vodacom Cup Final - Bulls against the Lions at Loftus stadium in Pretoria. It's the Bull's homeground, so naturally I shouted for the Lions! (Who won in the end..!! ;o) ) But it was interesting and I had more fun that I thought I would. Spent the rest of the evening with friends, and Sunday morning as well. Anyways, back to work today... *sigh*

I'm currently reading a series of books called The Left Behind Series. It's a fiction story about people "left behind" on earth after the rapture. It's brilliant reading, and really interesting to see God's Scripture put into perspective in a story like that. Highly recommended!!!!

I came across a cool website with some great screensavers and other assorted must haves: Useless Creations. They have a great screensaver for the new Matrix movie and also for The Lord Of The Rings. Go get them..!!!

This morning on my way to work I was disgusted at the amount of pollution in the air. It looked like fog it was so thick. With the colder weather now, all the shanty town residents are burning coal and wood fires to keep warm and it's practically blocking out the sun. Then to top it off we have 18 wheeler trucks doing way less than the minimum speed on the highway, and beltching out thick black diesel fumes on top of it. My heart breaks when I see what we're doing to our planet. I wonder when it's going to finally cave in and say "No More!". If I was God, I probably would have wiped us all out long ago! Thankfully He has a lot more grace and compassion than I do. (I'm working on it though. ;o) )