Jon's Ramblings tag:www.realyouth.net,2007-09-29:/weblog//3 2008-12-26T19:51:14Z Movable Type Pro 4.21-en Simply having a wonderful hanika!! tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.925 2008-12-26T19:42:55Z 2008-12-26T19:51:14Z Well, I know there are still officially 10 days of Christmas to go, but I've already found myself asking people if they "had" a good Christmas. Our Christmas was pretty standard (only in the sense that as usual we were... Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog Well, I know there are still officially 10 days of Christmas to go, but I've already found myself asking people if they "had" a good Christmas.

Our Christmas was pretty standard (only in the sense that as usual we were (and still are) all ill. Lara's dad came to stay and so we went to my folks (and took him with us). The kids did well to say they were under the weather. The first presents were opened at around 7am, and the last ones were opened at 7.30pm with no more than a 20 minute gap between any two openings all day.

Lara seems happy with her DS, Maisey has a new found love of prams and dolls, and Zak is now surrounded by Wall:e gadgets and gizmos. As for me, I'm the proud owner of a new guitar effects pedal (although it hasn't arrvied yet). You can't beat the Boss ME-50.

And that's it. Another completed Christmas. Tune in again next year.

]]> The Kids do Fame... tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.910 2008-11-25T19:37:24Z 2008-11-25T19:45:58Z VID 00004-20081125-1906.3GP.ff.movSo, it would appear that our kids are better at the FAME dance routine (that I'm supposed to be doing next week in a high school) than I am. That's quite embarrassing!!Go on, click that link.... Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog VID 00004-20081125-1906.3GP.ff.mov

So, it would appear that our kids are better at the FAME dance routine (that I'm supposed to be doing next week in a high school) than I am. That's quite embarrassing!!

Go on, click that link.
]]> The Kids do fame tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.908 2008-11-25T19:24:16Z 2008-11-25T19:31:42Z So, it would appear that our kids are better at the FAME dance routine (that I'm supposed to be doing next week in a high school) than I am. That's quite embarrassing!!Anyway, Watch and learn.... Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog
So, it would appear that our kids are better at the FAME dance routine (that I'm supposed to be doing next week in a high school) than I am. That's quite embarrassing!!

Anyway, Watch and learn.

]]> A lazy Saturday afternoon tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.905 2008-11-22T14:58:38Z 2008-11-22T14:58:38Z A lazy Saturday afternoon Originally uploaded by realyouth I so wish that I could sleep during the day, but it's something I just can't do. We've already been to the cinema today which was cool, if a little long,... Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog
A lazy Saturday afternoon
Originally uploaded by realyouth I so wish that I could sleep during the day, but it's something I just can't do. We've already been to the cinema today which was cool, if a little long, had lunch and I've prepared another batch of golden brown. 3 weeks and it should be ready to drink. And now I have to wake up the little girl to go to a family prayer event (apparently I'm leading some worship at it.

Do keep in touch.
]]> The Cheek of it... tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.890 2008-11-08T00:25:08Z 2008-11-08T00:52:43Z Wow, it's really been a long time since I was last here, which means as usual I have so much to report that I'll probably forget half of it by the time I get to the point where I may... Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog
Anyway, what was I saying? I forget...  Oh yes...

Aaaarrrggghhh!! I've now officially been waiting over 2 months for my new mobile phone upgrade - that's frustrating enough, not helped by the fact I decided to use Lara's 4yr old phone for a while til it came so I could sell my orange replacement pda phone (the one I lost in France) before it got all scuffed and well used. But now to add insult to injury, I called Orange on Wednesday and amazingly they said they had the phone in stock, it finally got ordered, and I worked from home all day yesterday excitedly waiting to receive it. However, by 4pm I was bored of waiting so I called to get a consignment number in an attempt to track the courier, only to find that (apparently) between being told that it was in stock again, and actually completing the order process, it went BACK OUT OF STOCK!!!   Aaaarrggghhhh!! So still no new phone and a very annoyed Jon to-boot.

So, what else has happened - oh, the CYFC exec agreed to buy me a spanky (nearly) new Macbook Pro, with a budget of just £700, and I managed to find one for £650 with a dodgy keyboard but 1yr warranty left so that got replaced for free, leaving me £50 to upgrade to the latest mac OS (leopard, for those of you that care). Owner/Carer and baby are doing fine, don't know the weight, but you get the idea!!

I would have totally written more about that if I wasn't trying to cover a whole month in one blog entry!!! (incuding the ebay purchase of an unsuitable operating system that I then re-auctioned and sold for a huge profit of -£19.00 (yes, that is a minus sign).

I'm gradually running out of beer. I bought a new kit like 2 weeks ago, and just haven't got round to it, so that's not much of a story.

Our new house is small but warm and the outside light finally works after 2 evenings replacing the whole lot and tracing wiring for faults - it turns out, you have to plug it in as well!! (oops) Lara actually made the discovery whilst trying to find somewhere to do the ironing. @What do you think this plug is for?@ she asks all innocently. Eureka!! (notice the strange quote marks... anyone that every changed from PC to Mac should find that quite amusing.)

And I've discovered a new found passion for the guitar - mainly through many nights with lack of an internet connection and seeing young people who can play better than me.

I really should have broken this down into several entries - do let me know if you need any more info on any of these points.

Oh, 2 other things...

Our house still hasn't sold, and now that our 2yr tracker has run out we're paying £200 more per month for a house we don't live in - GREAT!!

And Work at CYFC is going really well - a few interesting teething issues, but nothing that I wasn't expecting.

And thirdly, (for those of you that don't know where number 2 comes in the numeric system) Zak is having an amazing time at school - he gets so many stickers that we've run out of things to stick them to.

Oh, and fourthly, Lara now works part-time for St Matts as Children's worker, and Maisey has started going to nursery (the Maisey thing should really have its own point, but this is quite frankly getting ridiculous)

And I'll stop there.

Ciao people!!

ps. check out the new Cov YFC website - www.covyfc.org
]]> From Dull Blog, to Dull Throb.. tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.876 2008-10-09T14:54:23Z 2008-10-09T14:55:04Z Ok, so it would appear that I damaged my back whilst in the process of moving house (again) this week. Bizarrely, it was actually in the process of lifting Maisey to give her a cuddle, but I'm guessing it was... Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog
And boy, did it hurt!!

Anyway, after my team told me to "GO HOME!!" yesterday, I visited the doctor and she prescribed some codiene (*sp) which is great, and now my back doesn't hurt as much, which is also good. I have to take "2 codiene tablets 4 times daily", and "8 ibruprofen per day" - which is actually the same thing but quite confusing when explained in 2 very different ways.

We also had friends to stay last night which was cool - guests to stay on our 2nd night in the house. Boy, are we socialites?

So I'm back at work now, and pleased with my back relief, but I did just scuff the bumper of my car on a bollard, which is VERY annoying.

Wow, that felt a little random, as far as blogs go, but hey, that's my ramblings I guess.

Ciao. ]]> The All New Dull Blog... tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.847 2008-09-29T17:57:43Z 2008-09-29T18:02:18Z I just started a community blog (where any realyouth blogger can post stuff). The idea, simply, is to make it the dullest blog in the world, EVER!! And I honestly think people will find it hilly-areas!! So, check it out,... Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog I just started a community blog (where any realyouth blogger can post stuff).

The idea, simply, is to make it the dullest blog in the world, EVER!!

And I honestly think people will find it hilly-areas!!

So, check it out, and if you regularly find yourself with nothing at all to talk about, let me know - I'll add you as an author and you can tell us all about it.

GENIUS!!

Jon.

]]> blog overload... tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.841 2008-09-28T16:39:43Z 2008-09-28T16:42:13Z It feels like I've blogged far too much this weekend, but soooo much is going on. Yes, I still have a cold, and yes, the outlaw is still here, but on a positive note (lol) we've decided to take the... Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog It feels like I've blogged far too much this weekend, but soooo much is going on.

Yes, I still have a cold, and yes, the outlaw is still here,

but on a positive note (lol) we've decided to take the house option, and so move into our own (kind of) place next monday.

How exciting.

I'm not gonna write any more, cos that'd just be too much of a good thing

Ciao, fellow readers!!

]]> The Team Outing... tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.839 2008-09-28T10:54:36Z 2008-09-28T10:54:36Z The Team Outing... Originally uploaded by realyouth Here's an interesting one. The whole Cov YFC team (apart from Chris) getting all friendly with a huge chocolate blob!! Interesting!!... Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog
The Team Outing...
Originally uploaded by realyouth Here's an interesting one. The whole Cov YFC team (apart from Chris) getting
all friendly with a huge chocolate blob!!

Interesting!!
]]> Going Back to Church... tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.838 2008-09-28T09:44:13Z 2008-09-28T10:09:24Z This weekend has been quite stressful in many ways - I have a progressively bad cold, the outlaw is here, and then there's the whole housing/work stuff going on.So here I am, lying in bed on a Sunday morning watching... Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog
So here I am, lying in bed on a Sunday morning watching TV when I'd normally be at church, and they start talking about "Back to Church Sunday" which loads of churches are partaking in this week.

The idea is that churches encourage their congregations to invite a friend to the service on this one Sunday of the year (usually linked to the start of a huge country-wide Alpha course starting.

Anyway, I'm really quite shocked by what the people on this programme had to say about it - all of them claiming to be "non-religious". It seems the general consensus is that this is just a big ploy to raise church funds and get more weddings (i.e. money) back into the church. One guy even suggested that Christians were "trying to take the church outside of the church building, which makes the whole thing pointless". Another presenter suggested that in the future we may even see "Bishops dressed up as batman" to try to raise the church's profile.

I mean, really? A bishop, being normal, even "fun" - heaven forbid!! (lol)

My concern - Is this really what people think about Christians (and the church in general) - that we're all just money grabbing morons?

They also, later in the programme, happened to mention that next week is "national smile week" which they're all really positive about!!

So the moral of Sunday morning TV: Forget Church, just keep smiling!! 

EXCELLENT!! (not)
]]> The lifeboat... tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.837 2008-09-27T18:51:32Z 2008-09-27T19:03:52Z Have you ever heard the story of a guy, trapped on his roof after his whole street gets hit by a major flood - Being a Christian, he prays that God would save him. Some time later a lifeboat comes... Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog Have you ever heard the story of a guy, trapped on his roof after his whole street gets hit by a major flood - Being a Christian, he prays that God would save him. Some time later a lifeboat comes past, offers to help, and the man replies "no, God's gonna save me!!" Then a helicopter flies by and offers to help, but the guy says the same again, after 4 declined offers of rescue, the guy falls from the roof and drowns. On getting to the pearly gates, The man asks God, "Why didn't you save me?" to which God replies "What do you mean? I sent you a lifeboat, a helicopter....".

So, what does that have to do with anything, I hear you ask...

Well, we've been asking God for a while now to help us with the whole housing thing, and it kinda feels that over the last week or so, we've been offered a lifeboat and now a helicopter.

I can't really say much about the lifeboat, but the helicopter is an offer of a rent-free 2 bedroom house just down the road. It's really quite an unbelievable offer, but still means committing to Rugby for the forseeable future, rather than the planned move to Coventry.

The big question is, is this God trying to help us, or a cunning ploy of the other guy to keep us out of Coventry?

And can we really risk the potential of drowning when I'm still on a 6 month probation period at YFC?

As usual, your thoughts are really appreciated on this one, as we need to make a decision (again) pretty quick smart.

I'll keep you posted!!

]]> The Bob Entwhistle Fan Club... tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.832 2008-09-23T19:47:04Z 2008-09-23T20:08:23Z Last year, I had the immense privilege of meeting possibly the funniest guy you've never heard of, Bob Entwhistle. Now that's not his real name, but I figure if I tell you his real name, then that'd be like... Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog Bob EntwhistleLast year, I had the immense privilege of meeting possibly the funniest guy you've never heard of, Bob Entwhistle. Now that's not his real name, but I figure if I tell you his real name, then that'd be like adversiting or something, and that's not allowed (in my head).

 

Anyway, if you have an event that you'd like some fun-clean comedy at, you should track this guy down. He really is a comedy genius. I may even have to start a facebook fan page. who knows!!

So, here I am, sitting drinking a chilled glass of homebrew, thinking about life, and wondering if it would be really bad to start on yet another bar of dairy milk. I decided to write a blog entry with loads of cool thoughts in it, but ended up just writing driville(*sp) about nothing really.

I think I'll give up and try again tomorrow.

Sorry (i really did have quite a lot to talk about, too).

]]> We have all the time in the world... tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.817 2008-09-18T08:44:32Z 2008-09-18T10:17:02Z Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog
And the conclusion I've come to is that "people don't like to be hurried". If there we're no deadlines or pressure from people to get stuff done, then maybe everything would fall into the "optional stuff" category and then everything would fit in its proper place and get done in good time.

Or maybe we'd just never do ANYTHING!!

Who knows?

(*obviously the above lists are just totally random items that bear no real resemblance to the actual stuff I'm talking about - I just picked them out of the air, honest!!)
]]> Imortal, Invisible? tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.816 2008-09-18T08:37:10Z 2008-09-18T08:43:20Z On the way back from somewhere (I honestly can't remember where we'd been) last week, Zak started talking to us about Jesus, which obviously we were both quite excited about. He asked us various questions, about how Jesus could be... Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog
He asked us various questions, about how Jesus could be everywhere and yet we can't see him. I thought we explained it quite well - all about the wind, and how you can't see it, but you can see it's effects in the moving trees etc. And the Zak told us something that we found quite comical...

"But dad, I don't want Jesus to be invisible, cos what if I bump into him and fall over and hurt myself?"

I soooo love listening to our kids trying to explain away the universe in a way that only kids can do. It's amazing to be a part of!!
]]> Zak's first day!! tag:www.realyouth.net,2008:/weblog//3.814 2008-09-17T09:42:18Z 2008-09-17T09:42:18Z IMG_1789 Originally uploaded by realyouth Zak is officially a schoolboy. It's all a bit scarey really - suddenly we're bound by school terms and all that jazz. It's nice though that he clearly looked so excited about the idea... Jon Mills http://www.realyouth.net/weblog
IMG_1789
Originally uploaded by realyouth Zak is officially a schoolboy. It's all a bit scarey really - suddenly we're bound by school terms and all that jazz.

It's nice though that he clearly looked so excited about the idea of school.

2 weeks on, and he's actually loving it, which is excellent. Boy, has this last month seen it's fair share of new beginnings!!
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