DavidGriffo.com

Lots of people are starting to get worried about what we are doing to our home planet. I have decided that i want to be part of the solution Not contributing to the problem.

Not long ago i was traveling about 100km .to work and back. When we moved to Queensland i wanted to be able to walk to work. Now i walk to work or catch the ferry and bus

I am loving the fact that we are close to everything here. If i do need a car for the weekend i can hire one and we can do this and still be cheaper than owning our own car.

Over the Christmas break i have watched the video “a inconvenient truth”. I would recommend everyone watches it.

We got a scare from Sam again today. Sam was out with his friends and was on a motor bike when he lost control and ran into a fence. It seems that the fence grabbed him by the neck. We took him to the hospital and he was very well looked after. They gave him top priority and did lots of tests all the time telling us how lucky he was not to have done a lot more damage to himself. He spent the night in hospital under observation but has now been given the all clear.

I have got myself a ipod and a nike gaget that records how fast i am running and how far i travel. The cool part is that while i am jogging i get an instructors voice over my headphones telling me how well i am traveling.




The web pages are very cool from nike. after each run i upload the details to the nike site and i can run against other runners from all over the world.

currently i have set a goal to run 120 km in 4 weeks. if you click on the gaget above you can see how i am going with this goal.

http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/?sitesrc=nikeplus_widgets&locale=en_au

We spent the weekend at Coolangatta. The locals call the place Coolie. It is south of the gold coast and has not been commercialized as much as surfers. Karin and I were here for the rock and roll festival in july this year.

While here naomi learns to surf.

The kids like it so much  here they both want to live here now. I guess  it would be nice to be close to the beach again.

Also while we were here we  saw many whales swimming south with their children breaching the water.

It was sad to hear today that Mike Alexander passed away.

He and his family are friends that we did not see enough of. One of those friends that you say to yourself we should see each other more often but life gets in the way.

I am thankfull that we had a small chat at our 25th wedding aniversiry.

Mike and Ruth lived with us for a while when they first came from the UK. He was a very, very creative person and was never shy in showing everyone his creations in music and art.

Our thoughts and love are with Ruth and the family.

Thank you Mike for your love and creativity.

This is Dale Carnegie’s summary of his book, from 1936
Even though Dale wrote this book so long ago , people have not changed. This advice is still as relevant today as it was in 1936.

1. Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
6. Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
2. Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say, “You’re wrong.”
3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Get the other person saying “yes, yes” immediately.
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
9. Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge.

1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

1. My Wife and I divorced over religious differences.   She thought she was God and I didn’t.
2. I don’t suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
3. Some people are alive only because it’s illegal to kill them.
4. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
5. Don’t take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.
6.  You’re just jealous because the voices only talk to me
7. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
8. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
9. I’m not a complete idiot — Some parts are just missing.
10. Out of my mind.  Back in five minutes.
11. God must love stupid people; He made so many.
12. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
13. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.
14. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
15. Being “over the hill” is much better than being under it!
16. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew up.
17. Procrastinate Now!
18.  A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
19. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.
20. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!
21. They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken.
22. He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD.
23. A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.
24. Ham and eggs…A day’s work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.
25. The trouble with life is there’s no background music.
26. The original point and click interface was a Smith & Wesson.
27. I smile because I don’t know what the hell is going on.

Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends!

Life is too short and friends are too few!

We are feeling more apart of Queensland every day.

Today Sam starts work at a engineering company across the road from Naomi’s School.

He is starting his apprenticeship in boilermaker/ sheet metal .

The Engineering company in involved in creating some interesting items and they have a very modern shop with some very advanced machines.

We had a visit from my cousin Jenny and her husband Tim.

Tim Has purchased a boat from someone in Brisbane. Him and Jenny have spent the last 4 days driving over from Perth with the intention of putting the boat on a trailer and towing back to Perth.

After being on the road for so long, when they got to Brisbane they looked for the first motel they could find and by sheer coincidence it was in a motel only 500meters from where we are staying.

We had a meal out at the pub across from their motel and then the second night they came over for dinner. It was nice to catch up again.

Mum joked about seeing more of us after moving so fare away , well it seems thats the case for our relatives as well.

We had reports that our house in Perth was the host of some big parties. They were so popular that even the police turned up. The house was a bit worse for ware and the neighbors were very unhappy.

So Karin has gone back to Perth to sort out the problem.

This means that Benjamin (who was looking after the house) will be looking for new accommodation. Any friends or relatives reading this feel that they could provide Ben with a new location to hold his parties should leave their request on this page.

Be quick as i am sure there will be many takers of this offer to live with such a fun party guy. He comes with a large dog.

Karin will be back home on the 18th September.