Taking Mertyle the Vespa for new year's day ride

It is a lovely day in the Cape! I'm taking Mertyl for a gentle cruise from Gordon's Bay to Kleinmond along the coast! Ah, this is the life!







Here's a short video of Mertyl (back home).

Happy Birthday princess Courtney!

Today is my daughter, Courtney's 9th birthday. Megan, Liam and I give thanks for the gift of her life. Courtney is such a special girl! God has blessed her with intelligence, love, character and beauty. I could never have imagined what a blessing being a parent is. My heart rejoices at who she is, and who she is becoming. Thank you Lord. We love you Courts!

Reasons to be thankful!

I have many reasons to give thanks... Here are just two of them. Charlene and I chatted today and she asked me to post a photo or two of Courtney and Liam to the blog... Well, here are my darlings. They are both doing so well in our new surroundings.

Please continue to pray for our family!

Mertyl is back in action! The most beautiful Vespa in the world is back on the road!

Today I rode my Vespa for the first time since the accident! I can't kick start it, but as you can see I have plenty of slopes on which to push start it in second gear. Wow! It sure feels great to have just this little ride on the paving outside our house! When I get back from Israel in two weeks I hope to be strong enough on my leg to ride the Vespa and the BMW! By the way, the leg you can see here was the one which was broken in the accident, and the panel just in front of
it was the one that was smashed. Doesn't the Vespa look fantastic!?

Ripping up the waves in the Knysna lagoon!

Courtney and I got a whole lot closer this afternoon! We went out behind Graham's boat on his inflatable 'tube' called 'Super-Mable' - it has a sticker on it that reads "Fun and satisfaction guaranteed!" They sticker is absolutely true!

We had an awesome time! We got scorched by the African sun, but heck, it is worth it!

Exhausting fun!

Holidays are fantastic! Often you try to fit in all the things you
haven't had time for during the rest of the year. Ours has been a bit
like that!

Sometimes fun can be exhausting, as this picture of Courtney asleep in
the back of Graham's car shows.

I wouldn't trade thus tiredness for anything! It feels great to be
tired from FUN!

A video of me taking my Vespa for a little ride in the country ;-) [Vid]

Yup, those lazy Sunday mornings... Nothing better to do than take my Vespa for a gentle spin the country.

Thankfully someone was on hand with a camera to catch the leisurely event!

PS. You'll notice that's not me (sure, my style is the same... But this is small frame Vespa - probably a 50cc, perphaps a 125cc!)

Technorati tags: Vespa Wheelie, Vespa, Vespa Video

[Picture] A hilarious image that shows the POO that policiticians speak...

I thought this image from dvorak.org/blog was hilarious!!!

Read the caption on the back of the truck (oh, and what do you think of that personalised numberplate!?) poo pmpr...

Technorati tags: funny, poo, politician, joke

Have you ever wondered what's inside a balloon animal? For people who have too much time on their hands...

Amazingly, some poor soul took the time, and clearly has great skill and imagination, to outline with anatomical precision, what exactly one finds inside a balloon dog...

He (or she) must have been a Masters or Doctoral student who has a chapter of that all important thesis due... Only that kind of pressure leads one to do something as creative, yet meaningless as this.

I recall once unpacking and repacking a number of cupboards, cleaning under the mudguards of my Vespa scooter, alphebatising my collection of Mac magazines, and moving the furniture around the lounge three times, when I had to submit a chapter of my Doctorate...

When I was a student at Rhodes University in Grahamstown we had a society called the RUWAB soc... It consisted of about 10 of us, all doing graduate work of some kind, who met before a critical deadline and constituted the Rhodes University Work Avoidance Behaviour society... The first one to break down and go and do some work had to buy everyone else a round of drinks. I never paid!

Anybody else done crazy things like this when you know you have other IMPORTANT things to do?

The ALL NEW England Rugby jersey - look closely! It's a wonderful redesign.

This is a radical new design for the England Rugby jersey after their defeat in the final against South Africa.

This comes from: my digital life

I touched a raw nerve! The flame war has begun! Read about the unhappy critics here.

I have been blogging since June 2005. I have never had GREAT traffic to my site. Simply, I guess, because I am more interested in having fun with the posts, working out my thoughts, soliciting responses, and having a bit of fun.

This last week I posted a link that I found on digg.com it was called "10 degrees that you wouldn't want your child to study towards". It is intended to be fun! First, it is fun because I understand the kind of looks (and thoughts) that people give when they hear I have a doctorate in theology and science (strong what? artificial who?) ha ha! But, it is also fun because I end the post by poking fun at myself (listing a fake copy of a degree that people often regard as more valuable than my ACTUAL doctorate - a JEDI PhD in science from MIT).

However, this post has touched a raw nerve somewhere since I have had two flames in the last few days (the first two EVER!). Take a look at the post and the comments here:

First, there was a lady from one of the Universities mentioned who said that I was disrespectful to the academy (as if it has some holy order or code that forbids criticism) - she concluded with a warning, saying that anyone who dares to be critical (even in a joking way) of fellow academics had better watch out and have huge.... Well you know what I mean. Then, this evening I got notification of a second post from someone who wished me "and my cancers" a happy life! Heck, who would actually write something like that!? Can't folks like this tell that not everything is meant to be taken so seriously!

So, to all those people who are offended by fun... Please don't be! Please! I will try not to take offense at your replies either! I have never deleted a comment from my blog (unless the author has asked me to do so). I won't delete your comments - so if you want to take the time to "flame" me, I will simply say 'thanks for spending a portion of your precious life thinking about me! I value and appreciate your time and your thoughts!' The gift of your time and thoughts are precious. Let the fun continue!!

From the sublime to the ridiculous!

So, what do you get when you put Chairman Mao, Steve Jobs from Apple, Paris Hilton, and Dion Forster in the same room!? A square dance of course! Yeehhaaa!

A bit of fun! I got the idea from Emily's blog (http://christchurch.typepad.com/). Thanks Emily!

PS. there is another video floating round the web starring me and... well, say no more... just ignore that one. It never happened! ;-)

Have a blessed weekend!