If Schespear was a blogger

Fancy working as a tooth brush?

Crocodiles have the largest number of teeth in the whole animal kingdom. A salt water crocodile will have some 64 teeth and they have their teeth replaced throughout their life.  For centuries this little bird - called Plovers - worked as a very dedicated dental hygienist cleaning crocodiles teeth.

This little bird does a great job and I believe through the ages, they always knew the rules of engagement with this fierce creature. In one little move, this sweet little bird could be just a snack to Mr. Crocodile. One wrong pick, or nasty nip at the gum, and this cute bird is gone. But the bird is benefiting too, and both creatures are a perfect image of a balanced creation by a mighty God.

But thinking about it, the bird is providing a great service but he is not the boss (and I am sure he knows it). I can't imagine the bird showing off to his mates or teasing the crocodiles, 'Guys, I am the best tooth brush in the whole jungle, you have to do what I say'. I can't see him bossing the crocodile round and giving him orders. But this is the not the order we see around us. I see people providing services forgetting that they are "serving" people. The doctor, the policeman, the teacher, the politician, etc , they are all providing a great service but they forget where does the power lie. The power is with those you are serving, the power is with the people, not the government, the rulers or the political system.

2011 showed us so far that people power is bigger and stronger than we ever thought. Protests all around the world this year proved that power is not just with those who are in high office, have money or arms.

It is a great job serving in a position of authority, but remember that Mr. crocodile could close his eyes, could nod off a bit, could even pretend not to care but it will always let the little bird knows if it is not happy with the service !

Give me a sign

On my way to work, I wanted to try a short cut suggested to me by colleagues to cut my driving time. So, I tried and instead of reducing my journey, I got lost!

'Not a big deal' I told myself, as it is a lovely countryside and so I kept driving to the next sign post to get direction. I drove for about 6 min, but it felt like a life time, then I saw a SIGN. Old, dirty and battered sign, but a sign none the less. I was so pleased and relieved.

Driving along this beautiful road without any signs to show me the way, was not comfortable at all. I enjoyed the beautiful autumn drive but I didn't like not knowing my exact location even for a short time. This is the same in every situation and in dealing with people around us. We have a need to know where we stand and where we are going. In the same way we are 'signs' to others whether we like it or not. When we see people we see 'Happy', 'Negative', 'Comlaining', 'Greatful' etc. Think of people you meet for the first time and after only 10 second you think to yourself "seem like a good person" or " she looked sad", "he is nasty", etc. Other people do the same about me and you as well. So, what sign are you giving out? and what do people see in you that is different?

So, when you hear of people praying "Give me a sign", you could be that sign....use the opportunity well.

Now you see it.....now you don't

Today, I had a big task at work, to clear my electronic data from my computer. I wrote about this last week and today was the day that I had to move all my electronic files, folders etc. Where do you start, I have endless number of documents, lots of drafts and final documents, some duplication and some just back up files. Some I worked on long time ago and some are as recent as last week. I had lots of things already organised in big folders (yes, I am not totally hopeless) but I still felt overwhelmed by the task at hand.


So, I decided to do this in a tidy and organised fashion (OK, OK, no need to laugh) I decided to do it the quick way. I created a new folder and called "work old PC" and then moved everything to it, just as they are. 'I will look into them later' I told myself. The files were so big and took a long time to be transferred to my external drive but it was done at the end. Then with one click I deleted the folder from the main computer after it was transferred. Just like that, one click, one button and it was all gone. More than 8 years of work, research and teaching just gone from the PC, as if I was never there. All you can see on the old PC was my log in name.

There is a book on Amazon called "Now you see it, now you don't: lessons in sleight of hand" by Bill Tarr. Shows you how to do magic tricks and when I deleted the files it felt like that, a magic wand that cleared everything. Then I thought, what if we can do that in real life. Just one click and the problem is gone, one button and 'done' pain deleted. But if we can do that, then we have to be able to run the risk of deleting the good things by mistake or accident. I don't really fancy backing up my relationship in 3 different ways like I do with my documents in case they get lost. I am confident in the love, support and friendships that I have and am sure they can not be lost by mistake, or with a click of a button. As much as I would like for the bad things to be taken away, I know that God in his wisdom is writing the story of my life, weaving it all, dark colours and bright ones, all together to make a wonderful complete picture.

Enjoy life with all its ups and down, no back up and no system crashes, invest in what matters as when it is all said and done only two things remain, your faith and your relationships.

New task

As I get ready to start a new position in a wonderful location ( see the photo above), I have the very interesting task of moving my belongings from my current office. I have endless amount of books, papers, documents, etc that I have accumulated over the years. However, it is my electronic belongings that will take a long time to tidy up. In theory, the electronic belongings are not as obvious as books, papers etc, however they are very important and no one can help me move them. At work, I have access to 3 different offices with 3 different computers, I also have electronic legacy with photos, address and information on websites and university files. Thinking about how to work through it in an organised way is a bit daunting.

But as I think about it (this is the stage I am in at the moment, just thinking, no actual packing just yet), I realised how many electronic information I have out there!

email accounts, store accounts, Face book, twitter, eBay, paypal, online calendars, photo libraries, online banking, supermarkets online shopping, documents storage and many other accounts I have online.

With every account comes user names, passwords, security information and even some silly details about  pet names or shoes size! How are we dealing with this volume of information and belongings and what if something happen and I can not for the life of me remember my passwords? Do I need to leave my electronic "belongings" in my will?

I am sure I do not need to answer these questions right now and I better concentrate on actually doing the packing and tidying up to move to my new office in time, only to start creating more legacy somewhere else.

Gingerbread "person" anyone?

The birthday week for my blog continue with some of my old posts. Here is the gingerbread person post. Enjoy.

This is the last straw I think. The news that we are now supposed to change the name of gingerbread man to gingerbread person or gingerbread people as it is not politically correct anymore.

I don’t like gingerbread anyway (nothing personal really) but I had so much fun helping in my local school with making gingerbread man with the kids, it was fun and messy experience. I was trying to follow the recipe while running after the kids who are trying to taste the dough that had raw eggs and stopping others from dipping their toys in the honey or making tracks on the floor with the flour. However, eventually we made the gingerbread man and they were really nice.

So what is the problem with calling them gingerbread man? And who exactly got offended by that? And where is all this political correctness taking us? and what is next? protest against snowman? Most women -in my opinion- do not actually mind what we call those ginger cookies, and it is not– as far as I am concerned - an equality problem in anyway. When God created us both men and women, He created us on His image, equal in His sight. Equal in being sinful, equal in our need to His grace, equal in being human and equal in our need to be accepted and loved. But saying that, He gave us different talents and different characters and so different ways to contribute and make a difference.

So when it comes to fitting that IKAE bookcase with instructions that only an expert in Egyptology can read and understand (as it seems to be in Hieroglyphics), men are well talented to do that and most women will have no problem accepting that. On the other hand, cooking, tidying and baking “gingerbread man” is enjoyable and women love doing that. I might be still sticking to the old stereotype but I believe that the issue is not who does what or what do we call things, gingerbread men or postman or chairperson etc. The point is that we are all accepted as equal in God’s eyes and it does not matter who does the ironing, what matter is that we are equal in being people who need to be loved and accepted as we are.

Montpellier .... très jolie

Spent few days in Montpellier, south of France and it is really a lovely, beautiful place to be. One of the nice things I liked very much is the grass that is so neat on the tram rails which adds a nice feeling to the roads and to the journey down the busy town. Lovely coloured trams as well to cheer everyone up throughout the day. Certainly, a place to visit again and again.

Behind every great man..

I was asked to give a short presentation for a meeting at work. The session was really interesting and it ran till 8 pm. Sitting down listening to various speakers, I scanned the room and there were about 25 men and 4 women attending this meeting. It made me think that behind every great man there is a women. But what about great women? I think behind every great women is an army of people, friends, family and good kids. So, big cheer for those who are working behind the scenes for so many people.

"The staying at home" challenge

In the last few weeks I have been at home full time and against popular belief, it has been hard work. The common idea about staying at home is the endless coffee mornings, shopping trips and meeting friends or sitting in front of daytime TV all day. What I found in the last few weeks is that it is a challenge to stay at home and to stay focus and positive. There are endless jobs to be done, and things are not quite finished at all. At work it is hard and stressful, lots of deadlines to meet and projects to finish etc, but at home the measured achievements are not present all the time and so the need to stay focus is more important in my opinion. To keep praising God all day through the ironing, the washing, changing the water in the fish tank, doing the garden, removing tough stains from school uniforms, writing checks for various activities and organizing bags to take to charity shops...the list is endless and the work is endless. Finding the time to pray and to meet and support people is also hard even thought in theory you have all the time in the world. As Chekhov said: “Any idiot can face a crisis, it is the day to day living that wears you out”. It is a challenge, but so far so good.

The best way to sleep in the office

Time to study

Why when you have loads of work to do, you always find things that need your immediate attention? All of a sudden, cleaning the fridge becomes something that HAS to be done just because i have some studying to do. The dog needs a walk, the fish tank needs cleaning, the tree in the garden must be pruned (right now) (even though it had been there for the last 4 years or so). And i do not want to get started on calling people, especially long distance phone calls. basically, anything and i mean ANYTHING, becomes more interesting than doing what i am supposed to do.