A Case of Consistent Inconsistency

On the day that my father turns 70, I can only (once again) marvel at how the New South Wales league selectors can hand Queensland a massive advantage before a ball is kicked in anger in the State of Origin series, simply by making baffling decisions at the selection table.
Of course, this is only my view here, but it seems to be one generally regarded as correct to all of the fellow NSW supporters I have spoken to and communicated with via Facebook and forums.

I simply cannot believe that we have to pick a guy from reserve grade, as they have done with Michael Jennings. Here they have tried to show some loyalty to an out-of-form player (as they have also done with Jarryd Hayne), but surely you do not pick someone who isn't even chosen in the top Grade by their own club. Ridiculous. In doing so, they have left out Brett Morris, whose form surely was deserving of a place on the wing. A case of not being forgiven for his mistake last year that allowed a Queensland try that changed the course of the match? No loyalty.

Anthony Watmough has been excluded, even though he was one of our best impact players last season, and yet Ben Creagh and Trent Merrin have been chosen AGAIN, despite Merrin showing little at State or club level, and Creagh still trying to live down the 'dog' tag he picked up a couple of years ago when faced with stand up fight with Justin Hodges. Divided loyalty.

Jamie Buhrer from Manly will debut, but does he deserves his spot more than Leoroyd-Lahrs or Tariq Sims? It seems unlikely. Robbie Farah comes in for Michael Ennis - perhaps they've decided that Ennis has had his chance.

This team reeks of missed opportunities to me, but why should that be surprising. NSW cannot seem to break the domination of the northern state, and I seriously wonder whether this chosen team will do any better.

The team announced is:

Greg Bird, Jamie Buhrer, Todd Carney, Ben Creagh, Robbie Farah, Paul Gallen (capt), Jarryd Hayne, Michael Jennings, Luke Lewis, Trent Merrin, Josh Morris, Mitchell Pearce, Brett Stewart, Glenn Stewart, James Tamou, Tony Williams, Akuila Uate.

Mothers Day & Dad Turns 70

Up early (7.00am after the night before - ugh) to get the mother her mother's day breakfast. The kids brought in her presents, she had breakfast in bed... tough gig.

Morning tea was at the Wade's for Christine's Mothers Day celebration.

Helen, Anne & Chris

Anne & Chris

The Mum and two of her girls

The Wade's on Mothers Day

Afterwards we headed down to Minnamurra to Mum and Dad's, not only to celebrate Mothers Day with Mum, but to studiously avoid any mention that Dad turned 70 the following day. Dad has never been one for birthday celebrations, and was making sure that was the case here. We had a 'happy birthday' singalong for the kids, but that was the extent of it.
What mattered most was that both Mum and Dad were surrounded by their entire family on this day. Not everyone can say they are that lucky.

Mum & Dad at the front of the Minnamurra mansion

Mum and her kids

Dad and his cake

"Yes! Made it to 70!"

Dad and me

Trivia Winners Party On In Style

We spent a pleasant evening tonight with our fellow winners of the Kiama Cricket Club Trivia Night.
Our big prize from winning the trivia two months ago was a $400 voucher at Chachi's Restaurant in Kiama, so we finally got a date that suited everyone, and away we went. Joining Helen and myself were Anthony & Karen, Angela & Tony, Kade & Lisa, Anne and Louise.

Pretty sure we all did well, under the watchful eye of Trent and Cameron Archer, and the excellent culinary skills of Matt Scobie. Everyone barring myself had an entree (yeah, it was in the vain hope that I could save some calories...) and we all had mains. I can vouch for the lamb shanks (thanks Trent), they were absolutely superb, in an amazing sauce with mash, fabulously crisp beans and caramelised carrot. Just terrific. Our bill came to $37 over our $400 voucher, and we all had a great time.

Afterwards we all adjourned to the Kiama Leagues Club to see The Villains, a talented five piece who dress up as movie villains (The Riddler, Jack Sparrow, Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter and Beetlejuice) and play mainly 80's rock hits. We've seen them before, and although they still play terrifically well (Hannibal's keyboards and second guitar, but especially his support vocals, were particularly awesome), the setlist was not as good as it had been in the past. Still, a number of beverages along the way helped precedings.

State of Origin Blues

State of Origin selections take place this Sunday afternoon, so it's time to put my selectors cap on again, as we try to beat the Cane Toads for the first time in seven years.

1 Brett Stewart
2 Aquila Uate
3 Josh Morris
4 Jarryd Hayne
5 Brett Morris
6 Todd Carney
7 James Maloney
8 Paul Gallen
9 Dean Young
10 James Tamou
11 Anthony Watmough
12 Glenn Stewart
13 Greg Bird

14 Luke Lewis
15 Tom Learoyd-Lahrs
16 Tony Williams
17 Tariq Sims

Thoughts.

• Brett Stewart has shown himself to be the best attacking and defensive fullback of those who are available for Blues selection. Minichello and Dugan are both good players, but Stewart does appear to be in the best form overall, and he's going to be busy in both departments.
• Uate and Brett Morris are the best two wingers running around at the moment.
• Josh Morris has proven he is ready for another chance, while I think Hayne must be picked, as he has the spark that can win a game on his own.
• Todd Carney has again shown how good a player he is when in the right environment. Let's hope he does us proud.
• NSW will pick Mitchell Pearce, but I really think he just kicks the ball too much. Okay, that's probably the Roosters game plan, but to me we need a tough player who can distribute and kick. It's still too early for Daly Cherry-Evans at Origin level. Maloney has shown for the Warriors that he is a class player, and although he plays at five-eighth for them, I think he can adapt to the halfback role.
• We need big, tough, mobile forwards. All 8 chosen here are that, as well as being the form forwards running around for NSW.
• Despite no one thinking of him (mainly I think because of his knees and inability to train) Dean Young is my hooker. Tough, hard, and can play anywhere, I think he will be better value than Ennis or Farah or Hinchcliffe, which are the three nominees for the position.
• Luke Lewis is the utility, can play everywhere, and should play the majority of the match.

There is no chance of this team being chosen, but this is who I would go with in order to break the Queensland domination. We need to beat them in the forwards and take their halves out of the match, starving their backs of possession. Do this and we can win. If we can't, well, it's another year of sorrow.

Tour Squads for England Announced

The Australian ODI squad for the short tour of England next month was announced today, and with some surprises.
The NSP have brought in previously injured duo of Pat Cummins and Mitch Johnson, as well as ostracised all-rounder Steve Smith. On the outer are Peter Forrest, who played most of the ODI season in Australia and the West Indies, Dan Christian, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon.

What to make of this squad? It's interesting to see what the panel are trying to achieve. Forrest scored a century in Australia, and although he would generally be looked at as a batsman in the longer form of the game rather than the 50 over game, it appears somewhat harsh to leave him out here. His replacement as such is Steve Smith, who rediscovered some touch in the domestic summer in ODI and T20 forms of the game. Whether he has done enough to regain his place is questionable, but the fact that he is an excellent fielder and bowls passable leg spin would have been looked upon favourably. Mitch Johnson looks to be a swap for Dan Christian, whose hard hitting and medium bowling (taking a hat-trick in the Australian summer) look to be not enough to hold out the panel's desire to inject Johnson back into the mix as soon as possible. Again, it's a questionable decision, and it appears that loyalty only stretches so far with some and an eternity with others. Johnson will have to bat at seven and score runs if he is to prove this decision to be the right one. Time will tell, but on the surface is looks a little flaky.
Mitchell Starc has been deposed by the rising juggernaut of Pat Cummins, and again, surely there would be a better method to bring about his return. Starc has shown good pace and the ability to move the ball into the right handers from a great height. Given the choice between him and Mitch Johnson, most Australian followers would choose Starc every time. No doubt the selectors have not only decided they don't want two left arm pacemen, but they must have Cummins back as well.

Obviously the tour is being used to have a look at these players. Those that have missed out as a result would feel hard done by, and with good reason. If changes are to be made, surely Brett Lee should be pensioned off? If not, then of the younger crew, James Pattinson does not need the ODI route. In the ODI arena I can see where Peter Forrest would be left behind. Surely though Christian and Starc should be persisted with.

ODI Tour Squad to England 

Michael Clarke (c)
Shane Watson (vc)
George Bailey
Patrick Cummins
Xavier Doherty
Ben Hilfenhaus
Mike Hussey
David Hussey
Mitchell Johnson
Brett Lee
Clint McKay
James Pattinson
Steve Smith
Matthew Wade (WK)
David Warner

The Australia A tour, where there will be two three day games against county teams and two four day games against the England Lions, has thrown up its own share of interesting selections.
Certainly, there is no doubt that the selectors want some of our inexperienced guys to have a game or two in England in preparation for next season's Ashes tour. Guys like Ed Cowan, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson and Mitch Starc will benefit from this immensely. Then there is the youngsters in form, who have earned the trip in order to advance themselves in the future, guys like Jackson Bird and Ben Cutting and Liam Davis and Tom Cooper and Joe Burns, who all excelled last season. George Bailey and Peter Forrest are probably the next in line with the bat at the moment, and have their chance to impress. Michael Klinger deserves his spot on form, but is a little perplexing, given it would be almost a miracle if he were to progress to the next level at this stage of his career. Jon Holland is obviously being pushed as another spin alternative. Johnson and Smith are again getting the magic carpet ride back into Australian colours.
Perhaps the brightest selection here is that of Tim Paine, who 12 months ago was the heir apparent to Brad Haddin's keeping throne. Injuries and Matthew Wade's appearance and success has thrown all of that out the window, but if he can return here without problems, it will be a great thing to see, not only for himself but for Australian cricket.

The success of this team, and the individuals concerned, will be interesting to follow, as will the progress of the Australians playing in County cricket that have not been selected here, in particular guys like Phil Hughes and Usman Khawaja. Our ability to regain the Ashes over the next 18 months may well depend on it.

Australia A Tour Squad to England 

Ed Cowan (c)
Peter Forrest (vc)
George Bailey
Jackson Bird
Joe Burns
Tom Cooper
Patrick Cummins
Ben Cutting
Liam Davis
Jon Holland
Mitchell Johnson
Michael Klinger
Nathan Lyon
Tim Paine
James Pattinson
Steve Smith
Mitchell Starc

Ozlotto or Not Ozlotto

So what do you do when your entire office staff are down, feeling unappreciated and just sick to death of putting up with the crap going on in the workplace?! Well, you try and win $70 million, that's what!

Ozlotto's draw for today had reached $70 million. It was about 9.00am, and given I was already as frustrated as I could be, I noticed it was the same with almost everyone in our little conglomerate. So I got online, and told everyone to give me $1.50 and one number, and I entered us in the draw.

It actually picked us all up for the day. we all spoke of how the company was going to be in trouble tomorrow when we won, and we all quit 'en masse'. We imagined what we could each do with $10 million. Rowlesy even rang Robyn at one stage to get her to get the $1.50 off his desk to get to me, for fear that he would forget, and that we would then win, and that he would be stuck here alone when we were all in the Bahamas.

Okay, so the draw happened at 8.30pm, and we only got three numbers (not bad, though). However, for a few short hours it made our day more bearable, and it was nice to dream for just a short time.
3 syndicates won a little over $23 million each. Wouldn't that have been sublime. :)

Relays, Hockey, Parties and Air Shows

It's been a fun-filled, action packed weekend for the Peters family, one from which we appear to have escaped unscathed.

On Saturday morning Helen headed off to participate in the 'Relay For Life' at Cavalier Park (or Kiama Sporting Complex for the heathens) with Angela and Louise and all of their cronies. She had spent most of the Friday evening putting together lolly bags to sell, and two jars filled with Maltesers and other soft lollies for a guessing competition, all to raise money for the event while their team was walking around the track. That was about 8.30am, and we didn't see her again until about 5.00pm.

On the other hand, the kids and I journeyed to University for Jessica's hockey. She played well again, winning the first game 4-1, and scoring another goal in the process. It was almost the Tara Bancroft-Jessica Peters show up front, and they combined well. For her second game, their opponents only had three players, and Jessie and two others from the Albion Park team put their hand up to play for them so that they could have a game. With no reserves for either team, though, it was obvious halfway through that second game that all of the players were getting tired. Two late goals for Park got them home 2-1, despite the Peters presence.

We came home for lunch and watched "The Goonies", their first time, and my first time since about 1986. It was still good.  :)

Saturday evening we all trooped over to Elliott Place in Kiama Downs for Jason Wills' 40th birthday celebrations. Over a few cans we had a good time hanging out. There were several birthday cakes, one "erotic" one that I avoided taking a photo of lest it end up here in this blog post. Suffice to say that it left absolutely nothing to the imagination, inside or out. *shudder*
A surprisingly early evening of 10.30pm meant it had been a long but eventful day.

Sunday dawned bright and clear for the 6th annual Wings Over Illawarra air show. Helen (and, after a screaming match that lasted half an hour because they were taking too long to get ready, and then made them all late, the kids) headed back into Kiama for the conclusion of the 'Relay For Life', while I did the four loads of washing that needed to be done, and journeyed to the shop to get some bread and milk.

The crew arrived back just before 11.00am, all ready to watch the air show from our fabulous deck... when our neighbours decided that it was a good day to do some concrete cutting to install some pipe. After two hours of screaming noise from the concrete saw on an otherwise beautiful Sunday, I was within an inch of leaning over the balcony and telling them where they could put their saw, when they obviously got the hint without that, and quit for the day.
That distraction aside, we all had a great time.

We had chips and coffee for morning tea, then chicken on rolls for lunch. The planes were great, and the Roulettes just terrific to watch.
Mum and Dad turned up just before 2.00pm, bearing champagne and red wine, so we were forced to indulge. Once the air show was over, we moved inside to watch the footy, and Helen invited them to stay for an early dinner, which consisted of more chicken, mum's quiche and vegies.



A great weekend. They just go waaaaaaay too quickly.

The Long Road Ahead

My goodness it has been a long week at work. It really has opened my eyes as to what really needs to be done, and that is to re-write the way things are done - completely. From the ground up. The initial counts for ties and building products have some problems, if only because some of them I simply don't believe are correct. Which is the most difficult part. I have already set up our counts so that all of the yards will be counting all of their own stock this month, and then I will personally go and count all the yards stock myself next month for the end of the financial year. But what is the use in having the counts done this month if they are still going to be wrong next month?!?

I didn't know how much I needed a drink and music until later that afternoon. I swung by the bottle-o on way home to get Helen another bottle of scotch, and at 3.30pm cracked the bottle for a quiet drink on the deck. I even pulled out the boombox for some tunes. By the time it was dark ay 5.30pm I had had four or five, and after dinner when Helen and the kids wanted to watch Young Talent Time, I moved into the Metal cavern, and carried on, with the music cranked and the TV on the footy. By 11.00pm, Collingwood had managed to pull off a victory over the Bulldogs, and the bottle of scotch was gone. It had succeeded. The stress of the week bled away, and meant that I was in a much better frame of mind to face the weekend.

Thanks Mr Walker! :)

"Ripper" Touring Australia!!

Awesome. I'll be there!

Idiots and End of Month

It is becoming increasingly difficult to believe that people can be so bloody stupid.
Actually, let's just tell it like it is. Why are there so many fuckwits in the world, and why do they seem to be employed in the workplace where I am at?!

I spent a fair chunk of my Monday afternoon last week writing emails to our counter staff, pointing out where errors were being made in regards to goods receipting products from various different suppliers into our yards and stores, and trying in the simplest terms to show them the correct way to do them. Well, that seems to have been time wasted, because on no less than eight different delivery dockets from the end of last week, the same errors were still being done. So, I asked myself, was it my fault? Was I not clear enough. Well, on this occasion, no that wasn't the problem. It was in fact all too clear that the emails had been all but ignored by most people, and they had just kept doing what they decided was correct.
Was I a little angry at this? Yes. But better was to come.

I was asked late last week to order in a face plate for a mail box as a special order, by one of our gentlemen at one of our northern yards. After I had researched said product and found it unavailable in the style and colour that was required, it was decided that the customer would purchase the entire mailbox. I then went through the process of explaining that

1. as this was a special order, it was not returnable if it was incorrect or not what they were after, and

2. that as a special order, it needed to be paid for up front, and that

3. there was also a freight charge that we would be slugged for by the company, and that it would be passed on in full to the customer.

All clear as crystal, correct? Impossible not to understand, right? Especially as our counter staff read all that back to me, and apparently had the customer in front of him as I explained it.

Error.

Within 15 minutes of my arrival I had discovered the following:

1. The customer had come to pick up the letterbox, and freaked at the price, claiming he'd never been told he had to pay a freight charge.

2. Having carried on like a goose for 10 minutes in front of other customers, our front counter personnel (not the one who took the order) allowed him to leave with the item and not pay the freight charge.

3. By doing this, we actually made a loss on the sale.

4. An hour later the guys called up, said it wasn't right, and was returning it. Again, front counter personnel allowed this to happen.

5. I then blew my top, used every word under the sun to our northern personnel, and hung up.

To top off the day, it's the last day of the month, and I'm staying back to do end of month, meaning I won't be out of work until about 7pm.

Awesome stuff. Awesome stuff.

The Promised Xbox Morning and Zac's Birthday

The kids had pretty much all made me promise to play on the Xbox this morning - well, any morning or afternoon up until now. So I said they could.
Mind you, I was hoping for a sleep-in before anything. That all came crashing down when Josh started singing in his bed at 6.15am, and there appeared little hope that Helen was going to wake up and take him downstairs. Given that Maddi was also awake when I got up, there was little I could do.

So we spent a couple of hours playing golf and baseball once Jess woke up after 8.30am. It's good that the kids enjoy it so much, and also that we don't spend hours every day on it. It still makes it special.

Also, it looks like we can now purchase a basketball add-on for Kinect Sports. I'll have to look into it sometime soon when I have some money left, after Helen spent 11 hours away yesterday. Yes, that's right. She got home about 7.30pm last night. Wow.

At 12.30pm we headed off to Louise and Murray's for Zac's 14th birthday. It's a little disconcerting that he's now 14 years old. It almost always makes Helen and I think of our first pregnancy. If it had gone through, we too would have a child 14 years old, as it's due date was April 14. Probably very good for us that we don't/didn't.  :)

Stephen King - Ranked 62 to 1.

Found this article the other day through Facebook. It's an interesting read, moreso if you are a Stephen King fan. They ranked all of King's books from 62 to 1. It's an interesting idea. So, of course, now I am going to have a crack at it. Let's see how I go.

Following is the link to the article, and (in case the link is now dead) the list as it had his books.
The Complete Works: Ranking All 62 Stephen King Books

62. Rose Madder

61. The Tommyknockers

60. Dreamcatcher

59. Insomnia

58. The Regulators

57. Rage

56. The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah

55. Blaze

54. Gerald’s Game

53. Cell

52. Blockade Billy

51. Cycle of the Werewolf

50. The Colorado Kid

49. Black House

48. Needful Things

47. The Long Walk

46. Christine

45. Duma Key

44. Four Past Midnight

43. Firestarter

42. Nightmares & Dreamscapes

41. The Running Man

40. Bag of Bones

39. Just After Sunset

38. The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla

37. Faithful

36. Everything’s Eventual

35. The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole

34. Cujo

33. Thinner

32. Full Dark, No Stars

31. The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands

30. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

29. Desperation

28. The Dark Half

27. The Eyes of the Dragon

26. The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower

25. Carrie

24.  11/22/63

23. The Green Mile

22. Hearts in Atlantis

21. Night Shift

20. Roadwork

19. The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three

18. Pet Sematery

17. Dolores Claiborne

16. From a Buick 8

15. The Talisman

14. The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger

13. Skeleton Crew

12. Under the Dome

11. Danse Macabre

10. Lisey’s Story

9. The Dead Zone

8. Salem’s Lot

7. The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass

6. Misery

5. Different Seasons

4. The Shining

3. It

2. On Writing

1. The Stand

Champions Day at Randwick

More Joyous - champion

What another sensational day's racing at Randwick today in the last day of the Sydney Autumn Carnival. Unfortunately my run of good day's came to an end, finishing behind about $20 on the day. If only Neeson had got that extra head up in the last I'd have gotten the quaddie again. Such is life.

Fat Al was terrific once again, certainly one to watch in Brisbane this winter. Pierro was magnificent again, though a fast finishing Dear Demi is another to keep following in the future. Atlantic Jewel backed up it's $1.15 odds with another scintillating win, though Rain Affair gave her a good shake up.
Niwot won the Sydney Cup in great fashion, and was again the tip on course. This was followed by the brilliant Queen Elizabeth Stakes, where the champion More Joyous brought more joy for her followers by winning easily against a class field including Manighar and Americain. Super stuff, and just great to watch. Now Neeson, where's that extra head? The damn quaddie paid $142.90, and I had 27% on it. Oh well, only $40 missed out on there.

Black Caviar - Champion

This was all topped off by Black Caviar racing at Morphettville, and again powering away to win. Marvellous to watch. I had all the kids watching More Joyous and Black Caviar. One day they'll be able to tell their kids they saw them run.

What a great way to spend the day. pity I didn't win enough to cover what Helen has probably spent at Ikea today with Chris and Anne, but the day was still a joy.

An Injury, a Goal and a Win!!

Jess had her second weekend of hockey today, at the very impressive outdoor fields at Unanderra. As Helen was otherwise indisposed I had the care of all three kids, so we all made the journey.

The first game saw Jess suffer her first injury in hockey. In making a good save of a ball heading towards the Albion Park goal, her feet stuck on the astro turf and sent her to the ground. In trying to halt her fall, she landed heavily on her wrist and twisted, bringing on the tears and the 'medicos' to help. i was at the other end of the ground with the other two terrors and Andrew Bancroft, and by the time I had made it to where Jess was she was being administered ice, and appeared okay. After five minutes, she said she was right to go, and she got back onto the ground. What a trooper!

Having lost that game 2-0, the second game was on the adjoining ground, and the girls (and one boy in the team) all were playing well. Before we knew it, they had made a break downfield, led by Jess, and at the end of the movement Jess had put the ball into the goals! Albion Park led 1-0, and Jess had scored her first goal in hockey!
Despite the length of the second game eating into the fitness of all the players, they managed to score another goal late in the game. their opponents answered with 10 seconds to play, but still Albion Park won their first game of the season by 2-1.

It was amazing to see the improvement of all the team since their first match, and especially pleasing to see it in Jessica. As a reward - and because their mother was spending the day at Ikea (and probably spending hundreds) - we all went to KFC Albion Park for lunch.

Great job Jess. And great job Dad.

2-0 Win in Windies as Sweet as Always

Aussies wiped up the remains of the Windies this morning to win the 3rd Test by 75 runs, and claim the Frank Worrell Trophy 2-0.
It might not have been as comprehensive as it could have been, but in tough conditions and a still learning team, it was pretty impressive.

No Test cricket now until the new Australian summer, but some ODI's in England soon, and an A team tour to the Old Dart as well, to help prepare for next year's Ashes series.

3rd Test Scorecard: West Indies vs Australia

Bricks

Seriously - how hard is it to do things correctly?

I spent all of yesterday (9 hours) and most of today (about 6 hours worth) trying to get all of the bricks in our MJ Rowles database to balance to their correct levels. Now this can sometimes be difficult with our everyday bricks, such as common bricks and exposure grade bricks, because all yards stock them, and sometimes they get taken from the yards instead of being delivered straight from PGH in Sydney.
But what about the bricks that we don't actually stock? the ones that people order 30,000 of, and then only get about 2000 delivered at a time? It really can't be that hard to make them all add up correctly, can it.

Well apparently, yes, it can. Because 15 hours of my week has gone into TRYING to balance them. And they still aren't completely correct. Bloody hell that is frustrating.
The result? Well, sometime in the next two weeks I am going to devise a system that stops this from happening. Because it just can't keep happening. It can't.