Couple of weeks ago there was a SUP demo down at the beach (Dutchies). Took my three year old boy out and on the way back in, I lay down with him and caught a wave all the way to the shore. He was so happy I doubt I'll ever forget it. 
After 2 years in a job i hated and 1 year of being single, i left the job and have been living it up at home unemployed style ( = playing allot of PS3 and trying not to spend the little money i have left )
2 months later and the novelty of unemployment is wearing very thin. then within the space of 2 weeks, i have landed a good job and an awesome girlfriend ( who is keen to windsurf and likes to mountainbike amongst other things )
have been spending as much time as i can with her B4 i start work full time and she goes back to europe for 1.5 months. and im meeting her in KL when she flys back in november.
sure i have a few bills due and there hasnt been any wind lately, But i couldnt be happier and i know its gonna be all good soon!! 
Stoked!
Noice posts folks.
(Almost) makes up for a lack of wind. 
Picked up a home made steel go cart on the verge a few weeks back with the lads and made it a project for us to fix it up.
Spent some of yesterdee arvo painting the go-cart with the eldest. He is pretty unco but I managed to step back and let him do it (despite a few muck ups over the hot rod flames that took me ages to paint on) and he really surprised me with his concentration and did a great job.
He is pretty stoked with the go-cart and has already boasted to a mate that he painted it! 
Ditto about reading the stories. My fav part of the day and I'll miss storytime when they are too old/cool for stories.
He he - my eldest saw a pic of a polar bear on an ice float (weirdly) advertising cruises to the Sth pole and voiced his desire to go to see the snow.
"Geez that would be fun but we'd need to save up a LOT for that." I said. "What if I start saving up - will that help?" he responds. "Yeh - that might help." I say off handedly.
+3 yrs later he still has not spent a single cent of any Chrissy/birthday/pocket money and is saving like nobodies business!
Gonna have to get the snow trip happening somehow, sooner rather than later I reckon!
One powerball..
Ok - so attempting to keep the Captain goodvibes touchy feely going.
I'm sure we all know how easy it is to get stuck in negative thoughts (speshly in peak-hour
) and we all know that warm fuzzy feeling (no - the other type) that comes from doing a good deed or passing forward a good vibe/deed. But how th kn hell do you maintain it day after day in this age?
No pizz taking - I am seriously asking.
If you think you can do it - what's your secret?
i reckon it highly depends on your personality type... for some it's easy to be like that 24/7 but others have to work hard on it... i've seen some people with smile on their face every time i see them... what i've observed they tend to be very relaxed people... not bothered about anything... a bit slack in a way, and don't have huge expectations from the world or them selves... it's nice to be around those people (unless you are working or on a job with them)...
what if you are a prefectionist, or realist, or pessimist... very hard to keep postitive thoughts all the time... gotta really train your frame of mind... then there are external influences - society - lifestyle - society mandated lifestyle - deflecting negative vibes of others... - in my opinion, it's largely comes down to a personality type...
but if i had any advice, it would be something i kind of started doing a while ago, and then later met someone who had similar phylosophy which reinforced my view. A friend of mine met R Branson once, and he said R told him that he refuses to talk about or dwell on anything negative. And i totally agree with this. There is so much bull**** in the media and TV especially... i don't recall opening a newspaper and not seeing an article about murder, rape, sexual scandal or something similar... so i've stopped reading news paper mostly and watching news... or if i end up doing it on an odd ocasion, i've trained my curiosity to ignore negative stories/titles... (basically stop feeding negative information and garbage to your brain)... this helped me a lot when was going through very stressful stage a while back...
other very contributing factors - balanced lifestyle, having a balanced worklife, healthy living, healthy eating, spirituality... etc...
it took me years to properly understand all these things and reform habits, but i'd never go back. Unless you are naturally laid back happy person, then adapting a self discipline regime and all of the above categories will make you a different and better person IMO...
that's my 2 cents. It all worked for me if nothing else.
) and we all know that warm fuzzy feeling (no - the other type) that comes from doing a good deed or passing forward a good vibe/deed. But how th kn hell do you maintain it day after day in this age?
)
Yeh - all good advice Lizo. In life it is easy to rationalise but harder to realise I guess.
Balance is tricky, think the balance board is easier to build from wood than from life.
Spot on about CFM Cisco. I once had a car courier job (briefly) and switching to CFM made the whole traffic situation melt into the background.
Carantoc - good luck with that program (and best of luck in the AFL/NRL) I guess that just the way you (t)roll ay homeboy..
On the good vibes thing, had this emailed to me this morning, pretty mushy, but sums it up pretty well, especially the last bit.
(epic novel warning!)
John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, 'If I were any better, I would be twins!'
He was a natural motivator!
If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, 'I don't get it!' 'You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?'
He replied, 'Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or...you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood.'
Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.
Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or...I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.
'Yeah, right, it's not that easy,' I protested.
'Yes, it is,' he said. 'Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life.'
I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw him about six months after the accident.
When I asked him how he was, he replied, 'If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?' I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.
'The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,' he replied. 'Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live.'
'Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?' I asked.
He continued, '...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action.'
'What did you do?' I asked.
'Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,' said John. 'She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity''
Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'
He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude....I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.
Nice SH.
I had a serious motorbike accident many years ago. Actually couldn't really move, left hand on backwards.. worse, couldn't feel my feet or move my legs!
After what seemed eternity on the tarmac, and samaritans trying to pull my helmet off (still strapped up!) I managed to move my toes and felt such relief - everything else was minor.
By the time the paras arrived I was 'putting my mind elsewhere' to minimise the pain. To help distract myself I asked the para checking me out if he thought my wrist was repearable (I had my one and only guitar lesson the night before so was anxious). He was evasive as he didn't want to answer what he couldn't honestly answer. Then i remebered something kinda funny (to me at least).
I pushed him asking him "Will the docs be able to fix my wrist so I can play piano in future?"
Evasive.
I pushed him for an answer again.. "Will the docs be able to fix my wrist so I can play piano?"
"Yeh... probably." he eventually said, just to placate me.
"Great!" I said "I've never been able to play before!!" cracking myself up - well as much as I could with pain everywhere simultaneously.
He gave me a look like "Oh great another kn space monkey! No more pain relief for this one" (Poor buggers have to see some ordinary sh!t).
After he finished checking my signs etc, and began loading me into the ambo I asked him "Is it ok if I pass out now?"
"Er.. yeh."
"Nighty night... wake me when we get there."
Humour is the best tonic at the worst times.
With you on the choices SH and it takes a l o n g time to 'train' your brain to think that way as a default. Not easy to do with so much negative stuff inya face everyday.
CFM in peak hour, digi picture frame with fam on it in vicinity at work etc all helps but crikey there is a lot of sh!t to wade through to get to the good side sometimes.
i just got back from the Territory.
In April, my old man turned 70. He's not in the greatest health and I asked him if there was anything he'd ever regret not doing....He told me he had always wanted to see the Top End- Darwin, and Kakadu..then onto Alice Springs via The Ghan. "But that'll never happen" he said "too bloody expensive". Just another dream goes begging....
I'm pretty happy to say that, along with my wife, we made it happen.....We put in some coin, stepped away from work for a few weeks, and gave my old man an experience he will never forget.
And we talk about sharing the stoke.....On Adelaide River, seeing my old man beaming as a giant sea eagle flew in and stole some food from his hand.....priceless.
Best snow of the season last weekend.
20-30 knots tomorrow.
Friday afternoon beers at work.
Dinner at the pub with +1 tonight.
sheeeeesh!!! It's getting pretty heavy here.
This was fathers day for me. (works better with sound)
(and it looks like #3 on the way...)
looking to buy a dog,i put my name down at various council dog pounds.
at Canning pound i was 2nd in line to get this small one year/old terrier cross.
at end of 7 day waiting period i got a call from Ranger that woman first in line did not pick up the dog.
i picked up dog straight away[for $35], took it down the swan river for a few hours walk,spent $72 on doglead, collar,basket and another $6 on kangaroo meat.
when i got home,if i left the room for a second it woud yelp non-stop.
so i decided my parents,who have big garden and can give her more attention would be the best option for us both.
it's been a week now and they love her to bits!
GOD VERSUS DOG
God is difficult to understand. People can't agree if He is Christ or Allah. Some think He is an old man. Others think He doesn't exist at all.
We blame Him for everything bad. If He is so powerful, why does He let evil things happen?
With Dog, expectations aren't so high.
Dogs are tangible. You can see them.
Frisky. furry. They're always there.
Feed me. Walk me. Pat me.
It's easy to serve Dog. He's a mooch!
He's not a vengeful Dog.
Put him off for hours and he's forgiving. When you finally reach for the leash, he's as happy and grateful as ever.
"If I can make just one Dog happy, my life has been worthwhile," I tell my wife (in jest.)
DOGOLATRY
I would have succumbed to Dogolatry but for the fact that I have a working understanding of God.
As my readers know, I equate God with spiritual absolutes: Truth, Justice, Beauty, Goodness, Harmony and Love.
In a word, Bliss.
It's obvious that people were born with a craving for these ideals. They are the principle of our development. We were intended to realize them in this world.
We are God's agents.
But we blame God for our failure.
We're sidetracked by evil people telling us other things will provide Bliss: Romantic love. Sex. Money. Power. Fame.
They never do.
So we end up serving Dogs.
Dogs never disappoint. They're not nearly as demanding.
www.henrymakow.com/
Hey pm - it's all the same if your dyslexic!
So anybody gotta good vibe today?
I attempted to be a good sammy today after I noticed a car driving along with a dead flat tyre (it was so flat the noise made me notice it as it went past).
Risking $$$ and points I radically sped up to 50kms in the 40 zone - in a move reminicscent of Riaders of the lost ark wound down the window and toot tooted until I got the driver to look over. I then attempted to signal towards her back tyre and make some kind of flat sign (WTF works for a universal "You're tyre looks like a pancake" signal anyway??).
The end result was her looking startled, no doubt thinking some weirdo long haired freak was stalking her and she dropped back suddenly, fell in behind me and zoomed left at the next corner!!
Ha ha - lucky it's not the US and she didn't pull out the Magnum.45.
All good.
wound down the window and toot tooted until I got the driver to look over. I then attempted to signal towards her back tyre and make some kind of flat sign (WTF works for a universal "You're tyre looks like a pancake" signal anyway??). no doubt thinking some weirdo long haired freak was stalking her and she dropped back suddenly, fell in behind me and zoomed left at the next corner!!
