BANG!

March 19, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
8 Comments

The sound was deafening.

It was just before 7 o’clock on Saturday morning.

I decided to top up the air in my back tyre before heading out for my regular Saturday ride. The pressure was almost where I wanted it when an almighty bang rang out in the early morning.

My first thought was that I’d blown a tube. Unfortunately I’d actually blown my rim apart.
As you can see in the picture (click the photo for a better view) my rear wheel is in a very sad state. A large part of the rim parted company with the rest of the rim. Not good.

I took the wheel to the coffee shop where we meet after our rides to impress the rest of the group. None of the other riders had ever seen anything like it before. I hope I never see anything like it again.

I now have a new wheel on order but I did spend a fair part of Saturday frantically trying to find a spare wheel to take part in yesterday’s Freeway Bike Hike. Thankfully one of the guys that rides with us on Saturday mornings was kind enough to let me use his back wheel for the day. I was more than pleased when I was able to return the wheel to him in one piece.

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Freeway Bike Hike 2007

March 19, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
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I had a magnificent day yesterday.

For the second time in as many years I pedalled from Belmont to Joondalup in the Freeway Bike Hike, raising money for asthma research.

For several hours, one half of the freeway was closed to cars and it became a huge cycleway.

The event started at Belmont Racecourse, just outside Perth, and made its way through the Graham Farmer tunnel and up the Mitchell Freeway all the way to Joondalup; a distance of 30 km. There was also a shorter 10 km ride for families and those who weren’t quite up to the challenge of cycling 30 km.

With riding to the start line and then riding home later I clocked up 70 kilometres for the morning. It was a warm day but I was home before it got too hot.

It’s a rather special feeling to be rocketing up the freeway on two wheels with 7000 other people. It was interesting to see the range of bikes and riders. There were some very nice bikes that obviously get a regular workout and then others that probably last saw daylight when they were pulled out of the shed for last year’s event.

It was a great event, wonderfully planned and I’m looking forward to next year but I do wonder how many of the irregular cyclists are feeling a bit sore today.

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How's work?

March 16, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
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Lauren at Memoir is looking for work. With occupations on her mind she asks, “What was your favorite job? Better yet, tell me about your worst occupation.”

It got me thinking.

My favourite job? That’d be my job at the moment. I’m a radio announcer and as part of my work I get to speak to some fascinating people. Some famous, some not so famous. They all have a story to tell. I enjoy the opportunity to do a bit of talkback radio to give a voice to people who otherwise wouldn’t be heard.

My worst? Many years ago I worked for Western Australia’s Education Department. I was a General Assistant which gave me a huge range of interesting tasks. I managed a storeroom, ran an offset printer, worked with audio/visual equipment and a lot more.

The job was good but then they started making changes throughout the department. I was moved ‘sideways’ for a while from a very interesting and diverse job to a brain numbing job in the department’s head office.

I spent all day opening the front cover of library books, noting which school they belonged to, closing the books, putting them in piles, then wrapping the piles into parcels to send to the schools.

Thankfully it was around that time that a full time job in radio became available and I was able to say goodbye to the Education Department.

I’ve had a range of jobs over the years. The only thing I’m officially qualified to do is cook. I went straight from school to a cooking apprenticeship. I completed the four year apprenticeship, got my qualifications and then left the industry. It really wasn’t for me. Those who choose to work as chefs are passionate about creating food and working in the pressurised atmosphere of a commercial kitchen. I’m extremely thankful that there are people who can work with food and that they love doing it but it wasn’t something I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing.

What about you? What have been your favourite and least favourite jobs? Are you looking to change jobs or are you happy with what you’re doing now? What would it take to get your dream job?

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Bobby

March 15, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
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One of the segments on my morning radio programme at 98.5 Sonshine FM is a fortnightly look at what’s on at the movies.

Aaron Kamp has been reviewing movies for some time and he posts his reviews at Cinemaniacs, part of the YFC website.

Every couple of weeks we look at what’s in the cinemas and what’s new on DVD.

Today we talked about Bobby, a movie that looks at the day that Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated and centres around 22 people who were at the Ambassador Hotel where he was killed. The movie boasts a stunning ensemble cast including actors like Harry Belafonte, Heather Graham, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Charlie Sheen, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone and many others. Also taking on an acting role is the guy who wrote and directed the movie, Emilio Estevez.

You can listen to our discussion by clicking here.

There is a whole range of audio options available now with 98.5 Sonshine FM’s Audio On Demand service. You can subscribe to a number of my regular radio features or simply look through the archives to find something that interests you.

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Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture

March 14, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
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exilesEvery now and then I get to record a radio interview that I want to listen to over and over again. One such case is my interview with Michael Frost about his current book, Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture.

Mike has so many good things to say and he says them so well.

He previously wrote The Shaping of Things to Come together with Alan Hirsch. ‘Shaping’ is a book aimed at church leadership giving leaders ideas on reshaping church for the current culture. It was a great read and so I was very keen to get copies of Exiles and Alan Hirsch’s current book, The Forgotten Ways when I heard that they were available.

I’m currently working my way through Exiles and thoroughly enjoying it, so it’s wonderful to be able to spread Mike’s message to a wider audience through the interview.

We live in a time when more followers of Jesus are living outside the church than ever before. People who are still very keen to follow Christ are giving up on going to church. What does that say about the people that are ‘dropping out’ and what does it say about the church?

In the interview with Michael Frost we look at just what is meant by the term post-Christian culture. We also talk about Mike’s use of the term exiles. Are we really exiled in a foreign culture? How do we thrive in a post-Christian culture while staying faithful to Jesus? How much should we engage with the current culture? How much do we stand up against the existing culture?

My interview will be broadcast on 98.5 Sonshine FM this Sunday night and then replayed on Monday night. You can hear the interview by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

If you missed my earlier post, I interviewed Alan Hirsch about his current book, The Forgotten Ways, a couple of weeks back and thoroughly enjoyed the conversation.

If you’ve read Exiles I’d love to hear your thoughts. I look forward to your comments.



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