July, 2011:

The Hills are Alive

We were surrounded by nuns, people dressed in curtains and lederhosen and even a nazi or two. Pauline and I had a most unusual yet enjoyable night out at the Regal Theatre in Subiaco last night. We were at a sing along version of The Sound of Music.

We chose not to get dressed up for the occasion but plenty did. There were girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, brown paper packages tied up with string and a whole lot more.

Calling all Nuns, Goat herders, Hills, Alps, Baronesses, Brown Paper Packages Tied up with String or any of your favourite things!!

Get ready to yodel down under… Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music
is coming back to town! This is your chance to sing-a-long to the most successful movie musical of all time. This is one of the funniest, most liberating nights out you will have for a long time.

Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music is not just a chance to see the classic movie on the big screen in magnificent technicolor and glorious cinemascope, it’s a major audience participation event with subtitles for the songs.

It was my favourite kind of audience participation event. No one was forced or cajoled into taking part in the singing or the various other activities but those who wanted to had more than enough opportunity. I didn’t sing along with every song but I gave my vocals a work out at various times throughout the movie.

As we entered we were all given a bag of goodies including a small piece of curtain material, some plastic edelweiss, an invitation to the Captain’s ball, a party popper and a couple of other bits and pieces. Each item came out of the bag at the appointed time during the movie. We were also given instructions to boo the nazis, ooh and ah whenever Gretel appeared, hiss the baroness and do various other things at various times.

Even amongst the fun and frivolity the movie brought back memories of watching the Sound of Music many, many years ago. It was a great feel good evening all round.

I understand that a sing along version of Grease is currently playing elsewhere in Australia. Maybe it’ll make it to Perth eventually. Maybe I’d even get dressed up for that one.

If you enjoyed this post please use the buttons above to share.

Taking Time Out

Jul 28th, 2011

by Rodney Olsen.

2 comments

I’ve been mostly absent online over the past few days. I managed to get a couple of posts published on this blog but from Friday, my 48th birthday, until yesterday afternoon, I was spending time with my family in Dwellingup.

Situated in the heart of the majestic jarrah forest, Dwellingup is a town enveloped by earthy and historic charm.

Dwellingup is truly one of Peel’s hidden treasures and a fabulous all round holiday destination for a day, weekend or even longer. Offering an abundance of attractions and activities nearby, Dwellingup is also a popular base for regional touring with the choice of luxury chalets, Bed and Breakfasts and family budget cottages situated in natural bush settings.

The close proximity to Perth provides Dwellingup with a number of scenic entry drive points – one from the foot of the hills through Serpentine Jarrahdale, the other via the coast and Mandurah, both bringing unique driving experiences. – Experience Dwellingup

I can’t remember the last time just the four of us headed away for a break together. We stayed in a cosy A-Frame cottage with a log fire burning constantly. The cottage is set in magnificent gardens and the property surrounded by tall trees and wonderful Western Australian bush.

The few days we were away gave us opportunity to relax, explore, recharge and to enjoy God’s creation in what is surely one of the most beautiful places in W.A. We even took the opportunity to indulge in a little mountain biking on some gravel roads and tracks.

Life starts to return to normal today with Emily and James back at school. I’m still on leave until the 8th of August and this morning I’m happy to be cleaning out my email inbox and tapping out this blog post. I’m hoping to get time over the coming days for some reading and catching up on a few bits and pieces I need to do.

When was the last time you spent time away with your family? Do you like your holidays to be five star luxury or back to basics relaxation? Do you have plans for holidays any time soon?

If you enjoyed this post please use the buttons above to share.

Cadel Wins Tour de France 2011

Jul 24th, 2011

by Rodney Olsen.

2 comments

Cadel Evans is set to become the first Australian to win the biggest cycling event on the planet when he rides into Paris later today. After being runner up twice in the past, Evans will be one step higher on the Tour de France podium and at the age of 34, he’ll be the oldest winner in 88 years.

The final day of racing is traditionally a procession into the capital of France to end three weeks of grueling racing.

Cadel ripped the Yellow Jersey off the shoulders of Andy Schleck in yesterday’s time trial with a blistering effort. He missed out on winning the stage by just a few seconds but his effort was more than enough to turn his 57 second deficit to Schleck into a 1 minute 34 second lead.

I had the honor of chatting with Cadel just a day or two after his switch to the BMC Team was announced in 2009. I asked him who would be runner up when he won the 2010 Tour de France. Unfortunately things didn’t go according to plan last year but it will be an emphatic win a year later. Cadel is a quietly spoken athlete who was a pleasure to interview. I’ve interviewed hundreds of people but my chat with Cadel will always be a highlight of my time in radio.

You can listen to my radio interview with Cadel by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

Lance Armstrong’s success in the world’s most watched annual sporting event helped to increase participation in the sport in the US. I’m sure that Cadel’s success will get more Aussies cycling in the coming years.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you enjoyed this post please use the buttons above to share.

Feeling Disconnected

Jul 23rd, 2011

by Rodney Olsen.

2 comments

Ever feel that you’re disconnected from the rest of the world? I’m not completely disconnected but I am far enough away from home that I am without the technological comforts of home. We’re in Dwellingup for a couple of days and so we’re facing life without immediate access to billions of terabytes of useless information. How will we survive? Quite well I would suggest.

Don’t get me wrong, we still have access to most television stations, even if reception isn’t 100% crystal clear, our mobile phones have full service and we have a number of choices in electronic entertainment. What we don’t have is the Internet or any SBS Television reception, so staying up to date with live coverage of the final moments of the Tour de France is proving to be a problem. It’s not a complete technological detox, more of a partial fast. (Feel free to text me with results of the Tour de France. Just remember to be gentle with me if Cadel Evans doesn’t win.)

Now to the positive side of things. We’re staying in a wonderful A-Frame cottage with a roaring wood fire and huge servings of relaxation. Carol King’s Tapestry is playing in the background and I’m tapping out this post on my ‘disconnected’ iPad. I don’t have to rush the post because I won’t get to publish it until we next drop in to some place with wi-fi or 3G coverage.

Life is good

Life is good, very good, and it’s not the times like this that make it good, it’s times like this that we have opportunity to reflect on how good it is all the time. When we’re rushing from one thing to the next we can focus on the struggles and difficulties that we all experience, but when we slow down, take a breath, and look at the whole picture, we start to gain a little clarity. Life is tough and there will always be battles to be won and obstacles to be overcome, but that’s all part of the journey we travel. Life is tough, absolutely, but life is also very good.

I’m dispensable

One of the things I love about taking time out is the reminder that the world can do just fine without me. I am not the answer to the world’s problems. I am not even someone who is essential for my workplace to continue functioning. If I met with an untimely end anytime soon, the world would go on.

That may sound morbid but to me it’s incredibly freeing. It’s an enormous weight off my shoulders when I remind myself that I am simply walking through life one step at a time as God leads me. Yes, I am an important person in the lives of a few people and I have the privilege of doing some important stuff in my work but I’m just a very small, dispensable, cog in the machinery of life. I’m not the saviour of the world but I know the one who is and he’s far better at running this crazy world than I could ever hope to be.

I’ll be back

Our time here won’t be long, in Dwellingup I mean, but I’m hoping it’ll be a time of refreshing for our little family. I’ll be connected again before I know it but the secret is to take the lessons learned in times like these back into the busyness of life.

When was the last time you took time out? Did you manage to relax and de-stress? Did your time away from routine change the way you approached things when you returned to your normal day to day life?

If you enjoyed this post please use the buttons above to share.

Send Me A Birthday Smile

Jul 22nd, 2011

by Rodney Olsen.

3 comments

I’m going to take a wild guess and suggest that while you may be kind enough to wish me a happy 48th birthday today, you’re unlikely to rush off to my Amazon Wish List to buy me everything my heart desires.

That’s why I’m going to make it easy on you and ask you to do a few things that will make my one day a year very special, while costing you ….. nothing. Well, maybe a little time but these ideas won’t put a dent in your wallet.

Like Me On Facebook

First of all, I’d love to connect with a lot more people on Facebook. I have a public Facebook page that makes that really easy. It’s what Facebook calls a ‘fan page’ but I’m not that much of an egotist that I want you to declare yourself as my ‘fan’. It’s simply just an easy way to share stuff on Facebook. Just head to my Facebook page and click ‘like’.

Share My Posts

Whenever you drop in to my blog, please, please, please feel free to use the little buttons at the bottom of each post to share my posts via Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Digg or Reddit. Hey, you can even click the email button to send a copy to your friends. When you share my posts in any, or all, of these wats, more people visit my blog and I smile a lot. Really I do. If you use StumbleUpon I would especially love you to Stumble my posts. You’re more than welcome to spend a few minutes going back over my recent posts and sharing a few.

Comment On My Posts

Don’t just think it …. say it. I love it when people leave comments on my posts. Your comments make me smile big time.

Thank You

So there you are. If you’d like to, and only if you’d like to, you can make me extra happy by folowing a few of the ideas above. Of course I won’t complain if you’d simply prefer to buy me everything on my Amazon Wish List but we both know that’s never going to happen.