Livin' the life...

If you've ever spoken to me for any extended period of time, you would know that I love to mix in other languages in my speech. Other languages meaning French and Spanish! Well just now, I've stumbled across a rather worthwhile article listing 8 FREE online resources for learning languages. I must say that some of these are anything but extensive, but they provide a reasonable foundation. And, let's be honest, if you really want to learn a new language, you'll probably do a course!

So enjoy the article! I know I will. Adios amigos! Y, hasta la vista! Or.. En Francais; Au revoir, a bientot!

Even though a friend informed me that the trailer trumps the movie, because it was on my list of movies to watch for 2008 I decided to follow up on my post and watch Iron Man anyway.

My result? A wee bit too unbelievable. I think I would believe the Spiderman story, or even the Batman or Joker story of how they came to be, before I swallow the one purported in Iron Man. I must admit that I have no clue of if this is how he came to be in the comics, but regardless, I find it a little unbelievable. Being able to make an "Iron Man" prototype in a cave? Largely by yourself? That has a flame thrower? Probably I'm getting too old for this stuff to be accepted so easily!

Objectively however, it was an OK movie, but I would say one definitely for the teens or anyone who treasures any comic-gone-movie title from Marvel. In this right, I would give it 6/10.

Without a doubt, I can comment that I am introduced to a variety of new music mainly via my alarm on mornings. Some of the most notable of these in order of preference include: The Hoosiers - Cops and Robbers, Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars, Mika - Relax, Take It Easy and Scouting For Girls - Elvis Ain't Dead. These are all some great tracks.

My most recent tune, is "Jack Johnson - Better Together".. Below I've embedded a live performance of the song. I encourage you to listen to this track, I doubt you will be disappointed if you have good taste in music !

Tell me you didn't start singing along! (8)It's always better when we're togethherrrr(8)

PS. If you have not caught on already, I usually lay in bed for a WHILE after my alarm goes off, .. lol. Ah, the joys of being a student!

Ever so often, I do something a bit different, and this weekend in particular was pretty extraordinary. Saturday was spent mostly studying, but on Sunday I took a trip to Star City complex in Birmingham. For those of you unfamiliar with it, Star City is a entertainment complex with everything from arcades to cinemas. With that said, you can appreciate that the first thing I hit was the arcades!

My first target was putting my driving skills to the test in an arcade racing game - one of the PROPER ones - called 'The Fast and the Furious'. All-in-all I thought it was a.. good performance by me but, sadly, even though I did not take my foot off the gas, I somehow could only manage a 5th place! Ah well, I'll get them next time!

Apart from the racing and a few other miscellaneous machines, I also played two games of bowling. The photo inserted in this post is of the bowling alley, and yes, it is really that fluorescent colour! (The pins are still white though.) That was good fun, even though I'm yet to find my 'perfect ball/weight'.

Today I finished up the long weekend (Monday was a holiday in the England) with a movie (Ronin to be exact; I give it 6.9/10) and as would be expected, some work!

For years, video games have been blamed for turning kids into idle layabouts who only venture off the couch to fill up on potato chips and soda.

Nintendo Co Ltd now aims to shatter that image with a game that aims to get players off the couch and lead them to stretch, shake and sweat their way to a healthy life.

"Wii Fit," which arrives on U.S. store shelves on Monday, is expected to draw new customers to Nintendo's wildly popular Wii video game console. (Source)

Numerous online social networks, 24/7 delivery (from almost every place; pizza shops to supermarkets) and now in-house exercise games? It's no wonder some people don't leave home.

This week's TFTW is related specifically to a comment posted on my blog regarding sin and forgiveness, and the fact that 'the blood of Jesus Christ covers all sins, ... and all we gotta do is turn to Him and ask for forgiveness and move away from the sin' (Source). To best exemplify this point, I have chosen the graphic below..

I think this fits some of us - myself included - perfectly at times, but we must learn to try our best to focus on the scripture and move away from that sin. I urge you to meditate on this thought during this week.

Somewhat random and likely inaccurate, but blog-worthy nonetheless.

Online source of image.

Tell me, what was your church sermon about on Sunday? Or.. if you did not make it to church last weekend, what about the last time you went! What was that sermon about! Surely you can remember! I've heard a few people say the sermon is one of the main reasons they attend church; the sermon is really the "meat" of that early morning outing. Therefore again I ask, what was your last sermon about?

To be honest, I personally do not remember pass the Wednesday in the same week! And this is not something I am too proud of at all! Actually, at times I it concerns me greatly. Once or twice I must admit that I asked myself, "well Jason, what's the PURPOSE of going!" Luckily I came across the following story sometime subsequently and it fixed me right up! Check it out below! If you have seen it already, please just give it another look over, it really is worth that at least.

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.

"I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons.  But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them..

So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor.  It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now.  In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals.  But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals.

But I do know this...

They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work.  If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today.

Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"

Point taken indeed! So, I emphasise, don't give up because you seem not to remember or because at times, it all seems in vain. Our minds are amazing things and you'll be surprised what they remember when you find yourself in certain testing or difficult situations.

Have a great week!

Ah, Barbados is truly a paradise. I dare you to guess the beach where I took this photo!

A few days ago whilst browsing the Web trying to locate where a quote (i.e. "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion") I had heard earlier that week had originated, I stumbled upon a rather fascinating blog post titled "19 Eponymous Laws Of Software Development".

In that blog post I found the aforementioned quote - also known as Parkinson’s Law or the law of bureaucracy - and a ton of other pretty snazzy entries (not all related to software development). I especially like: Postel’s Law, Pareto Principle, Hofstadter’s Law, Linus’s Law and Wirth’s law. It's a nice article, I suggest you check it out.

Nice quote..

"People often say that this or that person has not found himself. But the self is not something one finds. It is something that one creates."

Thomas Szasz

Can you portray it any better than that? Have a great week!

I did these two simple dishes a little while ago and forgot to post the photos.

Pasta with a meat gravy

Pasta with chicken korma

Nice and most importantly, as I'm a student - QUICK!

Our Daily Bread April 18 2008: "We should never get the idea that our sins are taken lightly by the Lord. But when we acknowledge our guilt with true repentance, God is ready to forgive because of what Jesus did on the cross. It's up to us to accept it."

As I read this I thought, "well this is a bit vague, what really is 'true repentance'?"

Well, let's see what Oxford says about the verb 'to repent'.. "feel or express sincere regret". Ok.. 'regret', that's slightly clearer. Merriam-Webster takes this a step further and states, "to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life". Wow, well that's straight to the point! But I think both definitions are required for a complete discussion of 'true repentance'.

Now, to analyse our findings. In Oxford's definition, we note To Feel or Express Sincere Regret. At its core, this simply means, to say sorry. To Confess your sin AS a sin, to God. Then, to Sincerely apologise for it. In sincerely saying sorry, I think this is where Merriam-Webster's definition comes into play and provides some key points in examining 'true repentance'.

Firstly, it stresses, to Turn From Sin. To be honest, this is much, much easier said than done. Even Paul stresses this point in his epistle to the Romans when he writes, "For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice" (See Romans 7:13-25 NKJV). As descendants of Adam and Eve, humans, are considered by some as sinful by nature (See Psalms 51:5 but also this insightful discussion). Personally, I believe that If God had left us to our own devices, by now the Earth - as we know it - would be no more! But anyway, note: Turn From Sin i.e. Set your back to Sin i.e. Do not do Sin.

Next, Dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life. This is self-explanatory, but be careful of just viewing it just as a sentence. The meaning goes considerably deeper than any normal sentence. Dedicating oneself to the correction of one's life, in my opinion means, putting your all into not doing that Sin again. I remember in a Sunday School session a few years ago, Mr. Best, our teacher then, said that to repent meant to make a 180 degree turn. In essence, whatever it was, DO NOT go down that path again. Again, I myself confess that this is far from an easy task. But, this I believe perfectly exemplifies 'true repentance'.

In closing, I think from this brief discussion that we've highlighted some of the most important tenets of  'true repentance'. These are: To Confess your sin; To Sincerely Apologise for it; To Turn From Sin; and finally to Make a 180 degree turn and NOT go down that path again.

I hope you find this discussion somewhat enlightening and even if you see fit, to spread The Word. Have a great week!

Ah to live in a country where there is Winter! You are almost always guaranteed surprises like the one I photographed below.

A bench in front of my church	Victim of snow assault
Jephson Gardens	Jephson Gardens

This was the sight as I ventured outside a Sunday morning. (Quality in the original photos is poor - i.e. why they these thumbnails are not links - I'm still working on the new digital camera thing :$.)

You should remember Jephson Gardens from my previous post.

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending a musical production in London titled, "The Lord of The Rings" (yes, the best trilogy EVER 'Lord of the Rings'). Some of you folks close by would have definitely heard of it but for others (likely my Barbadian readership) check it out here.

To be honest, it was fantastic! The acting and stage design/arrangement were great, but the script was exceptionally admirable as it kept very close to the LOTR movie, and as I was told, certain parts of this epic's book. As for the singing, well, I'm not at all a Mary Poppins kind of guy, however, a couple songs were quite catchy, and I do admit to singing a chorus or so on the ride home! One thing that especially excited the crowd, was when out of NOWHERE, an Orc appeared in the audience! He.. or it.. got up-close-and-personal with some folks and, let's just say, some ladies were quite jumpy in the dark after that, lol.

All-in-all, it was surely an unforgettable experience, where... then again, I'll let the real experts comment on it!

The Theatre Royal Drury Lane has been transformed into Tolkien’s Middle-earth with an awe-inspiring, mystical set that creeps into the auditorium while friendly Hobbits and terrifying Orcs roam the aisles. Extraordinary special effects, unforgettable music and heartfelt performances transport you straight to the core of a fantastical universe and sweep you along on Frodo and Sam’s epic journey to destroy the Ring in the fiery depths of Mordor.

Breathtaking, enchanting, terrifying, and spectacular... this is The Lord of the Rings as you’ve never seen it before. (Ref)

It was.. THAT good!

If you are in the London district, I do suggest you make an outing of it. If you are further away, I encourage you to visit the web site and view/listen some of the Music, Video and Photos from this great production.

Since I posted a Top 10 listing for 2007 yesterday, today I figured that I would drag us back to the present i.e. 2008. Therefore, here's Yahoo!'s 10 Most-Anticipated movies for 2008. My picks are Iron Man, Indiana Jones, Wanted and The Dark Knight. I can't wait!

"50 Top 10 Lists of 2007" - This is definitely one of the best articles I have seen in a while. TIME, (in partnership with CNN) has published 50, Top 10 Lists of 2007. These span categories from news and entertainment to science and technology. At first glance some of the ones which peek my curiosity are listed below.

News: Top 10 News Stories, Top 10 Underreported Stories, Top 10 Religion Stories, Top 10 TIME.com Most Popular Stories
Arts & Entertainment: Top 10 Movies
Science: Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs, Top 10 Scientific Discoveries, Top 10 Natural Disasters
Business, Tech & Sports: Top 10 Gadgets, Top 10 Websites
Pop Culture: Top 10 Quotes, Top 10 Buzzwords, Top 10 TV Ads

I would brand this article a 'Must Read' for anyone!

"According to Provine, early laughter researcher William Fry found that it took ten minutes on his rowing machine to elevate his heart rate to the same level provided by a good belly laugh, a finding that may have millions of Americans rationalizing their way out of the gym and back to reruns of Friends or I Love Lucy." (Ref)

I've always heard about this, and the "it takes more muscles in your face to frown than it does to smile" thing [see here] but it's nice to finally see that there is some research behind it. All-in-all, a rather intriguing article, especially the "Whole Body Benefits" section.

Hey there. I hope you had a good week!

This week I'd like to talk about giving thanks.

Now I'm the type of person that before every meal I either say a prayer of thanks, or say thanks in some other fashion. I remember sometime ago as I was about to have lunch with someone, whom I had also had breakfast with earlier that day, as I lowered my head - for the second time in the day, they remarked, "you ALWAYS say a prayer before eating?!". I think I replied, "I try to".

You see, in my opinion, the thing about saying prayers or giving thanks before every meal (or even snack), is just simply to express real, sincere THANKS. 'Thanks' here is aimed at the person who prepared the food, but also to God for providing it. Every time I am about to eat a meal, I want God to know that I fully appreciate Him putting it there. I think it's little things like this that make our God smile.

Now, I must also warn you! One thing you should be wary of is letting these prayers and signs of thanks become just a mundane, meaningless task that you just do out of habit. This, I don't think will make God smile. One tip I suggest is to do it differently, "spice it up" if you wish, keep things fresh.

So next time you're about to bite into that tasty or tasteless ________, try to remember who deserves thanks for it being there for you to enjoy.

Have a great week!

Feeling a bit better folks! Hopefully I'll be fully operational soon!

By the way... It bemuses me how students in previous times did research without the Internet... The thought is actually quite scary!

For this week...

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 - Everything Has Its Time

"To everything there is a season,      
A time for every purpose under heaven:
      A time to be born,
And a time to die;
      A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
      A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
      A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
      A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
      A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
      A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
      A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
      A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
      A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
      A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
      A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
      A time to love,
And a time to hate;
      A time of war,
And a time of peace."

Remember..

To everything there is a season,      
A time for every purpose under heaven.

Have a blessed week!

Sorry folks, I'm a bit sick at the moment hence no blog posts.

Well, even though the ending of the movie was "leaked" to me (thanks to a certain female- M!!), it was still a largely enjoyable experience! This Drama, Thriller, Western Adaptation is likely one of the better movies I've watched in a while, a bit.. gory and senseless at times but, pretty alright.

One comment I must make though is that I think some scenes could have been expanded upon, to facilitate a more 'complete' story (eg. how the Llewelyn Moss met his end). BUTT, I fully appreciate why such was not done - and no, not because the movie was already scheduled to be ~2 hours long!

My take is that it's all in keeping with the title of the movie.. *here I pause to let you ponder*. If you take the title, "No County for Old Men" at face value, you'll see that it was not really about Llewelyn (hence why his .. 'departure' was not shown), or about the Chigurh (and the fact that he got away scot free). As the movie progresses you can see that Sherrif Ed Tom Bell is just struggling to fathom the crimes, killings, and generally 'the times'. Lastly, look at how the movie ended with "Old Man" Sherrif Bell's reflections on his dreams. *pause for effect* .. get me?

I suggest you watch the movie once more - if you've watched it previously, keeping my comments in mind, I'm sure it will be better the second time around.

Last year June, I reported on a commandment listing from the Vatican which highlighted a list of Ten Commandments for drivers. Well, the Vatican is at it again, but not for drivers this time, now it's more focused on sins in the societal context as you can see below.

"VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Thou shall not pollute the Earth. Thou shall beware genetic manipulation. Modern times bring with them modern sins. So the Vatican has told the faithful that they should be aware of "new" sins such as causing environmental blight.

The guidance came at the weekend when Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, the Vatican's number two man in the sometimes murky area of sins and penance, spoke of modern evils.

Asked what he believed were today's "new sins," he told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the greatest danger zone for the modern soul was the largely uncharted world of bioethics.

"(Within bioethics) there are areas where we absolutely must denounce some violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments and genetic manipulation whose outcome is difficult to predict and control," he said.

The Vatican opposes stem cell research that involves destruction of embryos and has warned against the prospect of human cloning.

Girotti, in an interview headlined "New Forms of Social Sin," also listed "ecological" offences as modern evils.

In recent months, Pope Benedict has made several strong appeals for the protection of the environment, saying issues such as climate change had become gravely important for the entire human race." (Ref)

Some of the other newly purported sins include: polluting the environment, causing social injustice, causing poverty, becoming obscenely wealthy and taking drugs (Ref).

These sins of course are to be added to the old (more personal) list of: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride.

To be fair.. New times.. new sins..

This person's post is simply excellent, exquisite even! (And it's not just me that thinks so, it's got over 800 diggs!) Here's an excerpt..

"Recently, the blogosphere echoed that sentiment with news of “Facebook fatigue”.

1. In January, The Register started by saying “Whisper it, but numbers from web analytics outfit comScore have confirmed what the chatter in bars and cafes has been saying for months - people are, just, well, bored of social networks.” About Facebook, they added that “behaviour seems much the same; join, accumulate dozens of semi-friends, spy on a few exes for a bit, play some Scrabulous, get bored, then get on with your life, occasionally dropping in to respond to a message or see some photos that have been posted.”
2. A few weeks later, Techcrunch also looking at ComScore data said “The number of people who visit Facebook has been leveling off over the past few months in the U.S., and even dipped by about 800,000 individuals in January. (…) Maybe all that friend spam has something to do with the decline. Will the Facebook fatigue get worse, or is this just a temporary dip?”
3. Adding his grain of salt, Rory Cellan-Jones from the BBC added: “The general feeling is that the kids, with their minute attention spans, have already tired of the social networking site and moved on to something more hip and happening. I think the opposite is true - that Facebook’s new wave of older users have decided it is just not worth the bother and are now leaving it to the kids.”

..." (Ref)

Cellan-Jones' comments (above) grab my attention the most and you can check his full post titled, "Facebook - back to the kids?".

This entire FB thing has been quite amusing I must say! But I do wonder if Twitter is.. really the next "best thing since slice bread" to invest in. To be totally honest, I'm more interested in the comments made about FB that I am in the original author's comparison of it with Twitter.

Anyway, in a couple months we will see the outcome (personally, I doubt Twitter will reign, it's quite limited in functionality and prospective audience compared to MySpace, Hi5 and their current successor, FB).  Whatever the grand result.. I'm sure MILLIONS of you out there are can't wait to hop on this cyclic bandwagon whatever tomorrow's new thing will be! No offense meant of course.

A blast from the past!

As you'll see the video I've embedded above is not the real music video, but on the positive side, it does have the lyrics! Anyway, I also suggest you check out the real music video! Seeing the guys and noting the year it was done - probably around 1995 - definitely adds more feeling and passion to an already great song. Enjoy!

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with ALL your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13.

I can add nothing to this scripture to make it more perfect or pertinent. Therefore, I'd just ask you to take a few minutes out of your busy day and meditate on these words and their meaning, their implications for your life.

Have a blessed week!

I love photos, they tell exciting stories and capture a moment in time forever. Here are a few photos that a writer says, "Changed the world".

Just a few songs I like..

The Hoosiers - Worried About Ray

Rihanna - Don't Stop The Music

Kate Nash - Foundations

Basshunter - Now You're Gone

Blue October - Into the Ocean

(These links were all working at the time of this post but we all know how that goes. :\)

After seeing the poster I did guess that this was another "Scary movie"-like film and therefore, really should have avoided it! However, I am such an avid fan of 300, I simply HAD to watch its parody in Meet the Spartans.

But, as with the two Scary Movie films I watched (1 and 2), it left me totally disappointed. Rather than making me laugh, a great deal of it just seemed offensive and poorly done - also come on! A dance off?? A "yo momma" competition?? (n)!

In general, the movie mostly relied on vulgarity, especially "strong language", and anything that seemed even remotely "funny" to the writers/directors/producers.

But, to be honest, I did not expect much.. either from the movie itself, or from the 13 great Spartan warriors Spartans who set out to defend their homeland against the invading Persians (whose ranks include Ghost Rider, Rocky Balboa, and a hunchbacked Paris).

Rating: 3/10. The plot gave it that high score.

For this week I'd like you to approach life and all its challenges with the following attitude:

I can't, but GOD can.

Have a great week and tell me how it goes! Also, I'm sorry this post is late - ideally it would have been done on Sunday - but I was a bit busy but I also could not find anything that appealed to me soo much that I could share it with you. Finally, I thank Jamel for bringing this lovely quote to my attention, :-)!

Take care and God bless.

Cooking Experiment #3..

In the pot	Pre-oven shot
Straight out of the oven!	Ah Fini!

Enough said!

Well I had more ingredients left over from Experiment #1, so I figured, why not have another go! This time however, I took the opportunity to use a different 'main', as you'll see from the snapshots below. I think this one is a wee bit more traditional Stir-fry.

And how did I do? In my opinion and the opinion of a friend who dinned with me, it was quite nice! The only hitch I encountered was that I think I overcooked the noodles slightly! To be honest, I lost track of them whilst watching the veggies! Next time I'll keep a better eye and maybe a lower stove!

By the way, thanks for your help S! It was much appreciated!

Now! That's quite enough for Stir-fry! What next! Any suggestions for something to tackle? Then again.. I think I have an idea ..

"Jason, at least on Sundays, you should have a proper, filling, cooked meal!" These the words often uttered to me by my beloved parents. So being the nice son I am.. this Sunday I decided to go all out! I popped into the local Tescos and came up with the brilliant idea to make my first official Cooking Experiment/Masterpiece a stir-fry! And well.. the rest,  as they say, is History! Below are two photos of the finished product.

Stir-fry in wok	Stir-fry close up

And yes, it did taste pretty good, it even shocked me at first! Hey, anyone willing to guess the (main) ingredients?

Don't be fooled by "Doubt"! We're under God's promise! :-) Have a great day!

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods; but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner.

As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile; only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing After lunch the next day Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the dishes" But

Sally said, "Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen." Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?" So Johnny did the dishes. Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, "I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper."

Sally just smiled and said, "Well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help" She whispered again, "Remember the duck?" So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's; he finally couldn't stand it any longer.

He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, "Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you."

Thought for the day and every day thereafter?

Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done... and the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.)...whatever it is...You need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven.

He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you.

The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness; He not only forgives you, but He forgets. It is by God's grace and mercy that we are saved.

Go ahead and make the difference in someone's life today. Share this with a friend and always remember:
God is at the window!

When Jesus died on the cross; he was thinking of you!

(That was excellent. Thanks J!)

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so I think I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

So thank you all for that, and I also thank the other people for their best wishes on my "big" day. :-)

(By the way, does T.G.I. Friday's in Barbados serve this? And is it - i.e. the portions - comparable? It would be interesting to find out.. Anyone know?)

Well, today is certainly a milestone of sorts for me! (And NO, I AM NOT 50! :\) Anyways, happy birthday old chap! Thank God He's let me reach another year. ! Wait.. surely we can't have a birthday without the song! *eh hem*..

Ok.. that was not very .. "manly" but it was the best vid I could find!! (Thanks Grey Worldwide!) Ways, have a good day all! And I hope the weekend is great as well!

There is a reason Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it" (Mark 10:15). Check the clip below.

A real tear-jerker..  Have a blessed day! (Thanks for the tip M!)

I hope you got the message.. Enjoy your week!! :-)

I think these four lines are quite suitable for all those who need a bit of encouragement and direction right now.

"Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who built it,
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain." Psalm 127:1.

Have a great day and remember, try not to worry or to get overly anxious about whatever situation you are faced with even as daunting as it may look. Because, "When we trust the power of God, we experience PEACE not panic".!

I received this as part of an email and even though I found it slighly harsh, I think it's definitely worth sharing.

"God whispers in your soul and speaks to your mind. Sometimes when you don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at you.

It's your choice: Listen to the whisper, or wait for the brick."

Enjoy your week!!

Well, I'm back in my flat and it's back to Uni from today so can you guess what's the first surprise I get? Peek at the image below.

Snow? Sweet! *rolls eyes* lol! Enjoy your day and God bless!

If you are like me, you can't count the number of times your mother has told you that reading in dim light will ruin your eyesight. Or, probably you're one of the gents that was advised to shave his 'little strands of beard' to enable them to regrow faster and coarser than ever! Well, if you fit into any two of those categories or generally want to have an insightful read, check out the following "medical myth" list.

* Need to drink eight glasses of water (daily?)
* Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
* Shaving makes hair grow back faster or coarser
* Eating turkey makes you drowsy
* We use only 10 percent of our brains
* Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
* Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals

Check out the full article on Yahoo! to understand why these common beliefs appear to be nothing more than popular myths.

This is a rather interesting article I found on Christian site Crosswalk.com, especially for guys (note though that it is written by a woman). Gals, you can feel free to refute any of the claims! Check it out: 9 Lies Men Tell Themselves About Women!

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

"Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he as no one to help him up.

Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

We can go a lot further together than we can go alone... :-)

I Keep Six Honest Serving Men

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views;
I know a person small-
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!

She sends'em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes-
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!

by
Rudyard Kipling

Really nice poem eh? Believe it or not I came across it in an Enterprise Security text book!

"God made the world round so we would never be able to see too far down the road." - Isak Dinesen

Today Friday 2nd November, culminates Switch it Off week, and we in Coventry, Warwickshire and Worcestershire are asked to switch off all our appliances normally left on standby, between the hours of 4:30pm and 6:30pm – the period when we use most electricity every day.

I found the following quote rather compelling so I'll do what I can to switch off my gadgets and the appliances in my flat as well. (Probably turn everything off just before I leave home and stay in the library a bit longer.)

If everyone in Warwickshire, Coventry and Worcestershire stopped leaving appliances on stand by in their homes, in one year it would save more than £20 million pounds.  It would also prevent over 86 thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide (one of the main causes of climate change) being emitted into the atmosphere through wasted electricity. (Source)

Serious business eh?

O help us, Lord, to heed Your Word,
Its precepts to obey,
And give us strength to quench the urge
To do things our own way. - Sper

Obedience is faith in action!

The key to getting a PhD is maybe 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration, combined with a liberal sprinkling of reflection...

Yes, to get a PhD you need to be bright, you need ideas and you need to do good research. But more than anything else you need persistence. You need to commit yourself to getting up and doing it again today.   ...

This gift of reflection, noting our actions and learning from them is one of the real characteristics of true intelligence, birds do it, bees do it and yet so often we fail to do it. It's so much easier to avoid reflection, to avoid action - and yet these are the keys to true success, in life, in business, in a PhD. (Source)

Really inspirational stuff.. I suppose one could apply this to other courses and even to life. For me though, I doubt that 10%-90% would do it, God is crucial to my, and one could even say, all of our success.

On the side: Hey Matt and Kat! I figure you're the only two other phd students reading this! So I hope you find it useful!!

One thing about researching, especially pondering over books and stats - you can find the most interesting of things! See quote below.

"Blogs have become a part of mainstream online culture. ... Bloggers tend to be male, young, broadband users, Internet veterans, wealthy, and educated." (Laudon & Traver, 2007, p. 408)

Hmm.. let's assess.. me. Male? Tick! Young? Tick! Broadband? Tick! Net Vet? Tick! Wealthy? I wouldn't say so. Educated? Am I? .. HMM! 4/6, not too bad a generalisation at all!

What do YOU think?

One year ago today I joined the Blogosphere. To be completely honest, it has really been a fun experience, and at times - believe it or not - even exciting! I thank you all who read my blog and I look forward to your continued subscription in the future. Especially since I'm scheduled to be in England for some time to come.

Take care! And thanks again.

T-1 day people .. woah!

From Saturday 22 September I've been crazzzyy busy and from what I can tell it will only get worse in the next couple days. On the up side of things, it has been a pretty enjoyable time (except for work–that's just been frustrating)! I hope to have some photos soon and when I do, I'll post'em and let you see what fun stuff I've been up to!

In helping me through these busy days, organisation is simply KEY! If you're faced with some busy days, I recommend this article - Five Tips for Getting Organised - that I peeked at to help keep everything under control/organised. Enjoy!