Injudicious use of Exclamation Marks

I just counted the total number of Exclamation Marks I used in my previous post + the comments on said post.

25

I am obviously a totally useless writer. I apologise.

But I`m really excited!

sorry, will try to do better.... ! yikes.....

Vandalised or a lesson learned?

Halloween was really cool. All the kids from our Estate came Trick or Treating in their outfits and it was just adorable. We had cops, axe victims (with axe stuck in head), fairies, Buzz Lightyear and lots more. So, so cute.

However, somebody decided to take Halloween a bit too far. Our cars stay outside cos we have so much furniture and junk that we use the garages to store all the stuff. It`s ok though cos we live in a very safe estate that has 24 hour security and patrols.

On Saturday morning Hayley and I get ready to leave and as we head out the door, it immediately becomes clear that something is not right. There is sand all over my car. It`s a reasonably new estate with a lot of building going on, so there is building sand all over the place. This was however not just sand blown around by the wind. Well, on closer inspection it becomes clear that somebody had taken the time and effort to throw a whole lot of building sand through my sunroof and what didn`t go through the sunroof ended up on the outside. My whole car was full of sand on the inside. The fine building sand that you struggle to get out.

I have rarely been so angry. It`s a blessing that I did not catch the coward cos I would have left my Christian Beliefs behind and something really nasty would have ensued.

What I want to know is the following:

- Firstly, WHO would do such a thing? Could it be kids? There were footprints in the sand and it certainly belonged to an adult or at least a teenager.

- Secondly, WHY? Why go through the trouble of doing something like that? We pretty much keep to ourselves and have not had any trouble since we`ve been in the estate. We greet everybody and nobody has a reason to attack us in this way.

After being really upset for a while, I decided that the person was not going to ruin my day and Hayley and I had a pretty cool time. We drove around in her car during the morning and then we took my car to the car wash in the afternoon. It obviously cost quite a bit to get the car cleaned properly but it had to be done.

It`s incredible how personal we (I) take things like this. I mean the offender obviously does not know us, so it is anything but personal. It is not somebody who I would associate with in any case. Maybe it`s just a kid who took advantage of being out on Halloween. Maybe it was an adult who had one too many drinks? Maybe they just didn`t like my car.

What I do wonder about though is whether the person actually woke up the next day and felt bad about it? Are they being eaten up from the inside because they did something bad to another human being? Or did they get up, have a great laugh and thought of the next prank they could pull?

I don`t have the answers but what I do know is that in the greater scheme of things this was nothing really. I mean we were inconvenienced for a bit, that`s about it. No damage was done. It also just once again amplifies how the devil works. In the sermon yesterday, Jon spoke about the weakest link and how the devil uses the weakest link to get to us. My temper is definitely a weak link for me. I`m pretty mild mannered but some things really get me going. So something so small, in hindsight, got me so upset that I almost wasted a day by being upset. Thank goodness I came to my senses after a few minutes.

Thank you Lord for using something small and a sermon the next day to highlight one of my weak links. With your help, I can now concentrate on managing this weak link.

Ps. I will also NEVER leave my sunroof open again.

Warning

To all the people (perverts) who found my site by searching for 'Wild Girls' on Google, yes that means you Mr in Ontario and Mr in Pretoria. The subject matter in the related post is a family issue and does not actually constitute Wild Girls, as the misleading title might suggest.

I have learned a lesson too. I will never again use terms such as wild, girls, tipsy or Duran Duran in a title. They obviously attract unwanted elements like perverts or Barry Manilow fans. So thanks for that Mr in Ontario, I now don`t have a title for my latest post on Sarah Palin.

Wanna become Facebook buddies?

Ok, searching for all of you on Facebook is tiring.

I have spent about an hour looking for TWO people, that`s right David Richardson and Kevin Davis, I spent an hour looking for you guys. Do you know how many Kevin Davis`s and David Richardson`s there are on FB? A lot, that`s how many...

So please find me on FB and then we can become FB buddies. If Paris and Nichole can be BFF`s (best friends forever) we can be FBB`s (FaceBook Buddies). Search for me by typing Incredibly handsome house-husband. Ok, just kidding, search for Francois Malherbe.

I look forward to poking you.... (Just kidding he he, there`ll be no poking on FB)

The award for funniest comment in a post goes to.. drumroll...

Today I created a new folder on my desktop and titled it "I am a Genius". Then about an hour later, I realized I'd spelled it "Genuis". Touche, right brain.

Find the blog here.

A great Friday turned into an awesome weekend

The last time we chatted, it was late Friday night and I was in bed, Hayley was snoring next to me and the US Open was on.

It is now 21:30, Sunday night. Hayley and I are in bed, each with our laptops, each on our blogs. Very much the same thing we do every Sunday night!

I had a great Friday night and that has continued through the weekend. The dreaded Spring Cleaning came and went. I DID mow the lawn and that led to me being treated like a King the whole weekend. Ok, let`s put it into context. I am not a manual labour kind of guy. I have always been the one to get people to mow the clean, clean the garden and do the cleaning. You get the picture. Well that all changed yesterday. I mowed the lawn, cleaned the back yard, the patio and the garage. This resulted in my wife falling in love with me all over again. I might just do this again.

I did a lot of manual labour as a kid. I felt like one of those slaves who make Nike`s in Indonesia. My Dad made me mow the lawn, wash the car, fix the roof, put in new garage doors etc etc. I must say that I always helped him in all the above but it always felt like I was forced to do something I didn`t want to.

Let it be said, I was lazy. My Dad had to force me to do all the above.

So, lest I digress, I felt like I had turned into my Dad yesterday. I was mowing the lawn on a Saturday morning. I`d usually be in the shops on a Saturday, definitely not doing manual labour out of my own free will. My, how things have changed. The scary thing, I really enjoyed it (Ps. do not tell Hayley).

I watched rugby the rest of the day and we had an awesome braai (barbeque). We then watched Stand up to cancer, a subject which is very close to my heart as I lost both my Mom and Dad to cancer and one of my favourite people on earth, who is both my inspiration and the best man I have ever met, is currently kicking it`s butt. You keep kicking it`s butt, you are such an inspiration to all of us and your undeserved love keeps all of us going every single day.

Today was another awesome day, although Spring lasted all of one day, yesterday. Today was terribly windy and very cold.

I got up this morning, weighed myself and then went for a 10km run. The result of the weigh-in inspired me to run as far as I did. I`ll leave it at that.

Hayley and I watched a dvd by the name of "As it is in Heaven". What an awesome movie, I loved every second of it and it is definitely on my list of all-time favourites. It has so many themes running through it, I am still trying to contemplate it`s vastness. I hope to do a post on it very soon.
So, here we are, another Sunday night. Tomorrow it`s back to the grind and the stresses and worries that are our lives. I know it`s gonna be a good week, my faith tells me it`s gonna be and I look very much forward to facing it head on.

Weekend away

Hayley and I are having a weekend away and we are certainly making the most of it.






We are lucky enough to be spending the weekend at Pinnacle Point , which has one of the most awe inspiring golf courses you will ever see. To give you an idea it is probably South Africas version of the world famous Pebble Beach. I was very fortunate to have played some golf here in October of 2007. Needless to say I was so awe struck that I played some very bad golf! The development is incredible, with the most amazing houses and villas. Ours is a villa owned by one of my best mates. He graciously gave it to us for the weekend.To think he wants to get rid of it!!!!!! Over my dead body!



I will give you a proper update when we are back, don`t want to waste time on the laptop when you have all this around you!




Lastly, Andre thank you so much my buddy. We are having an absolute ball here.

Sunrise in beautiful Somerset West

Ok, I have always posted sunsets, mostly cos I don`t function early mornings. This morning I was awake cos I had to take Hayley to work so I was fortunate to see this beautiful sunrise. What a great start to the day (ok we are without electricity for some strange reason and my laptop is on it`s last legs with regards power but what the heck, it`s still a good start to the day).

PS. This will not make me a morning person, so please see it as a once-off.

Awesome Day

What a great day. Hayley and I went to our second service at Hillsong Church Cape Town and had a wonderful time there. It truly is such a blessed experience and I am so lucky to be sharing it with my gorgeous wife! We feel like we truly belong and if it is God`s Will, we`ll spend a lot more time there.

We then went for a drive down the coast and stopped for lunch at Houtbay. Fish and chips at Mariners is an institution in this family!

We ended the day having a braai (barbeque) at home and this was the sunset we enjoyed from our patio.

What a wonderful day spent in God`s Presence...

My dream "To-Do" list

Everybody who knows me, knows that there are specific things that I want to do during my lifetime. Some I have been fortunate enough to do and some will probably have to wait a bit longer.

My To-Do list includes sporty things like seeing Man Utd play at Old Trafford - The Theatre of Dreams, enjoying a Boston Redsox game at Fenway Park, watching Roger Federer play anywhere. Or musical things like seeing Collective Soul in concert etc etc. It`s a long list and I won`t bore you with the details.

Some things I will never get to do though, like seeing Eric Cantona play, watching Elvis in concert (don`t laugh!) and seeing Bob Skinstad reach his TRUE potential (I did get to play golf with him, thanks Andre!). Bob is still a LEGEND!


Sitting here though, it suddenly dawned on me how many of the items I have been able to cross off my list.

- Watching the Boks play the All Blacks at Newlands and beat them - Check, August 2005 (and being there to see Andre nail a spectacular dropgoal which in the end was the difference between winning and losing)

- Watching WP play at Newlands - Check, 2008

- Watching Man Utd play - Check, 2006 AND 2008

- Seeing Ryan Giggs, a true United legend, play - Check, 2008

- Seeing Counting Crows in Concert - Check 2008

- Seeing Live in concert - Check 2000 and 2006

- Seeing U2 in concert - Check 1999

- Going to New York - Check 2007

- Watching the New York Knicks play at Madison Square Garden - Check 2007

- Running my first half marathon - Check June 2008

The latest dream "To-Do" came true on Sunday. It was always a dream to go to Hillsong Church in Sydney. Well, I did the next best thing and went to Hillsong Church Cape Town and what an AWESOME experience. Hayley and I were truly blown away by the passion for God. We are really inspired to be the best Christians we can be.

Looking back at the list, it is amazing how blessed I`ve been to have so much of it become reality. What makes it even more special is that I have shared most of it with Hayley. When you get married your dreams are not your own anymore and I am very blessed to have a wife who share my passions.

So, here`s looking at making a lot more dream "To-Do`s" come true.

Quick Update

I have been pretty quiet this week due to work demands and high stress levels! Being in this frame of mind certainly does not bring out the comedian in me, so instead of boring everybody with my "woe is me" routine I decided to keep a low profile.

The major sporting news is The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. The weather is pretty horrendous and scoring is very difficult at present. Par looks a very good score on the first day. Goose had a very good round and ended on +1 (71). Ernie on the other hand was +9 with 1 hole to play. What a disaster. Fact of the matter is that he is not out of it at all and that just puts the difficulty of the course and the conditions into perspective. The Open can sometimes be a lottery with the weather. The morning field seems to have gotten the worst of it today. Weather report looks better for the weekend. But, it is Britain after all, so who knows what`ll happen.

Other big news is the Man Utd game at Newlands on Saturday. Hayley organised Box Tickets for us, so I will be cheering my guts out for my Red Devils. This will probably be my one and only chance to get to see Ryan Giggs play and I will cherish every second of it.

The Christiano Ronaldo story still hasn`t come to a conclusion but I am sick to death of it. Please let the man go. United is much bigger than him. He has shown complete disrespect to the club that MADE him the player he is today. Take your boots and bugger off.

To the Boks, good luck on Saturday. No matter what is said, the Aussies will be favourites under the coaching of Robbie Deans and home ground advantage. That said, I think the Boks can spring a surprise. here`s hoping Hayley has that "funny feeling" again come Saturday.

Oh and lastly, I am doing my 2nd Half Marathon on Saturday. The Worcester Voorsieners / Hospice Half Marathon, which is a matter very close to my heart. Here`s hoping I`ll do it justice.

That`s all from me today.

Hamster Stare

This is one of the funniest clips I have ever seen.

http://www.noob.us/humor/hamster-with-the-dramatic-look/

Very much the look I get from my wife when I have done something wrong.