Finally got round to sorting out my computer’s overheating problems. For the past couple of rather warm summer months, the processor has been running at about 80°C(!) at idle. This would mean that any prolonged Quake III session (or any other processor intensive activity) would result in the processor overheating and the motherboard monitor shutting the system down. I figured that I’d do everything in one go so I wandered off to PC World and bought a Jeantech 450W PSU which had a 120mm fan, 2 80mm case fans and a Coolermaster Jet 7+ heatsink and fan. Got home, assembled everything, and now my processor runs at 64°C at full pelt! Mission accomplished. Only slight niggle is that all the bits had flashing LEDs and neon strips embedded in them, so now my PC glows in the dark, rude boy style…

Went for a couple of frames of snooker with Robin in the evening. Lost 2-0. I blame it on lack of practice for the past month. 😉 Went to the Lahori Karahi in Hounslow West afterwards for a Tandoori – very good, if slightly warm!

Went out for a meal with my cousin, his family and a friend, at the Mandarin Kitchen in Bayswater. The food was very good, with fresh scallops (in shells), and pork and tofu soup for starters, and then the main courses were lobster, chicken and squid, together with noodles and rice noodles in soup. The conversations bounced around between English and Cantonese, allowing me to see if I could remember any Cantonese from childhood. I think I managed to half-understand about one in four of the Cantonese conversations, although sometimes I don’t understand conversations in English! It was good to see them before they headed back to Hong Kong. Maybe the next time I see them will be in Hong Kong?

I seem to have spent the past few weeks driving all over the place and the past couple of days have been no exception. One of my cousins, his wife and and their two children have been visiting my parents as part of their holiday in England, so I bounded off down to my parents place for a couple of days.
It was good to see everyone – the children seemed to get on together really well, with the two youngest likened to my brother and sister when they were younger – not sure where that leaves me. I also finally put a face to my cousin’s wife who I’d heard a lot about, but never actually met. Spent quite a bit of time catching up with my cousin and deciding I should probably visit Hong Kong some time in the near future to see how things have changed since I last visited.
During the course of the two days, they managed to see quite a few of the sights of Bristol, including the Clifton Suspension Bridge and Cabot Tower, from which most of the famous landmarks could be seen (albeit from a distance!) A very good, if slightly tiring couple of days.

Karen organised a trip to see The Bourne Supremacy this evening. Not a bad film, even with the intense shaky-cam. The plot took a few twists and turns, but not as many as the first film, so was much easier to follow. Worth seeing, but not quite as good as the first one.

Another fine evening running around after an air-filled leather ball with eight work colleagues. I think the last week away did some good, as I actually managed to run around for the whole game and score multiple goals (for my side I hasten to add!) Whilst not a blinding performance – I hoofed a few balls into orbit – it was good for me. Went home a happy bunny.

He who dies with the most toys…still dies.
A man asked Jesus to arbitrate over the allocation of his inheritance. Jesus responded with a parable about a farmer who had missed the point. The farmer had missed the point in three main areas:
1. He had made provision for his body more important than providing for his soul. With this wealth, he had made provision for his body, so that he could “eat, drink and be merry” and yet provided nothing for his soul.
2. Providing for his life within time was placed above providing anything for his life in eternity.
3. Not only had he broken the tenth commandment, but he also broke the first commandment. He had not had any thoughts for God in his plans. It was all me, myself and I.

Yet, God called him to account at a time he didn’t expect – as he will everyone. Do we spend our time accumulating the things which will pass, or the things which will last for all eternity?

Well, once again, I’ve spent a whole week away from the computer. In Wales again! This time it was in Aberystwyth for the English speaking conference of the Evangelical Movement of Wales.

The main theme of the conference this year was on the Holy Spirit and his role in revival as well as the times of small things, causing Christians to spread the gospel, through word and deed, and causing non-believers to see their need for salvation, that they become believers.

In addition, there were addresses in the evening focussing on the gospel, reminding us that a sinful world needs the love of God by the saving power and work of Jesus Christ, if it is not to receive the just punishment for sin from a holy God.

There was also plenty of spare time, which was spent doing such things as bowls(!), sitting on Ynyslas beach, various seminars, as well as card and board games and general socialising and chilling out. Photos can be found in my online photo album.

A thoroughly enjoyable and instructive week, with ones spiritual and temporal batteries given a recharge.

Just a small footnote to wish Dave and Wendy a happy and blessed life together as they were married today.

Well, after spending the past week coming back down to earth after camp, today was a great way to finish it. The sun was blistering, the skies were clear and blue and the temperature soared. Spent some of the afternoon wandering around Hounslow high street doing my chores and generally relaxing.
In the evening, a few of us went to Black Park (between Slough and Uxbridge), Sarah had brought some ice cream, and we just chilled, chatted, kicked a football around and played frisbee. When it got dark, we moved on to the Airport Bowl and carried on where we left off, with the odd interruption of a round of ten-pin bowling and maybe some pool.

There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.
Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.”

Drove to work this morning playing around with the air conditioning to see if I could get any cold air out of it. Just to check my sanity, I got Andy to have a look at it as well, and he confirmed my fears – it really has stopped working – just after the service strangely enough.

Anyway, took the car to back to Heathrow Volkswagen to have a look at, whilst remarking on the remarkable coincidence of the failure with the service. They denied any connection between the service and the air conditioning failing. After inspection, they said the system didn’t have any gas in it at all. (Weird given it was working on Sunday). Given the options, I asked them to recharge the system with the intention of sorting out blame later. Alas, when I returned to collect my car, everyone had disappeared except for the lowest ranked pawn in the set – any chance of negotiation was scuppered. I was left to pay the bill for the recharging, and left the garage feeling rather numb, albeit with cool air blowing around me.

Spent the rest of the evening with some friends, discussing wide ranging subjects from apocalyptic theology to the history of the motor trade. At least the evening ended well. 🙂

Well, at least I have my car back. It’s now had its 80,000 mile service, a V-belt change and a cam belt change. I can’t say I’m particularly happy with the cost, but at least it’s done now. Only another 40,000 miles before the next cam belt change.

Only niggling point is that I’m not sure if the air conditioning is working now…

Took my car, a VW Passat, for its 80,000 mile service and cambelt change this morning at the local VW garage. All seemed to be routine as I handed over the keys to the service desk and got a lift into work with Dave. After a couple of hours, I received a call from the garage saying my car was ready and could be picked up. Great I thought, but then I thought – two hours is a little quick to complete the service, especially as it included a cambelt change. At this I phoned the garage back and asked if the cambelt had been changed – good job I did. It would appear that, even though VW say the cambelt should be changed every 40,000 miles, when you take it in for an 80,000 mile service, you have to specify you want the cambelt changed – it’s not part of the service in any way. Whilst this seemed odd to me, I then asked if the cambelt could be changed as well. After a short check by the mechanic to see if the parts were in stock, he agreed to carry it out. Just out of curiosity I thought I’d see how much it would cost – I almost fell out of my chair when he told me! However, I wasn’t willing to take the risk of a cambelt snapping in the near future and destroying the engine, so I told him to carry on. The story continued to twist, as just before I left work, I received a phone call from the garage saying they’d carried out the cambelt change, but in the process of putting it all back together, the drive belt had snapped, they didn’t have a replacement in stock and that the car was not in any way fit for use(!) All in all, I’m feeling a little non-plussed about the whole thing, and depending on whether I receive the car in a working state tomorrow, I might reveal the cause of the chair instability.

Anyway, had another interesting game of four-a-side football this evening, although I think the sides weren’t quite even as the side I was on won by quite a considerable margin. I’m now without a car until tomorrow, so Eamonn kindly gave me a lift home.

This morning’s sermon was on the Fruit of the Vine. Just as a vine bears grapes, so a Christian should have spritual fruit – love, joy peace, etc. (Galatians 5:22,23). Just as the branches are connected to the vine, all Christians are in communion with Christ. Just as the farmer prunes the branches of the vine to increase fruit yield, so God removes the dead parts of Christians to increase their fruitfulness. It is essential that Christians stay close to Christ in order to be fruitful, just as a branch needs to be connected to the vine to bear fruit. Indeed, Chrstians must rely soley on Christ and not on themselves in order to bear fruit.

(Well, West Wales to be precise. 🙂 )

If anyone out there pays any attention to my ramblings, you may have noticed there hasn’t been an entry for the past week. The reason for this being that I’ve spent the past week in Tywyn, helping Christian Camps in Wales out as a Tent Officer in one of their camps.

The main theme of the week was the life of Moses, from his birth into slavery, his adoption into Pharaoh’s household, his time of realisation in Midian and finally his role as a servant of God, confronting Pharaoh with the promises of God and leading the Israelites out of slavery. From this, Moses could be seen to be a pointer to a greater servant of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus Christ. O that we might see the Truth, for the Truth will set us free.

As well as being taught about God and the bible, the children had a wide range of games and activities to keep them busy. Looking back, the amount on offer was termendous! From more run of the mill things like football, netball and table tennis; through to mountain biking, dry-slope skiing, horse riding to the slightly more adventurous activities of canoing, orienteering, nighttime bivouacking and gulley bashing. Additionally, the children had day trips to the beach, and visits to the local Honey Ice Cream factory as well as free time to explore the field and relax. Hard to believe that all happened in one week, and I’m sure I missed something out of the lists.

I had a very good and blessed time, learning more about God and of God as well as making lots of new friendships and deepening existing ones, and I trust all the children enjoyed the week and got as much out of it as I did.

I am now knackered and in need of sleep!

Nos da.

Just got back from seeing Spiderman 2 and I have to say it’s a good film! Is it possible that the curse of the sequel has disappeared this summer, with two sequels which are better than the originals? (Shrek and Spiderman) The special effects were very good, they weren’t the only reason this was a good film. The humour was very good, but again not the only reason this was a good film. The clincher was the story which, although the whole thing is set in a comic-book world, contained people with real humanity. Simple things like summoning up enough courage to tell the truth, whether it be admitting to failure or admitting to being who we really are. Indeed, even working out who we are and being truthful with ourselves. A lot of things to think about, whilst at the same time being entertained. Well worth watching.