But back to tonight.

As you may have already read in this blog over the last couple of months, a good mate of mine decided to put together an Indoor Cricket team and enter it in the local comp. Ten weeks (and eleven games) later we have won ten of them - including the last nine straight. So now we have qualified for the Division 3 Grand Final and given we joined the competition 6 or 7 weeks behind everyone else - taking out the competition (Div 3 or otherwise) will still feel pretty good.

There's only two current cricketers in the lineup but everyone has adapted to the Indoor game quickly and especially in the past two games (which were sudden death to make the Finals and last week - we had to beat the #1 ranked team in the Semi) our batting has stood up under the pressure of chasing scores in the 90s.

So tonight we take on the West Pymble Vets... I think that reflects some of the older ages in the team rather than the fact they are all veterinarians from West Pymble. We beat them in our only regular season fixture fairly comfortably but they are a mix of young and old players who just hit the side nets and bowl straight. That strategy will win you games in Indoor and so it has for them.

So our team 'We're on a Boat' enters our first Grand Final in our first season together with optimism... but for some of at least - guarded optimism... no Final is ever easy.

The team for the Grand Final at 7pm Tuesday Night at Thornleigh Indoor Centre 17.11.2009 is:
Nic McInerney, Nathan Ryan, Brett Turpin, Paul Dennis, Mitch Stone, Michael Renkert & Warrick Nicolson (one to be omitted).

If you've got nothing on and live close-ish - we offer moderate playing skills, plenty of team-mate to team-mate sledging, access to slushies from the drinks counter and hopefully a celebratory visit to the classy joint that is Thornleigh McDonalds afterwards.

To sunsetty pictures...

Warrick

The big event of the past week has been my nephew's 4th birthday. Preparations for his first real friends over for a party (which unfortunately I could not really enjoy for long at all due to cricket on the Saturday) were frenetic on the Friday - but I still managed to fit in a coffee with him at a local cafe, watch him blow the candles out on his cake and help him build his first LEGO castle set and a Dragon named Dilbert.

He and his sister stayed at our place on Saturday Night so being woken up by two wriggling little bodies jumping on my bed Sunday Morning was a treat.

Sunday was the 2009 Josh Blair Cup - a friendly game of soccer/football between the Youngsters (22 and under) and the Oldsters (23 and up). It took extra time and a number of debatable refereeing non-calls to decide it but the young legs won the day 2-1 with a golden goal.

Here's a story...

Last night at the supper following church a time honoured tradition of Robin Hooding was on display. In the same way that Robin Hood would steal from the rich to give to the poor - the process of stealing a food item from another friend's hand or plate while they talk to someone else is always well received by the people who didn't have cake in the first place.
What you need is the person who has the cake to be so involved in their discussion with another person that they hardly notice your hand snake in - snaffle the cake and only react in time to see you stuff your face with said cake.
Of course there is absolutely nothing they can do about said cake. All they can do is laugh, cry and plot the downfall of the Robin Hooder.

Last night it was two good mates going at it. Paul liberated a caramello koala from Jem's unattended plate, then Jem walked in and grabbed Paul's half eaten pavlova while he talked to someone else and then adding to the tom foolery - Jem took half of Paul's wife Naomi's lamington from her unsuspecting hand.

Ah yes, fun fun fun.

Try it on your friends - always funny.

The rest of the photos from the last week worth adding to this blog.
Warning... there's quite a few...

Warrick

Take the GHS Hall for instance. I have memories of going there with my family for an awards night for my sister and brother and thinking - wow how big is this place! At that stage I was still at primary school and didn't return to this hall until now and - wow it is small.

Where I went to school (CTHS) - we had a state of the art MPC (Multi-Purpose-Centre with stadium seating on one side and a stage on the other. The thing is I don't really recall thinking it was 'THAT' big when I went to school - could've been the thousand odd students that filled it at assembly time but still - it seemed about right as the size a school hall needed to be.

Then I went to live in Canada as an exchange student and there was something very cool about the school halls there. They were the heartbeat of the school - a heck of a lot of school sport was played there on weeknights - and people could go watch and sit in the old school grandstand seating. I remember watching one of my friends play basketball and volleyball there with an ok crowd and when I was in Peterborough for a short time - we went to one school hall that was just pumping with energy and people for a school game of basketball. It was an experience that I just never saw replicated here in Australian schools. Sure we might have the sports but the following that the community gave was just amazing.

In fact one of my big regrets from Canada was getting hurt at the start of training camp for the school football team and deciding (dumbly as it turns out) that I wouldn't play. The groin injury was fine within a month but I'd missed the camp and (upon reflection) made the wrong call not to push myself to make at the very least the practice squad. It bugs me to this day and as a result no matter what injury I'm carrying - if I can play - I play. That's not to say I didn't try when I played sport before that (if you know me - winning is pretty much all that matters on the sporting field) but sometimes opportunities that arise don't come again a second time...
I must also point out that learning the game would've been a challenge but that in itself is another aspect that I feel I missed out on. Odds are I would've played somewhere defensively and put my hand up to punt... and tackle - how I loved to tackle. In fact once the groin was good one of the sport teachers asked me to run Rugby classes at the school - and that remains one of my fondest memories from Canada.

When the season kicked off, a big highlight was the Friday Night games at the local sports field. Going along with some friends and having some friends playing in the game is a buzz that's hard to explain. If you've seen Friday Night Lights etc or Remember the Titans etc - it really is special.

Especially when as a vocal supporter yelling out from the sideline at a poor refereeing decision - half the people in your section do a double take on your position every time you call out. Why did they?

Because hearing a strong Australian accent call out 'You're kidding ref!' is not something you hear every day at a high school football game.

How I miss that... and I still beat myself up over not playing.

Onto the photos...

Warrick

Looks like I have basically last weekend (Fri to Sun) and the first three days of this week (Mon to Wed) to type up. Not so much what I did as much as what I remember being important... which means if you crossed my path in the last week and don't make this list... clearly you're just not important.

Ok right about now would be a good time to say 'that's not true - everyone is special' and hope you buy what I'm selling.

So here's the photos of note from Fri-Sun...

Friday

Sat Night - the Yoghurt's off...

Best story from the weekend...

On Saturday Night we headed into 'The Loft' at Cockle Bay to send a very good mate of mine off. He's now earning his bamboo in New Zealand and we had a great turnout at a very decent location. Anyhoo as the night went on into the morning and the last of us were sitting around the lounges relaxing - the decision was made: Time to split.

So we dragged the Panda off the ground and as we're heading for the exit which was located behind some decorative indoor lattice like work (best I can do to describe partitions that were fancy and had holes all over them) - we were greeted by a cute little puppy dog.

But this cute little puppy dog had two blue suited police alongside it and your first instinct is 'drug bust!' - kind of exciting really because people that pop the disco biscuits obviously haven't discovered how awesomely entertaining the Lifestyle Food channel is - and deserve to get sprung!

However the fun didn't stop there. As the dog sniffed our feet and completely ignored Panda for his personal hygiene choices as it went past - we looked up towards the partitions to see a sight and a half of full cream dairy cop.

No less than 11 more police officers walked single file across our line of sight and started fanning out into the place. If you were packing disco biscuits you're heart would've skipped a few extra beats not induced by the 'helpers' in your pocket.

I'm pleased to report all our crew got out in tact and in fact, as we said our goodbyes outside the place - the 13 police officers walked back out of 'The Loft' and across to 'Bungalow 8' for another sweep. That meant that quite possibly none of the patrons within 'The Loft' were caught...

Anyhoo - we farewelled the Panda and proceeded to enjoy the longest ever stop at a traffic lights in human existence... but that's another story.

Sunday - bad tv and bbqs:

Warrick

I wonder how much truth there is to that in your life?

Are you constantly trying to come up with the next big fix to smooth out the cracks in your existence? Or is the sticky tape still doing the job?

I was reading the local rag the other day and they reported that a number of the 'Jesus All About Life' banners that have been put up outside churches in the last month or so had been cut down. I wasn't outraged by this but I was interested in the motivations of the people who did it.

Are they pro-evolutionalists? Are they anti-Godites? Are they operating undercover for some government agency determined to rid the world of Christianity's influence- wait they're in politics.

Or more likely - are they not really sure why they are doing it?

The thing that grabs me when I hear people say or indicate that they are 'anti-God' is that their outward attitude seems to be more of 'why would I want to follow God?' rather than 'here's why I won't follow God?'.

The whole Jesus All About Life campaign (best as I can ascertain - having still not seen a single ad on tv) is that Jesus is the answer to what you're looking for in life. Yet what I sense from people who don't know Christ is that they are more compelled to ignore Him than actually have a good reason not to believe in who Jesus is.

Am I way off?

People can pick and choose what 'fad' they follow and will weigh up whether it really applies to them but when it comes to Jesus - people just don't want to aim up to the reality of what Jesus offers. There's a fear of what might be learnt along the way, as opposed to what the end of the road ahead represents.
Is their viewpoint? "At the moment I'm going alright by myself, life's ok I guess, I'll take each day as it comes etc..."
Or is it this? "Who is this Christ fella and why would I want to believe in him? Everything that Jesus stands for is so not for me. Christ pfft... give me Satan."

I think it is far more the first than the second... and I don't believe that people are truly against Christ.

They are against the thought of knowing what knowing Him actually means for their life.

Yet what we think fulfills us each and every day - what we strive to fill our lives with - what you're truly missing is a relationship with Christ. We can pile everything this world has to offer into the shopping trolley, but when we get to the checkout - nothing's leaving the store with us.

And if you've got to this point of the blog and are firmly in the 'I don't believe in God or Jesus' camp, please consider this from Matthew 8:28-34.

The Healing of Two Demon-possessed Men (NIV)
28 When he arrived at the other side in the region of Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.
29 "What do you want with us, Son of God?" They shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?"
30 Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 The demons begged Jesus, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs."
32 He said to them, "Go!" So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. 33 Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

A couple of points.
> Even demons believe in the Son of God. - verse 29
> Jesus victory is complete - judgement is coming and the Demons dread it. - verse 29
> People fear the unknown. - verse 33
> People prefer to ignore Jesus and ask him to leave them alone than deal with the truth - verse 34.

So if you chose not to believe that God exists - the great deceiver has got you believing something he knows isn't true. In plainer terms - even Satan knows who the one true God is, what makes you think that you know better?

As verse 34 says - the town asked Jesus to leave rather than have Him around them. My read (wrong it may be...) on people these days is that they truly fear what they might become as a Christian, more than the concept of being saved by Christ. Because until you aim up and realise what Jesus dying on the cross means - the truth of what life really is all about will escape you.

Life isn't about you. It is about you & HIM.

The eternal life angle isn't going to 'sell' Jesus to everyone. But the concept of opening up yourself to the love of Jesus - that's what people fear the most - and it is the reason people don't want to face who Christ really is.

Jesus didn't come to make amends simply for 'people being bad' - he came to reform our relationship with God that we turned our back on at creation.

What He wants more than anything is to be part of your life, to love and be loved by you.

Life is a walk with God. It is not a walk on your own.

So as the wise man said above - living life is the real deal, trying to solve it by yourself is not.

=================

Back to the photos from the last few days...

Warrick

We started with a scratchy win first up and then didn’t play well at all in a game two loss, to start the season 1-1 after two weeks. Our team was a combination of current cricketers, past cricketers and cricket watchers – so you figure it’ll take a few weeks before we all start firing as a unit. That is – if we were capable of firing at all.

Yet for the past seven weeks we have been firing on all cylinders. I know writing this before the semis is probably tempting fate but at the end of each game some members of our team (I won’t mention any names… Brett! Nic!) have been complaining about the lack of competition. A few of us ‘wiser’ campaigners have been applauding our own team’s efforts instead of bagging out our opposition… yet here we are entering the Finals with an 8-1 record. What is amazing about our performance is every other team started with a 6 game head start on us. But our seven match winning streak saw us sneak into 4th spot on run differential and a chance to win the comp from dead last 6 weeks into a 15 week season.

On Tuesday we beat ‘Inferno’ in an inferno of a night (check out the temp pictures at the end) who had to beat us to get into the Top 4 and after they won the toss they asked us to field.

Here is the scorecard – as best as I can recreate in a word document·

INFERNO Innings
First Pair – Overs 1-4
Over 1 – MCG Renkert 0/6 - including 2 dot balls & 1 No Ball. Inferno 0/6
Over 2 – PNG Dennis 0/13 – carted! Inferno 0/19
Over 3 – MCC Stone 1/5 – including 1 CATCH dismissal. Inferno 1/24
Over 4 – NYE Ryan 1/0 – including 1 CATCH dismissal, 1 dot ball. Inferno 2/24
Pair Score: 2/24 off 4 overs – including 2 CATCHES, 1 No Ball & 3 dot balls. Run Rate: 6.00 rpo.
Team Score: Inferno 2/24 off 4 overs @ 6.00 rpo.

Second Pair – Overs 5-8
Over 5 – MCC Stone 0/5 - including 1 RUN OUT dismissal & two wides. Inferno 3/29
Over 6 – PNG Dennis 0/13 – carted again! Including 1 dot ball, 1 four & 1 wide. Inferno 3/42
Over 7 – MCG Renkert 0/8 – solid. Inferno 3/50
Over 8 – NEC McInerney 0/14 – Smashed! Inferno 3/64
Pair Score: 1/40 off 4 overs – including 1 RUN OUT, 3 wide, 1 four & 1 dot ball. Run Rate: 10.0 rpo.
Team Score: Inferno 3/64 off 8 overs @ 8.0 rpo.

Third Pair – Overs 9-12.
Over 9 – NYE Ryan 2/0 – including 2 CATCH dismissals. Superb! Inferno 5/64
Over 10 – WIN Nicolson 0/10 – wayward! Including 2 dot balls, 1 wide & 1 no ball. Inferno 5/74
Over 11 – NEC McInerney 0/19 – BONUS OVER including 1 SIX, 1 dot ball & carnage! Inferno 5/93
Over 12 – WIN Nicolson 1/5 – BONUS OVER including 1 BOWLED dismissal & 1 wide. Inferno 6/98
Pair Score: 3/34 off 4 overs – including 2 Bonus Overs, 2 CATCHES, 1 BOWLED, 2 Wides, 1 No Ball, 2 dot balls. Run Rate: 8.5 rpo.
Team Score: Inferno 6/98 off 12 overs & 8.16 rpo.

Setting us a competitive total of 99 to win off 72 balls or 8.25 runs per over.

WE’RE ON A BOAT Innings
First Pair – Overs 1-4 – NYE Ryan & MCC Stone
Over 1 – 11 Runs: NYE Ryan 6 Runs from 3 balls (3x2s) & MCC Stone 5 Runs from 3 balls (2x2+1x1). We’re on a Boat 0/11
Over 2 – 2 Runs: NYE Ryan -3 Runs from 2 balls (1x2-1 RUN OUT) & MCC Stone 5 Runs from 4 balls (1x3+2x1 incl. 1 dot ball). We’re on a Boat 1/13
Over 3 – 3 Runs: NYE Ryan 6 Runs from 2 balls (1x4+1x2) & MCC Stone -3 Runs from 4 balls (1x2-1 CAUGHT incl. 2 dot balls). We’re on a Boat 2/16
Over 4 – 14 Runs: NYE Ryan 9 Runs from 3 balls (1x5+2x2) & MCC Stone 5 Runs from 3 balls (1x3+2x1). We’re on a Boat 2/30
Pair Score: 2/30 off 4 overs – including 1 RUN OUT, 1 CATCH, 1 Five, 1 Four, 0 Extras, 3 Dot balls. Run Rate: 7.5 rpo
Team Score: We’re on a Boat 2/30 off 4 overs @ 7.5 rpo.

Second Pair: Overs 5-8 – PNG Dennis & WIN Nicolson
Over 5 – 15 Runs: PNG Dennis 2 Runs from 2 balls (2x1) & WIN Nicolson 10 Runs from 4 balls (1x5+1x4+1x1+1 wide faced) + 3 runs from 1 wide. We’re on a Boat 2/45
Over 6 – 13 Runs: PNG Dennis 7 Runs from 3 balls (1x3+2x2) & WIN Nicolson 6 Runs from 3 balls (3x2). We’re on a Boat 2/58
Over 7 – 17 Runs: PNG Dennis 5 Runs from 4 balls (2x2+1x1+2 No Balls faced+1 Wide faced*ran a single on that wide) & WIN Nicolson 3 Runs from 2 balls (1x2+1x1) + 9 Runs from 2 No Balls and 1 wide. We’re on a Boat 2/75
Over 8 – 10 Runs: PNG Dennis 4 Runs from 3 balls (1x2+2x1) & WIN Nicolson 6 Runs from 3 balls (1x3+1x2+1x1). We’re on a Boat 2/85
Pair Score: 0/55 Runs off 4 overs – including 2 No Balls, 2 Wides, 1 Five, 1 Four, 0 Dot balls. Run Rate: 13.75 rpo
Team Score: 2/85 off 8 overs @ 10.63 rpo.

Third Pair: Overs 9-12 – NEC McInerney & MCG Renkert
Over 9 – 11 Runs: NEC McInerney 6 Runs from 3 balls (1x4+1x2+1 wide faced) & MCG Renkert 2 Runs from 3 balls (1x2+2 dot balls) + 3 from 1 wide. We’re on a Boat 2/96
Over 10 – 19 Runs: BONUS OVER- NEC McInerney 13 Runs from 4 balls (1x7+1x5+1x1+1 dot ball) & MCG Renkert 6 Runs from 2 Balls (2x3). We’re on a Boat 2/115
Over 11 – 8 Runs: NEC McInerney -1 Runs from 3 balls (1x4-1 Run Out+1 wide faced) & MCG Renkert 3 Runs from 3 balls (1x2+1x1+1 No Ball faced) + 6 Runs from 1 Wide & 1 No ball. We’re on a Boat 3/123
Over 12 – 26 Runs: BONUS OVER- NEC McInerney 15 Runs from 3 Balls (1x9+2x3) & MCG Renkert 11 Runs from 3 balls (1x5+2x3). We’re on a Boat 3/149
Pair Score: 1/64 from 4 overs – including 1 Run Out, 1 Nine, 1 Seven, 2 Fives, 2 Fours, 2 Wides, 1 No Ball, 3 Dot Balls. Run Rate: 16.00 rpo
Team Score: 3/149 from 12 overs @ 12.42 rpo.

Result: We're on a Boat won by 51 runs - taking 4 points for the win and 3 bonus points for each batting skin (more runs per 4 over block).

Man that took way too long to write out – but once you’re halfway through you figure you might as well finish it.

And we didn’t even have Turpintine!

I believe we’ll play the Match Fixers in the 1 v 4 Semi Final next Tuesday lads after getting through on run differential from two other teams also on 58 points.

Congrats fellow sailors but let’s not stop here – we play the game for one reason = to win.

Man it was hot on Tuesday... took a couple of shots to give you an indication of why we were sweating up a storm at indoor.

And here's the mandatory sunset picture...

Warrick

GRRRRR! Please... it is just early November... now I love the Christmas period and everything that December brings along with it but I still think 6 weeks before Dec 25th should be the official date to allow Christmas paraphernalia to go up in stores/shopping centres.

That being said - Christmas rocks! Looks like the family might be going back up to North Haven (where I've just been fishing with my brother - check out the photo album for a recap) for at least one of the two weeks around Christmas. We did it as a huge extended family in 2007/2008 (in-laws on both sides came up too) and that was great - plus being up there in the middle of summer is a top holiday spot.

So went to Woolies to pick up some fresh veggies and supplies to go with the corned beef I was cooking up... saw a mate I used to lead at Youth Group which was a brief but enjoyable catchup and when I was looking at the bread section at around 6:45pm I managed to wait out the Woolies employee who was re-pricing the bread. Got a bakehouse multigrain loaf for just $2.07, which was like a 70 cent saving for waiting an extra 30 seconds for her to finish pricing the section. Problem is you only end up eating half the loaf as one person before it isn't so fresh... so effectively I paid $2 for half a loaf of bread... but still I didn't pay $2.75 and that's what matters.

Been treated to a few good sunsets lately...

Warrick

Armed with our gear, a boat and just enough delusional grandeur to think we were good enough to outwit fish - my brother and I head up to North Haven (25mins south of Port Macquarie) on the Camden Haven River.

We caught around 50 fish all up - about 17 keepers that we threw back as it was a catch & release weekend. Flathead were the dominant fish since we were using plastics for the most part, but I kept a rod out with fresh prawns on it and surprised myself with how effective it was - particularly at dusk.

We fished the Stingray Creek Bridge on Friday Night - most success of the weekend catching 11 legal flathead, then went out twice in the boat on Saturday for a lot of little stuff mingled in with a few good fish (caught two Flounder which were keepers as well as a few Flattys) and then back out for a rather unproductive session on Sunday morning before cleaning up the house and driving home at about 4pm.

The highlight was once again North Haven Bowling Club on a Saturday Night - we sat in front of the big screen watching the One Dayer from India... by ourselves for over an hour, while a 50 year old guitar playing crooner entertained the 7 other people in the club in the adjoining room. It all happens up here...

Had a good feed of Chinese Friday Night, fresh prawns & bread for Saturday Lunch, deep fried seafood (the bistro was closing so they could only offer us 'anything deep friend' - just screams healthy doesn't it?) Saturday Night and the best of the lot - two pies each from The Addictive Pie Shop in North Haven. There simply isn't a better pie that I've experienced anywhere else.

Here's a quick selection of photos from the weekend - but the majority of them are in the Fishing Weekend Album.

Warrick

Thursday night Tenpin Bowling has never been so much fun... well I figured out it has been an incredibly long time since I bowled for real (Wii doesn't count!) and when a group of us rocked up to Hornsby AMF for the challenge of knocking wooden things over with a round fibreglass (???) ball - good times were sure to ensue.
There was a mandate for loud shirts and head wear... unfortunately not everyone turned up as requested but Nic bought some novelty hats for the person who bowled a strike (chief headdress) and who bowled a gutter ball (the balding bowtie combo). There was some outstanding bowling and some absolutely ordinary bowling - but plenty of laughs and gutter balls to make you realise that when done with friends - almost anything can increase in quality.

Wednesday I had to return some books to the library (Troy... don't have kids - Scrubs reference) and took the opportunity to take a walk with my niece, nephew and sister's father & mother in law. They actually go home this Wednesday which will be sad, as they've definitely become part of life here for the past 6 or 7 weeks. In case you didn't know - they are from England.

Some other shots from Wed/Thurs.

Warrick

Looks like we may be going tenpin bowling on Thursday night as a crew – which would be great apart from the fact I cannot bowl… (Cue all my cricket teammates saying “we’ve known that for ages Waz!”). If I crack three figures my life will be complete…

The weather has been pretty average the past few days... but it should be all good for the weekend when I go away with my brother for a fishing weekend up near Port Macquarie.

Warrick