andrewnicol.net

38 | 365 - 'Dad and Daughter' - Awesome trip to Whangarei and back.

37 | 365 - 'Shrek' - aka Jim Grafas

And what is with the
bottle - Tuatara, Indian Pale Ale, an English Tradition. Now that's a branding
position.

36 | 365 - 'Tulips' - Indoor sunshine on a stalk.

Been amazing seeing these tulips open up over the day. Wish I had time lapse
camera.

35 | 365 - 'Hanging around' - A day spent hanging around waiting.

Couldn't help but get a pic of the helicopter leaving Waikato Hospital

And I've regretted it the rest of my life.

There she sat taking in the sights and sounds of the Pacific Ocean breaking against the sun soaked sand below her. A son or son-in-law, or just younger man who cared, had wheeled her to the top of the sand dunes where she admired the ocean in a way all of us have throughout our years.

My daughter and I approached from the beach, sand clinging to our feet, smiles locked to our faces.

As we walked past her we caught just the briefest part of woman's conversation. The slightest hint of a deeper conversation she was having with the younger man. A story was being discussed that was both sad and profound.

"I really wanted to go, but I was just that little bit tired, and I've regretted it the rest of my life," she said.

I heard no more than those words. I have no idea what she regretted, but she could have done it, was tired and now will regret it, possibly until she dies.

As I strolled away, I loved the way she said those words, and the words washed over me. I wondered what things will we choose not to do. Because we are tired or can't be bothered, or just because...

What things will we live to regret.

I hope that her words will echo into my life. I hope they will impact my relationships and my time.

"I really wanted to go, but I was just that little bit tired, and I've regretted it the rest of my life."

34 | 365 - 'Tranquility' - Chilling out with my high kilojoule food by the swallow Waikato River.

33 | 365 - Confidence - Teaching a four year old to take risks

 

32 | 365 - Introducing the kids and cousin to sailing. (The water wasn't that cold until I capsized)

 

31 | 365 - I believe I can fly... heaps of great pictures in the bay today.

30 | 365 - Great Friends + Yummy Food = Awesome Evening (and last minute photo)

29 | 365 - A big thumbs up from Jayden out at Rototuna Cultural Evening

 

Gone by lunch time.

Been learning about Samuel and Saul and Kings.

King Nahash, had a proposition for the people of Israel. They could make peace with him and then return, he would gouge out the right eye of everyone, then they could live at peace.

News spread of this peace offer and finally reached the newly appointed King Saul. He was out plowing a field. The king, out plowing.

‘Then the Spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul and he became very angry’. He called the people to follow him, all 370000 of them. The next day he took on King Nahash and his team, and “slaughter them the whole morning”. Home for lunch.

I wonder to myself, how different would my life be if I allowed the Spirit of God to come powerfully upon. I wonder what more I would achieve as a husband, a leader, a man. What things would be dealt to by lunch time.

What if the Spirit of God came powerfully upon me and I …

What would I be called to do?

Giving drops of energy

Playing around with giving drops of energy today. Stole an idea from Gallup and developed this page.

http://www.andrewnicol.net/drops-of-energy.html

 

 

28 | 365 - A new roof for Agoge. Murphy's Law - now the leaks have been fixed the spring rains will stop.

 

27 | 365 - Caught this guy slacking off, enjoying the sun after another passing shower.

26 | 365 - The more bubbles I blow, the more water I drink.

Jayden at Swimming
Lessons

25 | 365 - Taking photos adds energy to my life, one drop at a time.

Tiny drops of energy...

I have often heard of a bucket or tank being used to describe energy in life.

At the bottom of the bucket are leaks, small drips that drain energy, reduce it.  If my bucket gets to empty, completely empty, then my passion dies, drip.

I stop enjoying life, drip.

Or worse, I become a DRIP.

If the bucket is full, I bounce around the world. On fire. With passion.

If life is like a bucket of energy, it would be good to know what builds into it. And what reduces it.

So I started to focus on reducing the leaks, patching them up, stopping the drain of energy. With hindsight I see that it doesn’t solve the problem at all. If my energy is all but gone, stopping the leaks just slows the process of turning into one giant drip.

Of course, what a drip I am! So I focus on filling my bucket. I start searching for a tap, or a fire hose. A quick refill.  Anything instant.

But it too is allusive.

Then today as I try to take pictures of water drops in the rain. I realise energy comes one drop at a time.

Drop,

Drop,

Drop.

Once you have more drops coming in, that drips leaking out, your bucket starts to fill, your energy rises.

I’m sorted now of course. Most lakes and rivers are filled one drop of water at a time, I just need to hunt for drops, not drips. I would prefer steady rain of course.

Then it hit me. As my energy drips away, as my bucket gets empty, I become more of a drip. Then, I can become a drip to other people. I start draining their energy.

I realised that I need drops of energy, so that I can give drops of energy.

And I need to give drops of energy, so that I can get drops of energy.

This week I resolve to go in search of drops of energy.

24 | 365 - Re-lax [verb] ; Sun, coffee and book.

23 | 365 - Grown man plays with little boys slot car set

22 | 365 - Evening at Agora Cafe to farewell the Crowes

21 | 365 - Red in the morning shepherd's warning.

 

20 | 365 - Holding tightly to two things at once.

Didn't want to give the iphone back.

19 | 365 - All in a days work

18 | 365 - Can I go in Dad? - Awesome afternoon with extended family at Raglan.

17 | 365 - Another wet, non-kid friendly start to the day.

It stopped raining late morning and we let the kids loose.

16 | 365 Talia's shenanigans after going to the home movies and watching "bedtime stories"

Really enjoyed my day off with the kids!

15 | 365 - Lovely early spring morning at Mt Mauao (Mount Maunganui)

Cant wait to get Dad's catamaran out in the harbour this summer.

14 | 365 - Awesome view looking towards Pirongia from the Browns at Poppy's 7th birthday party.

13 | 365 - Great friends, great food and kids playing outside on a windy but sunny evening.

Awesome dinner at the Shutes with life group.

12 | 365 - A bleak dreary rainy day. Glad to be at home listening to the rain on the roof and looking at the neighbourhood from warm house.

11 | 365 - At CBC this evening where my friend Steve Crowe spoke for the last time before heading back to the USA in a few weeks

Once a geek, always a geek (some cool tech tools I am using)

Playing around with a few tech toys recently and a couple of them are very cool.

Evernote 

I used to use google notebook (which was in beta and they are no longer developing). Evernote is tool you can use for making notes about anything. You can be on a website and send a part of the text to evernote. You can email notes to it. I can take a photo from my phone of something I want to remember and it uploads. Or you can type a new note directly.

Whats more, there is a desktop version that syncs to the web version which syncs to my windows mobile (phone).  Its free and very functional, or you can pay $45 US per year to have additional features and secure syncing.

Dual Monitors

Old technology, but have just set it up. I have been getting annoyed with the amount of paper I print out, just so I can compare to something else on the screen. This solves it and allows for much more.

Sure this looks really geeky, but it is awesome and don't know why I didn't do this a long time ago.

One small problem, I stole the second monitor off someone elses desk, will need to sort that first thing Monday. 

iPod Nano

Watched my first video postcast on my Nano. Had it for a year and only listen ever listened to music, audiobooks and audio podcasts.

The quality was very cool and watched a podcast from TED. It was Jacqueline Novogratz from Acuman Fund talking about a third way to think about aid. Cool to see the images and the quality was remarkably good.

10 | #365 - Some guys were jumping their skateboards over kerb, garden and 5ft+ jump behind work today.

They were doing a photoshot of him in mid air. I think maybe Downey Construction or B2B commissioned him to do it, so they can find a quicker way to Pumice cafe. :) He landed it 9 times out of 10. V Cool!

9 | #365 - The huge tragedy in Samoa is brought closer to home with news that one of the teachers from my daughters' school is missing.

My prayers are for the Martins as they travel to look for their daughters. Can't imagine what that would be like.

8 | #365 - No kids and a lovely dinner out with my beautiful wife at Woodbox

7 | #365 - A friend of a friend had this message for me last Friday

Will be interesting to see how we go