400th visitor and almost 100 posts

I put the post out there and it took until visitor 405 to make a comment.

As a 'reward', they will receive this post about them with links to their blog.

It was my mate Jonny who visited and left a comment. His blog is found at http://thisisjonny.blogspot.com


He updates his blog every so often and has some great posts. Some of my favourites include:

http://thisisjonny.blogspot.com/2007/05/good-day.html

http://thisisjonny.blogspot.com/2007/05/corporate-machines.html

http://thisisjonny.blogspot.com/2007/05/but-then-you-assure-me.html

http://thisisjonny.blogspot.com/2007/05/upstairs-living.html

It is worth a visit and a regular check back to see what is happening.

Check out my blog

When you type check out my blog into Google it will return with 191,000,000 hits. Of course none of these actually have that complete phrase of check out my blog. When you use "check out my blog" you get 637,000. Seriously has no one thought of using this phrase as a draw-card.

I have had 18 visitors today from Sweden, Greece, Brazil, America and of course from Australia. Thanks for visiting as it is almost at 100 posts and have nearly had 400 visitors. If you notice that you are the 400th visitor, please leave a comment. If not then the first person to comment after 400 visitors will get a post publicising their blog with a link and all. It's the least I can do.

How to add an RSS feed of this blog

You may find that you have to keep finding the link or visiting this blog just to see if I have updated it or not. Did you know that you can keep track of whether this blog is updated or not, quite easily?

All you need to do is add it as an RSS feed. If you are using IE7 or Firefox 2 it will be easy to add because they support RSS feeds much better. If you aren't using Firefox 2 yet, I strongly suggest using it as it has many benefits.

To add my blog to your RSS feeds, all you need to do is go to this link: http://pi007.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

It will then ask if you want to subscribe to this feed and you will need to accept and say yes or ok, whichever is required. You will then see the title and the start of each post as they are updated. If you need any further assistance you can email me, leave a comment or do a Google search.

Should I kill myself?

Don't be concerned about me at all, I have just been thinking about what Google would return for some weird searches (mainly questions) that people will ask it to find an answer.

It is a very sombre post this one because if you ask Google "Should I kill myself?" you will get 5,870,000 results and when you start to read through some of the websites that it returns, you realise just how many people are wanting to or are thinking about committing suicide.

All I will say is to anyone considering suicide, don't do it because it ain't worth it. If that is not enough to convince you (and I wouldn't think it would be), please contact me because you can find my email address on my profile page and I am willing to talk to you about it.

You only get one go at life, don't waste it!

Giving control to God

We all struggle to allow God full control of our lives because we like to feel like we are in control when we aren't. Our decisions affect what happens but ultimately God is still in control which is why we should be obedient to Him in the first place.

The devotion today was about walking by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7)

A really good point from it was:

"When we confess all known sin and then depend on the Holy Spirit to guide us (Gal. 5:16,18), we become a powerhouse for God!" - God can use us so much more than we can imagine if we die to self by seeking His will and being obedient to Him.

Where God guides, He provides

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Proverbs 19:21 (cf Proverbs 16:9) - "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."

As much as we like to think we are in control of what happens, God is the one who directs our paths and so we should fully rely on Him. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Round 9 AFL Tips

Well, this is the first week of showing the world what my AFL tips are for the week. Since a comment was left by JB that maybe I could share my tips, I decided it would be interesting to see how many people would follow my tips and either like my tipping or hate me.

So here goes for Round 9 (my tips bolded):

Friday May 25

8:40pm Fremantle v St Kilda Subiaco Oval
- It has got to be Fremantle with St Kilda suffering a lot of injuries with a depleting side and a Fremantle coach who is really after getting into the 8.

Saturday May 26

2:10pm Carlton v Adelaide Telstra Dome
- Adelaide should be too strong for an underpowered Carlton side.

2:10pm Hawthorn v West Coast Aurora Stadium
- West Coast are on fire for another season and have won several here before. It is unlikely that losing Kerr would dent the side that much and the weather is not looking like being wet either.

7:10pm Brisbane v Collingwood The Gabba
- Brisbane should be strong enough to beat Collingwood at the Gabba if they can hold it together although the Pies could be a force to be reckoned with - close game of the round.

7:40pm Richmond v Essendon Melbourne Cricket Ground
- Richmond will have to be hungry and maul the Bombers to do any good here as they have not won a game yet for the season.


Sunday May 27

1:10pm Western Bulldogs v Sydney Manuka Oval
- Sydney are looking good for this season again after a win over the Port last week. They should be able to perform well enough for a victory.

2:10pm Melbourne v Kangaroos Melbourne Cricket Ground
- You might be thinking, what is he crazy - they haven't won a game, Melbourne have a good track record over the Roos, they wouldn't have been as worn out after last round against the Eagles compared to the Roos after a high-scoring match last week. Melbourne have to believe in themselves and go for it, it is their best possibility of winning until they play Richmond in Round 12.

4:40pm Port Adelaide v Geelong AAMI Stadium
- Even though Geelong are winning and doing really well and Port come off a loss last week, I think Port should do alright at home and with dry (not really wet) weather conditions - a win is a nice possibility. Also the fact that I want them to win because of mates who go for Geelong. :)

See how we go with these tips...

Disclaimer: I am having a good year in the tipping so far, it could fall away at any moment and I am sure to miss tips quite often. If you don't like my tipping, please don't follow it. Follow my tipping at your own risk. As a Port Power fan, I will be biased toward tipping for them more and that has been going well so far this year.

Why worry?

Reading Matthew 6:25-34

Are you worried about something or many things? I know that I get a bit worried when assignments are due and you have to get them in and you still have lots to do. We shouldn't worry because God in full control of it. I am sure that if we had a worry (or a concern) and committed it to God, then we would have a peace about it that it will be alright.

"Worry is a burden that God never meant for us to bear"

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"When you give yourself to God, all other giving becomes natural"


Proverbs 19:17 - "He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done."

Daily Devotion

I like to read my bible every morning just after breakfast and I have found that it helps me to really grow in my faith in Jesus. However, over the weekend, I was busy doing a filming weekend and didn't read my daily devotion. Although that is bad, what it showed me was just how much I missed it once I didn't do it because I was wanting to have devotion time again more then before.

This morning from my readings I have learnt or re-emphasised the following:

• Knowing about God may interest us, but knowing God will change us - So we need to know him personally - http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb-05-20-07.shtml

• Glorifying God means putting His character, His will, and His ways into action in all that we do - Our purpose is to show others less of us and more of Him. That’s living on purpose with a purpose! - http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb-05-21-07.shtml

• From reading segment in Proverbs - Proverbs 19:8 - "He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who cherishes understanding prospers."

All of this I read and was encouraged and challenged by in about 15 minutes. I had physical food and then spiritual food which helps sustain me.

I would really encourage you to read your bible each day as the more you read it, the more you will learn about God and get to know him more personally.

Matthew 6:11 - "Give us today our daily bread."

Hebrews 3:12-13 - "See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness."

Next G...one step closer

Telstra will be making pre-paid available for the Next G network from this Thursday which opens up the other half of the market (pre-paid) to the Next G network. It also means that it is one step closer to turning CDMA off.

Anyone going to switch to the Next G network soon or who has so far?

I know that I won't be for at least another year or so, most likely will leave it until they about to switch the old network off. :)

Who owns who?

I was reading on The Age website an article about Lihir gold and the Ballarat Gold mine.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/lihir-gsjbw-at-odds-over-ballarat-gold-mine/2007/05/21/1179601330130.html

As I was reading through it I found out that Lihir Gold bought it out this year for $345 million. I was surprised by this as I didn't hear anything about it in the news, etc. Nearly everyday there is a company who is acquiring, merging or making an alliance with another company. Especially Google, Microsoft and IBM - some of the biggest companies in the world. It would be interesting to check some of the popular or well-known companies stakes in other companies, or who owns who.

Companies these days are getting bigger and bigger in a globalised world.

(oh and don't forget Yahoo as another big company, looking at purchasing Bebo I just read)

Tipping well

I am entered into the Westnet Footy Tipping Comp and have been tipping well this year. So much so that I am currently sitting in 17th place out of nearly 10,000 people. Last week I was in 20th place so I have moved up 3 more places.

I have mainly started blogging about this because Trav is quite keen about his tipping and more importantly Geelong. Port are still above Geelong on the ladder - for the moment anyway.

Paris Hilton Uncovered

See if you get this one...






If you don't get it, the answer is Paris (picture of the city Paris), Hil (picture of a hill), ton (picture of Gilchrist after getting a ton) and uncovered (a picture of something that had the word uncovered in it)

Encouragement at work

Today at work I was going through the jobs that come through email and was fixing the issues up. I was getting through them and one had come in which I had a look at which was only a minute or two old. I fixed the issue and emailed them back saying that it should be right. Their reply below was cool, an encouragement....

If someone does something good, that impresses you, please tell them to encourage them as we don't do it often enough but are much quicker to let someone know when they have done something wrong. Just think who you could encourage each day...

That's what I like to see...

It is good to see Port Adelaide on the top of the AFL ladder. It has been a little while since they have been on top as they recovered from their 'Grand Final hangover'. Port play Sydney next week which will be a closer game it would seem than this last weekend when they played Richmond.

New Ten Pin Bowling Record

Last night I went ten pin bowling with my youth group from church. My previous record in ten pin bowling was 171 and I thought that was pretty good until last night when I improved on that again. I went bowling the week before with some friends and got 134 and then 103, so I was hoping to at least better that.

Better that I did, I ended up getting 180 which is now my new record. Although, because I used up all my strikes, spares, etc in that first game, :) my second game was only 93 :(

It was a great night of fun, breaking my record and then also eating humble pie!

What is your highest score in ten pin bowling?

GodTube

Yes you better believe it, it is GodTube. You may be thinking that I am playing a practical joke on you but I think you should take a look and find out.

GodTube is the 'Christian alternative' (for want of better words) to the YouTube website. I haven't had much of a look at it yet, as videos take a fair bit of bandwidth, but I am looking forward to having a further look into it. I reckon this site should be promoted as an alternative to YouTube so let everyone know about this site.

If you want to find out more about the guy behind it and the idea, visit: http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php?id=458905736&eid=-6787

SPEM Prayer

I read Our Daily Bread each day which is a daily devotional. It is a great way of reading passages from the Bible, learning more about it and then applying something practical to our lives from it.

Today's reading was focused on prayer which is what I did a sermon on about a month and a half ago. If you do not know how to pray or what you should pray about, etc, all you need to do is talk to God like you do to your friends. SPEM gives you ideas on what things you can pray about. You can pray about spiritual, physical, emotional and mental problems/issues that you are concerned about.

Prayer does more than we can ever imagine!

Rat race speeding up

A new study shows the pace of life for city dwellers is literally getting faster.

Singapore's residents have been found to be walking the fastest, followed by Copenhagen and Madrid.

New York, generally considered one of the world's most frenetic cities, is eighth, while London has come 12th and Tokyo is placed 16th in the British study.

The study has found that people's walking speeds have increased globally by 10 per cent over the last decade, with the biggest increases in the far east.

In Singapore, walking pace has risen by 30 per cent and in Guangzhou, China, the figure is 20 per cent.

The most laid-back places are Blantyre in Malawi and Manama, Bahrain.

The research was carried out by Professor Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, who measured the average time it took 35 adults in each city to walk 18 metres.

"By 2040, we'll be arriving before we set off," he said

"The psychology is basically that people's walking pace is determined by how much they think they're in a hurry, how quickly they think they should be doing things.

"I believe a lot of it is technology-driven. What's amazing is that these days, you press send on an email and if someone hasn't responded in 10 minutes, you think: 'Where are they?'"

He says people worried about whether their lives are too frantic should ask themselves questions like whether they were often first to finish meals, if they feel frustrated when stuck behind others walking down the street and whether they walk out of shops if there is a small queue.

The rains are here

As the rains came last week and gave a nice soaking to most of Victoria and SA as well, it was very refreshing for everyone, especially the dry ground. The ground which was dry is now nice and damp. I saw on TV some farmers who were very happy with big smiles on their faces as it is the first lot of rain in a long while!

We don't need to worry about climate change when God is in control of all things.

Praise the Lord!