27.7.06

Something to ponder...


"We are all trophies of God's grace."



25.7.06

Over the weekend

Last Saturday Bex, Elle and I road tripped down to Hamilton for Chris' 21st. We stopped at McD's in Huntly on the way down and had a couple of local 10 year old boys declare us their girlfriends!! Too funny! We went straight to the Hamilton Gardens and had a look around. The girls had been there before so they acted as my tour guides as we travelled through the gardens. We had a lot of fun travelling around the world while we were there. We can expect a party in India in the near future, right Bex!! ; )

We checked into our super cool motel for the night, got prettied up and then met Tim, Amy and Lauren for dinner at Iguanas in 'town'.
Elli played navigater and got us to Chapel Hill where Chris was holding his party. This was not before a stop at a dodgey looking Dairy for a birthday card. Mmmm, what a handsome dog! Haha

Chris' party was good, just lots of hanging out and chatting. I ran into a guy I went to High School with so we had a good catch up. It was fun looking at the photos of Chris growing up and hearing the things that his friends shared during the speeches. Chris gave the longest 21st speech I've ever heard. It didn't seem quite this long but he reckoned it was about 35-40 minutes. It included his testimony, it really great to hear how God has worked in his life.


Kevin stayed at the hotel with us and we talked til about 2am.

We enjoyed our 2 free breakfasts which we split between the 4 of us and went off to church. It was certainly different when the guy worship leading you are used to seeing jumping around the stage as the lead singer of Late 80's Mercedes!

We had lunch, shopped and then left town around 3 on Sunday afternoon.

We made in back in plenty of time for InCite.


Overall a pretty good weekend. It will easily beat this weekend away in Rotorua for a work conference. Grumble grumble.

21.7.06

U2 are coming!!!

20.07.2006 U2’s Vertigo Tour Hits The Road Again!

It's official! At last we can confirm the rescheduled Vertigo//2006 shows.

U2 will hit the road again in November. Starting in Brisbane on November 7th , U2 will play further dates in Australia, New Zealand and Japan before finishing in Hawaii on December 9. Kanye West will join the band in Australia and New Zealand while Special Guests, Pearl Jam will join Rocco and the Devils for December 9 in Honolulu.

These show dates are rescheduled following the postponement of Vertigo//2006 earlier in the year. For full ticket information in your area please see below.“We are very happy to announce the rescheduling and appreciate everyone’s patience.” said Arthur Fogel, of TNA. The Vertigo Tour opened in San Diego in March 2005, is set for a grand finish in Hawaii with the addition of Pearl Jam.“It’s going to be a great night in Hawaii,” said Paul McGuinness, U2’s manager. “The band are really pleased Pearl Jam could join the bill, a great end to what has already been a very successful tour.”

The new show dates are as follows:
Auckland - Ericsson Stadium - (Old Date) Friday, March 17th/06 - (New Date) Friday, November 24/06
Auckland - Ericsson Stadium - (Old Date) Saturday, March 18th/06 - (New Date) Saturday, November 25/06

Yay after a long wait they've finally re-scheduled the U2 tour dates!!

20.7.06

Reading

I really enjoy reading and I've read a few books lately. Just finshed reading 'In Her Shoes' yesterday which the recent movie of the same name was based. I saw the movie first and really enjoyed that. I saw the book for sale at the big red shed and got it with the intention of reading it over the summer! It ended up lower on my list of reading priorities and I picked it up a couple of weeks ago. It was an easy read, which is nice sometimes!

The other book I'm reading at the moment is an autobiography by Ngaire ?Something, just forgotten her name! She was born an Exclusive Brethern and she tells her story of growing up in that environment and then as she gets older rebelling and eventually leaving the sect. I'm about halfway through. It's an interesting read so far. You only really hear bits and pieces about the Exclusives so it's interesting reading the facts from someone who has been in it. She has taken a 'responsible' approach to writing the book too, she tells the facts of living live in the Exclusive Brethern church and no matter how strange she felt the church was she doesn't really bash it. I think she finds it quite sad that the people in the church really believe that the way they are is right.

I'm looking forward to finshing the book and finding out how she got out of the church.

I finshed the Frontier Dr books that I posted about last week. Glad to have them behind me.

The next few books on my shopping list are Francine Rivers new one 'The Prophet' a historical ficton book about Amos and Karen Kingsburys next installment of her Firstborn series.

14.7.06

Quiet

I'm a little surprised at myself! I have hardly posted anything on here this whole month. I'll have to make up for it next week. I'll have to do a weekend review on Monday - if anything worth writing about happens that is.

I've been reading heaps lately. Mostly fiction. The book I'm on at the moment is the third in a series of three.

Ok so the image is a little small, but it's pretty obvious that it's a nice happy christian novel. 'The Heart Remembers' is the title. I'm reading it as fast as I can, not because it's a fantastic book and I'm really enjoying it. But actually the complete opposite. I picked up the first book on the cheap, and it's pretty clear why it was on sale. They're really not well written at all. Infact, although its a 'dramatic' thing to say about a book, they've been painful to read. Some may ask, why buy book 2 and 3 then? Easy answer - I want to know what happens to Dr Dane and his nurse assistant wife Tharyn! I've got about a 1/4 left to go and then I'm done. Thankfully I have something decent to read next!

11.7.06

14 Things to help you be the HAPPIEST person you know! :)

Sound cheesy? Perhaps it is but I found these serman notes from a service at church in October 2004. It was a guest speaker that Sunday a guy named Rowland Croucher. From my memory he was an Aussie!!

The title of his serman was 'The best put together people in the World; How do they get to be like that?

He gave 14 ways to be a happier person... I thought I'd put them up here.

1. Have unity of spirit and harmony
2. Have sympathy for one another - but be empathetic
3. Love one another - loves creates worth
4. Have compassion and be tender hearted
5. Humility - have a humble mind
6. Bless people who do evil to you - love your enemies
7. Watch your tounge
8. Goodness - love to do good
9. Live at peace with one another - be a peacemaker
10.Rejoice in your suffering. When you suffer you are blessed
11. Do not be afraid
12. Sanctify the Lord in your life. Make him Number 1. Honour Christ in your life.
13. Have respect for others. Every human is created in the image of GOD.
14. Keep your conscience clear. Don't do anything that would make you ashamed of God, or him of you.

5.7.06

The Court Experience

I turned up to the Jury Assembly area on Monday morning. Checked in and took my seat. It was quite obvious who were the seasoned jurers and who were the newbies. There were a hundered or so of us waiting in a room with plastic chairs and old tattered magazines. We were shown a video about court proceedures that was made in I'm guessing the early 90's. Eventually a court official came in and threw all our names on small pieces of card into a small wooden barrell locked it, turned it three times, turned it the other way three times and then unlocked it.

The names of the accused for the first case were read along with the charges. We were to answer yes as our names were called - just like school. My name was probably close to the 15th called. Around 30 of us would be assigned to Court Room 10. The lady who I was chatting to in front of me was also in the first group with me. The man beside me was in the third group for the morning - assigned to a rape case.

We then had to wait. The Court was not ready for us yet. The ladies next to me chatted the whole time about family, house prices and of all things knitting. I'm thankful I picked up a book to read before I left home.

At about 11.30 we were asked to follow a lady through to Court Room 10. We were squeezed in to quite a small room. The Judge was already sitting up the front so there was none of this "all rise" business.

It was at this point that the accused were brought in.

I can honestly say that neither of them looked like men I would like to come across in a dark alley at night or on a busy street in the middle of the day.
The charges were read and they both pleaded not guilty. (surprise surprise) The lawyers were introduced and then the spotlight was on us, so to speak.

As our names were called we had to proceed towards the jury box and fill the seats from the back row to the front. If one of the lawyers called challenge before we were seated we had to turn around and go to the back of the room - you were not what they wanted and were not entitled to ask why. The 12 seats were filled before my name was called. A silent sigh of relief escaped my lips.

I'm not sure I was really ready for the reality of it all. For some reason I wasn't expecting the crimes to be so serious, but at the same time I'm not even sure what I was expecting. Law breakers yes, but not rapists and kidnappers. As a jurer I would have been responsible for deciding the guilt or innocence of these two men.
I'll be back there on Thursday to see if I am selected for a short two day trial. To be honest I won't be too worried if I don't get selected. I've seen what happens and that just might be enough for me!

Drugs!

So when I was in America and hurt my knee I was given these really strong painkillers. The name wasn't familiar to my doctor here and I didn't really think anything more of it...Until the other day. I think it was when I was watching Greys Anatomy I heard the name of the drug and was like ah that's what I had! I just searched it on Google and came up with quite a good description of it!

Hydrocodone or dihydrocodeinone (marketed as Vicodin, Anexsia, Dicodid, Hycodan, Hycomine, Lorcet, Lortab, Norco, Tussionex, Vicoprofen) is an opioid derived from either of the naturally occurring opiates - codeine or thebaine. Hydrocodone is an orally active narcotic analgesic and antitussive that is marketed in multi-ingredient Schedule III products. The typical therapeutic dose of 5 mg to 10 mg is pharmacologically equivalent to 30 to 60 mg of oral codeine. Sales and production of this drug have increased significantly in recent years, as have diversion and illicit use. Hydrocodone is commonly available in tablet, capsule, and syrup form. (Source: Opiate equivalancy taken from Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia)

As a narcotic, hydrocodone relieves pain by binding to opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord. It may be taken with or without food, but should never be combined with alcohol. It may interact with monoamine oxidase inhibitors, as well as other drugs that cause drowsiness. It is in FDA pregnancy category C: its effect on an unborn embryo or fetus is not clearly known and pregnant women should consult their physicians before taking it. Common side effects include dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea, drowsiness, euphoria, vomiting, and constipation. Some less common side effects are allergic reaction, blood disorders, changes in mood, mental fogginess, anxiety, lethargy, difficulty urinating, spasm of the ureter, irregular or depressed respiration, and rash.

Hydrocodone can be habit-forming, and can lead to physical and psychological addiction. In the U.S., pure hydrocodone and forms containing more than 15mg per dosage unit are considered Schedule II drugs. Those containing less than 15mg per dosage unit are Schedule III drugs. Hydrocodone is typically found in combination with other drugs such as Paracetamol (acetaminophen), Aspirin and homatropine methylbromide. In the UK it is listed as a Class A drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

For anyone who I've talked to about how I felt when I had them this pretty much explains it!! Thought it was an interesting read. Looks like I was given some pretty hard core stuff.