Another Great Escape

Britax Voyaga Ultra Travel System #2

2006-12-04T20:23:00.000Z

I said I'd write a "part 2" of my review I did earlier on the Britax Voyaga. We've been using it for 7 weeks now - it's taken this long to actually get around to finding a spare few minutes to blog.

Here's a quick update:

The push chair and all of the extras (carry cot, etc) are all well made and don't look worn after 7 weeks of use. It pushes well and is robust to tackle even the toughest terrain that Kidderminster has to offer. The carry cot is very useful, we've used it everyday since our daughter was born. However, it is a bit narrow - if you have a hefty baby, you may not get the use out of it. The car seat is great, although a bit heavy - again it feels tough and robust. When pushing the pushchair around it maneuvers well and acts as a good crowd-parter when zooming through our local shopping Mall. The bag at the back is really useful.

On the down side: It isn't small when collapsed. You need to have a fairly large boot to accomodate the push chair. Once I went back to work my wife found it hard to lift it in and out of her car, because it's pretty heavy when folded up. It took us a while to figure out that the seat had to folded flat in order for the chair to be folded flat. If you have a Fiat Punto you have to take the rear wheel off to fit it in your boot.

On the whole it's a good push chair and worth the money - but it's pretty big and heavy to lift.

For more reviews of baby stuff and our adventures in parenting visit my new blog - click here

My Last Post (Probably)

2006-10-09T19:33:00.000Z

This is probably the last post on this blog - I'm moving to my new blog/site which is here. I'm not going to delete this blogger blog yet, although my old posts are on my new blog.

Move to Wordpress

2006-10-07T18:03:00.000Z

I'm taking the plunge and moving to Wordpress - It's going to take a while to get things up and running. I'm going to try and export AGE.blogspot to my new blog. I've heard that the blogspot can get nuked in the process, I'm going to try and back it up. If it doesn't work then I'll be off the air for a bit. You can keep track of what the new blog is doing by clicking here.

Appalachian State University is HOT HOT HOT

2006-10-06T09:16:00.000Z

I want to go back to College now and so will you after watching this. Watch out for the saxaphone and keyboard bit in the middle. Only in America.

Igor the drummer

2006-10-06T09:13:00.000Z

Cool

Time Tunnel #1: Nintendo & Etcha Sketch

2006-10-06T08:34:00.000Z

Some cool things to take you back to your childhood:

1) Your very own Nintendo Entertainment System (virtual) with all the classic games vNES
There are loads of games, it all seems really basic now.

2) I was never any good as Etcha Sketch - here's a chance for you to have another go.

Walking like a Cowboy

2006-10-05T18:20:00.000Z

For those of you that know: Laugh. For those of you don't: Ponder.

Hitting + Head + Brick Wall = not a good day

2006-10-04T17:37:00.000Z

I don't want to make this blog one of those ranty ones where people blog about their crap lives, etc. However, this is going to be one of those posts....Have you ever thought that everything was going alright, only to find when you looked closely that things weren't? Today was one of those days.

I have this image of me bashing my head against a wall in despair because of the lack of nouse and get up and go of some people. What is the point of trying to do new things and getting on the back of initiatives when the people that say they are with you don't do stuff that they should do? At the moment it seems as if it's just me that sees the importance of what we are trying to do as a school and the rest of the staff are just coasting or warming up after the holidays.

Anyway. I might delete this post when I'm calmer - so read it while it's here.

Jesus Camp

2006-10-01T19:07:00.000Z

I've only seen a news report on it and the trailer that's in this post, but from what I've seen so far it's pretty scary. As a christian myself I find it hard to reconcile the militancy in the clip with what Jesus talked about. It comes across as something akin to child abuse....but maybe thats what they want you to think.

What do you lot think?

Landover Baptist Church : Unsaved NOT welcome

2006-09-30T19:40:00.000Z

It took me a good while to figure out that this was a spoof site. Anyway, Landover Baptist, has some cracking stuff but be warned, it's not for the easily offended Christians. This site takes a big swipe at American Evangelical Christians, and the whole "Jesus Junk" culture. If you can see through the satire, it raises some important issues; the amount of money that is being generated by the christian merchandise industry; the way that some Americans see America as being especially blessed by God (therefore justifying foreign policy...); the conditions some churchs have on membership, etc . To be honest, it made me laugh loads too, and that's one of the reasons why I'm posting about it.

I'm not sure who wrote it - it's very difficult to find any information about the authors. I'm not even sure whether the authors are Christians, but they seem to highlight areas for concern - slightly irreverantly.

It's really well put together and updated regularily but I don't think I'll be buying a WWJD thong though, not yet anyway.

Things to make your life easier: Snippy

2006-09-30T19:15:00.000Z

I can't take credit for this one, my Dad gave me the heads up. Snippy is an ace little programme that allows you to do great things with little hassle.

I dunno about Mac users but for those that use Windoze and the "print screen" facitilty a lot it can get really annoying to copy, paste & fart about with the image before you can use it. This is where Snippy comes in. This utility allows you to select the bits of an image you want, either as a rectangle or a free hand squiggle thing.

Thanks Dad!

...It's free too.

StumbleUpon!

2006-09-28T17:46:00.000Z

I didn't realise that I had an addictive personality until I downloaded and installed StumbleUpon.

For those of you that aren't in the know. StumbleUpon is a widget-like extension to firefox that allows users to stumble upon websites at the click of a (very addictive) button. The websites that appear are based on preferences that you choose when you register. With each website that you stumble upon, you can then rate the site (dead easy - a thumbs up or a thumbs down) which then refines your preferences even more.

Be warned, it is very, very easy to keep on clicking and while away 2 or 3 hours before you know it.

Baby Reviews: Kiddicare.com

2006-09-28T17:33:00.000Z

As regular readers will know we're expecting our first child and we've steadily collected baby things for the last few months. We've tried out lots of different online places to buy all that baby stuff from.

We came across Kiddicare whilst searching for nappies. We ended up getting a rocking chair from there. We were so impressed with their service - we ordered it on Sunday night and it arrived first thing on Tuesday. They emailed and offered to SMS us when it was dispatched. It arrived when they said it would. What more can you ask?

If you need, literally, anything for a baby then Kiddicare is for you.

Smile...it's Monday

2006-09-25T20:18:00.000Z

Jehovah's Weird Witnesses

2006-09-24T16:26:00.000Z

Another Sunday, another knock on the door at about 1 in the afternoon. We'd ignored it for the past couple of times because we weren't showered etc (I know, bit slack), but today I leapt for the backdoor to see who had been knocking the door. As soon as I opened it I was greeted by a smart looking guy. In the past I've been quite abrupt with JW's and Mormons because when it comes down to it we're never going to agree.

We started talking - it began with him asking me a question about why I thought there was suffering in the world. Here we go, I thought. My mind went into overdrive trying to think about all those things I had been taught about these "cults". I listened and then he asked me why I thought. This went on for a while. Memories are great - because all of a sudden things started to come out of my mouth. It was ace, I could remember all kinds of stuff that I'd read or been taught.

Like I said, the whole conversation lasted about an hour. Thinking back on what we talked about he backed off from some of my points and questions completely and relied a lot on "the bible says..." quoting and misquoting the Bible. The more we talked the more he went back to his version of the bible. Anyway, off he went, and then I got on the web.

I didn't realise how weird and cultish the JW's are. Their whole argument disapates because their version of the bible, which they rely soley on, is flawed. They have constructed a whole culture of exclusivism, that rejects and exile anyone that disagrees or leaves their group. They've predicted the end times numerous times and we're still here. Jesus even had an invisible second coming - hmm!

The interesting thing was that it seems that anything not produced or sanctioned by the Watch Tower or their local kingdom hall is seen as of the devil. He asked what type of christian I am, I replied that I wasn't a particular type but related to the emerging church movement. I offered to show him some info but he said his church had a CD-Rom with things on that he could look at. It wasn't until I got on the web that I found out that any material given to them by an "unbeliever" is tainted by the devil. They have their own information service that deals with outsiders like me.

The more I looked in to their beliefs and how the movement was set up and it's very dodgy dealings the more I realised how good they are at brainwashing people. An organisation that disapproves of it's members seeking unbiased info to check something out smacks of a totalitarian regime or something. There are numerous websites by people who have left the movement - many people got peeved that the 2nd coming didn;t happen in 1975, that they left. Some state mental abuse, and an insistance that they cut off all ties with non JW people. They even adjust dates of historical events to fit in with their predictions

I only wish I had more info to my fingertips when he knocked the door. If there is a next time I'll have my laptop at the ready. It's all too easy to answer the door and then slam it in their face when you find out who they are. Dialogue is good, but as I found today, unless you have facts and questions ready it's pointless because you won't change their point of view. The more you delve into movements past, look at how they think about non-believers and how they treat their members, the more you see that they're dangerous. The guy was nice, he's just misguided. Next time I'll be ready....

For more info check these out

Freeminds

Cult information

cult awareness

Fly Guy

2006-09-17T08:18:00.000Z

Have you ever wanted to fly....

Click here

A marathon of a day!

2006-09-15T18:32:00.000Z

Relief, then exhaustion, quickly followed by a desire to get out of Dodge as fast as possible was the order of the day.

I have three "troubled" (I could think of a whole load of other adjectives) kids in my class who repeatedly make my and the other kids lives, hell. Without going into too much information, it's their final year at the school and with me, having taught them for a year already I knew that this year would build on their previous "successes". Their parents are useless, two kids are from split families and the other's are nutters (certified). The parents don't interact with school, there is no backup whatsoever when problems arise. I find it so hard to keep my patience and my cool, when dealing with them. They share a brain cell (they left it at home today), they have the personality traits of Bart Simpson, the foul mouth of Cartman off Southpark and no sense of what is right and wrong.

I had survived the morning pretty much unscathed, but by the afternoon they were simmering. We'd got cool things planned and the kids were ready to get stuck into things. The 3 idiots raised their weasal-like faces, and their voices. It's hard to explain what they do without it sounding trivial but it's like some Army Psychological Warfare stuff, like white noise. It's constant, irritating and effectively disruptive. Anything could spark it off, a noise, a word, a picture, anything. They seek to disrupt each other and the class by being divs.

I'd gone throught the discipline procedure; I done the ignoring thing, the praising them up thing, the praising up the person next to them thing, the warning .... Enough was enough, they had to go. Ultimately, that's all I can do, they had a time out with the Head and came back after about 20 minutes. They know that our hands are tied and their parents don't give a damn about us or their kids.

This doesn't happen every day - in fact it doesn't happen every lesson. But when it does it really grinds me down. It took all of patience and "professionalism" to keep a lid on my rumbling anger and frustration with these future chavs. If only these kids could switch off their attitude for 50% of the time they'd learn so much. Ultimately, I know that they can't help it, that their parents have made them what they are. But it still doesn't excuse their behaviour. I feel as if I'm hitting my head against a wall.

So, only two weeks back, and they're already doing my head in. The prospects don't look good. Watch this space.

OK GO How cool?!

2006-09-15T18:26:00.000Z

9/11: Five Years On

2006-09-11T20:29:00.000Z

It's a bit of a cliche but I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when terrorists brought down planes in America. Since then the world has been a different place.

The reasons why grown men would be willing to kill to make a point totally invalidated any request to listen to their demands. The turmoil created by these people and their backers (they never seem to blow themselves up do they?) have literally rocked the world. Wars are being waged, (rightly or wrongly), people are dying, homes, countries demolished , etc, etc. It seems that no where is safe and no where has been left untouched by what has happened.

I remember listening to the reports on the radio pretty much as it happened on my way home from work. After the initial shock, an anger took over. My knee jerk response would have been to obliterate those responsible, preferably publicly and with upmost violence. Thankfully my finger will never be on the Nuke launch button nor will I ever have the command of armed forces. After the anger subsided I just wanted to know why.

I don't think we'll ever reconcile with people who are willing to blow themselves to pieces. Their demands are unrealistic and will never (I hope) come to fruition. Any extremism is wrong, it harms people and damages the "normal" people whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, etc. Our lives, at least in the short term, will never be the same because of people all over the world who are willing to die and kill for their cause. It's the ultimate show of commitment but one that is flawed. You can't debate, discuss, negotiate when you're dead. It shows that they don't value human life, that their tunnel vision is going to be their failing. As they kill and cause havoc most sane people will relegate them to the sidelines.

There is a time to kill and I think that the worlds response to this form of terrorism is by in large the correct one. I don't condone the killing of innocent people on either side but I think we need to combat terrorism in the only way possible (at this moment) and that is physically. There needs to be a Physical response to prevent more attacks and deaths.

Here lies the quandary of me as a Christian. Jesus condoned killing but if we turned the other cheek, we'd have an Islamic Republic of Great Britain or something along those lines in the foreseeable future, in the same form as the Taliban in Afghanistan. That, I believe, is the extremists goal.

Like I've posted before, those people that we rely on for our safety at home and abroad have my upmost respect. They have laid down their lives in protection of what we value; free speech, freedom to worship, freedom of movement, equal opportunities (not perfect yet), etc. There lies the difference.

5 years on the world is a very different place with the prospect of it getting worse before it gets better. I hope that people realize that suicide attacks aren't the way forward. I want our unborn child to be safe.

X-Factor: So bad it's good

2006-09-10T11:04:00.000Z

Some of these auditions are so cringeworthy - here's a sample:

Top Gear: Carbage

2006-09-10T10:55:00.000Z

I found Top Gear's site and came across their Carbage section. There's some classics here, maybe they could inpsire you to pimp up your ride.

End of the summer

2006-09-02T13:13:00.000Z

There isn't a clearer sign that the summer is drawing very quickly to an end than the wind battering the trees and the rain chucking it down.

This time, more specifically this weekend, of the year is a tad depressing. I know we've had 6 weeks off, watched way too much TV, stayed up late, got up when we wanted to, just did what we wanted to do but the prospect of going back to school on Monday sends shivers down my spine.

I start my 6th year of teaching this september. Five classes of kids have been taught by me - the kids in my first class will be coming up to 16 now and doing their GCSE's. Each start of a new year doesn't get any easier. I suppose it's just getting back into the swing of things, or knowing what you've got to do in order to get to the next summer holidays.

Don't get me wrong I love my job, but having spent 6 weeks kid and work free, it's hard to get back into getting up early and actually earning my money.

This is also the last summer that "we" will be two - in a few weeks "we" will be three. Along with this responsibility comes extra worry and stress. Ranging from, will we be able to cope, to what happens if this or that happens...

This year will be different - I start with a new set of kids to educate, I'll enter my 6th year of teaching (with a some important future job decisions to make) and I'll be a Dad.

From the desk of...

2006-09-01T08:57:00.000Z

Another day, another load of spam, this time from Samir...

From the desk
of barrister
Samir Saad amin

l apologize if the contents in this mail are contrary your
moral ethics, which l feel may be of great disturbance to
your personal life, but please treat with absolute secrecy
and personal.
Please read very carefully and am wating
for your urgent respon about this proposal,
hello my name is Samir from egypt
am presently on political assylum now.
l got your email contact from my research on the
net because am presently looking for honest person
who can help my client to invest his fund in Real Estate
Investment and commercial properties.
I will be very intresting to start a new life in your country
with your assistance and co-operation on this issue concerning
my client fund.
So please if your in good position to help me, please send me an
email at this email address ( samir_9@o2.pl )
indicating your desire to help me invest this fund in your country
and beyond. l urgently wating for your reply by end of the day,
I hope to me you very soon.

Best Regards & God Bless

Barrister

Samir Saad Amin

It's the God Bless that seals it for me!

"Dearest Friend..."

2006-08-31T19:27:00.000Z

I love these emails...

Dearest Friend

I am Mr Roy Mark Thompson an account supervisory officer in a Prime Bank in Middle East. My duty involves administrative documentation of all daily deposits in the bank.I send this mail to seek your participation in this monetary project that would be of mutual benefit to both of us.
In the course of one of my daily routines, I discovered documents of a secret account called (Fixed Income Investment Banking Account) for 5years worth $9Million belonging to one of our customers Mr. George Raymond (Late) an American businessman
killed in Iraq in 2004.

Most astunning of my discovery was that, all records bear no next of kin, meaning, no member of Mr. George Raymond family knows about the deposit therefore, no member of his family will ever come forward to claim the money. This revelation is only known to me. Now, I seek your collaboration to act as Next of Kin of late Mr. George Raymond to claim the funds and move them into useful investments. I know that you know a lot about investments, that is why I have come to you.

We shall split the cash between us in a ratio that would be negotiated between us upon confirmation of the funds in your account. Please note that by virtue of my position in the bank, I have worked out the perfect modality as well as I shall provide the relevant information/documents for the successful claim and transfer of the funds to any account provided by you. Be rest assured that, this project involve no risk.Upon the receipt of acceptance mail from you. I shall furnish you with due process of conluding this transaction without any delay.

Waiting your positive response.

Best regards,

Mark Thompson

Do you Remember the Pinball sequence from Sesame Street?

2006-08-25T08:59:00.000Z

Apple: Not as perfect as led to believe

2006-08-24T18:44:00.000Z

Apple batteries are over heating - so are Dell ones - but this made me smile!

Primary School Test Results

2006-08-24T10:48:00.000Z

Today the Primary School Test results were made public and once again they didn't meet government targets.

The test system is a joke really and doesn't reflect what the children know. Seeing articles and headlines that describe how pupils are failing to reach their targets reflects badly on their teachers or that's how it seems to me anyway. What these articles don't tell you is how these test results are collated. There is no way that all of the children will ever get the grade that they want because life isn't like that. People fail and kids need to know what it's like to fail.

I think small schools are given harsh treatment when it comes to test results and their individual targets as a school. In my school there is only 16 children in each year group. Ability wise I have kids that are poles apart. We have to be inline with national targets even though we don't have a balanced year group in terms of ability. At anyone time our cohort might have an uneven balance of brighter children or thickies. Like I said in my school each year group has 16 kids, with each child worth 6.25%. If 2 kids don't make the grade, that pushes are scores down by 13%. If two kids in a cohort of 100 don't make the grade then that school only drops 2%. It's not fair.

Seeing articles and headlines about failing to reach targets really gets on my nerves because the goal posts are different for each school. Sometimes it is easy to sit in Westminster concocting targets and proposals without actually having any knowledge of what it is like at the chalkface, especially in a school like mine.

On a positive note our scores were up from last year and we improved above the national average!

What a difference a typo makes

2006-08-23T18:24:00.000Z

I was a bit worried that my sense of humour had caught up with me and someone had hijacked my blog. Maybe it has, I dunno. I found out to my horror that some nutters or militant christians had a very similar blog name to mine. I can only think they registered the domain name in the hope that any one searching for mine with sticky fingers would end up at their website.

If you want to see my rival @ www.anothergreatescape.blogpsot.com click here

Mamas & Papas Sherwood Cot

2006-08-23T15:38:00.000Z

My parents wanted to buy us something for our 8 month old bump - we opted for a cot. We wanted something that would last a while and that looked good. We found one at Mamas & Papas and ordered it on line.

Typing this post, like putting the cot together, has been a nightmare. First, the Opera browser I installed took a dislike to me inserting images into blogger (3 times losing my posts) then my wifi connection played up just as I was uploaded the post and I lost it again. If this one doesn't work then I'm giving up.

Basically, the cot looks good but putting it together was a hassle.

1) We ordered it fine but wanted a different delivery address - guess what? It turned up at the wrong place today. Very quick but in the wrong place.

2) There are two prices on the website for the same product - ones on the offer page with a free mattress and the other is in the cot section for £15 more and without a mattress. Go figure!

3) The instructions on putting it together are crap - they may have well been written in Swahili.

4) Some of the fixings weren't made properly - I had to "adapt" them.

5) It took ages to fit the sliding side - as it doesn't say you need to dismantle the cot half way through construction to fit the side panel.

6) The allen key supplied was too long and didn't allow for easy turning.

7) Finally, one of the holes needed to secure the panel for mattress needed to be drilled to allow the bracket to fit properly.

If I was looking for a cot I'd think again about buying from M&P - they come across as being good quality but I'm not so sure. On the plus side it looks good and it seems sturdy enough. On the downside, it was a hassle fitting it together, the instructions were not clear and some of the parts were of a low quality. Not what I thought I was paying for.

The hardest job?

2006-08-20T10:37:00.000Z

After watching all the coverage on the TV about the terror plots in the UK it made me think about what was going on in the world. I am a big supporter of our Armed Forces and those who work to keep us safe, they really have an unenviable task. They face a storm of protests and hassle whilst putting their lives on the line, and often paying the ulimate price.

a few months ago after the Forest Gate mistake it seemed that the police had got it wrong - there were protests and anger at what had happened. Thankfully no one was killed but it left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. The recent terror plot to blow up planes brought everything back into perspective. As I watched it unfold on the TV over the last few weeks I realised how lucky we were to catch those people before the unthinkable happened. Politics aside, I can't think why someone would kill so many people and what purpose that would serve.

I grew up in the 80's & 90's when the IRA were still bombing mainland England. Although these attacks seemed savage and unnecessary there weren't anything in comparison to what has happened in today's world. The aim of the terrorists who were willing to blow themselves up in the futile hope that the whole world will become some Islamic state is plain daft. It will never happen, but I don't think that they know it.

Since 9/11 the whole world has changed. Things had been simmering before that but it wasn't until the terrorists hijacked the planes and killed so many people that people took notice and realised what was going on. It was a shock for everyone, including the security services (depending on what you read), who for decades had been dealing with the soviet threat in the cold war.

Since I was small I've always had a fascination with anything military or connected with the secret service. Maybe it was the Action Men I played with or the Bond films I watched, but this fascination has followed me as I've grown up. My father in law served in the army, my Grandad served in Egypt in WWII in the Royal Artillery and later on in Israel as part of the British Mandate. Maybe it's the kit that they get (all those gadgets), maybe it's the heroic exploits that gets me, I don't know. There is something that captures my interest.

I'm so glad that we live where we do and have people who are prepared to put their lives on the line for us. Whether it's in the armed services or in the shadowy world of the secret service. I think they deserve our respect and support because their job is tough enough.

The Mullet

2006-08-18T21:41:00.000Z

Have you ever wondered what happens when you type in "Mullet" on google? Well, I did. What I found has got to be the most shocking set of images ever seen.

Click on the image to see if your hair qualifies as a Mullet

If the above images gave you a taste for mullets - click on the links to see more of this unnatural phenomenom.

Mullets Galore

Rate my mullet

Mullet Junky

Mullet Madness

Mullet Lovers

Some great tunes from The Hoff

2006-08-18T21:12:00.000Z

Another reason why the Hoff didn't make it as a singer anywhere apart from Germany. How long can you bear to listen?

What a mullet!

There's more live Hasselhoff music on youtube - should you need to laugh even more.

Mr and Mrs Goat

2006-08-17T18:46:00.000Z

This story was on the BBC website:

A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife", after he was caught having sex with the animal.
The goat's owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders.

They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr Alifi.

"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.

Mr Alifi, Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe with his goat.

"When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up".

Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case.

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," Mr Alifi told the newspaper.

The moral of the story is don't got messing around with any goats!!!

Fried Squirrel

2006-08-14T11:20:00.000Z

I found this story on the BBC! It made me laugh.

Western Power Distribution said homes were cut off on Sunday when the animal ran to the top of the cable-carrying post and "got a nasty shock".
Power was cut to more than 10,380 properties in the Marsh Barton and St Thomas areas of Exeter.

The firm said power was restored to homes in an hour.

A Western Power spokeswoman said a short would have occurred if the squirrel touched two conductors simultaneously.

She said: "It does happen that squirrels try to run up our posts and if they are long enough they can touch two conductors at the same time."

Power cuts caused by the animals are unusual.

The dead animal was found by engineers.

A wedding, an affair, an anniversary and a terror plot

2006-08-14T08:53:00.000Z

We were invited to a wedding this weekend; a friend from college. We'd not been to one for a while, so it was good to sit and absorb what was happening. The setting was perfect; the sun was shining - they're local church just happened to be from the 12th Century. It was really good just to watch, sing when you're supposed to and respond when you were asked. It went well, everything seemed to fit. The music was just right, the Rector did her thing well, there were a few laughs. It was great to part of somebody elses special day.

In a total contrast was the news that two families that we know had been broken up by affairs. It was more of a shock because the people involved were members of a church, both actively involved in church life. I know Christians aren't perfect, far from it, but it seems to shock more when these things happen. I don't know whether either people involved were having any difficulties with their own marriages but I can't believe they didn't think of the consequences of their actions. Both have families with young children, both have spouses who are devastated, both are in positions of responsibility in a church. It's horrible when these things happen, especially when there are kids involved.

On a more positive note! We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary a few weeks ago. Five years has just flown by, I know it sounds cliched but it has. Getting married was the best decision that I've ever taken. I know it doesn't work for everyone, but I wouldn't change a thing at all. Next stop, parenthood!

Squirrels

2006-08-06T09:40:00.000Z

A year on from our house move and we're still been woken by squirrels. Even after one of them died in our water butt they're still tormenting us.

Pimp My Snack!

2006-08-03T09:00:00.000Z

For those of you who watch Pimp My Ride on MTV here's something on the same lines but with food. I can't take credit for finding this site, it was on Gordon Ramsay's F Word last night. There's no real point in what they do other than to prove that it can be done.

You can even get a t-shirt.

Converse Trainers

2006-08-03T08:35:00.000Z

I've been wearing converse trainers for ages. I bought my first pair in 1996 (way before everyone started to wear them now)and have had a regular supply since then. They're not flash, just understatedly cool. I came across converse's website and was very impressed. It's what a website should be: good to look at, easy to navigate, and fun. There's even a bit where you can design your own shoes and they make and ship them to you - I'm not sure that Claire would warrant us spending money on trainers I don't need right now!

What a difference 4 months makes!

2006-08-02T21:32:00.001Z

Bargain Hunter

2006-08-02T20:57:00.000Z

There's a fine line between gettting a bargain and being a penny pincher.

Thankfully, I usually fit into the bargain hunter catergory, usually.
Today has been a good day for bargains - as you can see from the pictures we've bought a shed load of loo roll - 80 rolls - EIGHTY rolls! And no, we've not been over doing the curry or suffering from delhi belly. It was on sale at Makro - 80 rolls of good quality, not the sand paper variety, for £14.

Also, you may know that we're expecting our first child (2 months left). My wife has a list of stuff we need to get and with the help of a voucher for John Lewis (spend £50 get £20 off) we crossed another one off today - a handy baby holder for when you need to take a trip to the pub.

Check out the "Penny Pinching" links on the right for some great sites. The one with the voucher is here.

If you live in the UK and want to save money you really need to visit the Money Saving Expert and sign up to his email.

Getting a bargain is ace.

Superman and the big JC

2006-07-28T15:33:00.000Z

I'm a big Superman fan and have been for years - the music is so cool (the original theme: dun, dun, daa...), to have the ability to fly has always been at the top of my wishlist and I have the biggest respect for a bloke who wears his undies on the outside.

I came across this article on the BBC website about the apparent link between Jesus and Superman. The article is reasonable but the really interesting bit is the comments that people have left. They range from the bizzare ("I've killed someone who slagged off batman...") to the deep and heart felt. Have a look. It good stuff.

It's Official!

2006-07-27T07:17:00.001Z

It's official, teaching is the least boring job, so says a BBC report:

When asked why they found their job interesting, 81% of teachers questioned said it was the challenge of the role and the same proportion said it was because "no two days were the same". The opportunity to interact with people was the job's most positive feature quality - mentioned by 86% of respondents - while 64% welcomed the opportunity to use their creativity. Michael Day, executive director at the TDA, said: "These findings demonstrate that one of the chief benefits of teaching is the sheer variety of the job - that no two days are the same."

The long holidays and the presents that the kids get you are nice perks too (I had some vintage champagne this year!).

Fruit Cake

2006-07-26T08:08:00.000Z

It's not very often that I find something that makes me speechless. Demonbuster.com has got to be in the running for the worst "christian" website ever. I have never read anything so on the fringe of being insane, proposing to be christian.

Just so you know:

1) Frogs are bad.

BURN OR DESTROY IT

"FROGS - In our local paper on November 20, 1998, it said, "Frogs' time has come - The frog is chirping its way into our pads in the form of Christmas ornaments, wine corks, CDs and sink stoppers. The latest amphibian landing: New World Frog Clock, a 13-inch blue wall model featuring frogs at every hour and a fly on the second hand." It croaks through the hours with sounds of many different frogs. See how the frog has become another fad."

Paul McCartney's frog song is out then.

2) Paisley is Evil.

"Paisley Print - burn it - don't wear it"

3) Problems with Windoze

Blame Boice and Boyce for problems with electronic equipment - I'm not sure where this was from, as far as I know there were no electronic equipment in the bible. I might be wrong though.

4) Get rid of all of your dodgy stuff

"SOME OBJECTS TO DESTROY: (See Lev. 11:13-21 and Deut. 14:7-19)

Some accursed objects are: owls, frogs, unicorns, dolphins, dragons, horseshoes; items from other countries such as Africa, China, Japan; American Indian artifacts, carvings, pictures, buddha statutes. Dolls and stuffed animals - dolls originated in voodoo. Paisley pattern on anything. Nike is a Greek god, according to the dictionary.

Collections, Pictures of movie stars, some items passed down from ancestors, Shamrocks, Any kind of good luck charm, Statues, Oriental objects, African items, Indian items, American Indian items, Any items that are used in witchcraft, The Book of Mormon, satanic bible, Books on other religions, Rock and roll music, etc."

I could go on and on. The whole site is stuff like this. Everyone comes in for a grilling from the person who created this site; People from Paisley in Scotland, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Nike wearers, Irish people, even Aslan from Narnia.

What gets me that everything is "qualified" by verses from the bible - it would be great to know whether the 4 million or so visitors to the site went there because they found it useful or just plain nutty. Behind every problem is a demon, woodworm is a demon apparently, it sounds like the medieval way of thinking. Anything that can't be explained - has to be a demon possessed.

Anyway - have a read, see what you think. Very much a fruit cake.

The guy from Evergreen, Colorado

2006-07-25T16:16:00.000Z

I lost your blog address - I've tried searching for your blog but I can't find it. If you see this post can you email or comment it.

Thanks

All done. Well, almost all done

2006-07-19T07:40:00.000Z

I had the benefit today of an extra hour in bed and the rest of the day at home. No, I'm not ill or skiving, I'm actually doing work. I just get to stay at home to do it.

I can't believe that this is last week of school before the holidays! The last few weeks really have been manic. I took my class away for a few days to an activity centre, but before that I had to prepare a presentation and finish off reports. Then, some bright spark way back in January, decided to put on a whole keystage performance with 4 shows. We've had rounders tournaments, people in to work with the kids, cricket coaching, dvd's to burn and lightscribe (thanks Andy). Last night was the year 6 leavers assembly.

I got home from work early knowing that I had a speech to write - I don't usually worry or mind about speaking infront of people. Give me a Hall of kids or a load of parents then I'm usually alright. Tonight was different. The actual speech was fine, it was just what was going on in my head. It dawned on me that my year 6, my kids were leaving. I know this happens every year, kids group up and move on. In our school it's different. I teach a mixed aged class, there are 15 year 6. I know them really well, I've taught them for two years, I can tell you which ones have made average, above average, excellent progress. I can give you their Valued Added score or their PP scores. I can sound off their sats levels - with Teacher Assessments too. I know who's had a late night, who might need some encouragement or who's going to have a rough day just by how they answer their name in the register I know these kids - and that's one of the positive sides to teaching in a small school. But because of all that, I'm going to miss them.

It's as if my child (when he/she comes along) is leaving home except that it's multiplied by 15.
This year 6 has done so well, they have shone, every single one of them has progressed and achieved something. Last night at the assemby, I felt as if I had succeeded as a teacher. But then with that realisation came the knowledge that it was time for them to move on. The last day of term - friday - will be tough.

If you're not a teacher, or even if you are, you might be wondering why I'm writing what I'm writing. For me teaching is the best job in the world. I try to put in 100% of me into my job. I work with a good group of people (it's the first job where I can honestly say my workmates are my friends), I have a boss that lets me run with madcap ideas and supports me. But above all I respect my kids and they give their respect back - and for a class of 9, 10 & 11 (it could easily be 13, 14, & 15) year olds that a big achievement. I read somewhere that if you're not tired at the end of term then you haven't done your job properly - well I'm knackered and my class are like Zombies.

Just the secret kids night out to go - LIMO'S!

Check This Blog out: My School's blog

2006-07-15T07:41:00.000Z

I'm plugging my school's blog - for a very good reason. It is going to be shown as an example of "Excellent" practice next week at a conference showcasing different approaches to ICT. There will be lots of important Education bigwigs around. If you're wondering why, I know it's not much to look at, it's the input from the kids and the interaction with the global community. Here's where you come in, could you leave some comments on the blog? If you can get kids to do it even better.

Which Superhero are you most like?

2006-07-09T17:32:00.000Z

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman		100%
Robin		60%
Supergirl		55%
Spider-Man		55%
Green Lantern		55%
Iron Man		55%
The Flash		45%
Wonder Woman		40%
Hulk		25%
Batman		25%
Catwoman		15%

You are mild-mannered, good,
strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

COMMENTS!

2006-07-09T12:48:00.000Z

I've messed up big time. I just received an email asking why comments weren't being published, so I checked my settings. I forgot to switch over to my new email address - for anyone who has commented and wondered why their comments aren't there, I'm really sorry. I've been trying to retrieve the old emails but my account has been shut down awhile now I probably won't get them.

Sorry.

Christian

2006-07-02T10:44:00.000Z

I can't take credit for this post really, Headphonaught's post got me thinking. What is it to be a Christian or Christ follower, why people cringe when they hear the word Christian, and why are some Christians crap at doing the stuff?

The general perception of Christians is a pretty negative one. The media rarely portrays them as anything other than quirky, weird or corrupt. The public perception is pretty similar. The wider church doesn't often help itself, church services for animals, arguments over gay clergy, child abuse, the recent 6/6/6 stuff in Holland, etc. Those in the know, know that being a christian isn't like that. There is the odd occasion where the media and the wider church get it right, the Manchester Passion (that how I came into contact with Headphonaught) was pretty good and very well reported on, there's probably more but I can't think of things at the moment.

When I studied at college we looked at ways of describing things by saying what something isn't - there is a term for it but I can't remember it - I thought I'd use that for Christian. This is something that'll take a while, and I'm hoping will generate some thoughts for anyone reading.

Here goes...

Christian isn't:
1) Being absent from modern culture - you get the occasional foray into culture, as I said before the animal services, the attempt to relate to the younger generation by wearing different coloured dog collar shirts, or the shout the loudest, condemn everyone to hell street ministries. Christians are taking on world issues (fair trade, etc) but are neglecting what is important - getting to know you neighbours , going to see the films or shows damned by some, interacting with a culture so that they accept you on a personal level, just being normal will get you a lot farther than quoting scripture or inviting them to church. Living a life that is credible, realistic, transparent and ultimately outward looking is the way forward. Feel free to add your own thoughts.

2) condemning - The street preachers really wind me up. They stand in Worcester shouting hell fire, "turn away from your sins" - you get the picture? For a start, I couldn't think of a more alienating way of communicating - the moment someone shouts at me I switch off. Their energy and enthusiasm could be funneled into something that works more effectively. They just miss the point, yes it is important to spread the message but not like that. I'd love to know how many people become "christian" from that way of doing things. We do have a responsibility to act on issues, but there is a time and a place and a way to do it. Condemnation isn't the way forward -

3) Cheesy - I find vestments hard to come to terms with - it's the men in dresses thing. I know the idea is to show that they're different and a kind of uniform but it's just strange. Something that is so different to what we usually wear - it creates a barrier. Worst, is when there is an attempt to become more (seemingly) relevant by wearing a blue, green or worst still a multi coloured clerical shirt. There's a sandal thing too - we had a visit from the local bishop at school, he had sandals (with a suit) on in the winter - little things make a difference. Worship songs can be way cheesy. Some things have a kitsch value, but to recognised for innovation and relevance christians have to do more than march down the high street at easter or stick a fish on their car.

That'll do for now - feel free to comment, even you lurkers, what christian trait is sometimes a hinderance?

Penalties!

2006-07-02T07:51:00.000Z

Well another defeat on penalties - Aside from that fact - when Rooney went off we played really well (he was provoked big time), there was a load of diving from Portugal, there was some iffy decisions from the ref but we just didn't convert our chances into goals. I think I'd feel better if Portugal had beaten us by putting some real goals in the net rather than they way they did. Brazil are out too, so it could get interesting. Only two years until Euro 2008, and then it's the world cup in South Africa. We can hope.

That was the week that was! Part 2

2006-07-01T14:00:00.000Z

Next on the list after my reports was the NCSL course. After 9 months of work it was all going to finish with a presentation and a graduation. The title they gave us was Your Learning Journey - and we were then supposed to have a learning conversation with people after your presentation. If you can ignore the cheesiness of it all it was actually very useful. It was good to verbalise the changes that have occurred in me, how these have benefited me and my school. It was also great to meet other teachers in my situation - also a chance to stress how easy secondary school teachers have in relation to us primary school teachers!! Apart from improved job prospects I have benefited big time, I'm sure I'll blog more about that at some point. The presentation went well and I passed - I wouldn't think twice about addressing a school hall full of kids but 50 adults with all their eyes on me was something else.

Straight after my presentation I had to pack - I was off to Shropshire to meet my year 6 and to swap over with my boss as group leader. I've done group trips like this before but this time the buck stopped with me - I was responsible, mostly, for 60 kids - slightly unnerving! It's always good to get away, and the prospect of patrolling the corridors, chaperoning, dodgy food, early get ups was outweighed by seeing the kids mature before your eyes, seeing the kids who hardly say anything come out of themselves, or watching them leap off an abseiling tower after coaxing them up there. Another plus is that I get to do stuff to - there was this cool swing/catapult thing - you basically sat in this bucket, then got winched up by everyone else and then had to pull this cord to send you flying. Then there was the zip wire - the challenge was to see who could go down the fastest - a running leap plus the fact that I'm slightly bigger than the average 10 year old, saw me winning that. It was cool.

Anyway - 3 weeks to go, lots of things to do, but the pressure is easing a bit. Here's to the summer.

That was the week that was! Part 1

2006-07-01T07:07:00.000Z

What a week! It has been such a full on week, but I still woke up at 6.30 despite having had about 5 hours sleep since tuesday night (not including the quality 8 hours last night) although I suppose this is something that we will have to get used to...Anyway, I cut myself off from the net because I had to get stuff done, the thing with wireless connections is that you can't escape from it in the house - that little icon was just too distracting!

I spent the later half of the week in an old country house in Shropshire with my year 6 and 50 other kids from our village schools cluster. Before I went I had to write my reports on the kids because I knew I'd be knackered and wouldn't be doing them today. I has a few other need to do things. The reports are always quite hard work - though this year we changed the format making it slightly less time consuming. It is really hard wording the general comment, we're advised to be "positively negative", which is something I find tough. I generally say what I mean without beating around too much. The last comment bit can be really cathartic, either to vent about a kid (in a positive way!), or to big the kid up and really make them feel good. As half of my class are leaving for high school, it's the final official thing I'll do for them. Teaching them for two years allows you to get to really get to know them. If I'm honest I will really miss the majority of them, although I'm not sure about the kids that are staying with me for another year. I now realise how privileged I am to get to know and see these kids grow up, mature and turn into young adults - for the most part I really enjoy my job.

So, after a few lengthy long-haul typing sessions, finishing at midnight monday I was done. I don't resent doing them, it's a big weight off my shoulders, but it allows me to get everything off my chest, outline how well or not they have done and give me closure on another year and another cohort. All in all a very therapeutic thing.

Going undercover

2006-06-24T16:22:00.000Z

I'm going off the blogosphere for a bit - got lots of things to do - be back soon.

Tradition Vs. New Stuff

2006-06-19T21:21:00.000Z

It's getting to that time of year when we start gearing up to the end of term. It is always action packed; there are records to prepare to give to the high school, full scale productions to direct and produce, Pupil night out to organise, assessments, marking, coordinator tasks to complete, work to sample and finally - the leavers assembly to organise.

Last year was the first year that we had year 6 leavers at my school, so it was the first time that I had had to sort anything else. I tried to establish something a bit different, something that wasn't the same as had been done year in year out with the year 4 leavers. This usually consisted of the same readings and the same hymns, as had been done for years previously. Mine was completely different, we had a Beatles song, one by the Beach boys and a few poems. Needless to say it didn't go down well. Like I said, it's that time of year again. There has been rumblings already about what we're doing. Shall we sing this, shall we do that, blah, blah, blah - that's what it sounds like to me. All I want to do is do something different, something that reflects what makes up my class and who I am as a teacher.

I find conflict and disagreement hard to deal with - it's one of my development targets to solve conflict rather than avoid it. Tomorrow will see it come to level - having thought about what I want my class to do rather what other people want me to do. I had a open remit to do what I want. Sometimes tradition can be stifling, strangling any type of new innovation or change - Sometimes change can be scary, and unnerving - but at this moment, I've lost all patience with the traditionalists and they need to get a grip.

Sound familiar??

Check out Rob's Blog

2006-06-19T17:22:00.000Z

Check out Rob's blog - Rob emailed me about the new set of wheels that we'd bought for our ever-growing bump. He also happens to be involved with some interesting stuff, which I'm sure he'll blog about, down in Plymouth.

Father's Day

2006-06-18T21:13:00.000Z

It dawned on me today being Father's day...this time next year I'll have been a dad for 8 months!

Mission Impossible?

2006-06-15T18:31:00.000Z

The look on Crouch's face said it all - relief that he had scored, so relieved he didn't even do his robot dance. After his goal you could see the tension drain off England, and they actually played pretty good even if it was only for the part of the game. I can relate to Crouchy. Today has been a marathon, from waking up at 6.30, to trying to get home to watch the football before kickoff.

I woke up tired, having spent some of the night thinking my lesson through for today, and the day before attaching 10, 1.5metre tall African tribal masks to the hall wall up a rickety set of scaffold. I'm not usually worried about being observed but today was a bit different. I've had a student teaching my class, so for the last few weeks I haven't taught my class Numeracy. Anyway, aside from that, things started going wrong from about 7.10 am. I needed to play part of a track for a section in the lesson, do you think my iPod would play? I needed to leave at 7.30, so I had 2o minutes to iron my shirt, shave, eat breakfast and fix my iPod. I gave up with the iPod and resorted to downloading the track onto a flashdrive, I got to school at 8.15, 30 minutes after I needed to be. Not good. I then got collered sorting some problem out. 8.40, photocopying done, no kids yet. 8.50 kids in - no faffing time left.

I really wanted the kids to pull their socks up and do me proud, I did the usual speech, read them the riot act and then bribed them. Things were going well, until I thought I'd get prepped for the next lesson. I went to use my laptop and the touchpad wouldn't work. Okay, I thought, I'll use the pen on the board - that didn't work either. Not quite panic yet, I rebooted. Still nothing. Turned off the power, let it stand for a bit. Nothing. Removed the battery, rebooted...the pen worked but no keypad. The morning had flown by and I still wasn't ready.

After the faff of the morning, I was almost relieved when the Inspector and my boss came in. I had to forget about the hassles and get on with the show. I thought things were going badly, the kids were farting about, I'd spotted a typo on some of the material I'd done, I was worried that the work was too hard. To top it off I had a kid decide to leap up and commando roll around the floor when I played the mission impossible theme (there was a point to this). I didn't get any indication as they left of how it went, just a thank-you and that was that. I had to wait until after the kids had gone home for my feedback.

Well, it had gone really, really well, I'm not sure what they can tell in a 25 min observation though, but he had liked what me, my posse of helpers (I've got a few special needs kids in my class) and the kids had done. Relief.

The only task left was to get back home for the match - the traffic was really bad. It took me 25 mins to do a 10 min journey.

I'm whacked - I might do my robot dance tomorrow!

iPod's fixed - had to do a reset it by using this update thing off the apple site - that took a while too - Apple's aren't above problems then....

Britax Voyaga Ultra Travel System

2006-06-12T21:21:00.000Z

My previous post about our push chair has attracted a lot of hits from all over the UK. I had an email from somebody down in Plymouth asking about the the push chair. I thought I'd do a bit of review of it.

The pushchair is designed quite well, it looks pretty good, it has lots of features and is a good alternative for the typical 3 wheeler pushchairs.

The Pros: It has lots of stuff; carry cot, car seat, bag, canopies, lots of space underneath and a good set of wheels. The front two wheels you can lock into place if you want to. It's very sturdy, without being too chunky - the silver bits on the side are good to look at. It's easy to put up and put down. Price wise, for what you get, it's very good. You also feel as if your baby is going to be secure and safe in it.

The cons: weight. It's a bit heavy, although not overly. It does take up a lot of space - but is small in comparison to a 3 wheeler. You have to buy the quick release car seat system separately, although you can use what is there already. The cup holder looks a bit plasticy but you can take that off.

I'm sure as we get to use it, my views might change. But having bought one and raced it around a bit this is what I've come up with. Let me know if you find this useful.

(Ours is in Prague - a bit like this, but with the cup holder)

Dramatic Conversion

2006-06-12T20:27:00.000Z

Before you get excited I haven't converted to Mac - It has only taken 12 months of moaning, disruption, and hassling but in the end right has overcome wrong. Claire has decided that she likes Lost. For the whole of the first series, she complained about how she didn't like it but now she does. She was glued to it last night. Maybe it's the pregnancy, or maybe common sense has prevailed!

The USA, REAL football and the World Cup

2006-06-12T16:40:00.000Z

As you know I'm a big fan of America - not necessarily the politics - but America and Americans are just cool. Anyway - the Budweiser adverts for the world cup are great, very apt.

FIFA have ranked the USA at 5th in the world - this looks very dodgy, for a nation where they call it soccer and half of them haven't heard of it, 5th is pretty high - very, very high. The first half of their first match is over and they're already two goals down against the Czech Republic - that doesn't bode well for a team that is ranked 5th in the world. I'll give them their dues, they've qualified for every world cup since 94 and they've come out of nowhere to being pretty good. But there's no way that they're 5th in the world, supposedly better than Italy, Germany, France, Argentina and even England.

Although, I'm a big Anglo-American, I've got to support the Czech's - we'll see what the second half brings...

Football, Sun and Sunday

2006-06-11T13:54:00.000Z

The England match was a bit of a disappointmen, wasn't it? All that hype and Crouch didn't even get chance to do his funky dance. There's a lot of excuses in the papers today - the main one putting England's lacklustre performance due to it being too hot. Fair enough - I'm trying to work this afternoon, although writing reports aren't on the same level as running around in 30 + degree heat for 90 minutes, and I can't get anywhere - hence the blogging.

Summoned by the Department of Education!

2006-06-06T19:42:00.000Z

I had a call this morning at work from a bigwig at the Local Education Authority. I thought I was in trouble - not that I have anything to be worried about! My name had been suggested to this guy, he'd been looking for some teachers to take part in a research panel for The Department of Education - the one in London - the really important one. All I know at the moment is that it'll involve a bit of work online and possible trips to London to the DFES building. Scary!

Special offer: Relevant Magazine

2006-06-05T13:53:00.000Z

I know I've plugged it before but if you haven't listened or paid attention here it is again. Relevant Magazine is probably one of the best publications around, if you want a balanced, normal Christian view on things. I know what you're thinking, Christian magazine - low quality, dodgy adverts asking for money, etc, etc. I'm really dubious about anything professing to be christian and modern, especially anything from this country - needless to say Relevant is American!! Don't let this put you off though. It is produced very well, it gives an honest, non-judgmental, balanced, creative, non-denominational, account of most things without (in my opinion) watering things down. It's just very good. Every issue is different, not every article is about a christian author, musician or person - this is the bit I like...it interviews normal people too! For someone who is not particularily interested in traditional church or christian culture but has a belief then this is for you. There's more. There's a podcast too and Relevant TV - a whole load of music videos directly to your desktop.

Here's the offer, open to any reader of my blog, even a lurker (the ones that look but don't leave comments), I will buy an annual subscription for a someone that leaves a comment on this post. I don't have to know you, you don't have to live in the UK. I will be selective - I might even buy a couple if subscriptions.

Don't knock it unless you've tried it.

If you've got a spare few minutes and your not Scottish, Welsh or Irish

2006-06-04T11:34:00.000Z

Backsliding

2006-06-04T09:10:00.000Z

It's been a good week. I spent to quality time with my Dad boarding our loft, we went shopping for a pushchair, we stayed up late watching cheesy films, England won two games convincingly (3,1 & 6:0), I had a hair cut in the day time, we went shopping in B'ham, I finally got to tidy up our front bit of garden, I got caught up with some reading, I barbecued for the first time this year, and I got to see our unborn child stretching out, arm behind it's head, relaxing in our 20 week scan. I could go on, like I said it's been a good week.

I'm on half term break from work, today's the last day of relaxing before we start the final push towards the end of term in 7 weeks. It's been a tough year, the class is interesting to say the least, and I've been busy with lots of projects. But anyway, today is Sunday, we were intending to to got to church this morning - honest. Claire's whacked, she's not budging from the bed. I tried to wake her, she wasn't having any of it. So, out came my laptop (not a mac), on went the kettle for some tea and I settled on the couch with the french doors open for a bit of uninterupted blog time.

I caught up with a few blogs I read, left a few comments and discovered a good blog- Journeyguy and a good feed from the BBC 10 thing.

Sometimes it's nice just to chill out, read, type, listen to the birds in the garden, smell the air and drink tea (and eat a couple of ginger nuts).

I'm not in work tomorrow, I've got the day at home to start writing the end of year reports on the kids. So my break isn't completely over :-)

England: 6 Jamacia: 0

2006-06-03T15:01:00.000Z

Germany here we come!!!

worth1000.com

2006-06-03T14:22:00.000Z

This is a great site. Lots of interesting pictures. Some of the art work is ace.

Treasure Hunting

2006-06-02T11:12:00.000Z

I find things like cellars, lofts, secret passageways, and anything like that fascinating. I suppose it comes from reading Enid Blyton books as a kid and having an over active imagination. Our last house was a Victorian nailers cottage which had a cellar and a loft, it even had an authentic outhouse. The previous owners were hoarders, they left stuff everywhere, we should have complained but we didn't know who to complain to. We spent a good month clearing away their rubbish. The bloke before had started to board over the damp in the cellar, which wasn't a good idea, so we had to pull out the manky boards. Behind one set of boards, underneath the chimney breast was an alcove full of stuff. There was 15 wine making bottles (the big glass ones, with the little handles at the top), there was a Betamax video (broken) complete with about 30 videos (The Lovejoy collection, alongside more dubious titles - Redhot lovers), and just bags of rubbish. Maybe he was making a time capsule or maybe he couldn't be bothered to go to the tip. Anyway, up in the loft was a selection of junk too, we cleared it all out, underneath it all we found the original victorian doors. Cool.

So, I like finding stuff, and rooting around in loft by torch light getting dusty. Yesterday saw me and my dad going up into the loft and putting some boards down. I was expecting all kinds of things, maybe the collection of Lovejoy tapes on VHS, but I didn't. I'm quite disapointed with my haul. Apart from fibreglass splinters and breathing difficulties due to the dust the resulting haul consisted of: a few scraps of 1971 Daily Express Newspaper, 4 old planks of wood, a very large, old, dormant (I hope) wasp/bees nest, and a quite kitsch looking silver Christmas tree.

I've pretty much explored the whole house now, not having found a secret passage or trap door or hidden gems has left me feeling quite disapointed. It's cool to find things - sad, I know - that's why whenever I'm doing an renovation I try to leave something for someone else to find.

So if anyones got an unexplored loft, cellar, bomb shelter or anything that you have to crawl into with a torch, mask and possibly with risk to your life then I'm your man. Drop me an email.

New set of wheels

2006-06-02T09:57:00.000Z

We made our first purchase from Babies R Us yesterday - I've got a feeling it won't be our last either! Claire's parents wanted to buy us something, so our mission was to buy a pushchair. Pushchairs aren't things I've usually paid much attention to in the past, I didn't realise there was so much choice and so many things to take into consideration. After a lot of research, discussion, testing & racing around the shop we opted for a Britax Voyaga Ultra Travel System.
(Not our kid)

England: 3 Hungary: 1

2006-05-30T21:55:00.000Z

Hopefully England can keep this up in the next month or so.

Mini me update @ 19 weeks 6 days

2006-05-30T17:28:00.000Z

:-)

The baby was relaxing with it's legs crossed and one arm behind it's head. How cool is that!??

Psalm 139

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.

The quest for maternity wear

2006-05-29T20:50:00.000Z

Today was our first proper outing into the realm of maternity wear. Claire is about 20 weeks gone now, so her bump is getting bigger literally by the day. So she's growing out of her pre-maternity clothes pretty fast. Anyway, as a bloke, womens's clothes shopping isn't the best thing to do in the world but today she experienced the pain I feel (sometimes) when we're off shopping. The selection of stuff in the shops was utter crap. It must have been a man who designed the maternity layout in the shops - it was obvious whoever did it, had not experienced what it was to be pregnant or live with a pregnant woman.

In Mothercare (of all places) the clothes were too high on the rails, in Next the selection consisted of 3 rails of polar opposite sizes, M&S doesn't stock maternity in its stores yet, Dorothy Perkins wasn't too bad - although only if you like day-glo orange or Amazonian-frog green, maternity wear hasn't come to Gap UK yet, H&M was a non starter, Debenhams wasn't too bad although it took us a while to find the single tiny dept. and last but not least House of Fraiser! Well, what can I say. I was stunned, the clothes were up on the top floor, tucked in a dark corner, and all it was made up of were about 4 pairs of jeans and a couple of floaty tops.

Needless to day we didn't get much - although we did get a pair of jeans.

Could this be the Mac stereotype??

2006-05-27T07:03:00.000Z

Could this be the Mac stereotype? Sad lads, with a slightly over zealous affection for Starwars, with way too much time on their hands! All we need now is an Nerdy Anorak voice going, "well, you can do anything with a Mac."

Confession time

2006-05-18T20:45:00.000Z

I have a confession to make...I'm a bit of a Big Brother fan. I'm sat here (semi) watching the new contestants enter the house. There's the usual mix of weirdos; there's a posh boy, a overly camp Scottish bloke (who sounds like Mrs Doubtfire), some girl that could be the chav off the Catherine Tate show, a skinny English-hating Welsh life guard, a "35" year old plastic surgery addict, a "sexual terrorist", numerous nymphomaniacs, a Scouser, a Manc (who sounds like Jimmy Cranky on speed), a few bigheads, and a bloke with Tourettes. If my Grampy was alive he'd say it was tripe. That describes it pretty much exactly. However, there's something there which makes me watch it. It's quite self affirming really - I know I'm sane, I know that my life is good, I know I've got it together.

Suits you sir!

2006-05-15T20:23:00.000Z

Man about town.

I found this ace website - There is some cracking stuff on here. Good for a laugh if you like retro stuff.

How things have changed!

I have a Green Card - apparently

2006-05-14T19:46:00.000Z

I got sent this email today - could it be an answer to pray? Could it be my ticket out of here? Let me think....

YOUR WAY TO THE U.S.A Inbox

USA GREEN CARD

More options

17:30 (3 hours ago)

Usafis Organsation
National Visa Center
Espana Zonal Office.

Dear Winner,

Congratulations!We are please to offically inform you that your email has been luckily seleceted as one of the fifty thousnad (50,000)lucky winner in this annual year america green card visa lottery programm called (DV-2006).

What is a U.S Green Card?
The "Green Card" is an immigrant visa to the United States. It allows you to legally live, work and study permanently in the United States and to enter and leave the country freely. Green card holders also receive health, education, and other rights, and they can sponsor relatives for Green Cards. This lottery is adminstered by the Usafis Organsation,and you as a winner is entitled to free ticket to the U.S.A.

HOW WAS THE SCELETION DONE?
The annual DV program makes permanent residence visas available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. Applicants for Diversity Visas are chosen by a "COMPUTER-GENERATED" random lottery draw. The visas, however, are distributed among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration,which will give you legal right to live and work permanently in the United States.

How do I know if I won?
Those selected will be notified by email between the month of May and July each year and will be provided further instructions,including information on fees connected with immigration to the U.S. Persons not selected will NOT receive any notification

Are there any additional fees?
No.Except for processing fee for the use of the registration wizard and the submission service, there are no additional fees to enter the lottery. If you win, you must pay a fee for an immigrant visa and a separate visa lottery surcharge.

Consequently,you have therefore been PRE-APPROVED to live in the united state.The following particulars are attached to your processing/approved order to live in the U.S below

FILE REFERNCE :DV-2006-APP

To immediately process your "GREEN CARD" contact the under listed U.S afiliate program agent on there 24hours hot-line and give them your name with the file refernce number with 2 day to avoid disqualification/cancellation of this program you have just won.

IMMIGRANT VISA AFILIATE U.S AGENCY
===================================
Mr.Pako Carlos
calle colon 1(28972).Barcelona,spain.
TEL:0034-649-697-618
TEL:0034-900-800-456

The claim agent will assist you in the processing of all the necessary documents that will enable you live and work in the U.S

N.B:Terms and conditions:
*****************************
1.Please quote your Reference number,your full name and address,Country, Telephone,mobile,fax number and occupation to your calim agent

Once again on behalf of all our staff,CONGRATULATIONS!!!.This promotion programm is sponsored by USAFIS ORGANIZATION.All informations have to be kept out of public to avoid double processing and unwarranted abuse of the programme.

Sincerely,

Don Gold
USAFIS ORGANIZATION

Pepperidge Farm

2006-05-09T20:56:00.000Z

A post inspired by a packet of Pepperidge Farm (baked not fried!) snacks!

I have a thing for most things American. When I saw the packet of Pepperidge Farm snacks I just couldn't resist. I know it's money in Tesco's pocket, I know I probably didn't need to buy these snacks, but it was American.

My affection for things American is a mystery at times. I sometimes wonder, for a split second, whether I was adopted, or whether the years of American TV has brainwashed me. Some people I know really dislike American's, although most of those have never been there or met someone from the states. Maybe the proliferation of American food places (we now have Subway - Wendy's next please) is to blame?

My first exposure with real Americans (BA Baracus, Rocky and Superman doesn't count) was at Church. I was 9. There was something about their outlook and attitude that really attracted me as a nine year old. They were positive, friendly, off the wall and generally just nice people. I remained in that church for another 10 or so years, making friends and doing the growing up thing. At each stage in my life I was injected with a bit more Americanism. If it wasn't for an American Pastor I wouldn't have become a Christian. Now, I don't want too much emphasis put of these people - I can't discount the A-Team, Dukes Of Hazard or MacGyver for their influence either.

My attraction hasn't eased, infact, with the dawn of the internet things have got worse - We're on to our 2nd PT Cruiser. I've had the opportunity to travel and live in America a number of times. Each time adding an extra American segment to my life. My first trip, infact my first trip out of England, was at 18 years old. This really made me - I was a shy, spotty teenager with a dodgy dress sense before. I was forced out of my comfort zone, I was 4000 miles from home, with no Marmite, no Tetley Tea or access to Twiglets. I had the added bonus of speaking with an accent though. Meeting, working and getting to know other people of my age was what I needed at that time in my life. I came back, confident, still spotty but with an improved dress sense. I also developed a thing for Tootsie Rolls and Root Beer - this addiction is still something I struggle with!

Americans (generally speaking) have a completely different attitude to life. One that is so different to any other I have come in contact with. There is an unbridled enthusiasm, an unstoppable energy - something that is just different to what things are like here. I'm not selling out on Britain or my Britishness, and although I have often talked about it I don't think I'd permenantly move to the states. Whatever I do, wherever I travel, whatever I watch/eat/drink, it doesn't take out the Briton in me. The fact still remains that I am drawn to a nation/people/concept/image/place that is different to mine.

The people that I've met have had the most influence on me. Like I said before, in every segment of my life I've be in contact with Americans. The fact that we both speak a similar language shouldn't detract from how different they are. Their whole concept of doing things is just bigger, better, in someways more naturally professional - Just watching certain TV programmes - Extreme Make over: Home edition, for example, where they basically demolish a house, rebuild it 3x as big, furnish it from Sears, by the family a car or two and then fund their children through college or pay off their mortgage. In comparison, we have Changing Rooms with its £500 budget, MDF cupboards and Laurence with his frilly cuffs. There is so many other examples.

The way they do church is different too. Whether it be mission, worship, whatever - it just seems more real. It might not be, maybe I just haven't come across a similar British church or I'vebeing duped. I'm not talking about the tele-evangelists with big hair and booming voices or the super-dooper-mega-whoop-de-do churches with 3 zillion members, with buses, coffee shops, etc, etc. I'm talking about honest people who share their faith in a way that doesn't alienate, that reflects contemporary culture and makes me want to go on sunday or wednesday or tuesday night.

Maybe you have a thing against Americans, maybe you don't like the proliferation of their culture on the global scene - but they do things well and we could learn a lot from how they do things.

The burner is back!

2006-05-07T17:25:00.000Z

Tonight is the night!

As you know I'm a bit of pyromaniac at heart. There is a certain connection between me and making things burn.

We had a wood burning patio heater as a wedding present, we've used it loads. Last year we used it a bit too much and it cracked in about 5 places. Right before we moved I was deciding whether to chuck it or not. I opted to glue it together. Well the glue wasn't heat proof and it cracked again. So today I put it back together with some fire cemment.

Tonight is the night that we fix the fire cemment and start off the burning season!

New Blog - Eyes Turned Outwards

2006-05-06T18:34:00.000Z

I contribute to another blog - Eyes Turned Outwards Check it out. It's quite forward thinking, it talks about a lot of issues surrounding being a christian in our culture. And of course if I'm contributing, it must be good!! Only kidding.

Teacher Moment

2006-05-05T20:15:00.000Z

I had a bit of a teacher moment today. It was one of those times when you realise what a great job teaching can be.

I teach a mixed year5/6 class. Those of you that know the English Ed. system, know that next week year 6 pupils will be taking their end of Key Stage 2 SATs. We've been preparing for a while, revision sessions, booster classes, etc. Today we finished off our prep. with a relaxation class. I did this with last year's year 6's and it seemed to go well then. Anyway, I was a bit sceptical about this lot, some of them are premadonna's, others are a just a pain in the neck.

The kids went into the hall and got ready. I turned the tape on. They listened. The tape was a bit cheesy, but once the kids got over the voice they relaxed. It was amazing, within 15 minutes half the group were asleep. Total chill out.

Whilst they were relaxing, I was thinking about this group. The pressure of SATs for me as a teacher is imense. I have targets from the LEA, my own proffessional development targets and the knowledge that these results will be published. However, for an 10 or 11 year old I can't imagine. We try our hardest not to make too bigger deal about it. I was getting all mellow thinking about how I've helped shape these kids, but then worrying that I'd put too much pressure on them. The ambiance was shattered when the phone rang though - one of the girls, although only 11 acts and looks much older, burst into tears. She had woke up and didn't know where she was and she just started to cry. I just remembered that she was a kid. Sometimes I forget how much "child" is left in the older kids at school. They act so old sometimes that you forget that they worry about stuff, burst into tears, curl up in the foetel position, etc.

Sunday Best

2006-05-04T21:50:00.000Z

I found these from Headphonaught's blog - I thought this design would go down like a lead balloon in a certain religious establishment that I used to frequent!

I'm not sure the people concerned would understand the Theology, so obviously, behind these shirts.

For more ace designs visit LARDMONKEY - I will once I get our cash flow situation sorted (which it should be tomorrow)

looking for a church?

2006-05-04T06:32:00.000Z

One of my fav. TV shows - this one is interesting, although I don't know how it turns out.

An interesting day

2006-05-03T18:52:00.000Z

I've got to be quick as we're off swimming. Not my choice of activity for a wednesday night, but hey.

I was feeling a bit negative about today - it was the last of my Leading from the Middle development days - I wasn't really looking forward to it. Partly because I thought that I hadn't done the work for it and partly because I'd rather spend this week with the kids in my class before they sit their SATs next week. Well, it turned out to be a good day. I learnt a lot. Usually these type of courses can be full of management speak or as one bloke put it "psycho-bollocks". This one was quite good.

When I started this course 9 months ago I felt as if I was a small fish in a big pond. There seemed to be so many other people with more experience and bigger teams to manage. I really didn't think I'd last it out. The thing is - I've really learnt things about myself. To other people these things may seem miniscule or unimportant but to me it has been like a road to Damascus experience. It has been one of those rare moments of clarity that most people get, where all the cogs turn or all the planets align or when everything just falls into place. The bits of advice, guidance, coaching, mentoring, chatting and just having time out of school to think and reflect have all contributed to changes to my profesional life. I'm not perfect, I haven't cracked it completly but the seeds have been sown.

I still have lots to process.

2DTV

2006-04-23T10:39:00.000Z

Finding Osama

George W. Bush and Professor Liebstrom

Happy 80th Queeny

Check this out - for all you George W. Bush Fans

Mark Berry - missionary to the "Goldless" in Telford

2006-04-23T08:12:00.000Z

"Mark Berry - special missionary to 'go[l]dless' Telford" as quoted in the Guardian Newspaper.

I came across this blokes blog the other day. Reading the article in the Guardian, he sounds like the Jamie Oliver of Mission. I don't mean that as an insult - there are just some similarities - Vespa Scooter, hair, etc.

The article was pretty objective, for a national newspaper. Non of the usual anti-christian stuff or "quirky" christian slant. It sounds like he has a difficult job - with a home church that doesn't quite understand his remit, "It's a wonderful little church, full of wonderfully spirited, kind, elderly people who, bless them, would not know how to connect with some of the people I'm trying to connect with...the church warden asked me, 'As you're the local missionary, will we be seeing some young people coming?' and I said, 'The short answer is no." His approach is ace, I'm glad his focus isnt' getting bums on seats, it just doesn't work. He's just living his life with God and finding normal places to share his faith - not the Saturday Morning ravers in the highstreet, reminding people of their guilt and need to repent.

It'd good to find similar minded people.

Mark Berry's Blog

"Thistle Boo" for a girl or "Boysenberry" for a boy

2006-04-22T21:53:00.000Z

"Thistle Boo" for a girl or "Boysenberry" for a boy - I dunno, both these names have a certain ring to them.

You can have a go at creating your own baby names here.

Do parents screw you up?

2006-04-22T21:39:00.000Z

"Do parents screw you up?" - Something that, accordingly to this quiz, my parents haven't done (They didn't do that bad a job).

My results:

You've hit the parent jackpot. They're kind, supportive - perfect, in fact. But could they be too perfect? What are they trying to hide? Are they even your real parents, or fugitive killers who have assumed the identities of their victims. Until you know for sure, treat them with suspicion...

You can have a go here

Not that I'm ungrateful but...

2006-04-21T20:17:00.000Z

Another birthday, another selection of interesting birthday presents. Fortunately, I married a wonderfully thoughtful, husband-appreciating/nurturing person. Without her thoughtful gifts I would be thoroughly depressed. Since growing up and leaving home birthdays have always been anticlimactic when it comes to some of the presents I receive. The "quality"presents I have received usually fall into the stationary, personal hygiene or, now, plant catergories. I know someone somewhere would appreciate a set of personalised stationary (4 years running - you know how much I use a pen and paper), a bottle of shower gel (maybe they're trying to tell me something) or even a hanging basket of pansies (hmm...) - but I'm a modern man, someone who downloads podcasts, someone who has a selection of Converse trainers, someone who kills animals in the garden (see previous posts), someone who enjoys a pint, someone who travels, someone who lives in the 21st Century :-)

I think having grown up and left the confines of small town life - having it seemed, emigrated the universe-like length of 9 miles to the neighbouring town, people that once were so adept at buying presents have lapsed into "I can't be arsed to find out what he likes" mode. Instead, resorting to buying something definately middle aged. The difference a few years makes is amazing. I left my hometown 9 years ago to go to college, from there I got married, moved and got a job and have not looked back since. People obviously think I've aged considerably since then - maybe I'm ready to retire and take up allotment gardening.

Not to put too much of a downer on things - I did get some cool presents too. As you may or may not know we're expecting our first kid. This wasn't for my birthday - as they are too small
for me! (Thanks Mum and Dad for the baby gear!) I decided that I needed to get all of my big purchases out of the way. I tied them into my birthday as an excuse really as this is the last time we might have any money for a while. So, I'm now the proud owner of an iPod (I may have mentioned this before), we've also purchased another car - not a brand new one and not strictly for my birthday. We get it Wednesday - hopefully. The insurance company has been a bit slow sorting stuff out. I also had a lawnmower - again not strictly for my birthday but its loud, and has blades, and gears and goes by itself - another addition to my powertool arsenal.

Some very thoughtful soul/s bought me an iTunes gift certificate (they, obviously don't think I smell, need pens and paper or want to grow pansies!). I had a very well thoughtout present from my granma - although it reminds me of those times when old people forget what things cost nowadays. As for the rest of my family, Grandad seemed to have forgotten, but the rest of them remembered and their gifts are much appreciated

I always used to remember when birthdays were great fun, I couldn't wait to get up and open my presents. I know the magic of birthdays diminishes when you get older - but I'm only 28, if people really knew me I'd hope they wouldn't get me flipping flowers. Anyway, I was having a good day until I got the pansies - thanks to those people who put some thought into my presents. My wife has always got me great things - she's very thoughtful, her whole family is. I married well.

What type of Christian are you?

2006-04-20T13:45:00.000Z

I found this quiz on a blog whilst surfin for stuff.

Here are my results:

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. "You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this."

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

Emergent/Postmodern

86%

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

68%

Neo orthodox

54%

Reformed Evangelical

43%

Classical Liberal

39%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

36%

Modern Liberal

32%

Fundamentalist

21%

Roman Catholic

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

The "Bizarre" Manchester Passion

2006-04-20T11:27:00.000Z

NME recently reviewed the Manchester Passion - I thought it was quite interesting, they viewed it as a bit of a bizarre Easter celebration. I still think it was an ace piece of marketing - getting non-christians to retell the easter message. A good bit of postmodern evangelism!

If Microsoft marketed the iPod...

2006-04-19T12:39:00.000Z

Wow - what a product!

Da Vinci Discussion

2006-04-19T06:48:00.000Z

There's loads of debate around Dan Brown's book. If you want an honest, balanced non-judgemental approach look at this discussion forum. There's some interesting threads.

I like this blokes comment:

Haven't read it.

Life is too short to voluntarily read bollocks. There is too much important stuff that I need to read that I'm unable to, that I don't want to spend what little time I have available reading fiction.

And this one:

The really amazing thing is that anybody gives a damn. Slagging the church, in particular the RCC, still can bring huge monetary rewards. That makes me wonder how "secular" our societies really are. If people are just post-Christian religious apathetics, why do they even care about any of this?

This one sound a bit of a weirdo:

I have two four-foot long shelves in my bedroom stacked with quality fiction and non-fiction (mostly theology) that I plan to read soon. Why would I want to waste my time reading this load of half-baked crapola?

You may say I should read it to find out if it's really crapola. Fortunately, I have critics and you good people here to tell me that. After all, I don't read porn or racist literature to find out if it's really pornographic or racist!

ETA: PS, as an impoverished writer myself, I would not be able to bring myself to put even more money into the fraudulent pocket of Dan Brown.

I could go on.

Just make up your own mind.

The Da Vinci Code

2006-04-19T05:00:00.000Z

Well, I've read it, the book that apparently is going to rewrite the history of the church. You better not tell my mum, she wouldn't be impressed. She still hasn't read or seen Harry Potter because of what some of the Christian media said about the books when they first came out (they have since gone very quiet about Harry Potter), rather than read it for herself and make up her own mind. But I'm not talking about Harry Potter -

Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is a fairly good read. It's not as good as his Angels and Demons, although it follows a very similar plot line. The Character gets a message, he goes to investigate, he gets drawn into solving a mystery, get chases, attacked, looks like he's not going to save the world, eventually overcomes against all odds and gets the girl.

As for the "controversy" I'd be a bit put off if the book was in the non-fiction catergory, but it's not. As a piece of fiction, which is what Dan Brown intended, it's a fairly good read. The apparent revelation that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and they had kids which are still alive today wasn't as shocking as all of the hype lead us to believe. The basic premise of the book was that the Catholic church has sought to suppress this information and have actively tracked down and eliminated it's opponents. The later bit is probably true, the Catholic church was the first international conglomerate. Like any large company, to keep it's power it must protect it's assets. (This isn't going to be a catholic bash-a-thon). According to Tom Clancey, the CIA use the Jesuit Order to assist them, as the Jesuits have places around the globe. That's kind of cool.

Anyway, I think the more hype and created controversy over it, the more people, who haven't read the book, heap scorn on it. If you've read the Gospels you'll know that there's a bit of a major gap in Jesus' life, they stop recording his life pretty soon after he legs it away from his parents and goes to the temple and then all of a sudden he's 30 and it's the wedding at Canaan (if only my theology prof's could read by wonderful synopsis!). There's a gap of about 18 years. Now, some people think that he spent those years twiddling his thumbs waiting for his call to kick off his ministry. I don't necessarily believe that what's in the book is true, it is after all fiction but it does raise some interesting points.

In the book Dan Brown gives quite a convincing argument as to why he might be correct. The bible as we know it has only been that way for about 1700 years. About 300 AD Constantine got together a group of people to sort out what was okay to go in the bible. Constantine was the Roman Emperor, he converted and created the Catholic Church, he brought Christianity to the Roman Empire. They edited out all the bits that they didn't like and what they produced we still use today. According to Brown, this meant that Jesus' relationship with Mary M was deleted, apart from what is there now. Whose to say that Jesus didn't marry - there is nothing in the bible that says he shouldn't or didn't. There's that gap of 18 or so years. He's a bloke, he'd want to settle down. It was weird for men of that time not to marry. I don't think it makes a difference, to who Jesus was and is and to what happened.

Brown goes onto say about how the C.Church sought to separate Jesus' humanity and divinity. Placing more emphasis on his divine nature, they put him on a pedestal, looking at what they saw as pure and chaste, ignoring his human nature. Mary got the same treatment, someone I knew at college, was convinced that once Mary had had Jesus that was it, separate beds, no more kids. I'm sure Joseph wasn't pleased about that. They forgot/ignored that Jesus was 100% human - which is what makes the message more applicable than anything.

In the book, the Catholic Church wasn't happy about their secrets coming out in the open. They sensed that their grip on the "truth" was slipping. What was slipping was their construction of religion. The Christian Religion and Christianity are two very different things. The religion being the human construct, the human imperfect construct. I have a lot of respect for the catholic church, but they get things wrong - like any human organisation. With all of this faff around the Da Vinci Code, people are drawn into defending something that is flawed and forgetting they important things. There was a reporter on radio 2 that was commenting on the Archbishop of Canterbury's Easter message. He said that people are more interested in the mysteries and conspiracies than religion. The reporter basically said get a grip. The church is tough enough to survive. Very true.

All of these Christian Crack pots who seem to protest about everything are just fuelling peoples misconceptions and prejudices. If it's not Harry Potter it's Jerry Springer the Opera. If not that, then its The Da Vinci code. What will be next?? Why not protest against Lord of the Rings - that is full of wizards, etc, what about the Passion of the Christ - how violent and bloody was that? Where are all of the Harry Potter protesters now? I remember when the Simpsons first came out, the "Christian" press saw them as the ultimate abnormal family - now you have the book The Gospels according to the Simpsons. There are commentaries on how there are spiritual themes throughout the Simpsons. Some people just choose to shout about things without first looking at them properly.

I'm not sure what to think about the implication of the Da Vinci code - or if it has any implication at all. As a work of fiction it's quite good. Dan Brown has worked in sufficient amounts of believable stuff and fiction to make people wonder if what he has written is true. I've a soft spot for conspiracy stories - maybe it's true - but what difference would it make? I don't think it would. Dan Brown doesn't refute the resurrection, the divinity of Jesus, that Jesus existed, or Jesus' redemptive message. The only controversial thing was that he married and the catholic church didn't like it. You make up your mind. We only have the bible to go by, god inspired but human written, it hasn't got everything in. Maybe we'll be able to ask the big guy one day! There's one thing I am sure of: All this hype only leads to one thing - More money for Dan Brown.

My advice to any Christians who are concerned about the book is to read it and make up your own mind. Don't jump on the evangelical bandwagon laying scorn to everything that is different or seemingly anti-Christian. See it, read it, listen to it before you condemn it.

Just don't buy it full price - ebay it or get in on Amazon Market place - mine cost 5p. Not a penny goes to D Brown!! Ha ha.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Insomnia

2006-04-19T04:36:00.000Z

Don't you just hate not being able to sleep. It's now 5.45am, I got up about an hour ago, I don't know what woke me up. Anyway,the TV is crap at this time of the morning. I wasn't in the mood for a DVD. So I started flicking through the sky channels - we don't have the full package, just the basic one. I started channel surfin - the Joy of Painting (some american guy with big hair), Return of the killer tomatoes (really bad film), Movies for men (not some dodgy channel), The bad movie channel, then there's all of the shopping channels.

Now the flamming birds are tweeting.

I'm glad I'm not in work for the rest of the week.

Songs of Hasselhoff

2006-04-15T20:41:00.000Z

No wonder his wife got a restraining order on him!! I found this on the Nanolog mentioned in my previous post - thanks!

Headphonaught's Nanolog

2006-04-15T11:28:00.000Z

Afraid to say another Apple Lovin Christian - what is it with Mac's?? Anyway, check out this guy's blog. Very cool.

Headphonaught's Nanolog

Manchester Passion

2006-04-15T09:11:00.000Z

About two weeks ago the BBC started broadcasting adverts for it's "Manchester Passion". I don't know whether you saw the ad's - a few classic cars, some cool music and the wonderful scenery of Manchester. Rather than spend my Friday, boozing and clubbing (ha, ha), I thought I'd tune in.

I'm usually a bit skeptical about "religious" programmes on the TV, they're usually a bit cheesy, too traditional, or way too wishy washy (Heaven and Earth Show - urgh!). I'd read some of the reviews (I don't know how they were able to review a live show), some were saying that it was going to ruffle a few feathers, others were saying that it was bad to modernise a traditional story. It was a bit radical for some people - to have a passion play without any "religious" music, to have it live in the Manchester (nothing against Manchester - my sis in law lives there), etc.

The music was great, The Smiths, Oasis, Stone Roses - I'm not sure about Robbie Williams though!! The songs could have been written especially for it, they all seemed to fit so well. The casting of some of the disciples was great - who better to pick than Bez (happy Mondays, celeb big bro winner) and I'm sure Paul Weller. Even the bloke who got to play Jesus, wanted to play Judas, they seemed to pick the most unusual people for this - but it all worked. God must have been there somewhere.

The thing that got me were the interviews. For the most they grabbed young Christians, the only bum note was the person that was "there for all of non-spiritual people" to share in the feeling of the moment. Each to their own. It was good to see an explicit christian message broadcast in a "non-Christian" way. Some people I know would freak at how the message was broadcast, but it was fresh and to the point. It said so much more than someone retelling the story at the front of a church, even if they had a powerpoint presentation! In the past I've found it so cringeworthy watching Christian programmes, this one made me think that it was worth paying my licence fee.

If you missed it, you really did miss out.

Read about it here

or here

or here

Check out Vintage21 for some really funny videos - not for the traditionalist Christian. Very contemporary

Mini-me

2006-04-10T21:26:00.000Z

The passing of a friend

2006-04-10T18:53:00.000Z

One of our squirrels is dead. It was not intentional - although they have been a pain for the last 10 months. Our garden is like a killing field, first the hedgehog with the lawnmower (the mower went down into the channel between the border and the lawn and went over a h.hog) and now the dead squirrel with the lethal water butt. It must have misjudged it's jump and landed in the water butt and was unable to get out. I found it, starting to smell, today. Joy! Anyway, it won't be tapdancing on our roof at 5am anymore. Don't mess with water butts they can be deadly!

New Toys

2006-04-06T17:43:00.000Z

I received 2 new toys today - a Tunedok and an iTrip. My ipod is now mobile! I tested it after work - it is so cool. It is very clear, I'd heard how dodgy some of the iTrips were - this one is ace. Another piece added to my "i" collection.