February
- March
2010
Happy Birthday MOM!
The 21st of March (each and every year) is my moms birthday and this year it’s a big one – 60 years old. She certainly does not act or feel it! Anyway, her, my dad and some friends from the church went to Dragons Peak in the central berg for the long weekend. As I could not take that long off from studying, we decided to go up after church on Sunday and stay just the one night with them. It was really cool to do it for her and I think that she enjoyed us being there. Happy birthday mom and may you have many many more.
Tell it how it is!
This article just highlights the *%&%^# ref that cost the Sharks the game on Saturday. Ironically it was sent to me via email by a Bulls supporter - Thank you Andre (they are not all bad people - misguided in some things but not all bad). Have a read and judge for yourself.
Durban - Hometown referee Paul Marks, showing impeccable timing and a flagrant disregard of the laws, easily took the man-of-the-match award as he nursed the Waratahs through a tricky final 10 minutes on their way to a 25-21 Super 14 win over the Sharks in Sydney on Saturday.
There were few individual highlights in a ragged contest of too much kicking and too little running, but Marks made a massive impact during the decisive closing moments of the contest to condemn the Sharks to their fourth successive loss in the competition.
When one-eyed Australian commentators openly concede that mistakes are being made by their referee in favour of their team, then it is clear that something is rotten in the state of New South Wales.
The influential Marks had a busy evening, yellow-carding prop Jannie du Plessis for a silly trip and flyhalf Andy Goode for hanging off-side at a ruck and reducing the Sharks to 13 men for eight minutes in the first half. But he saved his best for last with three highly contentious anti-Sharks decisions in the closing 10 minutes which settled the match.
The first came after he generously allowed a series of Waratahs forward passes but then moments later pulled back the Sharks, for a marginal infringement, as they sped through for a try.
The second, minutes from the final whistle, came when Waraths’ replacement back Kurtley Beale slapped down Stefan Terblanche’s pass to an unmarked Ryan Kankowski 20 metres from the line. Marks yellow-carded Beale but then defied logic, and the lawbook, in not awarding a penalty try.
The law states that a penalty try must be awarded if a try would probably have been scored but for foul play by the defending team. There was no probably about this with Kankowski having a clear run to the line for the winning try but Marks, in spite of Terblanche’s vehement protests, refused to blow to the law.
“That was definitely a penalty try,” an adamant head coach John Plumtree said later. “Ryan would have scored had he been allowed to take that pass. That was a cynical decision and that was the game.”
But Marks was not finished. The Sharks, from the penalty, kicked for an attacking lineout five metres from the Waratahs line. They immediately set up the drive but Marks blew prop Jannie du Plessis for obstruction.
“It was a very odd call,” captain John Smit told reporters. “Jannie was supporting the jumper as he does at every lineout. If he was penalised at that lineout, he should have been blown for all the lineouts on our throw.”
And so another close match – the second this season after the refereeing error on the final whistle in the Chiefs game – dribbled away from the Sharks and, again, the diplomatic Smit was forced to bite his tongue:
“That’s what happens when you play away from home and referees will go against you when you are losing. You don’t get the rub of the green but we had opportunities to win the game.”
Waratahs captain Phil Waugh conceded his team had been “lucky” to win and said it was “one of the more physical games we’ve played at this level.”
While the Sharks will blame the referee for the defeat, they could, and should, have settled this match before the closing minutes.
The Waratahs, tired, panicky and booed by their own crowd, were ripe for the plucking but the Sharks, short of confidence, cohesion and attacking ambition, did not carry the fight to them by keeping the ball in hand.
The Sharks stood up strongly in the set pieces and their scrummaging, against a highly-regarded Wallaby front-row, was consistently good, even when their numbers were reduced by the yellow-cards.
There was some continuity in their play in the second half when they fashioned an excellent try for centre Adi Jacobs by taking the ball through 15 phases but too often they fell back on old habits and kicked for field position.
They also still made too many errors, from kick-offs and in forcing the pass, while their backs lack attacking flair and creativity.
England flyhalf Andy Goode was steady and workmanlike, kicking well at goal and landing a drop from close to 50 metres while scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar, like the team, mixed good with bad.
Plumtree said that basic errors had cost his team and they had allowed the Waratahs to score a couple of soft tries.
“In the second half we were dominant with some pretty good rugby. We had many chances to win this match and it was our own fault.”
And that is about right. These Sharks are not playing well enough to also take on the referee.
Weekend away.
Last weekend we were away in the berg. It was a very nice break. We had not had a holiday break for a while. We went up to the central berg to Carrie's Grans timeshare cottage. It was very cool! The weather here was really warm that week and when we got to the berg it was quite cold and rainy so quite a change. We went up with Carries parents and Carries sister and her husband Mark as well as their daughter Rebecca arrived early on Saturday morning. A real family weekend!
Pictures can be found here.
Yet another loss on for the sharks
I hate to be a bad loser and harp on about how crap the refs are in world rugby at the moment but again some really borderline decisions were made (for both sides) in the Sharks vs Waratahs game yesterday. At least one thing is certain now - its not only south african refs that need to get demoted to learn the rules again - a good thing I think.
Thursday nights are now free :(
Well all good things have a season and this is one
season I am sad to see stop! for all those who are lost, I play the drums
and play in the band at church every Sunday. Anyway, it has been rough in
the band lately and I have threatened (during heated discussions) to walk
out but never have ....... until tonight. Things got a little heated when I
reacted to something someone said and I packed up the drums and left.
I do not want to stop playing (everybody knows that) but I feel with the
year ahead planned being a really busy one - it was probably the best for
all concerned although not the best solution given the circumstances.
I do not want to hurt anyone and think that me not playing is a better plan than fighting on Thursday nights!
I am a Sharks supporter and have always been one. Most of the time I can put up with referees calls going against us because they are normally correct - even though I think they are not. Last night was the kick off of the Sharks Super 14 campaign for 2010. It rained and it rained and did I say it rained - well it rained. We got very very wet and decided to stay at the game but seek shelter higher up the stands under the roof. The seats were awesome and gave us a different perspective to what we are normally used to but its all good.
We played a solid game - I thought with a few stupid things that got us into trouble. Bismarck's late tackle / shoulder barge was stupid and he deserves to get fined by the sharks for that sort of rubbish. John Smit getting sent of - I thought was a bit harsh but the ref seemed to have warned the whole team for it so who knows. The final minute however was not great though - the lead changed handed 4 times in the last 5 minutes and ultimately and in my opinion the ref had the final say on the result of the game when after a number of "obvious" indiscretions from the Chiefs - the Sharks were penalized for something the ref (and only the ref!) saw right in front of the poles and the penalty was the last kick of the match as it soared through the uprights.
It was never going to be a great game but it was a close encounter which could have gone either way and went the Chiefs way. Next up, a local derby against the Cheetahs.
I am on twitter and because I am a cyclist I follow Lance Armstrong and several other pro cyclists as well Team Radio Shack (Lance Armstrongs new team). Anyway, I came across the following link that blew my mind!
http://www.livestrong.com/teamradioshack/news_the-new-team-radioshack-prototype-trek-speed-concept/
There are two reasons that it blew mind mind: 1) The bike is just phenomenal - pure speed and aerodynamics personified! but it also sparks another passion of mine - photography. These photos are very, very good photos. I could spend all day just looking at them as photos - that is, after I have got over how cool the bike is!
You have all probably heard about the phrase "Its not about the bike" popularized by Lance Armstrong. Well tonight I found that out the hard way. The fact is that, whatever you are doing - whether cycling, running or whatever - any sport like that (in fact any sport at all) its all about what's in the legs or arms etc! Tonight I went running and it was terrible to see how unfit I have become from not exercising last week.
ITS ALL ABOUT WHAT IS IN THE LEGS!
Be aware of the effects your actions may have
I am amazed at people sometimes! Have you ever come
across a situation where one person says something or does something and it
affects many many more people around them. I am living in 2 situations like
this at the moment and its really not nice to be around or deal with.
This type of situation coupled with a lot of anger that is currently around
in the world in general - makes for not a nice situation at all! I would
love to divulge the situations and tell everyone what is going on but as I
have said before - doing that would just cause more and more issues.
The danger here is that the effects are pretty much always far reaching and you might never see the detrimental effects of your actions but they will brew and pop out later in some place and someone's life for the worse - they then will probably turn around and point out where it all started. That is a situation I do not want to be in - AT ALL!
The policy here is to do something about it and overcome whatever your situation or try and make the best of the situation for the better of all people involved because (in my opinion) what better example to be in than someone telling someone else that they are a better person because of the example that you set! It is easier to be the first person but who would want to be that person? NOT ME!
Companies
Act of 2008
Being in the accounting industry - the
following article very interesting and deeply saddening at the same time.
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=552&fArticleId=5333915 .
The new companies act was drafted in 2008 and was supposed to be enacted in
either Arpil or July 2010 (depending on who you listen to). Reading this
article make me think that it will not be enacted anytime this year in my
personal opinion. The link may not work because I think the site changes
fairly quickly.
Not up for suffering this
morning!
Last week I took a rest week from my
schedule and only did one run the whole week. I was really tired and
completely messed bith physically and mentally. I think it was a combination
of the training in the previous 3 weeks as well as the start of the studying
year resulting in the late night!
This morning marked the start of the next exercise cycle but I was not up
for any suffering this morning so I rolled over and slept for an over
longer. I had a rough night last night as a result of 3 cups of coffee - 2
of which were filter!!
I will try again tomorrow!
Interesting (if true)
Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten
turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money
into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to
figure out what to do with this product to get their money back.It was a
white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow colouring and
sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have
come out with some clever new flavourings..
DO YOU KNOW.. The difference between margarine and butter?
Both have the same amount of calories.
Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams; compared to 5 grams
for margarine.
Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over
eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical
Study.
Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other
foods.
Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and only
because they are added!
Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavours of other foods.
Butter has been around for centuries where margarine
has been around for less than 100 years .
And now, for Margarine..
Very High in Trans fatty acids.
Triples risk of coronary heart disease .
Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers
HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)
Increases the risk of cancers up to five times..
Lowers quality of breast milk.
Decreases immune response.
Decreases insulin response.
And here's the most disturbing fact.... HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY
INTERESTING!
Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC... and shares 27
ingredients with PAINT
These facts alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and
anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing
the molecular structure of the substance).
January is over already and February is going to be a busy month! Lectures at Boston college start next week as well as the Super 14 rugby season kicks off on the 13th. We are also planning on going away to the berg for the weekend at the end of the month. Certainly a busy month but I think it will be a good one.
Whatever happens
- I will try and update this website as often as possible. Thank you for
stopping by last month - 448 people visited this site in January and I hope
it will be more this month. Have a good month.