Greatest Athlete of the Decade

It is the last week of the decade and so most publications are going to be full of teams/selections of the best. I am completely unsure which athlete to go for from both a New Zealand and world perspective. Vote in the columns down the side of this blog.

World

Tiger Woods
Roger Federrer
Michael Schumacher
Kobe Bryant
Usain Bolt
Hicham El Guerroj


New Zealand
Richie McCaw
Dan Carter
Valerie Vili
Evers-Swindell twins
Daniel Vettori
Nick Willis
Rob Waddell
Mahe Drysdale

Who do you think and why?

Christmas In Invers

We didn't get a white Christmas in Invers, but other than that it was largely a traditional time with family. The weather has been mild and I have had a few hits of tennis at the new flexipave courts at Waihopai. They are around the corner from my house so it has been a convenient source of entertainment and testing out my injured achilles.

I have noticed that people in Invers are unsure how to cope with the Christmas rush as queues and not being able to get a park directly outside their intended shopping stores have hit the city. The Boxing Day sales are even busier. I find Invers a great place for finding bargains as there are less other people to snap them up first and they have most stores down here. The Rebel Sport store for example is bigger than any Wellington store.

I have purchased a Southland Stags limited edition commemorative jersey which I have on in the photo. It is a regular jersey with the insignia of the Shield and the result from that amazing night on October 22nd. I also got my photo taken with the Shield.

My Dad actually plays a role at Christmas as Big Guy is the main Santa Claus in H and J Smith the main department store in Invers. He even got his photo on the front page of the Southland Times, while I get my presents delivered by an experienced giver.

This year I mainly got clothes and got even more at the Boxing Day sales. It is great to stock up at once and then not have to buy any more for another year.

As usual I have eaten like a king with mutton and turkey the meats of choice for lunch and chicken thrown in for our evening meal. I haven't had so many creamy desserts as I had this year, but have managed to go on some long walks through Queens Park and along the River Bank to help walk it off. Heaps of people drive places around Invers as there is hardly any traffic, yet the place is spreadout, but I reckon there are heaps of big people around because of this.

I am off on a daytrip to Dunners tomorrow to visit relatives and then I hit the North Island on the 29th in preparation for my first North Island New Years. The weather better come to the party!

Gingas and Building Safer Communities Together!

This card from Tesco stores in the UK, shows that gingas get it tough everywhere.
In case you missed the "Always blow on your pie" story it is explained in the video above. I wonder if blowing on a pie that has been in the warmer for 12 hours would make much difference?

Anyway, it has been busy times with Christmas parties, farewells and other gatherings. I keep seeing some of the same people at all the parties like Four weddings and a funeral. It has been a great chance to develop and start relationships as part of "Building Safer Communities Together" there has been heaps of chocolate but a lack of old pies!

I went to Where the Wild Things Are and found it disturbing. I didn't realise how scary some of the Wild Things would be. There were heaps of kids there, I am surprised there wasn't more crying.

I am saying goodbye to great friends Andy and Greer. They are two of my dearest friends in the world and I am disappointed, yet excited with their move to Blenheim. Since they got married they have been living the settled down lifestyle and now they have a chance to do that in provincial New Zealand. I am going to miss them though!

My achilles is feeling a bit better today. So despite scans and physiotherapy telling me to rest it, I may be forced to play touch tomorrow since my team is lacking numbers. Given it is the week before Christmas, people are graduating and others are at Christmas carols or overseas so it is no wonder we are tight for numbers.

I finish work on Friday and head for Invers on Monday. The harsh reality of Christmas being a week away is here. Ironically most of the shopping can wait until I hit Invers. They have all the stores but no queues!

A Hypothetical Dilemma for my Friend!

Here is a hypothetical situation that could take place in say an office environment. What do you do if someone from your office who you have very little to do with but is above you on the food chain writes an email from your work computer asking two middle aged female colleagues out for dinner who you also have very little to do with while you are away at a meeting? The culprit is leaving soon anyway. Talk about invasion of privacy though! I think the recipients must've known it was a joke as it happened a week ago and my friend had no idea. It makes me wonder what the heck? What do you think my friend should do? Maybe he should tell the boss, maybe nothing since the culprit is leaving, maybe it is a joke but an immature one at that. What about CCing him into the dinner invite. Another option could be while he was away, raiding the culprit's computer and returning the favour? What do you think?

Who Do You Want The All Whites To Play?

When the names get pulled out of a hat tomorrow, it will be interesting to see which pool we end up in for the World Cup starting in June next year. No pool will be easy and we are in the easy pot as one of the outsiders, so will not face any Asian or North/Central American sides. I would love to see us drawn to play either England (the motherland) or hosts South Africa (the worst team in Pot 1), in our pool. I fear we would get smoked by the other teams there.

Pot3 is probably going to have the team we could get a win from and I would probably like us to play Algeria or one of the South American sides. Algeria just scrapped in like us.

Pot 4 has some tough teams like France and Portugal, but a team like Greece, Slovenia or Slovakia are our best chance.

Pot 1 (seeds): South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England
Pot 2: New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, United States, Mexico, Honduras
Pot 3: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay
Pot 4: France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia

How it works: Every four-team group will comprise one team from each pot.

Ideally our pool would be
South Africa
New Zealand
Algeria
Slovenia

but it could quite possibly be

Brazil
New Zealand
Ivory Coast
France

That would be a long day at the office.

What group makeup do you want to see?

I Am No Striker But This Goes Beyond Belief

Rocky Baptiste miraculously missed an absolute sitter of a goal from two metres out. He could've walked it in! The Harrow Borough striker missed what could possibly be the easiest chance ever during a 5-3 win against Waltham Abbey.

In the video the 37-year-old manages to get past the final defender, move around the goalkeeper and get to within a few feet of the empty goal before somehow shanking the ball towards the lefthand corner flag.