Hong Kong Looms

4 days to the kickoff of the 2007 HK 7's... and what a tournament this year's promises to be.

It seems the whole of Fiji is gearing up for this weekend, with many supermarkets selling Fiji flags and various patriotic paraphernalia in preparation for the event. I have taken my Fiji Rugby jersey out of mothballs and am having it washed ready for 3 days of serious 7's immersion.

I am doing this because I am in dire need of some serious sporting distraction, having now pretty much lost hope in the Waratahs making anything of their 2007 S14 season. With the Sharks (playing at home more like minnows) going down to the Brumbies over the weekend, the Blues now are clear leaders at the top of the S14 table. I couldn't think of a worse trend developing mid-way through the season. Hopefully the Crusaders (with the All Blacks back in the squad) will firm up to make the semi's - and account for the Blues, as they are easily capable of, with Dan Carter and Richie McCaw leading the charge.

Worse, the ICC World Cup has been overshadowed by Bob Woolmer's murder, and the average sports fan (such as myself) would probably prefer to mentally move on to something a little more positive and pleasant.

So that leaves only the rest of the IRB 7's season, and the IRB Rugby World Cup in France later this year to look forward to - leaving aside the Netball World Cup of course.

In HK, Fiji will need to win to move to the top of the ladder in this year's IRB series and put itself in a commanding position to finish with a flourish, making it 2 seasons in a row. A loss in the finals will still leave Fiji in contention, but anything less than this will make it quite a testy and stressful finish for the remaining 3 or so tournaments... heaven forbid ! I think I have had quite a few sporting shocks for one year ... and this stuff was supposed to be relaxing !

Go Fiji Go !

Miscellaneous

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post, and a few things have happened.

First, Just reading David's blog - he's having the time of his life down in Africa ! Great going Dave,, good on you mate !

My Super 14 tipping season is in the dog house at the moment - I've only managed to tip 7/21 or an average of 33% for the 3 rounds so far ! I am down to 15,075 / 16,630 tipsters World wide... pretty bad. I will need to start redeeming myself over the next 11 weeks or face months of ribbing until next season.

On the gadget front, I have been keeping an eye out for a replacement for my trusty i-mate Jam. This year my i-mate jam will turn 2, and although cutting edge at the time I purchased it - it's now a little dated even though it still accommodates most of my requirements. During a recent trip abroad I had an opportunity to get my hands on HTC's newer range of PDA pocket PC phones, and took a good look at the TyTn and other GPS capable phones.

I have pretty much made up my mind that I will upgrade later this year to the yet to be released HTC Kaiser. This will allow me access to "Blackberry-like" push email and 3G browsing via my new CDMA/EVDO home and mobile broadband internet subscription service, whilst simultaneously receiving cell phone calls via GSM from my cell phone service provider. This phone is possibly the ultimate work tool and frankly, I can't think of a single feature that I would want that it doesn't have. It's an amazing piece of technology for the form factor and portability it boasts. With a few 2GB Micro SD cards loaded you could almost toss out your laptop.

HTC is emerging as THE premier Global OEM manufacturer of PDA/Smartphones, and have simply an awesome lineup prepared for this year, which should stretch their market leadership position even further. Check it out.

Stormers Post Fast !

I have just finished watching the Blues end the Crusaders 3 year domination of NZ S14 teams, and wanted to check out results and how tipsters placed on our "KeltonFiji" tipping comp at Footytips.com.au.

None of the major websites had posted the match stats or results immediately following the game, except for the Stormers (in South Africa) website .

Amazing !

Check it out.

Uncle Archie Home Free

Uncle Archie Underwood passed away Friday night in his sleep. He was 71. He had a good run, although towards the end of his life he suffered from disabilities brought on by diabetes.

Uncle Archie was an AOG pastor at the time of his death. Solid with the Lord. He would have woken up on Saturday morning for breakfast in Heaven, which is a whole lot better than waking up for breakfast in Lautoka!

I will miss his prayers and periodic phone calls, which served as gentle reminders to stay 'on track'.

He's in a much better place now, and no doubt overwhelmed with all the catching up with long lost friends and family, and meeting the heroes of old he spent a lifetime thinking and preaching about.

He will now be able to daily bask and immerse himself in the physical presence of the Lord.

We may mourn his absence from among us, but we should also celebrate his success and joy in having fought the good fight, finishing his work and claiming the crown reserved for him.

I imagine he's not missing any of us one bit !

Uncle Arch - we'll be seeing you soon ...

Super 14 - Opening weekend

It's that time of the year again ...17 weeks of sheer bliss !

This year I'm running a Tipping Comp for the Super 14 Season at: http://www.footytips.com.au/ .

Joining "FootyTips" is free ... and it's well worth a look.

My picks for the opening weekend :-

Blues to beat Crusaders
Western Force to beat Higlanders
Waratahs to beat Lions
Chiefs to beat Brumbies
Hurricanes to beat Reds
Sharks to beat Bulls
Stormers to beat Cheetahs

Cheers.

Getting Myself Online

...Hey !

I've decided to set up a personal blog after catching myself daily looking up cousin David's blog , checking out news of his travels in East Africa.

It's a good thing. I imagine it would keep the brain ticking over, and one's writing skills at least roughly tuned.

I had tried to setup a family blog earlier, but no one seems to have taken an interest in keeping this updated. Not totally a waste of effort or the family domain name though, as it could be useful later for making "official announcements".

I guess you differentiate between a "family blog" and a "personal blog" by the fact that you can't really say some things you want to in a family blog, without dragging every one else along with you - "tarring them with the same brush" - if you like.

...So here goes ... from now on - my observations (strictly personal to me of course) on things of interest that I happen across from time to time.

Cheers.