February, 2006:

I was out last night at the home of some friends. Our church has just begun the 40 Days of Community programme and so it was the first night of our small group meetings.

A couple of other guys from church were making their way there too but got quite lost in the process. They had to ring and ask for directions which is supposedly something that men don’t do very often or very well.

The exception to that rule, it would seem, would be in India. Last night’s experience reminded me of the first time I visited the Taj Mahal in 2003. The guys who were driving us there stopped to ask some passers by for directions. A crowd gathered and everyone added their 2 cents worth, or should I say their two rupees worth. It was all in Hindi so I didn’t understand anything apart from Taj Mahal. It was fascinating to see how many people decided that they should wander over and give our Indian friends the benefit of their knowledge of the roads of Agra.

After getting directions we were all set. We drove off. With all that information I was sure we’d get there without further problems.

500 metres up the road we stopped again and repeated the process. More road experts surrounded the van and pointed in a variety of directions before we headed off again. After another three or four stops to ask directions, we arrived.

So there you have it. It’s not a ‘man thing’ after all. The reticence to ask for directions apparently has a lot more to do with culture than gender.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Technorati Tags: India – Lost – Directions

I tamed the wilderness yesterday afternoon. Our front and back lawns have been growing very well and were starting to look a little wild. I fired up the mower and sorted it all out.

I’m sure our mower is the one that Adam used to keep the Garden of Eden in order. It’s very old but it certainly does the job. The lawn now looks wonderful. The mower was given to us some time back.

After many years of using lawn mowing contractors I’m now able to cut the lawn how we want it. The guys that have done the job in the past have never been able to undersand that we don’t want a lawn that is scalped every month. They seem to want to cut it so low that it spends the next month trying to recover, only to be scalped again. We’ve been told that it will end up being springy and we say, “YES, that’s what we want.” They have grudgingly agreed to raise their mowers by a millimetre or two but the lawn has still suffered, especially in the Summer heat.

I must admit that I’m not a big fan of mowing. I don’t particularly enjoy pushing a noisy, smelly device backwards and forwards across our yard. However, I do enjoy the finished product. I’m always amazed at how our shabby grass turns into wonderful lawn. I suppose a lot of life is like that. We hate the process but we enjoy the ability to stand back and admire the end product.

Now all we need is the forecast rain to do its bit and give the garden a good watering.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Technorati Tags: Gardening – Lawn Mower – Lawn

The man himself, MC Hammer, is now blogging.

He has a new album on the way and is looking forward to the new baseball season.

Check out his blog by clicking here.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Technorati Tags: MC Hammer – Rap – Celebrity Bloggers