The Big Step A Little Closer

It’s been a big week. A big few months for that matter. As mentioned here earlier this month I have been seriously considering buying my own place. I have tried to use my house sitting experiences as a sneak peak as to what it might be like. As well as the times I have been left home alone.

As of today I have made an offer to buy a unit in Toongabbie. It looks promising that everything will go through without a drama. I achieved approval from RAMS earlier in the week, which gave us the green light to go ahead with the offer. Basically all I need now is for the owner to accept the offer and then I have myself a unit within weeks (or RAMS owns it).


There is a lot involved in buying a house, more than I ever imagined. It involves not only the Real Estate agent but also mortgage brokers, conveyancers as well as family and friends.

I have tried to take into account all of the expenses that would now rest on my shoulders. I’m sure I’ll manage, how much is left over to buy stuff for the unit may be the issue. Don’t be surprised to see an email zoom around asking for furniture or appliances that aren’t being used (but still work).

Some Stupidity Just Baffles Me

Some teenage old girls in Bathurst apparently bored and lacking inspiration to do something constructive, instead, decide to desecrate the war memorial in their hometown. This on the eve of ANZAC Day, hours before the traditional dawn service. Obviously the local diggers were appalled and devastated when they found out what had occurred overnight. What saved them from further disappointment and would have made them proud were the multiple community groups including the Fire Brigade, Army and some locals who worked together to clean up the mess before dawn.

All the girls were caught because, wait for it, they were found nearby walking along the street still covered in paint. They should be locked up for stupidity. Unfortunately though they are all juveniles so nothing major will happen to them.

What I would like to see is have them locked in a classroom for a vigorous history lesson. These girls are taking their ‘freedoms’ for granted in their acts. Freedoms that we wouldn’t have had if it weren’t for the men and women who served our country in wars of days gone by. These girls are well within their right not to like war, however their freedom of speech ended once they opened up the paint tin.

War is never pretty and a lot of Australian lives were affected in the aftermath of two massive wars in the 20th Century. War is part of our history whether you like it or not. Yet we are not celebrating wars, rather we are honouring those lives lost in war and those who made it home.

Splinter Case

The AFL has a chronic case of fence sitting at the moment. In the recent Headland/Selwood insulting language case they didn’t punish either Adam Selwood or Des Headland for their part in the incident.

One has to be in the wrong.

Selwood reportedly referred to a tattoo on Headland’s arm of his six year old daughter and made crude comments. Selwood admitted to saying, "What's that sl** on your arm, I was with a girl like that the other night". Other alleged comments from Selwood are being vehemently denied.

Des Headland obviously wears this tattoo of with pride and took these comments personally and retaliated. Who wouldn’t react to such a disgusting comment?

Why wasn't Selwood punished for what he admitted to saying, which was still deplorable? Or if they couldn’t find Selwood guilty then Headland should have been suspended for striking after not being able to control his temper. Instead the AFL tribunal let both off the hook. Selwood’s case was “not sustained” while Headland was cleared of all his charges due to what the tribunal jury called "exceptional and compelling circumstances by way of provocation".

West Coast Eagles CEO, Trevor Nisbett, speaks glowingly of his player (on afl.com.au) despite his admission at the tribunal

"He's an outstanding character. He played for Australia last year. He comes from an impeccable family and has a wonderful record with charities. He's a long-term leader and his character is unquestionable. His record stands alone. He hasn't been reported at any level and he's a very fair player and is hard at the ball."

At a time when the Eagles have issues with player behaviour the CEO is praising a player who admitted to insulting language. Surely what he needs to do is counsel Selwood at the very least and even suspend him for a game. Show the public and the rest of the team that these misdemeanours are unacceptable from anyone. Even those with a glowing reputation and background.

There is the unwritten rule that what happens on the field stays on the field. A lot of what is said on the field the players let slide. Selwood crossed the line and all other players needed a statement by the AFL and West Coast Eagle as to where that line shall stand.

Letters to Jim Main #4

I have a 'bee in my bonnet' about alternate jumpers at the moment

An Epic Clash (18/4/07)

Dear Jim
What is the use of the AFL insisting clubs have an alternate jumper if the clubs are not going to wear them? I would have thought the Essendon-Carlton match was one in which one of the teams should have worn an alternative jumper. In this case Essendon was the away team, so why wasn’t it in something different? Essendon keep fighting the issue, so it is time for the AFL to grow a spine.

Jim Main Says:
I didn’t have many difficulties following the Essendon-Carlton game, but it would have been much better if the Bombers had worn an alternate jumper. Anyone would think the AFL was asking the Bombers and the Magpies to wear pink with purple spots.

Where Are They Now?

The England cricket team were full of self-praise at the end of January 2007. They rated themselves very highly even suggesting that they should be number 1 in the world rankings. Who could blame them? They were all on a high after their miraculous 2 – 0 series win in our summer. This was in spite of the 5 – 0 whitewash in the Ashes Test Series and not performing at all well in the One Day series up until the finals.

So where are these world-beaters now?

• Struggling to make the top 4 in the World Cup in the West Indies.
• Got flogged by South Africa in a must win match
• Michael Vaughan fighting to keep the captaincy of one-day side
• Duncan Fletcher is still trying to justify why he is coach
• An inquest is being requested to avoid a third world cup flop

The problem with English Cricket is that they get too far ahead of themselves. It was evident before the Ashes series and it is evident again right now. Two good wins over the world's best does not make a champion team. Rather, playing well consistently over time creates a champion team. The ability to bounce back creates a champion team.

I’m sure that Ricky Ponting and the rest of the team were somewhat embarrassed by their performance at the end of our summer. But what did they do? They did what any champion team would do, they bounced back to the top. Currently they are undefeated in the World Cup and are guaranteed a spot in the semi finals. They are also favourites to win the final.

Who will be their opposition? One this is for sure, it won’t be England.

The Scoot Review

Introducing my latest pet project - The Scoot Review.


It is meant to be an outlet for me to write about my adventures in scootering, so I realise I am limiting my potential readership. It's meant to be different from my main blog which is why I made it separate.

You are able to hook into the RSS feed and also to make comments if you feel so inclined.

Rockin’ For No Reason

Unions NSW are putting on a concert for us. For what reason?

Maybe they are trying to make us feel good after all of their fright inducing advertisements and scare mongering that have us digging bomb shelters in preparation for the supposed impending doom.

Unions would have you believe that everything bad that ever happens to you is because of the new “workchoices” legislation. People need to see through the lies of the unions. Their tactics are deceitful and rather insulting to one’s intelligence. But unfortunately it seems to work for a lot of people who either don’t know any better or are willing to go along for the ride.

At least we now know where all those union fees go – a meaningless concert, not to mention the $100,000+ going towards further advertising during the federal election campaign.

The Hyphen Debate

The Labor Party has sacked one hyphen for another. Andrew Cappie-Wood makes way for Michael Coutts-Trotter as Director General of Education. What experience does he have in education? Well, he went to school, and now he has a daughter in kindergarten. But does he need experience in education to be Director General? It’s debatable, currently I’m undecided. Although Cappie-Wood had a lack of experience in education and he got sacked. Apparently Coutts-Trotter is a good manager of people, money and time, which may count in his favour.

Most of the controversy surrounding his appointment has been because of a conviction and jail sentence for drug dealing that occurred about 20 years ago when he was a teenager. “Someone with a criminal record shouldn’t work in education” bleat some talkback callers. He has done a good job at turning his life around as he has forged a successful career for himself since that conviction. For this he should be commended. But that doesn’t mean he should be given one of the most important public sector jobs.

I think criticism should be the focused on the appointer, Morris Iemma, and not the appointee, Coutts-Trotter. As this appointment reeks of “jobs for the boys.” You see Mr Coutts-Trotter is married to federal Labor MP Tanya Plibersek. They are not even trying to look transparent.

Another point of contention is the little fact that this job was never advertised. Who knows if he is the best man for the job, they never looked elsewhere. It’s as if the job was just handed to Coutts-Trotter no questions asked. This wouldn’t surprise me as this state govt seems to get more arrogant with each election.

Anyway, good luck to him as the eyes of every media outlet are on him and Alan Jones can be brutal.

On The Bunny Bandwagon

The South Sydney Rabbitohs have changed their fortunes in a short space of time. They have a renewed enthusiasm, they are winning, and as a result they have captured the imagination of a lot of Rugby League supporters.

I am an AFL fan primarily, and in the League I am an Eels supporter. But I am firmly jumping on the Bunnies Bandwagon for 07 and perhaps beyond. They will be my second team, as I can’t conscionably desert my first team, the Eels. I may even buy the jersey of my new second favourite Rugby League team if they are cheap enough at Peter Wynn’s.

A few things led to their turn around:

• Rusty and Holmes a court taking over – amid lots of controversy, instigated mainly by the archaic previous administration who were still stuck on the dark ages
• Getting Jason Taylor as coach – should be at Parra but they made the stupid decision to sign their new coach before last season started. Since they signed Michael Hagan, the then current coach Brian Smith quit the club and Jason Taylor took over as caretaker coach. The Eels came from nowhere to almost make the finals. A lot of the credit for this revival went to Jason Taylor
• Signing some big names – Roy Asotasi, David Kidwell, David Peachey, Dean Widders, Jeremy Smith
• Keeping their young stars – John Sutton, Joe Williams, Nathan Merritt
• Getting them decked out in Armani suits – it has to feel good to be in a good quality suit
• Booting the Bunny cheerleaders – in its place comes a drumming ensemble that I haven’t yet experienced for myself.

However, the Bunny’s now have a tough few weeks ahead of them after they came back to earth with a thud courtesy of the awakening of the slow starting Bulldogs. It will definitely be a test of their mettle. This week they come up against a Knights team in moarning over the sudden end to the career of Andrew Johns. I suspect it will be hard to get on top of a team inspired to give their all for their former captain.

Negative Tigers Almost Steal It

Round 2
Richmond 11.6 (72) def by Sydney 13.10 (88)
Melbourne Cricket Ground

A lot of AFL supporters would say that Sydney is the most negative team with the possession type of football they play. What most people won’t tell you is that most of the time it is the opposition that forces Sydney to show some patience and chip the ball around to free options instead of the bombing away into the forward 50. This usually results in a turnover and also gives the opposition a good chance to drive on a counter attack from their half back line.

Strong negative tactics from the opposition force possession footy, such as:

• The Flood – where at times you will find the whole team in their defensive 50m
• Heavy tags – where the sole objective of a player is to make sure their opposing player doesn’t get possession of the ball and execute effective disposals. Usually tagging players don’t get a touch themselves, as they are so pre occupied with the player and not the ball
• Loose men in the backline – this is sacrificing one of your forwards and having him camp in front of the opposition’s key leading forward and also provides drive from halfback because he essentially has no opponent.

Richmond performed all these negative tactics against Sydney in the first half. It almost worked as it chokes the opposition from playing the way they would normally play. Teams react differently to this course of action. Some change how they play to regain the upper hand. Other teams might panic and make rash decisions as the pressure on the ball carrier becomes too intense. This happened to Adelaide last season when they were the in form team competition. They had their wings clipped by the negating tactics of Richmond who went on to have one of their very few wins of the season. It looked dangerously like history would repeat itself, especially considering Sydney are perennial slow starters to the season. This time class was to prevail, but the Swans let Richmond have a sniff in the last only to kick the last three goals of the match to take it out by 16 points.

It is frustrating as a viewer as you want the ball to keep moving but you also want your team to have possession and to ultimately win at the end of the day. Inevitably you might hear Swans fans shout out, “Just kick it!” These people probably don’t understand what I have just outlined. Yet their frustration is understandable.

Injury concerns for Barry Hall. Reports are that he has a partial tear to the medial ligament of his knee. It’s minor in comparison to what can happen to knees. Adam Goodes played most of a season with an injured medial ligament so who knows. My tip is 1 to 2 weeks, as we need him right for the business end of the season.

Good Buy

For most of this year I have been contemplating buying a house of my own. Not as an investment, but to live in either by myself or with someone else. Originally I was inspired by the brand new apartments that were on sale at Pemulway. Upon investigation it wasn’t hard to realise they were out of my league financially.

Then there is always the question of why? Why would I want to buy a house when I have it good (too good) at home with mum and dad?

My thinking is that it is about time I moved out. Dad is going to retire within years and I don’t think it’s fair that he have one or two semi dependants still hanging around. You can talk about being independent while under the parent’s roof as much as you like. The fact is you aren’t really independent until you are out in your own place.

Conversely, if they decide to spend their retirement touring around Australia then they might need someone to look after the house. Unfortunately I don’t see Dad doing that, roughing it was never his go.

So then, why buy? Why not rent? The local financial adviser would definitely recommend renting over buying. When you buy, he’d say, you won’t be able to earn an income from your investment. I listen to a lot of what this financial advisor has to say but some things I believe are too far entrenched in financial returns and not taking into account things such as the feeling of security.

I want to take advantage of the first homeowner’s grant, which takes buying to lease out off the agenda. Plus I still see it as an investment even though I will be living in it. That said, I still need to find something with the right price not only for the property but also for my financial position.

I have a restrictive budget at the moment, which limits my geographical options. But then if my career with the Ambo’s kicks off I’ll probably be moving elsewhere anyway, possibly rurally. Plus the Canada Footy working holiday is still on the radar.

I will buy one day, maybe sometime in the next year or two. Hopefully I won’t fall into the trap of procrastination.

One Year On

It has already been a year since I started this website. It has been a very interesting year, comprising of 100 posts (this post is #101) and comments from nearly 30 different people.

I guess it’s obvious that I enjoy writing. Whether I write well is up to the reader I guess. I’ve said to a few people that don’t like the concept of blogging that I write about stuff better than I talk about stuff.

It all started with a purpose that was two pronged:

• To develop my opinions on issues
• To chronicle the interesting goings on in my life

Then came the process of writing that I have come to enjoy immensely:

1. Ideas stage – where I write or type in point form to get the main idea on record
2. Formation of ideas – turning points into sentences and paragraphs that make some sense. If I'm not 'feeling' then it either get put away for later or gets trashed
   
3. Drafting – this involves varying amounts of read throughs and proof reads by 1, 2 or sometimes 3 people
4. Final cut – ultimately the post gets saved and filed
5. Formatting – adding of links, pics, etc
6. Publishing – making all the work official and out there for all and sundry

Upon reflection on the year past here are some of the highlights (and perhaps lowlights).

Favourite Posts

Swans Fanaticism April 06
A bit of history to explain somewhat as to how I became a Sydney Swans nut

Lord of the Pool Dec 06
An explanation of Pool Footy that was well integrated with Tim C’s Blog on the same topic

Mac vs PC Aug 06
Explaining where I am coming from in the whole Mac Vs PC debate

Most Controversial Posts

Girls in Skirts Mar 07
I wasn’t expecting such a response

Heavy Rubbish? Jan 07
Does Heavy Metal music have a place in evangelism?

Swearing is Swearing Nov 06
Christians have a swear word of choice

Reflections on Bible Studies

Postcards From Palestine Nov 06
Cash Values June 06

Hicksville

It’s interesting to hear the differing opinions on David Hick’s trial. There seems to be a broad spectrum of opinion, from Hero Worshippers to Hardliners.

• Hero Worshipers would just want you to think of all that Hicks has gone through and how it is amazing that he has survived five years in captivity. This is a marvellous feat of human endurance and perseverance and should earn him Australian of the Year honours. Of course they won’t mention any of the relevant information.

• Civil Libertarians will tell you that no one should ever be kept in captivity, no matter what the charge against them

• Terry Hicks says that David is pleading guilty just to get home and he doubts that he even did what he is convicted of doing

• Bob Brown calls the whole process and injustice and an unfair system

• John Howard says he is disappointed of the pace the process has taken

• Realists would probably acknowledge that he has been through a lot and that it has taken way too long for him to be tried but be continually reminded of the reasons why he was originally detained.

• Hardliners would just look at the fact he was involved in terrorist activities and dismiss the rest as they are meaningless

I would consider myself a realist. I think people are losing view of the big picture. That David Hicks was colluding with a terrorist network and was training with Al Qaeda, amongst other things. If the full story were told I think people would change their tune.

Let’s remember that he was a prisoner of war, whether you agree with that war or not. POW’s of past wars would not have survived at all.