Family Road Trip

July 20, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
Add Comment

20130720-204904.jpg

It’s been a long time since we had a family road trip so I must say that I really enjoyed the day driving from Perth to Kalbarri today. It would be almost twenty years since Pauline and I were last here and Emily and James have never been to Kalbarri so I’m sure there’ll be lots of exploring to do tomorrow.

We stopped a number of times during our journey north from Perth, including a stop off at The Pinnacles.

The Pinnacles are limestone formations contained within Nambung National Park, near the town of Cervantes, Western Australia.

I think we might need to schedule a return visit when we can spend more time wandering through the area looking at the amazing natural structures. I took a bunch of photos of the Pinnacles, some of which I’ll post in coming days, but I’d love to spend more time there practising my very amateur photography skills.

Over the next few days we’ll explore a bit more of Kalbarri as well as heading a little further north.



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Family Road Trip? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

Right Place Right Time

July 17, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
4 Comments

clocks

We often hear of people being in the right place at the right time. When we talk about those ‘right place, right time’, moments we’re generally thinking of someone gaining benefit for themselves by being just where they need to be at just the right time. It’s as if circumstances come together to bring about something good.

But what about being in the right place at the right time to do someone else good?

While it’s human nature to be looking out for circumstances that might work in our favour, I wonder if we actively seek opportunity to bring a benefit to others. People of faith can talk about how God has blessed them. There’s an understanding that good things come from God’s hands but aren’t we meant to be God’s hands to others? Do we pay any attention to the opportunities God sends our way to do good to other people?

Ephesians 2:1-10 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We have been created in Christ Jesus for ‘good works’. We’ve been put together by the master craftsman to do good and the good stuff we’re meant to be doing has already been prepared for us to do. Our task is to ‘walk in them’.

It seems to me that if we’re meant to be ‘walking in good works’ that have already been ‘prepared beforehand for us’, we should pay some attention to opportunities to do just that. The good news is that the path has already been set before us so we simply need to be in tune with God as we actively seek to be in the right place at the right time to bring about something good for our family, for our friends, for strangers.

I wonder how different our lives would look if instead of praying for God to bless us, we prayed for God to bless others through us. Maybe we need to ask God daily to show us the good works he has prepared beforehand for us to do on this day and for him to give us all we need to walk in those good works.



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Right Place Right Time? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

Before Midnight

July 16, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
2 Comments

Before Midnight

After seeing a few big budget Hollywood films recently, a couple of comedies and an action blockbuster, it was refreshing to sit down to something with a gentler pace, where the scenes didn’t change every few seconds, where we could just let ourselves been drawn into conversations between people that seemed so real. That was the case with the movie we saw last night, Before Midnight.

The second scene of the movie is a long, uncut dialogue, shot through the windscreen of Jesse and Celine’s car as they drive along a road in Greece with their twin daughters asleep in the back seat. It’s the perfect piece to let the audience get to know a little more about the characters and to ease into the unhurried nature of the film.

Before Midnight is a 2013 American romantic drama film and the sequel to Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004). Like its predecessors, the film was directed by Richard Linklater and starred Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. As with the previous film, Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy shared screenplay credit. Following a limited opening, the film was released wide on June 14, 2013. It received universal acclaim from critics and grossed over $10 million worldwide. – wiki

Before Midnight is a movie that has received glowing reviews from so many but I must admit that I can’t find too much to recommend in it. I’ve mentioned the slowed down pace and I really did enjoy that, but I found it hard to like the characters portrayed.

What Before Midnight does well is remind us that we are all deeply flawed people. None of us has it all together and we’re all pretty much facing life one day at a a time, doing the best we can. I don’t want to see perfect people on the screen in a movie such as this but this wasn’t a love story, it was a story of a couple of selfish people feeling resentful about not getting their own way. The hurtful way they both throw around words has you wondering how they’ve stayed together over a period of years. Both refused to debate the point behind their arguments, preferring to push the knife deeper and deeper into the wound by using words as weapons against each other.

Jesse was resentful that he couldn’t spend more time with the son he fathered to his ex-wife before he cheated on her with Celine. Celine resents pretty much all of her day to life including having to look after their beautiful twin girls. Both refuse to admit cheating on each other, even though their own relationship was a result of cheating on previous partners. The film could have been greatly enhanced by someone wandering in during one of their arguments and telling them both to grow up. Much is made of the fact that the characters are now in their early forties but they act like spoiled teenagers.

If this movie is designed to show the bitterness that results from following our own selfishness rather than seeking the best for others through commitment, integrity and sacrifice, it’s done its job, but don’t try to tell me it’s about love or romance.

Many people will see this film and love it. I was just glad when it was all over.



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Before Midnight? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

My Research Project

July 14, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
2 Comments

research

I’m often amazed at some of the research that is carried out around the world. I’m even more amazed that someone is putting up money for some of the studies that get reported in our media.

How do our stomachs digest animal bones?

Why do Bedouins wear black in the desert?

Does relaxing make you fatter?

Do ethicists steal more books?

These are just some of the questions that have caused research projects to be undertaken. You have to ask the question, did we really need a study to discover that under money strains, some older adults will turn to alcohol? Was it really necessary to run research just to find out that traumatic brain injury frequently causes headaches? Apparently that’s just what we needed.

I love the fact that the University of Chicago made the important announcement some time back that ‘big’, ‘tall’, ‘little’, and ‘tiny’ are all words that promote important spatial skills. That was part of a study of the cognitive development of 1 to 4-year olds.

Did you know that dog fleas can jump higher than cat fleas? It’s true. Research proves it. How about the research proven fact that rats can’t always tell the difference between Japanese spoken backwards and Dutch spoken backwards? Do you know that there’s even been research to discover why woodpeckers don’t get headaches?

My Research Project

So here’s the deal. I’ve just started two weeks leave. While I enjoy my job I really, really enjoy annual leave.

I would like to conduct some research to discover whether working 4 weeks a year and having 48 weeks a year as annual leave, instead of the other way around, would increase productivity. Now, don’t jump to any conclusions. The results aren’t in yet.

I need to find a scientific body or government department to fund my research. They would need to cover my wage for the weeks away from work as well as expenses. I would need to travel overseas with my family for much of the year to get the true vacation experience. I will then be more than happy to write up my research and travel to science conferences around the world to present the findings. Anyone know of any decent funding bodies?



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading My Research Project? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

Soundtrack of My Life – Cracklin’ Rosie

July 13, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
Add Comment

SoundtrackLife

I don’t know quite what it is about Neil Diamond’s 1970 hit that does it but … Cracklin’ Rosie makes me smile.

From the opening seconds this song can change my mood from whatever it might be at the time to ‘happy’. There’s a sense of nostalgia in it that I don’t quite understand. It takes me back but not to a specific place or time, it just takes me back. It reminds me of years gone by, but again, nothing specific, just a sense that there was a simpler time, a time when I was younger, when it didn’t matter that it was a song about cheap wine, it was just a great song.

Cracklin’ Rosie is a type of wine drunk by a native Canadian tribe. Diamond heard a story about that tribe while doing an interview in Toronto, Canada and the story subsequently inspired him to write this song. Apparently the tribe had more men than women and Cracklin’ Rosie was the nickname they used for their homemade alcoholic brew, which the single men, who did not have dates, would sit around the fire and drink together. – wiki



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Soundtrack of My Life – Cracklin’ Rosie? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.