Brett's blog

Whats in a name?

Five Interesting Facts about my name - BRETT MCINTYRE from http://www.isthisyour.name/brett_mcintyre.htm

1. 23% of the letters are vowels. Of one million first and last names we looked at, 96.1% have a higher vowel make-up. This means it is poorly envoweled.

2. In ASCII binary it is... 01000010 01110010 01100101 01110100 01110100 00100000 01001101 01100011 01001001 01101110 01110100 01111001 01110010 01100101

3. Backwards, it is Tterb Erytnicm... nice ring to it, huh?

4. In Pig Latin, it is Ettbray Intyremcay.

5. People with this first name are probably: Male. So, there's a 98% likelihood they sweat just thinking of the price of shaver blades.

Check out some fun facts for your own name at: http://www.isthisyour.name/

Community Spirit

AAC

When we moved back to Australia in 2000, the kids had little English language and we worried over how they would fit in to the local community and culture. Through their schooling, acceptance by the local community and making many friends , they have developed into great kids with a love for this community. One institution that has played a major role  has been the Australian Army Cadets that the boys joined about three years ago without any prompting from us (parents).

Their participation in the 128th ACU has increased their community spirit and personal confidence level. Both boys achieved rank with Willy becoming a lance corporal and then a full corporal and Sam becoming a lance corporal. First-aid, navigation, bush skills, leadership development, discipline and responsibility have seen the boys take out some awards and play a part in many community activities. They have been in honour guards at all the Anzac days, Remembrance days and Vietnam Veterans days since joining up. They have also undertaken many training courses with the Army at the Enoggera and Greenslopes base in Brisbane and had a lot of fun as well.

Brothers

League Day Out

Being a Rugby League follower and a great fan of the Brisbane Broncos, I was very happy to take up a friends offer of going to the final Broncos game for this year to see them play the Canberra Raiders, another team I follow. My friend who attends regularly could not go that week and so for $50 I was able to go with my football mad son and daughter.

The game was extra special apart from being the last home game, several of the Broncos players were leaving retiring after long careers, the team needed to win the game to make the finals, it was the 20th anniversary of the Brisbane Broncos and it gave me a chance to see for the first time the new stadium that replaced the old Lang park stadium. With free train transport to Brisbane provided for all ticket holders I jumped at the chance.

The game proved to be a real nail biter but the Broncos came through making a fantastic day out for myself and a couple of football mad kids. The Stadium is a fantastic venue and is a credit to Brisbane.

18th Wedding Anniversary

August 15th - our anniversary, a chance for a cheap accommodation package and we were on a quick 2 day retreat with the kids to coolum just to relax and chill out.

Coolum 07

QotD: Courage Under Fire

Tell us about a time when you were brave. 
Submitted by Hops.

In 1999 I was living in Thailand with my family at a place called Sanpatong in the North of Thailand. I had been living in Thailand since 1990 and worked managing a camera lens factory in Lumphun. About 120 meters behind our house was a fruit factory that was owned by a Taiwanese company. They had been maturing fruit with the use of hundreds of tons of fertilizes and this exploded when somebody dropped a cigarette butt where they should not have been smoking. The explosion was felt 8kms away, levelled over 400 houses and caused damage to buildings up to a 5km radius. Over 40 people were killed and hundreds injured. We lost most of the house and the children were  slightly injured but we later found out that we were lucky  because a Temple that was between us and the factory blocked some of the blast.

After the explosion occurred I got my family to a sport oval near the house for evacuation and medical attention and was then told that there would probably be more explosions because of the stored fertilizer. Myself and my neighbours decided to go back anyway as there were still many people injured and unaccounted for. We worked all that day helping rescue services and for the next week while my wife and kids were with our relatives I stood watch over the remains of our house to deter looters and tour buses from Bangkok that arrived every 10 minutes..

In August 2000 I returned to Australia after nearly 11 years to make a new home. Missing a train bombing in 1989, taking cover under a car in Sanam Luang from gunfire during the coup in 1992, evacuating from shellfire while working near the Burmese border,  a serious road accident for my son in 1994, Dengue fever in 1998 and finally the explosion was enough to send me back to Australia  from my wife's home country and a place that I had at the time spent about a third of my life.

You can be brave when you are single but that changes with family responsibilities. We still visit every few years or so and will eventually retire there.

Debris

Amporn Becomes an Aussie

Citizen Amporn

My wife Amporn  has finally made it to become a proud member of the family of Australian citizens. After 18 years of marriage, 3 children and seven years living in Australia, Amporn was sworn in as an Aussie on the 10th of July.
Not really any extra benefits than she had as a permanent resident but more responsibilities and she can at least now have a vote and carry an Australian passport. The extended family as well as our children were there to watch and celebrate with her.

My apologies for the poor video footage but the lighting was terrible and you know, camera phones like the light.

Congratulations Amporn.

Drive - in Memories

The last few months have been very busy and I was looking for something relaxing to do with the family. Just of late I have had a couple of free tickets for the cinema, and while I was sitting in my luxurious cinema chair I started to think about those great days gone of the double feature at the drive in. I know in my area they have all disappeared but I thought maybe somewhere else in Australia there are some still open. So I searched the Internet and was at first disappointed  to learn that in the 1980's Australia had over 300 drive ins in operation but now only had about 20. Further research however gave me a name of a drive in at a place called Wonga just North West of Gympie in Queensland that was not only still open but was rated as one of Australia's best drive in experiences. A quick visit to Google maps and I soon discovered that this is only a 1 hour drive from where I live. Wow my kids will actually be able to experienced a real drive in!

The Wonga drive in is actually located on a piece of farmers land out in the middle of nowhere, and has been built by a guy out of parts he has bought from other closing drive ins all over the country. Even though he has done what we all dream about in opening a drive in in his back yard, don't get me wrong, this is no small time operation. He has two operational screens, a fully operational cafe that puts other drive ins to shame, a choice of window speakers or FM sound, rented chairs, swings for the kids and a cartoon before the double feature. Car loads are only $25 and the same movies that are currently showing at the cinema are being billed.

Wonga Drive in

Pictures courtesy of Wonga drive in website

Getting to the drive in was a bit of an adventure but with the use of my GPS we arrived right on opening time. Visiting the Cafe we found the food and confectionary was well priced and very well made. Burgers, hot dogs, choc top ice creams are all there as well as juke box and pinball. Deck chairs are available for $2 for those who wish to sit out in the open air. The owner is now making a third screen and field and plans to have a fourth in the future. As we settled in to watch the feature, I felt like it was 1982 and time had stood still. A mickey mouse cartoon and two features later we still had a 1 hour drive to home, but none of us cared as the experience at Wonga drive in makes it all worth while. Wonga has its own website and 24 hour information line. Visit www.wongadrivein.com.au for details.

Experience the Wonga Drive In

Familiy Origins From Accross the World

Memories

Recently my brother in law gave me a box of almost completely wrecked photos that are all that remain of his childhood memories. I offered to try and repair them. Whiling working on the photos I started to think about how many of these special memories are lost each year because we can not be bothered to look after them. I also started to think about how diverse families can be in their backgrounds and origins. My brother in laws family came to Australia in the 1950's from Italy. The father of my nephew is from South Africa. I was adopted but have been told that I probably have a central European father. I am married to a Thai. My adoptive mother has German heritage and my adoptive father Scottish. Working on the photos I also thought about the common thread that there is for all immigrants to all countries- a yearning for a better life, hard work and a reliance and appreciation of family. please watch the photo show but also think about your own family memories. protect the history you have and pass it on to the next generation. they will appreciate it.

Annes 9th Birthday

Anne's Super Birthday

Saturday, 17th of February 2007 was Anne's Birthday. On such an occasion she was determined to have the most fun a person can have in a single day.

The days events included shopping, ten pin bowling, playing cricket in the rain, eating out and of course a cake in the evening.

Here is a small video of Anne's super day with her super family!

Hope You Had A Great Day Anne!

BeachTime at Mudjimba Beach

What do Aussies and their dogs do in Summer in Australia?

Hit the Beach!

Even Jazz loves surfing almost as good as skateboarding.