Travbox

The death of Travbox

2008-02-25T18:31:00.002+11:00

After 3 years of great blogging, travbox will cease it's operations from today.
I have not lost any desire for blogging, i've just moved blogs.
This is my new blog.

It's part of SU's new website and i'll be blogging most days there.
See you in the blogosphere soon.

The pain threshold

2008-02-18T22:11:00.003+11:00

My friend talking to me the other day he was teaching me about how he develops volunteers from average reluctant followers to great leaders.

C n G reckons there are 4 boundaries that will stop you developing someone unless you overcome them.

Purpose: What is my purpose? If i am not clear about my purpose then i will not develop people. If i don't know where i'm going then why would anyone want to follow...why would people find my cause interesting when i am not clear or convinced by it. I will not recruit followers, I will not make leaders out of followers i don't have.

If i do not have a clear purpose. I will not attract let alone develop leaders.

Capable: Are they capable of becoming a leader? Base your decision on their capability not on you're prejudice. People often decide that people can't do things because their too old, young, inexperienced, to left or right, too loud in meetings, too softly spoken and because they drive a different car to you. Rather you should ask:

Can they comprehend a spoken word?
Can they feed themselves?
Can they speak a logical sentence?

...then there's no reason why they couldn't be a great leader.

If i don't believe in people i will not develop anyone

Fear: how afraid i am of this failing. How afraid i am of them failing.
What's the worst thing that could happen?
Will no one turn up?
Will someone cry?
Will this person have to be released from this role?

If our purpose really matters then the worst thing is not failing or being sacked the worst thing is not achieving your purpose.

If i am too scared of failing i will not develop anyone

Greed:
How much do i want this?
Do i need to do this more then the people i'm trying to help?

If i can't let it go then i'm a hog and i will not develop anyone

Closing thought:
We think that putting responsibility/pressure on volunteers scares them off....They're not giving up their time and money because they were hoping for things to be easy. They're volunteering because they care....and if you give them more reason to care then you shouldn't be suprised when they start sacrafricing and changing the way they live to step up to their potential as a vounteer leader.

Ouch!

2008-02-18T22:09:00.002+11:00

In 2003 when i ran lake wendouree i did it in 26 minutes. (it also had water in it then)

I haven't run much of late....it showed.....it took me 41 minutes to heave around the 6 k track.

Making the Most of it

2008-01-21T14:58:00.000+11:00

My 3 week adventure is nearly over, i've been to Warrnambool and Bendigo and now i'm off to Pyramid Hill in Northern Victoria to run a 2 day kids program.

Some awesome things have happened, but 3 things stick out to me.

1. God can make a huge difference with a very small gift.
Some of the teams had their best impact ever, but not with their best talent or best teams ever. This is not to say the worse the team the better the result. I think we should realise that from God's perspective all of our gifts are probably very small. I think he's interested in our heart toward him and our realiance on needing him.

2. God doesn't solve all your problems in 19 seconds.
I was so pleased particularly with Warrnambool mission because finally. FINALLY. We had a good number of locals on our team (about a third). 4 years ago we had none and i tried to get 10 locals on the team, i got none. The next year we got 4, then 7 and now we had approx 16. I'm not sure why we didn't experience breakthrough sooner and i'm not pleased that it took 4 years but i definately think i've gained something from the waiting and failure. Incidently i'm certainly more grateful for our Warrnambool friends then i would have been if they came along in the first year.

3. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now
...I like this quote...it reminds me that if you want a better world start working now with what you have and make the most of it. Dont live in negativity and critism of others, it doesn't help anyone. We can all start somewhere and i think the best time to start making a difference for God isn't when your ready or mature but right now.

I'm out of my mind until Jan 24

2008-01-01T13:00:00.000+11:00

Normally at this time of year i head away to Warrnambool to participate in Champion City and Ignite (Kids and teenage Christian programs with Scripture Union). Tommorrow i'm heading off to Warrnambool to again be involved in that, i'm very excited to be with a group of people who want to make a difference in the world with God.

....the people i'm going with are far from perfect Christians...most of them are very young Christians, some of them aren't as mature as they could be, some of them don't know as much about the Bible and God as many other Christians....

....But they've got a lot more heart then many other Christians....they're keen, motivated and willing to give up time and effort to make a difference.

....I wonder why Jesus picked a bunch of randoms to be his close followers....i suspect there were more suitable people around....but i've discovered often the suitable people are too busy doing important things to be following God.

...i'll be in Bendigo then Pyramid Hill doing pretty much the same thing the following 2 weeks.

....I won't be around until late January...I reckon this'll be a very exciting adventure the next 3 and a half weeks. Stressful and challenging probably...but God will be there and he'll energize me and motivate me and he'll make a difference that will last longer then me.

Prayer: Does it make any difference?

2007-12-26T16:02:00.001+11:00

I'm in Newcastle with Cara's family....i've seen dolphins and gone sailing but most of the time i've been sleeping in, watching cricket and being a lazy bum.

I was given a book for Christmas written by Phillip Yancey called Prayer: Does it make any difference

It's a thoughtful book....and the author included this Franciscan Benediction

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half truths and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression and exploitation of people
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
To turn their pain to joy

And May God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in this world
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor

Trav and Christop talk drugs

2007-12-17T21:58:00.000+11:00

Firstly i wrote some stuff to Christop:
i've been thinking a bit about it ...like is the best way to deal with the drug culture to push for tougher enforcement (i.e. John Howard style "Tough on drugs")? my friend who does drugs thinks education is a better way, although i'm not sure he's got the same goal in mind as me :)

Then Christop wrote some stuff back:
zero tolerance certainly scares people away from using particular drugs. People are less likely to use illicit drugs because they could get in trouble with the law. People are less likely to use illicit drugs because they can't be sure what they're putting in their bodies. People are less likely to use illicit drugs because of the shocking depictions of drug abuse in ads like these these .
However, zero tolerance doesn't stop people from using drugs, and is more often counterproductive. While it often discourages most people from using particular drugs, these are actually the people who aren't likely to use those drugs anyway. Zero tolerance actually that the people who are most likely to use particular drugs will be more likely to use them. For example, the television advertisements I linked to earlier and the posters in the photo I've attached will shock most people who see them, but for the people most at risk of becoming illicit drug users these kinds of sensationalist ads will actually work as advertisements for the drugs that they are meant to deter people from. The depiction of chaos and danger that deters a majority of the population, is a drawcard to others.

and then he said....
Zero tolerance is also counterproductive because it leaves production and distribution of particular drugs in the hands of criminals. One thing that would change if drugs such as heroin and methamphetamine were decriminalised would be the price of drugs. Retail prices of drugs would be much lower (and more stable) because the risk involved in producing and distributing an illicit drug would be eliminated. This would mean that users wouldn't have to spend every moment of their time trying to get money together for their next deal. It would mean that people who use these drugs wouldn't have to resort to other illegal activities such as theft, prostitution or drug dealing in order to pay for their drugs. Both of these factors would allow people who use these drugs to live more stable lives, and give them a much better chance of getting off the drugs.
The monopoly criminals currently have on the production and distribution of certain drugs also means that people don't know what the are using. The drugs they're using could be mixed with talcum powder or plaster or horse tranquilliser. As well as causing damage to people's veins (if they use introvenously) this can increase the risk of overdose. The uncertainty of what is actually being put into the user's body also increases stress, which helps to maintain the dependency.
Basically, I think that drug abuse should be treated less as a criminal issue, and more as a public health issue.

And then i said
hmmmm i understand what your saying about zero tolerance being a drawcard.
Those ads were certainly enough to put me off using ice (not a hard task mind you)
i'm sure i'm not the only one who'd feel uncomfortable about drugs being legalized but you make some good points about what would happen if they were legalized. I'll keep thinking about it, i haven't thought much about it before.

Raving Mad

2007-12-11T21:07:00.000+11:00

My blog is dying but not before i slam saturday night's rave party in Ballarat.

14 people were admitted to hospital on Saturday night after overdosing on drugs at the late night rave party held at Kryal Castle.

Emergency physician Dr Nigel Beck was there and said he had never seen a rave party like it.
Dr Beck said the carpark was awash with cheap drugs, and witnessed patrons smoking "ice", 50m from a police van.

"These events are out of control," he said yesterday.

BHS emergency medicine director Jaycen Cruickshank said sheer luck saved the hospital from activating its disaster plan.

"We saw 14 people come into the emergency department with drug overdoses, and that was in addition to about 25 people who came in with normal night-time illnesses and injuries," he said.

"If we had a car crash we would have been activating the hospital's disaster plan and calling in a whole bunch of us ... to come and deal with the consequences of an event scheduled to run in the middle of the night for profit."

In February 11 people overdosed at a rave at Kryal Castle.

I have a friend who went to the rave party who took drugs and who doesn't think it's a problem for people to take drugs. He thinks people have a right to take drugs because their not hurting anyone but themselves. I think he's an idiot and hasn't thought through any consequences his actions have on society.

Everyone who took drugs decided to go beyond what our society thinks is acceptable behaviour. When they overdose, it's society who has to deal with it. I'm glad my friend isn't dead, in hospital or in jail but i'm not please to see these events running.

Troubled Hero

2007-11-16T17:37:00.000+11:00

I want to be a hero

I want to save the day

I want to fight my battles

and the dragons I'm to slay

I will push and work

and take the hurt

until we win the day

But i have to be a hero

I need every bit of grace without delay

I want to be a hero

so that means I'll face my fear

but I'd rather act successful

even if it's insincere

I'll deflect the blame,

protect my name

and every thing's okay

coz i need to be a hero

i need every bit of grace without delay

I am not a hero

there's so many things that i can't do

your my hero

and I'm here to follow you

and i can call out to you in the middle of my strife

coz your my hero

you are my life

I have to be a hero

so I'll talk my way up high

I will climb the corporate ladder

moving up until i die

I will shout and stand

and I'll demand

you hear the words i say

coz I'm an image keeping hero

needing every bit of grace without delay

I cannot be a hero

the world i cannot save

I cannot face battles

All alone I'm not that brave

I need your help and trust

or I'll go bust in every single way

coz I'm a troubled weary hero

needing every bit of grace without delay

I am not a hero

there's so many things that i can't do

your my hero

and I'm here to follow you

and i can call out to you in the middle of my strife

coz your my hero

you are my life

Life Questions.

2007-11-15T11:02:00.001+11:00

Statement 1: I don't expect my life to always be awesome, secretly i seem to think it ought to be at least in range of pleasant.

Statement 2: It's like i have this thermostat for life (life-o-stat)and so when i'm going through difficulty or hardship, i expect that the law of averages should return it to pleasant, where life ought to be.

Question: Do i expect life to be set to pleasant?

Theory 1: I don't think it all balances out. Life can go from average to difficult to hardship back to difficult before tradegy.

Theory 2: I suspect that God isn't a salesman offerring faith as an exchange for a life that's set to awesome or even pleasant.

Theory 3: I suspect that God interested in something bigger then upping my life-o-stat.

Question 2: Am i expecting God to make my life pleasant?

Question 3: Did God ever promise that?

Pondering 1: I suspect that a better world one where everyone is valued, everyone has a voice, everyone is free to contribute to a fair society is more important then whether i'm pleasant or otherwise.

Theory 4: Choosing to be close friends with God doesn't guarantee tragedy or awesomeness but many prefer a pleasant life to a life with God.

Statement 3: In the Bible God told Moses that his people could go to the promise land but God wasn't going. Moses said if God wasn't going then neither was he.

Statement 4: Moses could have had the more pleasant life in the promise land but prefferred the hard life of the desert. Moses wanted to know God more then having a comfortable life.

Question 4: Am i like Moses, do i want God more then a comfortable life?

Question 5: Am i okay with the idea that if i follow God completely there is no deal that i'll experience awesome, great or pleasant predominantly in life. Am i okay with the idea that my life might have more challenges as a result of being a follower of God?

The Race that stops our values

2007-11-06T20:16:00.000+11:00

On Monday Kevin Rudd pledged 150 million dollars to halve homelessness in 5 years.

On Tuesday Australia pledged 160 million dollars to a horse race.

Is it fair to blame our governments for social problems that are ultimately caused by our greed?

Meaning doesn't pay the bills

2007-10-26T09:33:00.000+10:00

Trav: I could be a teacher and continue to help kids academically succeed and therefore economically succeed. Compared to my current job it would be financially more rewarding but in terms of meaning far less rewarding.

Friend: But meaning doesn't pay the bills

According to Cara susages were still legal tender in east germany until 1990. I don't see why meaning shouldn't be a currency of some value.

Most people tend to put the economic factors about work first: How much they earn, future career prospects. No wonder a lot of the wake up broke for meaning in 5 years time. I think about my job in terms of what it contributes to society. The work i do makes a big deal of difference for the young people who encounter it.

Friend: Would you tell your kids to do uni?

Trav: Uhhhh

Friend: your unsure?

Trav: Just trying to visualize my kids, they're a rowdy bunch...I would encourage them to do work that makes a positive contribution to society (a job that helps people) and that they find meaningful.

Unlike the federal election, i don't believe everything rests on economy.

Fear Factor

2007-10-23T12:24:00.000+10:00

Hi Ross
I've been thinking a lot about your sermon about fear and how it affects us. My biggest fear is failure and it's a strong reason why i'm so driven to succeed.

I was picked on in primary school, not much more then many kids. I had the standard amount of bullying i feel. I was small and i found it very difficult to make friends and felt excluded a lot. I couldn't fight back (i was 2 foot tall!) and i struggled to make friends so the only way i could fight back was to channel my energy towards running.

I would run everyday in later primary school. I would run laps at lunch time and i would run after school. By the time i was in year 8 i was faster then anyone in my high school. Running and sport gave me an identity and a way of not failing. I always feared being exposed as a failure and i expend much energy on ensuring this never happens.

When I started to follow God with some intensity (when i was about 15) I brought to my faith the same desire to succeed (and not wanting to fail) that i had grown up with. I threw myself into church ministry with the same drive and intensity that i brought to running. This is how i got to be a staff worker with SU when i was 20.

I've been noticing about myself that i don't have a large amount of empathy for people. In the past when people have stood between me and success i would flatten them. I could cause great pain to well meaning people and not feel a thing. I'm noticing that when a friend of mine is distressed i have great difficulty feeling their sorrow, I can mentally understand their hardship but feel as if my emotions are a hundred miles away. I think whenever i faced bullying or sorrow as a child i chose to shut down my emotions and be strong, i would run and be tough. I've spent a large part of my life shutting down my emotions it seems.

I find it remarkable that my actions as a 23 year old can be very distinctly affected by things that happened when i was 6-7.

So thanks for saying what you said, it's been helpful to me.
Trav

Extraordinary Feats

2007-10-18T00:12:00.000+10:00

We will not achieve extraordinary feats through ordinary means.

It occurs to me that within most of us is a desire to do something extraordinary, for some of us it dies but many of us have dreams we long to see fulfilled. I watch people approach grand dreams with an regular amount of effort, a standard amount of commitment, a medium level of audacity and an average supply of perservance. I think people do have dreams but don't want to paid the expensive cost to see their dream realised.

Jesus said something i think about a lot:
"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

It reminds me to consider what my dream will cost me and whether i'm prepare to make the expensive sacrafrices. Many people through history have achieved great feats but none through ordinary means.

I hear voices...

2007-10-15T09:33:00.000+10:00

I was at home the other night, my housemates were out, it was quiet and i was having tea.

I heard a voice say "Hello"

I looked up but couldn't see anyone so i kept eating.

I heard the voice again saying "Hellllooooo"

I called out "Hello!" and waited....there was no response. The voice sounded close but i couldn't see anyone. I gripped my fork tightly waiting for the onset of my attacker.

nothing happeneded for a few minutes as i sat there tense. Just as i relaxed the voice said "What are you doing!"

"Who the hell is it!" I got up and started checking rooms and cupboards. (Why did i check the cupboards for strange sounding voices?...not sure...when you start hearing weird voices you'll know not to check cupboards)

I rang outside armed with my fork....ready to take on and if necessary eat my attacker.

It's hard to fight an attacker you can't see. I walked back into the house and i heard the voice again!

The voice wasn't just in my head ...it was on my housemates computer. He had a skype conversation through his computer and left the house without turning off the conversation...as a result his friend was asking "Hello" "Helllloooo" "What are you doing?"

always have a fork handy in case you hear voices.

A philosophical issue (classic trav)

2007-10-10T14:41:00.000+10:00

When it comes to uni i'm a bit ...careless really. I don't take a lot of notice about my enrolements and all that...i usually just expect it'll work itself out.

I'm in 3rd and 4th year. The 4th years were away on rounds during term 3 and the third years away in term 4. I'm at uni doing 3rd year subjects when they are present and in 4th year subjects when they are present.

At the start of semester i'm enrolled in this subject called philosophy. I knew the teacher but he was suprised to see me and said i wasnt on the roll....i assumed it was a mistake and he wrote my name down. I didn't know anyone but that's not unusual. Each week he kept marking me off...marking my assignments...and i never got around to check if i was enrolled. I was on WebCT so no dramas i thought.

Anyway on monday the 4th years were back! and they said "Barnesy you wagged philosophy last wednesday"
I was a tad suprised as i didn't know there was a 4th year philosophy subject. "It's all good barnesy we let you join our group for the presentation, just turn up on wednesday to the lecture and tutorial"

I could have checked with someone, but i figured i'd been enrolled in a subject i didn't know about and thought i'd turn up. Now i'm doing 2 philosophy subjects: a 3rd year and a 4th year. I turned up to the lecture and it sounded very similar to a lot of the content i'd been doing in the 3rd year philosophy subject. I assumed it was revision for the 4th years.

The lecture was easy coz i'd heard this stuff just weeks earlier and i wandered into the tute group and then i noticed something was odd

In 3rd year philosophy they did presentations, debates and wrote reflections. In 4th year they had the same structure but also all their work was on the same content. Today there was a presentation that was identical to one i'd been to 6 weeks ago, the homework tasks were the same as well.

Confused i asked a friend in 4th year whether he did a philosophy class in third year but he looked blanky at me. I asked the lecturer about it, she looked at me dumbfounded when i told her i'd been going to this 3rd year philosophy class.

Lecturer: "Travis did you notice that their aren't any P.E students in that subject"

Travis: "Oh......OH! their all human movement students!"

Lecture: "You didn't notice?"

Travis: "Well ...i'm pretty used to not knowing anyone in class so not really"

I was not doing 2 different philosophy subjects, I was doing 2 philosophy subjects that were identical and attending the one i wasn't enrolled in. The poor course coordinator is "working something out for me"

Who wants a plasma?

2007-10-08T21:55:00.000+10:00

Today the blood lady rang me up

Blood Lady: Travis i'm ringing to see whether you'd consider making a plasma donation instead of a whole blood donation.

Fortunately i possess great anatomical understanding of the circulatory system and know that blood is made up of 4 components: Red and White Blood Cells, Plasma and Platlets.

Travis: Uhhhh.....how does one take plasma (at this point i'm certain it involves injections through the eyeballs)

Blood Lady: We simply take blood as usual and separate the red blood cells from the plasma and then pump the red blood cells back into your blood stream.

Travis: Uhhh....alright i'll give it a go.

Surely i won't die....i mean if i did die i'm sure it would make newspapers.
"Christians blood sacrafrice"

Go back and do it right

2007-10-04T16:58:00.001+10:00

Today i finished my sociology assignment, it was hard but it's finished and i'm pleased.
2 years ago i did sose but found this assignment too hard to do. I had other exciting things going on in my life which played a role in my not doing the assignment then. Unlike most of the subjects i've done i understand Sociology really well. After 2 goes of it, i guess that's to be expected.

What a weekend.

2007-10-02T11:16:00.000+10:00

Rock Solid Kidz is over and it was huge. It went really well. Then i was able to watch 2 games of football, with great success!

Rock Solid Kidz

2007-09-21T09:57:00.001+10:00

Today i'm going away on a mission trip. Notably i'm not going more then 10 minutes from my house as the mission is running in Ballarat.

Rock Solid Kidz is a free holiday program for primary school aged kids and it aims to tell them about who God is. This year's theme is called God in action, we want kids to know God is interested in them and positive about them, not far away and angry. :)

Mission starts this weekend and finishes the following weekend. Finishing just in time to see Geelong win a flag.

23 and Trav's on a spree

2007-09-17T12:25:00.000+10:00

I'm 23 on tuesday and i'm very excited. Now that i'm reaching a point where i'm very close to finishing uni, i'm about to be freed up to give more energy to things that i care about.

"Go back and do it right"
This is what i've been thinking a lot about this year. People make mistakes, the important issue is how we respond to making mistakes. We can become too scared to ever be daring again, we can play life safely and avoid failure. I'm pretty sure the goal of life is not to avoid failure. God made me with a potential to grow toward and im not going to get there without failure.

For me going back to uni was a case of going back and doing it right. Finishing what i haven't finished. Sticking at things i don't normally stick at. As i get older I'll keep gaining experience which will help, unfortunately lots of people loose their passion as they gain experience.

I want to keep my enthusiam in the face of failure.

The Test

2007-09-11T10:18:00.000+10:00

A month ago i swam the 400 meters in 18 minutes. I needed to swim in under 11 minutes in order to pass. Today was the test and i passed in 10 minutes 45 seconds. I am pleased...i will celebrate by not going swimming for the rest of the week.

I broke 11 minutes.

2007-09-06T14:40:00.000+10:00

Aug 13 18 minutes
Aug 15 15 minutes
Aug 21 14 minutes
Aug 22 13 minutes
Aug 27 14 minutes
Aug 28 12 minutes 30 seconds
Aug 29 12 minutes 20 seconds
Aug 30 12 minutes 10 seconds
Aug 31 12 minutes 30 seconds
Sept 2 11 minutes 45 seconds
Sept 3 11 minutes 10 seconds
Sept 4 11 minutes 10 seconds
Sept 5 11 minutes 30 seconds
Sept 6 10 minutes 45 seconds

"God gives me the strength to face anything" -The Bible (Philipians 4:13)

Footy Tipping Defeat.

2007-09-03T11:03:00.000+10:00

Hello Brad, it appears congratulations are in order for your victory in footy tipping.
I'm pretty sure i'll be down at SU next week or the week after with the famous trophey.
Glad you beat Kylie, I wouldn't have enjoyed giving it back to her.
Trav

Sadly i was not able to defend my footy tipping title in 2007. The trophey is returning home after a year in Ballarat. Brad managed to just hang on to win his first footy tipping title.

After i take the trophey to the engraving place this week it will read:

2005: Kylie
2006: Travis
2007: Brad

Pre-season begins soon i'm looking forward to stopping Brad going back to back.

11 minutes here i come!

2007-09-02T23:26:00.000+10:00

My quest to swim 400 meters medley in 11 minutes continues. Today i broke 12 minutes for the first time.

Aug 13 18 minutes
Aug 15 15 minutes
Aug 21 14 minutes
Aug 22 13 minutes
Aug 27 14 minutes
Aug 28 12 minutes 30 seconds
Aug 29 12 minutes 20 seconds
Aug 30 12 minutes 10 seconds
Aug 31 12 minutes 30 seconds
Sept 2 11 minutes 45 seconds

My test is in 8 days from now. Recently i've taken to swimming the 400 meters and then doing it again which is painful really. Another painful part is when you hit your head on the end of the pool.

Video Blogging

2007-08-29T00:02:00.000+10:00

Blogger now do video's so i'm testing it. This video is from last year on a camp where i am dared to have a photo taken at 1am in front of the leader's cabin holding an airhorn.

2 things i didn't know

1. My friends were taking a video not a photo

2. My friends had a 2nd airhorn which they let off!

I ran away

Life is not a montage

2007-08-27T17:03:00.000+10:00

Since i last blogged I led church singing, moved house, played 500 til 1am, discovered how awesome nutalla is, threw a lot of stuff out, purchased 14 tins of spaghetti, learnt to triple jump, had lunch in a cementary and spent the weekend planning for Ballarat Mission.

Aug 13 18 minutes
Aug 15 15 minutes
Aug 21 14 minutes
Aug 22 13 minutes
Aug 27 14 minutes

My 400 meters of swimming is going okay but all the nutalla slowed me down a bit today.

Goodbye Vickers St

2007-08-22T08:22:00.000+10:00

Last week i too decided to move house so today is my last day in vickers street, i've been there for the last 3.5 years.

I'm moving to Mt Clear with some uni boys tommorrow.

The Class of Vickers Street

2004
Travis
Kev [Liked painting, english soccer and david letterman]
Sam [Chinese, liked rolling his own smokes and noodles!]
John [Liked cooking fish, fire fighting and george bush]

2005
Travis
Ryan [Liked fire fighting, big brother, house meetings]
Av [liked frozen plastic dinner boxes, graphic design, sunbury]
Jase [liked KFC, philosophical non serious debate, drinking]

2006
Travis
Av [Av fell in love with myspace in 2nd year and gladwrap after Jase and i covered his room]
Jase [taught us to play poker in 2nd year]
Josh [Thank God your here, Footy Stats, Taekwondo, (occassional) jogging]

2007
Travis
Jase [Got a full time job, moved out in May]
Michelle [Big Brother, very committed student, moved out start of august]
Amy [Neighbours, talking, moving out this weekend]

and the all star team? Definately the class of 2006.

Keep Trying Travis

2007-08-21T13:30:00.000+10:00

Today i continued my quest to swim the 400 meters medley faster. Good news! i was completely wrong about the 6 minute thing. 6 minutes is 100% 11 minutes is a pass. I think saturday's pies are slowing me down.

Aug 13 18 minutes

Aug 15 15 minutes

Aug 21 14 minutes

Meat the Groom

2007-08-19T20:10:00.000+10:00

On Saturday it was my brother Craig's wedding.

What would you want half hour before your wedding? On the way to the wedding we made a short stop at a petrol station to get: Pies!

The night before the wedding we had a meat pie pizza, which wasn't that nice. But while Craig was getting dressed on saturday we wrapped up the pizza box and gave it to him as a present.

Paddling to greatness...

2007-08-15T14:02:00.000+10:00

Today i swam the 400 meter medley again aiming to get 6 minutes. I improved slightly.

Aug 13: 18 minutes
Aug 15: 15 minutes

Sick of Surviving

2007-08-13T17:44:00.000+10:00

Today i hit the pool to train for my life saving class.

In order to pass i need to swim 400 meters (100 meters each of free style, breast stroke, survival side stroke and survival back stroke) in 6 minutes

Aug 13 2007: I completed 400 meters in no less then 18 minutes. Oh dear.

Trav wins big brother

2007-08-13T12:03:00.001+10:00

Last night Amy told me she is moving out just like Michelle and Jase already have.

I now have the house to myself but i'm not sure what i'll do, i'm pretty calm about it. I'm sure God will work out somewhere suitable to live.

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs."-Jesus (Matt 6:31-32)

Does the end justify the means?

2007-08-07T11:44:00.000+10:00

"If Mr Rudd would have become a prime minister of Australia, I think we have a pretty clear idea that old jellyback would just do what the media said. And actually that's not the best way... to run a country."-Alexander Downer

sadly, the present Liberal Government's acknowledged reputation is for doing the very thing Menzies warns against — inventing policy or adopting often last-minute, popular, attention-grabbing, short-term issues that can and do secure election results.-Dr Robert Dean

I find politics pretty interesting but also pathetic. Most of the time politicans are just trying to gain power or hold power and they'll make any promise required to get power. I'm sure some politicans make promises that they don't believe in just to get power.

Which is flawed because what's the point in getting power if you've promised do to something you don't believe in. Power is the end and seemingly the means is irrelevant. I would love to vote for someone who cared more about what they stood for then power itself. That's a very rare comodity indeed.

The feeling of failure

2007-08-05T22:14:00.001+10:00

No matter what i do in life,
not everyone will be happy with it or agree.
Not everyone will understand my motivation for doing it.
Some of these people will know me well.

People will say things about me that are not fair
and i won't get the chance to defend myself.
Some will think i'm a hero, others a villian and some will swap between the two.

I will stand in a room before my enemies.
They will point at my mistakes and my poor character.
Their accusations will be correct.
But i'll keep following God anyway
and let them do the commentary.

I will stand in a room before my supporters,
who clap and loudly cheer.
I know the mistakes i've made through geniune error and through selfish agenda.
I know i've done some things right as well.
I'll be thankful that God still likes me and still wants to use me.

When i fail i'll try and see God's viewpoint on it.
When i succeed greatly i'll try to do the same.
Realising that both success and failure are imposters.
We can gain much through failure and lose much in success.

Trav's Big Brother House

2007-08-03T11:21:00.000+10:00

Michelle is moving out of the house, becoming the second person to move out this year

(i really am a good person to live with :) honest)

Only 2 left in the house.

Sink or Swim

2007-07-31T11:49:00.000+10:00

Today i learn't a new way to not look as bad at swimming. As soon as the teacher says "Begin your warm up" i run to the pool jump in the immediately begin swimming. This is an effective method because by the time my fellow class mates get into the pool and complain about the temperature of the water and how early in the morning it is (9am) i've done 1 and a half laps.

If i use this method i will still come last, but not by much.

Warrnambool V Ballarat

2007-07-27T09:51:00.000+10:00

Rachel is a student at Brauer College and she's one of our newer leaders at our Champion City program. Last week she came up to Ballarat with her high school debating team. Jonno and i decided to drop in and see how it went.

I said to Jonno "Do you think it'd be weird two 23 year old guys going to a high school to watch a teenage girl debate?" He said it'd be alright providing Jonno and i don't hold hands during the debate.

I figured that their be a few people their and Jonno and i could take a seat in the back row of a large hall and not be easily seen. However it turns out the debates were held in classrooms their were next to no spectators except Jonno and myself watching our hero Rachel destroy the opposition.

Brauer College Warrnambool Versus Damacus College Ballarat.

The debate was amusing: Should there be manditory jail for those who start bushfires. It was neck and neck all the way, until Rachel got up and bamaboozled the opposition helping Warrnambool to a 1 point victory.

All washed up in the sea of study

2007-07-24T11:12:00.000+10:00

Oh boy! like i need any more discouragement about the lenght of time my course is taking to finish.

I'm in 5th year of uni (teaching...4 year course) and this semester i'm doing lifesaving which is the second of two swimming subjects the first i did in 2003. I turn up and who's my teacher? Lauren who was a fellow classmate until she graduated last year. Great...

My challenge for the semester is swimming 400 meter medley in 11 minutes....Today i swam 150 meters and gave up. But everyone else assumed i was really really fast :-)

Yesterday Josh and i found ourselves in the same class for the first time. I started my course 3 years before Josh but he's catching up. We were talking about people with disabilities, we learn't to refer to people as partially sighted rather then partially bline, focusing on what people can do. I am now refering to myself as partially graduated.

Pressure Mounting

2007-07-23T11:31:00.000+10:00

Pressure is mounting on Travis to stand aside in this year's footy competition. 2005 winner Kylie and new commer Brad have it all over Trav in the polls this year. Confirmed sources suggest Travis is rueing that he didn't step down last year when a strong transition could have taken place. Travis is doing everything to reinvent himself in the final few weeks of the footy tipping competition from making youtube videos to tipping collingwood.

Travis is now hoping Brad comes home with the goods in the final few weeks that way Kylie won't take the trophey back.

Ski @ UB

2007-07-19T15:56:00.000+10:00

The University of Ballarat is promoting for new students.

I think their choice in photo is unfortunate.

Trav on the Simpsons.

2007-07-18T16:57:00.001+10:00

The simpsons are promoting their new movie.

you can make a simpsons character like yourself, or try to.

2 Horse Race

2007-07-09T10:45:00.000+10:00

Despite strong polling this week, Trav continues to be well behind in the polls with a mere 8 weeks remaining in this year's Scripture Union Footy Tipping competition. Some are suspicious that Trav will pull a political rabbit out from under his hat in a bid to be relected footy tipping champion. The race for the trophey is between 2005 winner Kylie and new commer Brad.

Kylie it seems has the only chance to ensure this year's competition isn't entirely boring with Brad leading from start to finish. At least Trav can be grateful that the Cats are doing very well and is one of the key reasons trav isn't winning the tipping this year.

I speak Korean!

2007-07-05T14:24:00.001+10:00

Today i learnt to speak Korean and use chopsticks better

Un-Yong! ('Hi' and also 'bye')

Kai ('Dog')

Qhay Khung Sheli (Toilet)

and this dude has the coolest name: You Nam Won!

yesterday i went to the hall looking for a guy called Steve and i yelled out Steve Steve! and all the koreans packed up and left! I think they thought i said something else (possibly leave)

How good is Korea

2007-07-04T08:40:00.000+10:00

Korea is fantastic, Korea has become my 2nd favorite country in the universe.

Firstly they eat Rice....all the time.

Secondly when they're not eating rice...they eat 2 minute noodles.
[Last night they taught me how to eat 2 minute noodles with chopsticks...unfortunately for me they made it very spicey...it was hot and they laughed at me]

and lastly Korean's are obsessed with table tennis, no one in Australia likes table tennis but no one in korea dislikes it. Asking an australian to play table tennis you get a response akin to asking them to eat curry through your nose. Asking a Korean to play table tennis evokes a response similar to telling them you have 15 litres of chocolate ice cream left over and you need them to take it home.

That's all from korea.

Living in Korea

2007-07-03T09:18:00.000+10:00

Yesterday i got on a plane in Melbourne and have spent the last 24 hours talking to mostly Korean's. This is suprising because my plane landed in Newcastle.

Cara and i have gone to Tahlee Bible College ...sorta near Newcastle(because there's nothing more we enjoy then spending the university holidays at an education institution) We're also here because Cara's family work here.

It's not just a Bible college it's also a camp site and there is a camp of Korean international students learning to speak english here. One of the more interesting things i discovered is that they all get to chose their english name for while they are here...some of them have changed their english name several times now and that is confusing, i've spoken to 3 different Davids and i'm sure they weren't David when i last met them.

Most of them are pretty good at english and they like to play table tennis a lot!

Trav has sold out

2007-06-26T17:22:00.000+10:00

Initially i didn't want to get a blog, eventually i sold out and got on the blogger bandwagon.

Today i sold out again by creating a myspace, I don't think myspace is as good as blogger but myspace seems to be more popular. I'll still be blogging here.

5 things i dig about God

2007-06-25T19:20:00.000+10:00

My Mother has tagged me with a meme, the only thing more annoying then meme's are door to door salesmen and headlice. But these are the things we do for our mothers...

What do i like about God...

1. I like that God is practical

"You know, the one with all the well meaning rules that don't work out in real life, uh, Christianity" - Homer Simpson

Christians get a fair bit of flack for their rule making, generally those associated with church going. I like that God didn't give us the bible so we could get bigger heads or be superior to others but so we could live better lives under God in our society.

2. I like that God understands everyday life.

I'm no theologian. I don't know who or what God is. All I know is he's more powerful than Mom and Dad put together. -Lisa Simpson

Jesus came to earth and lived here, He wasn't too "Holy" to get his hands dirty in the affairs of everyday life. He ate, sleept, got tired, was angry, was lonely and had friends leave him. He experienced all the things i experience.

3. I like that i can talk to God about stuff.

I'm normally not a praying man, but if you're up there, please save me Superman.-Homer Simpson

I like that God doesn't make me run 20 laps of my backyard, sacrafrice my banana samwhich on the bbq and throw darts at myself before i'm allowed to talk to him.

4. I like that God is interested in everyone

Our God is vengeful! O spiteful one, show me who to smite and they shall be smoten.-Homer Simpson

If i go to Church for 20 years it doesn't make me better then the next person, if i mess up God is still interested in me. He doesn't discriminate, he's interested in everyone.

5 I like God's values system.

I've always wondered if there was a god. And now I know there is -- and it's me-Homer Simpson.

Look at how Jesus lived his life, how he cared for people, had the courage to fight injustice and had the wisdom not to become egotistical, If society lived by God's we would have a better society in everyway.

I would challenge anyone to find something Jesus did that was bad for society.

Footy scare campaigns

2007-06-25T12:16:00.001+10:00

Last week i went to Scripture Union Victoria's annual inservice training. It was the first time i've seen colleagues and footy tipping rivals Kylie and Brad in a while. They have uncovered my blog, which they say was leaked to them, i say it was stolen, others say i just lost it for a while.

After falling back in the polls to my traditional 4 points behind, I'm now preparing to launch a scare campaign on Brad in the final weeks of the poll, so the voters will know how dangerous putting the footy tipping trophey into Brad's hands will be, (Purely informative of course).

Kylie's leadership bid appears to have taken a turn for the worse with the polls suggesting that Brad is suvic's prefferred footy tipper.

What went wrong in Geelong

2007-06-18T20:35:00.000+10:00

Today i went to Ocean Grove to see Dicky, we went to geelong to see what kind of ninja turtle i am

The questions were interesting: Is your favorite color blue? Do you like Pizza? are you Japanese?

You scored as Leonardo, You need to relax and realize that life should be fun as well as orderly. Your organization and willingness to be perfect will help you along the way, but sometimes you can be very annoying to others.

Leonardo

64%

Michaelangelo

57%

Mater Splinter (The Rat)

46%

April O'Neil

39%

Donatello

36%

Raphael

25%

Which teenage mutant ninja turtle are you?

Leadership Challenge

2007-06-12T11:45:00.000+10:00

A new footy-poll shows Trav still trailing Brad who's been leading in the polls all year. Trav today hosed down speculation that he would step aside and the higher scoring Kylie take the reigns saying he'll serve as long as his party wants him to. Speculation is mounting that with Kylie's will make a bid for the leadership.

Trav doesn't rule himself out of the race yet, a poll over the weekend showing Trav picking up votes in Qld, With Brad and Kylie both failing to tip the bulldogs. However it's Trav's victorian policies that continue to have Trav caught off guard with essendon and Carlton overperforming in the last 2 weeks.

Trav in a speech at the annual footy tipping conference said: Who can you trust to ensure that the hard decisions keep getting made, Who can you trust to keep footy tipping strong, you trust someone who's got experience and a proven track record, not an L-plater.

Brad said inspite of Trav's experience some of his recent tipping decisions have been role-goal failures.

2 Quotes

2007-06-08T15:58:00.000+10:00

"I want to hire a hall, invite the world and play games all night"
-Cara deciding what to do for her 21st.

"You look like an apple person"
-A child describing Victoria who was an elevate leader for the first time today.

12 days of apology

2007-06-06T11:01:00.000+10:00

On the first day of apology
what would i say?
I'm very very sorry.

On the second day of apology
what would i say?
I was wrong and
I'm very very sorry.

On the third day of apology
what would i say?
Deepest sympathy,
I was wrong and
I'm very very sorry.

On the fourth day of apology
what would i say?
My apologies,
Deepest Sympathy,
I was wrong and
I'm very very sorry.

On the fifth day of apology
what would i say?
What have i done.
My apologies,
Deepest Sympathy
I was wrong and
I'm very very sorry.

On the sixth day of apology
what would i say?
Please forgive me,
What have i done.
My apologies,
Deepest Sympathy,
I was wrong and
I'm very very sorry.

On the seventh day of apology
what would i say?
Won't do that again,
Please forgive me,
What have i done.
My apologies,
Deepest Sympathy,
I was wrong and
I'm very very sorry.

On the eight day of apology
what would i say?
I'm responsible,
Won't do that again,
Please forgive me,
What have i done
My apologies,
Deepest Sympathy,
I was wrong and
I'm very very sorry.

On the ninth day of apology
What would i say?
That's regrettable,
I'm responsible,
Won't do that again,
Please forgive me
What have i done.
My apologies,
Deepest sympathy,
I was wrong and
I'm very very sorry.

On the tenth day of apology
What would i say?
It was me,
That's regrettable,
I'm responsible,
Won't do that again,
Please forgive me,
What have i done.
My apologies,
Deepest Sympathy,
I was wrong and
I'm very very sorry.

On the eleventh day of apology
What would i say?
Can i make it up-to-you,
It was me,
That's regrettable,
I'm responsible
Won't do that again,
Please forgive me,
What have i done.
My apologies,
Deepest Sympathy,
I was wrong and
I'm very very sorry.

On the twelfth day of apology
What would i say?
It's not my fault
Can i make it up-to-you,
It was me,
That's regrettable,
I'm responsible,
Won't do that again,
Please forgive me,
What have i done.
My apologies,
Deepest sympathy,
I was wrong and
I'm very very sorry.

Polls Swing Back

2007-05-28T12:04:00.000+10:00

Trav's chances of being re-elected SU's top footy tipper recieved a boost this week moving to within 2 points of the lead. Trav has been trailing new commer Brad in the polls all year.

Brad believes there is a 'mood for change' in this year's competition and but cautioned against complacency saying "pigs might fly" at the suggestion of annihilating Trav in this year's competition, Saying Trav was a very clever tipster.

Trav stated that he was clearly the underdog and he would have a long, hard fight to maintain the office of SU top footy tipper. "it's clearly an uphill battle to be re-elected, history is certainly against us"

Meanwhile Aaron's tipping took a turn for the worse with Port Adelaide continuing to fall down the ladder and only scoring 4 tips this week.

Mobility Issues

2007-05-22T14:57:00.000+10:00

Trav wishes to advise all who read his blog to find out what he's up to that as of today he has replacement mobile phone. He has the same number as he always has but he lost all of his phone numbers. If you wish to be in hall of Trav's numbers then please forward your information to him. Currently he has 4 numbers in his phone.

Hero Trav 4

2007-05-22T10:26:00.000+10:00

Back to our irregular segment of heroic trav adventures: Wherein Trav is a table tennis ledgend.

Last night i went to table tennis i saw Kyle Davies. He is ranked number 2 in Australia for Table Tennis. He is only 18 years old and is known as the "Super Junior." He is a Ballarat boy who now lives in Melbourne.

Very few people can boast of beating Kyle Davies, but Hero Trav can.

Feb 26 2000
In the year 2000 George Bush became president of the US, eminen was slim shady, Cathy Freeman lit the olympic torch and Trav a young 15 year old played in his first table tennis competition.

Trav entered in U16 singles and in round 1 he drew Kyle Davies an 11 year old from Ballarat. My friend Micheal Brown (Now ranked #99 in Australia) said Kyle was gonna smash me, Kyle had someone coaching him, he had a track suit and a bat cover and everything.

The game began Kyle was a bit nervous early and gave Trav the first set 21-17. The second set Kyle hit top gear smashing Trav all round the court winning (14-21). Trav had no answer to Kyle's aggressive game.
Trav adopted the "bore method" where Trav played ultra defensively making it very hard to smash and testing the patience of young Kyle.

Kyle was not a very patient 11 year old. He smashed it into the net and off the table and got very angry. Trav was smiling on the inside because despite Kyle beening more talented Trav won the final set 21-17 and beat the future Junior Champion.

....last night i had the opportunity to play Kyle, but i declined in order to keep our head to head record at 1-0 in my favor

Football Fools

2007-05-15T11:14:00.000+10:00

I found this article by Tony Jones on Ninemsn

Tony writes about the fight that broke out between Carlton and Collingwood at quarter time on saturday Tony titles his article "all hail the return of the biffo"

He says: The biff was back and the fans loved it! The brawl lasted less than a minute but included just about every player with several officials also within close proximity — just waiting for a chance, presumably, to let rip with one themselves!

and later he says: The AFL has again come down hard, charging 16 players with wrestling, a potential cash windfall of $42,800

I watched Tony talk about this on the sunday footy show and he and panel concluded that it was "Good for the game" to have fights on the field.

This week a poll was taken on footytips.com.au
Was the Collingwood v Carltonmelee good for football?
Yes 82.7%
No 17.3%
Total Votes: 3448

I disagree with Tony and 2851 others. Here is the problem

1. You might advocate that fighting in footy is good for the game
2. But i doubt you'd advocate that fighting is good for kids to do during a game

Tony Jones cannot say that fighting is okay for the adults but not okay for the kids who watch. We should expect that kids will have a tendancy to copy their hero's. Therefore the hero's must set the example on their field that they think kids should follow on their field.

Good on the AFL for setting a positive example and imposing tough penalties. I'm glad the AFL have a sense of the bigger picture.

No bounce in polls for Trav

2007-05-14T10:17:00.000+10:00

2 weeks of hard campaigning has done little to dent the honeymoon period footy comp leader Brad. Brad who came to SU at the end of last year has had a dream run keeping 06 champion Trav at bay.

Brad says there's still a long way to go until the nation decides this years tipping champion is weary of Trav making a late come back in the polls. "He's a very cunning tipster, expect a flurry of activity towards the end of the year"

Trav is painting himself as the underdog and doesn't expect a rise in the polls anytime soon. "This poll makes me tip even harder for the australian people"

At this stage it seems Trav's policies are brining him undone in the polls. Particularly his "never tip collingwood policy" and his "always tip west coast policy" brought him undone against his favored team of Geelong.

P.S Travbox maintains the right to swing from important and serious matters to irrelevant amusing matters at the disgression of Travbox staff.

Why Teachers "probably" won't make good role models

2007-05-11T18:58:00.000+10:00

It's an odd presentation to give 40 university students in their final year of an education course, but no one else had the guts to tell them. Despite so many students disliking their teachers somehow they think that they'll be different.....i think not.

4 Reasons teachers probably won't be positive role models

1. Work Load/Relational Load: All teachers work hard but because high school teachers have their classes amongst 100 or more students in a week. Their ability to be a positive role model is decreased. Plus their always busy preparing the next class. It's perfectly possible for teaching to became a series of tasks or classes to get done and not notice the students much at all.

2. Inspiration Versus Curriculum: We all agree it's more important that a student is inspired about Science then a student completes the necessary curriculum. But all the pressure is placed on teachers to get through a curriculum. Which leads to teachers only focusing on curriculum and not enough on Inspiration. Teachers just teach maths or just teach science and they don't inspire students and they don't help students imagine what they could do one day....because their job is to teach curriculum.

3. Experience is the best way to learn but...

We remember 80% of what we personally experience. Experience is the best way to learn but it is not the easiest way to teach. The easiest way to teach is to have large groups of students listen/read or write. These activities are easy for limited preparation but they are not well remembered and generally not inspiring.
Eexperiential learning and practical learning is most the most powerful way to teach but takes a lot more preparation, is time consuming and is harder to do with large groups.

(I'm not suggesting that that basic forms of learning like reading, seeing, hearing are not helpful but we should push for greater levels of experiential learning, unfortunately it's time that teachers don't have)

4. Teachers don't always live by positive values.
The education system spends a lot of time forming values that they want students to live by. Then they let teachers teach these values without having the values themselves. Teachers do not always think positively like we want students to, they do not always show respect and value people the way we want students to. They do not always try their best OR improve OR show tolerance to others who are disrupting their classes.

A massive problem in schools is that the education system wants students to live by positive values but the teachers who teach students have no ability to role model these values.

[I think teachers do an important valuable job and their are teachers who do a very good job and who inspire many]

Technological Travisity!

2007-05-09T23:14:00.000+10:00

AHHHH!! Numerous things have happened to me this week that have caused hero trav much annoyance.

Firstly Hero-Trav discovers that his internet at home isn't working. He realises ex-housemate Jase has rightly and fairly disconnected it. Hero-Trav realises all the things he can't do without the internet....1. Blog 2. Check Email 16 times per day 3. Google "Travis Barnes" 4. Read Political interviews 5. Try and win data projectors on ebay 6. Google "Al Gore" to see if he's running for president yet and 7. Watch the chaser on You Tube. [No internet]

Hero-Trav not being a dumb guy realises that if Jase disconnected the internet he shouldn't be suprised to find the phone in a similar state. [No home phone, no internet]

So it would be a lousy week to lose your mobile phone. [No Home Phone, No Internet, No Mobile Phone]...I'm still looking for it...

In desperation for technology i came into my office...coz my office has internet and i realised that i have given my office keys to Aaron for him to use and hadn't gotten around to getting them back. [No Home Phone, No Internet, No Mobile, No Keys to office]

Hero-Trav never gives up so...he managed to climb through his office window to get to the precious technology. Not looking forward to climbing back out the window.

Hero Trav 5

2007-05-08T11:26:00.000+10:00

In April my sister got married. Around the reception tables people were placing bets on where Karen and Steve were going to for their honeymoon. Someone suggested New Zealand. I suggested Sydney. Others suggested a victorian township (i mocked this idea by suggesting numerous places like Horsham, Colac, Heathcote and Sunshine as would-be honeymoon locations)

3 days later i am working in Warrnambool. After a meeting i had 45 minutes to kill prior to meeting my friend. I went to Lake Pertobe to walk around and remember the olden days of Warrnambool Mission. I am driving down Lake Pertobe Rd and i see a blue car (That's funny Steve drives a blue car....that's odd Steve's driving that car....even more remarkable that looks like Karen sitting next to him in the blue car)

BOOYEAH! sent Karen a message saying i saw them and i decided i wouldn't bug them. However Karen didn't get that text message for like 10 minutes...During that time she decided it would be fun to go mini-golfing which happens to be next to lake pertobe reserve where i was walking. So Karen and Steve who don't know i'm in Warrnambool pull up in front of me. I said "I guess this means your not in new zealand"

Postscript
Now the story gets weirder later on. I'm running late for dinner with friends in warrnambool my phone rings, Default Jonno is talking to me on the phone and i wander past the la porchetta window and see the friends i'm meeting...wating for me. Right then i see my friend Jo who lives in Albury across the street...I finish talking with Jonno, i talk to Jo...i then dash into La porchetta being so very very late...and as i dash into the store i run into Carlee who i did high school with in Bendigo.

House Wars 2

2007-05-05T17:22:00.001+10:00

This week the house wars intensified with Agruments and housemeetings. The battle of the girls versus Jase resulted in Jase packing up and moving out this afternoon. I dont think the girls were unreasonable but it's a bit sad that we all didn't try harder to understand each other.

It gives both Jase to make a new start somewhere and gives us the chance to make a new start with someone new.

Jase was very opinionated but i always enjoyed our many discussions as well as many poker games and KFC runs. I am sad that i won't have him around to chat to regularly.

Meanwhile the girls are getting out the campaign and celebrating.

Cya Jase.

EXCITING!

2007-05-03T07:58:00.000+10:00

Okay...go to google and type in Travis Barnes and then click pages from Australia and see who's the number 1 Travis Barnes in Australia this week.

Operation Catch Brad

2007-05-01T12:57:00.000+10:00

Trav has been behind in the polls all year, but it's budget time and things are beginning to look up for the incument footy tipping champion of 2006. The latest poll has pulled Trav to within 3 points of the ever popular Brad.

Brad's been leading the polls all year but says that there's a long way to go before the race is over. Trav will be hoping to eat into Brad's lead over the coming months.

my coffee addiction

2007-04-30T18:54:00.000+10:00

On saturday my brother Craig turned 21! Craig, Jono and i went to Hudson's coffee. Remarkably this is one store Bendigo has which Ballarat does not.

None of us drink Coffee so we all ordered non-coffee beveridge's. I said to Jono "how many times do you reckon i could find the word Coffee written" We agreed 20 was an achievable goal.

I counted the window signs and the menu totaling 25. Then i noticed that they sold coffee beans in packets (1 hudson's coffee logo per bag)=60 this brings us to 85.

We found
mugs
saucers
napkins
Brochures.
Umbella's
Plastic cups
Foam Cups

all carrying the hudson's coffee logo. Hudson's frequent use of their website hudsonscoffee.com.au resulted in significan't use of the c word of these items

We kept pushing each other to a higher level from 200, 300 right up to 825 ...Jono dared us to try to get to 1000. But by now we had looked throughly for every coffee sighting we were done.

Then! a brainwave!! Remember the brochures...we read them and they had more then 1 logo....the c word was mentioned 11 times Giving us a bonus 600 coffee's..finished at 1438.

Later that day office works produced only 79 coffee references and apco petrol station produced 500.

MSN: Mind Slowing Numbness

2007-04-26T21:41:00.000+10:00

I used to be an MSN addict..I was on it every night after school. But now days i seldom use it. Mainly because this happens. I signed on tonight and got very excited to see so many people online.

Then everyone's away....

Technology is helping us all keep in contact better. Which is true, for example all 3 of my housemates are online at the moment if i need to talk to them. I'm not sure that msn overall is more helpful in terms of building close relationships...(although some will point to it's wonders)

The great thing about msn is that you a) can talk to 8 people at once if need be b) don't have to talk to someone once you run out of things to say c) You can think about what you say before saying it. D) and can always pretend your computer died, froze, signed you out of msn the instant you want to deny being told something.

Probably msn is good if you want to talk to someone imparticular but i find i have more meaningless conversations then anything else.

Living under a rock 7

2007-04-24T22:59:00.000+10:00

Hero Trav has been at his very heroic best this week.....heroically failing to know about anything

So like last week i'm stressing over a lit review 1. because i'd not done one before and coz their hard work and i'd prefer easy work. But i was determined to do my lit review so Cara could come down and so i would be ready to hand in my assignment and do a presentation on it on monday.

Case Study 1 Saturday 4:15am
I got up at 4am to finish my lit review when i decide to read the unit description "Assignments are due in the week after presentation" I got up at 4....for no reason except to watch Australia beat new zealand.

Case Study 2 Sunday 7:15pm
Thinking to myself that i have to prepare the presentation for class tommorow..when it occurs to me wait my presentation cannot be tommorrow...i dont have that class tommorrow, i have that class tuesday that's probably when my presentation is.

Case Study 3 Monday 7:15am
I thought why not check my list of things to hand in. It's the first day back at uni so i better see what's coming up. AH! i have a basketball assignment due in tuesday. Wait....what basketball assignment. Upon reading the unit description i have an assignment due tuesday.

Case Study 4 Tuesday 8:36am
I was pretty tired...i stayed up late writing a basketball assignement. Now i'm in my first tute but no one's here. Teacher arrives....Travis weren't you aware that this class isn't on today. "Ah really" No not today...it says so in the unit description and i mentioned it in the lecture "Ah well it's not the most surprising thing this week"

So this gives me even more time to do my presentation for lit review...which was very very hard and i never want to do something so boring ever again. Shoulders injuries in tennis and internal rotation of glenohumeral joint doesn't get people going at 4:30pm.

...the teacher says to me at the end Travis since you did you presentation first, dont bother handing your assignment in for a few more weeks.

A mattress fell from the sky number 8

2007-04-23T13:08:00.000+10:00

Hero Trav: Wherein a mattress saved Trav's license

Last month i excitedly blogged about getting some demerit points back. In October hero Trav didn't have many of these left and he had to drive very carefully. Hero-Trav was carefully driving at 100 k's in a 100 zone. Then the Fray's Cable Car came on the radio which is an awesome song and more addictive then how to save a life

Everyone knows i'm in over my head over my heaaaaaaaad lalala

Hero Trav accutely observes 4 interesting facts:

1. His ability to sing is not improved within a confined car space
2. His speed has increased from 100 to 110
3. The speed limit has decreased from 100 to 80
4. A cop car 200 meters ahead of you on the side of the road has it's lights flashing.

Oh...realising that i'm about to never drive again, i decided to pull over. This was a little tricky because it was a 2 laner and i was in the right lane and i got into the left lane and pulled over about 70 meters from the cop car. The police man was walking up to me on foot.
....I tidied the car....turned the radio down.... got my license out and started to gift wrap it for him.

During pulling over i failed to notice 2 mattresses that were in the right hand lane...and getting in the way of traffic causing quite a fuss from drivers.

As the cop man came closer to me i pointed at myself to indicated whether it was me he was pulling over. The cop man yelled "Sorry mate, i didn't mean to pull you over i'm just getting rid of these mattresses"

Behold the falling mattresses that saves our heroic trav to drive another day.

*An important aspects of hero trav's stories is that they are historical versions of real events. These stories may or may not accurately reflect any views hero trav may or may not actually hold toward the way he may or may not drive today.

Zero to Hero Number 9

2007-04-19T09:01:00.000+10:00

Scouts Honour
Back in 1993 i joined the cubs and then i became a boy scout. I wasn't a very good boy scout, i couldn't try knots, i couldn't read a compass, i couldn't put up a tent and most of all i couldn't drive a billy cart.

So the inter-scouting billy cart race was on and because of my apparent lack of skill at driving the billy cart (my driving woes started early) they only put me in 2 races cross country and downhill sprint. Cross Country we came last, because i crashed the cart into a tree.

The Downhill spring, 4 billy cart riders line up at the top of the hill, whoever crosses the line first wins. My scouting club was doing quite well this day and actually had a chance of winning...however many were dreading that a poor Trav performance could ruin the day altogether. I'm sure they were praying that i wouldn't come last.

Bang! the starters gun went off and within seconds i was a good 10-15 meters behind the other 3 drivers....my driving could be described as a plod. I couldn't steer it properly...which was slowing me down. So i resign myself to coming last when i look up....Driver 1 and Driver 2 were neck and neck when suddenly......CRASH! they collide....and they stop right in Driver number 3 path....he can't get around them CRASH! Drivers 1, 2 and 3 are tangled in a pile. Here comes TRAV! who was already well wide of the drivers, trundels past the leaders crosses the finish line before you could Steve Bradbury.

Winner!

Hero Trav Number 10

2007-04-18T00:43:00.000+10:00

The stories about me crashing cars in cyclists, malls, kangaroo's, hamilton......i'm over them

So 10 of the most heroic trav stories yet! stories of theoritical courage and accidental intellence, stories that will touch the reader (in a similar way that the Kangaroo's were touched by my car)

Number 10: Pirates in Melbourne
I've always been very proud of the time i went to Melbourne with my family on Dec 4 2004 for my grandparents anniversary lunch. I was going to be in a drama the next day at church and i needed my old pirate costume. This meant i had to get it off Chris who was in Melbourne that day. So Chris was in melbourne, i was in melbourne and the plan was to get the pirate costume. (good plan hey) As i'm walking towards the restaurant, i cross a busy street and there he is Christop! he stops gives me my pirate costume and continues on.

My mother asked: How were you planning to meet him?

and i've always chuckled: Oh i just planned to run into him....that's what i do.

Postscript: My recent history shows that i do run into people on a regular basis unplanned, for instance running into Jono from Ballarat in the middle of Melbourne just last month. Just today i walked into a restaurant in Warrnambool and ran into a high school friend from Bendigo, Hero Trav has a way with these things.

The Spectrum of Travness

2007-04-11T17:00:00.000+10:00

Travtastic things that happening this week.

1. Sebastopol expansion: Since moving into sebas in 2004 we've gained a subway, a pizza shop and just last week we've gained a chicken shop (Chickens R US). I had chicken for tea on easter monday, because whilst eggs are a sign of new life, chicken is a sign of very dead, very tasty food.

2. Karen's Wedding: My sister is getting married this weekend. This is exciting for many reasons. The obvious reasons are Karen, Steve, the family, yadda yadda, etc. The less obvious exciting reason is Karen loses her last name! making me the oldest Barnes in the family! winner!

3. Thank God your here. It's only re-runs but it's back!

Things that are ordinary....

1. Footy Tipping....Last year i won the Scripture Union footy tipping comp. But after two rounds and a total of 8 tips, i'm trailing Brad from melbourne by 4 tips. This means the trophy's heading back to Melbourne if i can't turn things around. I'm mean honestly Essedon are loses and fremantle are winners....and melbourne well that's just ordinary. Their making a mockery of my flawless tipping skills

Brad's a nice guy...but he's going down

Do i have Cynophobia?

2007-04-09T13:22:00.001+10:00

Fear of dogs is termed "cynophobia, "a word derived from the Greek "kyon" (dog) and "phobos"(fear).

"I don't like dogs, i don't mind cats....i like Gold Fish!" -Trav to Stoz 2001

Fear of dogs: An abnormal and persistent fear of dogs. Sufferers of this fear experience anxiety even though they realize that most dogs pose no threat. To avoid dogs, they may barricade yards or refuse to travel except in an enclosed vehicle.

I really really don't like dogs, i cross the road to avoid walking past them and frequently invite people to remove them from my presence when i enter a household. I'm not sure why i dislike dogs so much, i always have. I've never had a dog and never had much to do with them and whenever the opportunity arises i'm normally hiding under the couch somewhere.

But there is hope for those with Cynophobia

It is not advised to come close to unfamiliar dogs
One must be aware of kinds of behavior a dog may perceive as threatening: direct eye contact, touching it over its head, approaching it too quickly, taking from a dog something valuable to it, e.g., a bone or a dog's toy, standing over a dog.
Signs of dog's agitation include growling, raised hackles, shown teeth, erect or slightly vibrating (as opposed to wagging side to side) tail.
Don't run away from a dog you accidentally run into: this will trigger the predatory response and most probably you will be chased. Stand still, don't wave your arms, don't make eye contact and turn slowly away.

And if that doesn't work i can always wear my cynophobia proudly, look what it's possible to buy

Thank God it's Easter

2007-04-05T10:12:00.000+10:00

Stewie Griffin (reading the Bible): My, my. What a thumping good read! Lions eatting Christians, people nailing each other to two-by-fours. I say, you won't find that in Winnie the Pooh.-Family Guy

Hmmm it's pretty obvious good friday is tommorow...there's only 3 people in my maths class. The teacher is making us feel guilty for not studying hard enough...i'm so over feeling guilty...i'm just not motivated by guilt.

I don't think Jesus came to earth to make us feel guilty either. I think he came to show us a better way of living.

Homer: I'm not a bad guy! I work hard, and I love my kids. So why should I spend half my Sunday hearing about how I'm going to Hell?-The Simpsons

Today people can be pretty negative and people are happy to lie easily, we're pretty focused on ourlves. At times we feel our lives lack the meaning we think it ought to have....considering all that Jesus' idea's for living don't appear to be that stupid.

God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again-The Bible

I think Jesus hopes we'd care about others not just themselves, Where we all live with honesty and our lives are filled with love and we have meaning in our lives to make this world the kind of place we've been hoping for.

As i've followed Jesus' teaching i've discovered i'm becomming more positve about others and have much more meaning in my life and i'm ever so excited about making a positive contribution to society. Have a good easter break.

Champion City on You Tube

2007-04-04T08:26:00.000+10:00

House Wars

2007-03-29T09:29:00.000+10:00

All my housemates are likable. This is the first year i've had girls in the house. The fact their girls is not the problem, I think that were all a bit selfish is the problem.

So the first problem is cleanliness. We all agreed when we all met each other that we would keep the house clean to a 'reasonable standard' what's interesting to me is that people's definition of what's resonable is quite different.

In 2006 i live with 3 other boys all of us had the same definition of reasonable. I would say that our definition of resonable was probably less then others according to the general population. Jase and i have put more effort in this year and have definately been doing well i'd say we are somewhere in the Same as others catagory. But what are the chances of two obsessive compulsive clean freaks moving into my house. These girls are in the definately more then others catagory. They make my Mother and Sister look messy. Unfortunately they perceive their cleanliness to be in the same as others catagory and think we are in the less then others catagory.

The other problem is Jase and i whilst very social generally, don't often have people over and we've had about 1 party in 2 years in the house. Our female friends are people magnets and have parties all the time. Anyway because they only have 2.5 days of classes they like to party loud and late. Where as Jase works full time and i study full time and work when i'm not studying. So last night there was lots of noise and Jase was yelling a lot at them to shut up. I was lying in bed watching the clock hit 3 hoping the girls would listen to Jase but they didn't seem to pay any attention to him.

hmmm its funny coz we often talk about having respect, but i think we mean respect if it suits us. The reality about respect i think is it's gonna take some effort on everyone's part

1991

2007-03-26T21:18:00.000+10:00

My conversation with my Mother reminds me of 1991.

Travis says: when was the last time i caught a train
Susan says: when we lived in Corryong we caught the train to Geelong a few times and spent some of the school holidays with Grandma Barnes.
Susan says: probably 1991
Susan says: I gather you don't remember at all?
Travis says: Bob Hawke was PM
Travis says: Australia were not good at cricket
Travis says: Pakistan were good at cricket and hadn't killed there coach
Susan says: yes now that's a worry,
Travis says: Well Males tend to believe that anything they said 7 weeks ago is not counted as fact anymore...let alone anything they did 16 years ago
Susan says: so you don't remember anything you did when you were 7?
Travis says: i remember kinder
Travis says: i remember reading Hairy Bear Scary Bear
Travis says: I remember the lizard that i thought was a snake
Susan says: but not catching the train?
Travis says: I remember apple turnovers

Other things that happened in 1991 include
~Channel Ten made their blue button pressing logo
~The super nintendo was released in the US
~The soviet union collapsed
~There was a war in Iraq

And i was catching a train, what were you doing?

Trains, Planes and Galatic Monsters

2007-03-25T20:35:00.000+10:00

On Saturday Cara and i went to Melbourne-World.

For the first* time in my life i caught a train. I got on the Bendigo to Melbourne train and patiently watched it stop at Kangaroo Flat, Castlemaine, Malmsberry, Kyeton, Woodend, Macdeon, Gisborne, Riddles Creek, Sunbury, Sunshine, Footscray and of course Melbourne-World.

*My sister is certain i caught a train as a child but i deny this claim, i have no recollections of it and it would ruin my story

I went to the Melbourne Toy Expo. The toy expo is a trade event and not open to the public. I felt very out of place because their were 3 types of badges 1. Red tags for Exhibitors (many) 2. Blue tags for buyers (many) and visitors (me and Cara)

This is how the expo played out.
Trav walks into an exhibit

Young sales rep: Hi! can i help you
Trav: I'm fine thankyou, i'm just having a look around
Young sales rep: That's alright where abouts are you from
Trav: I'm from Ballarat
Young Sales Rep: .....'silence' [a straight dead end of conversation]

This happened a few times until Cara told me that the sales rep meant what toy company i was from not what city.

Then I went to Crown Casino so i could go the Galatic Circus which is like Timezone so who do i bump into..... Jono from Ballarat which was completely accidental and rather remarkable.

Then Cara wanted to win a stuffed toy monster from a claw machine, similar to the one in shot. Except this one was a lot bigger because the stuffed toys were huge!

I was a bit cynical about the probability of winning a stuffed toy monster but Cara had a go and first go picks up the pink monster and drops him in the slot. Cara was very happy to win "Galatic Man" and walked around Melbourne with him for the rest of the day. Lots of people were staring at it.

And then the train left Melbourne-World and headed back to the greater parts of Victoria.

Don't move....improve

2007-03-18T08:03:00.000+11:00

Trav: How's Uni
friend: Yeah not so good, the way things are going i could easily defer and go oversea's for a while, no problem at all

There is a problem i think and that is my friend is copping out. Like a lot of people the solution to their problems is to move to a new location, new challenge, new social network to outrun their problems. Unfortunately while they run away from the symtoms of their problems the cause follows them to the next place and the one after that.

Taking a trip oversea's is one way to cop out, but there are many others. Not facing up to conflicts we have with people, choosing to stop setting ambition goals for ourselves, moving onto to something new and exciting. Exciting things are currently problem free because you haven't touched them yet.

I face a challenging issue:

A) Avoid Personal Responsibility
B) Take Personal Responsibility

A)
I can Deny the problem
Blame someone else
Withdraw
Rationalise
and Fail

B)
I can learn from the experience
Ask myself big questions
Explore my expectations
Explore my fears
and Grow

University in a nut shell

2007-03-15T00:20:00.000+11:00

A=Money
B=Tutorials
C=Track Class
D=Sleep
E=Assignments
F=Lectures
G=Socialising

AB=Text Books
AC=Newer Shoes
AD=Worry
AE=Bribery
AF=Hecs
AG=High Negative Correlation
BC=Short Shorts
BD=Embarrassing
BE=Assignment Box Friday 5pm
BF=Way overcommitted
BG=Presentations
CD=Dangerous
CE=How far can you run in an hour?
CF=Kinaesthetic
CG=In mates
DE=Mutually Exclusive
DF=Strong correlation
DG=Inescapable consquences
EF=Week 6
EG=Cheating
FG=Mobiles Off

Demerit Point Party

2007-03-14T00:47:00.000+11:00

Crime is nothing to be proud of.

Having said that some of you are aware that i've been waiting for this day for months now. As today marks exactly 3 years since that Sunday afternoon in 2004 when i was pulled over for speeding. Today is my demerit point party, your all welcome to share in the festivities.

March 14 2004 5:47pm
I was driving to Church i was driving 65k's in a 60 zone (Which i'm well aware is more then the speed limit) and a black car begins to follow with red and blue flashing lights. After pulling over he informs me speeding was not the only error i made, i also failed to note it was a 50 zone, not a 60 zone. $205 later and 3 demerit points on my report card as punishment. Bare that in mind next time you break the law trying to get to Church.

But today those pesky points are gone! removed from my record never to be seen again, I have the chance do better this time.

A good society

2007-03-10T19:23:00.000+11:00

Some people say the Bible has no relevance to life. A statement which i disagree with.

I thought i would blog some things the Bible has to say about a having a good society. I've put links so you can look things up if you wish.

1. False Accusation: Everyone is to be free from gossip/slander and false accusation.
Exodus 20:16 Exodus 23:1-3 Leviticus 19:16 Deuteronomy 5:20 Deuteronomy 19:15-21

2. Exploitation: No one, however disabled, improverished or powerless, is to be oppressed or exploited.
Exodus 22:21-27 Leviticus 19:14 Deuteronomy 24:14-15 Deuteronomy 27:18

3. Fair Trial: Everyone is to have free access to courts and is to be afforded a fair trial.
Exodus 23:6-8 Leviticus 19:15 Deuteronomy 16:18-20 Deuteronomy 19:15-21

4. Work: Everyone is entitled to receive payment for their work
Leviticus 19:13 Deuteronomy 24:14

5. Marriage: Is to be protected.
Exodus 20:14 Leviticus 20:10-21

6. Human Life: Everyone's life to be secure. Prohibiting Murder, Kidnap and Attack
Exodus 20:13 Deutoronomy 24:7 Exodus 21:18-19

7. Animals: Concern for the welfare of other creatures is to be extended to animals.
Deut 25:4 Exodus 23:5 Deut 22:4

8. and Law noone shall be above the law, not even the King
Deut 17:18-20

These are not the only things the Bible has to say about a good society, but i think society is better off under God's design, not worse off.

Centerlink: Giving you Options

2007-03-08T12:18:00.000+11:00

Does anyone else ever have problems with these people?

Jan 21: Applied online for Centerlink, independant youth allowance

Feb 7: Took all documentation into centerlink for photocopying. Told all i had to do was wait for it to be processed

Feb 14: Recieved letter rejecting my claim.

Feb 15: Person in Centerlink told me that they had re-opened my claim because they had now received documentation.

Feb 21: Rang Centerlink. I'm told my application is with the processing team.

Feb 28: Rang Centerlink. I'm told my claim has been rejected.

Feb 29: Centerlink person doesn't understand why my claim was rejected, photocopies the same information and sends it off

Feb 29: Centerlink Processing Team rings me to tell me that even though the people in centerlink said i provided the right information....i didn't and needed to submit more information via fax

March 5: My work submits info via fax
Mach 5: I'm rung by centerlink and i tell them a fax is coming

March 7: I ring Centerlink and i'm told my claim is 'being processed'
March 7: Centerlink ring me, asking if i'm facing eviction (I so nearly said yes just to get them moving)

March 8: I ring Centerlink they said they have received no fax
March 8: I ring work, resend fax
March 8: I ring Centerlink still can't find the new or old fax
March 8: I lodge an online complaint
March 8: Centerlink ring me saying they magically found my first fax
March 8: Centerlink ring me saying i've been granted centerlink and i'll be paid and backpaid tommorrow.

Support the system, that's supports you.

Society Game

2007-03-07T09:39:00.000+11:00

Yesterday in class we played the society game. Here's how you play

"Your in a bomb shether and everyone else in the world dies by a big explosion except 17 people. You can only choose 8 of them to survive. You and 8 others will be the only humans remaining, think very carefully as to who you choose."

The remaining people are
1. Doctor Female 38 years
2. Nurse Male 27 years
3. Engineer Male 44 years
4. Sporting athlete male 21 years
5. Artist female 30 years
6. Child with a disability male 10 years
7. Farmer male 54 years
8. Politican female 49 years
9. Scientist male 62 years
10. Minister of relgion male 43 years
11. Philosopher male 34 years
12. Musician female 29 years
13. Trainee Chef female 19 years
14. Retired Builder male 59 years
15. Lawyer female 35 years
16. High School teacher male 31 years
17. University Academic female 40 years

Only 8 of these people can be choosen, who do you choose?

2 years at Scripture Union

2007-03-05T18:39:00.000+11:00

It's now 2 years since i began working at Scripture Union and it's been a very wild and exciting ride. SU do so many important things for children and young people, i'm looking forward to seeing God use SU greatly in the comming years.

3 things that stand out to me over the last year

Enthusiasm is pure gold
At times i haven't been as enthusiastic as i ought to be, sometimes i'm positive but sometimes it's easier to be negative and to hold back from my positive effort. I decided last year that i needed to change to being positive even in the difficult area's of work. It's been golden i've seen real progress in my own growth, i've seen team mates performing in better harmony and seen greater outcomes. It's easy being negative but negativity is for weak people. When i reflect on things i consider achievements in life all of them involve enthusiasm.

God doesn't prevent me from learning
Sometimes the only reason i pray for success is so i dont look like a failure. I wonder sometimes why God doesn't wave his powerful hand and save me from my mistakes. I guess in the short term i'd look okay but i wouldn't grow. God has me on a long distance run and seems interested in my character development over the long haul then how im looking this week. Sometimes he even lets me participate in things that are stuck, failing and unsucessful...but i suspect its too move me to care...i tend to be moved more by failure then by success.

5 words for success.
People judge their success in lots of ways, position, titles, number of attendee's, size of the budget, staff etc. I follow Jesus and it's easy to think that my success is found in the quantative and qualitative success of my programs. I'm success driven so i want to achieve. But success in my book is about 5 words. In the Bible Jesus mother talks to some servants about Jesus and says "Do whatever he tells you" Following Jesus my success is about whether i do whatever he tells me. Whether that be lead successful programs or go back to uni and study.

It's been a good year.

Religion, Drugs and Party Pies

2007-03-04T12:09:00.000+11:00

My housemate Jase last night had a 23rd party which was here in the house. It started at 8:30 and for about the first 2 hours it consisted of a group of 10 standing around in a circle drinking moderately and telling stories. I talked with ex-housemate josh for a while then after he went home i wandered into the kitchen to discover that Geelong had won in extra time and some boys were trying to download porn on my computer.

I was in the kitchen with James playing a guitar and Andrew, Breton and i playing poker. The boys started questioning me about religion. These boys both said they didn't trust religious groups and yet the had differing view on God...one didn't think there was anything [not a well thought out world-view in my opinion] and another couldn't be sure.
Although one dude was pretty funny he said

"one day i got so angry and so i yelled out to God....'go on kill me now' and he didn't kill me so obviously there's no God."

Then a guy began educating me about the different drugs he'd done (codine, speed, ice) he told me never to touch ice but the others were alright. I asked him if he thought drugs had impacted him negatively but he didn't agree, another guy said he was a tool.

Then the party pies came out! by now we were all in the Kitchen and the boys got onto religion again. (they talked more about Religion and social issues then most people in church do). and their views were strong and opposing on IVF, Abortion, the ten commandments and gay marriage.

Earlier that day i had been at a high school training day with SU where we were talking about the fact the old testament law was extremely concerned about social issues like many high school students today and yet sometimes Christians do not allow their Christian beliefs to engage in thinking about social issues.

Dinner Table for: Travis Barnes and Guest

2007-03-01T10:08:00.000+11:00

Today in the mail i recieved a letter from Internet Income Training: a leading internet solutions provider for small businesses and entrepreneurs. I have recieved two tickets to a complimentary conference where i can learn how to make money using Ebay, Yahoo, Google and Msn.

Dear Travis, there's something you should you. ordinary people. some with very little marketing experience at all. Are creating part time and full time incomes working from home on the internet.

Choose from one of these conferences near you [they have my address they know these are not near me]

Frankston Arts Centre March 12
Park Hyatt Melbourne March 13
Brighton Savoy March 14
Hilton Melbourne March 16

Here's what you get:
-Free admission for you and a guest to a 90 minute conference (Tickets valued at $120)
-Free complimentary meal for you and your guest
-Free business organiser valued at $39.99
-Free training and tested internet market strategies
BONUS: Free ebay powerseller strategy guide course book

confirm by ringing or visit this www.ecomtrainers.com

They sent me a letter all the way from seattle. I'm not going because i hate conferences. I think i would find it reasonably interesting how people make money from the internet but i'm as yet not convinced it's a good thing.

Because there's more to making money...then just making money. I think people should make money in ways that bring benefit to society in some way. This is why i think making money from pokies is a illegitimate way of making revenue because it doesn't benefit society. I cant think making money off my blog is helpful to anyone, unless we consider my blog as some kind of entertainment for society benefit... and really...i only blog for my benefit.

I just did some google searching and there's good news and bad news. The good news for Vice President Clint Sanderson is his name comes up in google (my name only comes up about fourth in an Australian search) The bad news is everything about his internet conferences are bad news rip off warning websites.

Trav against the UNiVerse

2007-02-28T00:09:00.000+11:00

Trav and Uni
On Monday i went back to full time uni. I have 21 hours this semester and if everything goes as planned i will not be returning to uni because i will have done all the subjects needed to be handed a B.ed

2 days have gone by and i feel a great sense of focus on uni. Which i've never had in any of my previous 4 years. So far Basketball is the most fun subject i've done and australian education: policy and framework the most trivial.

Trav and 2 new housemates
2 female housemates Shell and Aimee have moved in. 1 major positive that i never accounted for We have an abudance of plates, utensils, crockery. Aimee and Shell are both friendly...they seem to like movies more then i do. Wednesday this week is our first poker game for the new house and Josh and Mel are comming over too.

Trav and news which is not good
Of all the Pokies Machines in the entire world, Australia has 21% of them. Australia has 100,000 more pokies machines then all of Europe and Asia put together. We lead the world in Gambling! I think pokies morally stinks and is a stain on the good country that Australia is.

The Chronicles of Trav

2007-02-19T14:38:00.000+11:00

Scene 1: Wherein Trav smells a dirty rat
So there i am typing away at my computer at 2:04am and i see a mouse! I wasn't suprised i saw him the previous night. I was hoping our small friend would run away in freight as he did last night but no he just stood there looking over my shoulder trying to tell me to fold on a pair of Kings in a good game of Poker.

So i get up.....and got a saucepan and put it on him. "Trav-Hero" Ah but the victorious Trav has a small problem he doesn't want to lift the lid to find out whether or not the mouse is dead...and because google is unsure as to how long mice can survive inside a saucepan....Trav is unsure as to how to proceed.

Scene 2: Wherein Trav is forced to share a house with a girl.
Josh the small nuggety defender and Av the flamboyant wingman were both lured away by other clubs for this season. So the house needed 2 new housemates and so far we've only found 1. Michelle is the first girl recruited to the house in my 4 year career. I was a bit skeptical when my landlord said there was a girl moving in......what's to become of the male dominated household. I've already spotted fresh fruit in the fridge....i saw cleaning products in abudence and the genereal mood of the house is cautious.

Scene 3: Wherein Trav harnesses the power of skype
Seriously how cool is it to sit in front of your computer with a head set on. It's like being a footy commentator it's even cooler when your talking to people on skype for free.

Local Church Versus Para Church

2007-02-16T15:11:00.000+11:00

Apologies to those who find this discussion throughly uninteresting. It will not be long before i get another speeding fine and start blogging about how interesting jelly is.

I have gone to a local church all my life and for the last 5 years i have been heavily involved in Para Church activities to the point where i began working for and still work for SU Victoria-A non-demoninational Para Church Organisation.

I find it concerning that the Church and the Para Church do not always work together as well as i think they should. Some reasons they do not work together well at times:
(These are generalisations that are not true of everyone)

Local Churches see Para Church as competition
When the Local Churches is disfunctional, the Para-Church feels the need to replace them
Local Churches often have a narrow view of what is "Church" i.e. if it doesn't happen in their building it's not church
Both feel they ought to be on the recieving end of the relationship (local churches feel that para churches are there to help them, while para churches feel local churches should support them)
Local Churches do not see a bibical role for the para church, but would probably admit they do some good things.
Para Churches are unsure as to their bibical role and are too busy changing the world to consider this. Their not sure whether they are meant to replace the local church or assist it.

And sometimes the way we describe the Church and the Para Church makes it sound like their two different footy teams fighting for the flag.

Is the Para Church needed?

"If the local church did it's job properly there would be no need for the para-church"-I have heard this said a lot and i disagree with it.

whilst the word "Para-Church" isn't mentioned in the Bible, the function of the para-church is present and i think there is a Biblical role for the para-church today. For the spread of Christianity we need healthy, growing local churches. Christian communities that are stable and present God's good news in a local area. However if the local Church never thought about the next neighbourhood or the next city. Then the church might sit comfortably, not stretching itself and still in Jerusalem where it started. If the local church also never lifted a finger to help another local church it would hinder the growth of Christianity. So their must be functions of the church which are specifically Church-Local but also functions that are Church-Wide

Church-Wide as i define it is any activity a local church does to extend itself (i.e. plant a new church) or assists another local church or Christian group (a nearby church, a missionary group overseas or in their own town) .

Para-Church Paul
Often Para-Church organisations are initators of Church-Wide activities (possibly because all the apostles get sent their too calm down). Consider the apostle Paul was he more involved in Church Local activities or Church Wide activities? Paul would go to an area for a time, envangelise, build a church congragation, appoint leaders and leave. Paul wasn't a typical Local Church Pastor and he wasn't meant to be....he was an apostle. Paul would send leaders would one church to another (Church-Wide) on the basis of need. He would write to Churches, he would encourages Churches to pray for other Churches.

Today's role for the Para-Church
The Para-Church isn't there to superseed the church. It's there to assist it and help it be as strong as it can be. 3 ways i see the Para-Church assisting the Local Church.

Parallel: Meaning to come alongside. Paul would often come alongside a church for a time and resource it. The idea as i see it is that Para-Churches ought to assist the church achieve it's missional potential in any way it can.

Paramilitary (supplementing to a regular military force). The key idea is supplementing. There are some things that Church-Wide activities can achieve that a Local-Church cannot achieve on it's own (To think that God would have the nerve to make us rely on each other). A good example of this is some of the Christian Kids outreaches i run. It would be a big challenge for any one Church to run the kind of outreach that collectively SU has been running for years. In this manner SU doesn't replace the church but it supplements.

[p.s supplements are helpful i.e. iron supplements but don't think for a moment you can live off them. We need good strong local churches]

Parachute (a supporting harness) Who would be willing to jump from a plane without a parachute? But when given a parachute some might be willing to take the risky jump. Mission is a risky jump for any Church. It's much easier to let sunday by sunday go by and keep the congregational wheels rolling. Many Churches i work with either lack the experience, the resources and sometimes the courage to do mission. The Para Church can provide experience and resource to Churches to help it have the courage to act.

It would be prudent to add that these are my views and other Para-Church workers may see things differently

Choose inspiring friends

2007-02-09T21:02:00.000+11:00

Everyone knows that it's important to choose your friends wisely, that's common sense. But i'm not sure that most people do much choosing when it comes to friends.

Most people start making friends in school in a class where there is a limited choice as to who you are friends with. A class may have 25-30 students in it and in primary school students tend to make friendship along gender lines. A kid/teen does have choice but they get a lot more choice as they grow older. I would say today i have quite a lot more choice as to who i am friends with then when i was at school. I have the benefit technologies. I also have the benefit of being able to travel more.

Of course having said of all this, i don't have complete choice as to who my friends are. I don't get much choice about my housemates. I don't choose my co-workers. Where i don't have the opportunity to choose my friends, i do have the opportunity to choose to be friendly.

Why is choosing friends important?
People have a tendancy to become like the people they hang around. Problem is, it's very hard to notice that i'm becoming like my friends...it's much easier to see it in others. My somewhat distant friend was becoming more apathetic in the last 12 months after spending most of his time around apathetic people. I decided to limit my hanging around with that group about 6 months ago.

I say you ought to choose the kind of friends you'd like to be like. I'm aiming to spend a lot of time around Enthusiastic, Action-orientated, Optimistic, Positive people, because i want to all of those good qualities to rub off on me.

Your suggesting i spend all my time with a selected group of people?
No, it's not practical and probably not healthy to be so narrow. We all have to spent our time with a variety of people. I do think people should try and find inspiring people and make them a priority in their life and seek those kind of people out.

Why be so selective? Why not just let it slide and see what happens?
I think a person's life to shaped so much by those you hang around. I don't think anyone wants their character to 'let slide and see what happens' and so i think it's important to really think about who we spend time with.

Inspiring people are too hard to find
I think most people would say that there not overloaded with inspiring people in their life. I do think that most of us don't search hard enough and maybe lack the confidence to build deliberate friendships with people who have inspiring qualities.

The good, The bad and the Trav

2007-02-08T15:49:00.000+11:00

Exhale! i'm not quite back to my regular blogging patterns yet. Since returning from Warrnambool the pace of my life has been fast, too fast even for me.

I am so very excited. Very ready to take on challenges but i've spent so much time with people and groups of people i'm overloaded. So here's the good and the bad of the last few weeks

Things that are Trav-Tastic!
Teaching swimming this week at Black Hill primary, love it!
Seeing nearly every leader in Champion City and debriefing their experience.
I have spent 42 hours with Jono either in the car or debriefing people in the last 9 days...i like Jono a lot but i think he's sick of me telling the story about hitting the cyclist.
I saw Nathaniel! I saw Chris and walked on the roof in the middle of Melbourne.
I helped Glenn cook at Ro's wedding!
My Brother had his engagement party, and i got a wedding invitation from my sister. (note: my brother and sister are both getting married but not to each other)

Things that are Travisities.
My bed times, i'm totally out of routine majorly due to the very long time our debriefing took. Since monday last week. 1am, 12:00am, 11:00pm, 11:30pm, 1am, 1am, 12am, 12:30am, 12:45am. (Sob....it's far too hard living a deeply loving life when tired)

Driving....too too many places.

Cara being far away in nsw for a week, but she's back now.

The Challenge
I'm going back to uni full time in a few weeks time. Working less for Scripture Union this year. I enrolled in tute's online and the site tells you of % of classes are full and my maths class was (Tute 1: Mondays 12:30 23% full, Tuesdays 3:30 34% full, Thursdays 10:30 111% full). I'm excited coz i really feel called to be at uni...i dont want to be a teacher but feel like finishing this course is part of the big picture.

Friends on Friday

2007-02-02T10:04:00.000+11:00

I've been thinking a lot about friends since late last year. I thought to myself "There are so many different people i could try to be friends with...but i can't possibly be friends with everyone...and how on earth do you grow friendships.....and what do you do with friends who used to be friends but i haven't seen them since 1967....and and and"

So until i get bored, this is my place to blog about friends. I've been trying to think up principles for how to have really good friendships and here's one principle that i've been finding a little bit helpful.

"Keep old friends on a long leash"
I'm sure everyone can think of someone or numerous people who they used to be pretty close to but as a result of circumstances, laziness and other factors their not very close friends anymore.

What typically happens is the friends drift further and further away until eventually they are a distant memory. But i find this a little hard to swallow, someone's been a good friend for 2-5 years (5% of my likely life) and i'm going to let them just float away?

Keeping friends on a long leash means i find some way of keeping in loose contact with them just to let them know what i'm up to, hopefully ensure you know what their up to.

Why? 2 reasons
1. At the very least a good friend deserves not to disappear instantly. Even if there's no chance of friendship in the future, both parties will be grateful for the friendship of the past.

2. Who knows what will happen? maybe they'll move into your area, change jobs, might become interested in a similar hobby. Maybe there's an outside chance of being really good friends once again.

It does happen
ah my friend Josh who doesn't blog very much. I was in yr 11 P.E and i knew him a fair bit in 2001-2002. We were both moving to Ballarat in 2003 but then he didn't go. Between 2003-2005 i rarely saw him, occasionally we exchanged emails. As loose as our contact was when he got into uni in 2006 straight away i managed to get him to move into my house. It was definately worth keeping in loose contact.

How i reckon loose contact is possible.
1. Most people have birthdays and Birthdays are the universal permission to contact people day.
2. Most people tend to become a little sentimental around Christmas, a good time to send a card, or an email saying what you've been up to and that you'd like to hear what their up to.
3. On occasions we have to travel and often nearby friends. It's a perfectly good excuse to drop in and try and wrangle up a 30-45 minute conversation, it's challenging but worth it.

There's not a lot of stressed attached to this idea, if your contact gets ignored you've lost very little.

Nightclubs

2007-01-28T20:28:00.000+11:00

I like thinking about stuff. Living as a Christian and trying to follow Jesus has made me think a lot about all sorts of issues...nightclubbin is one issue i've been thinking about.

I don't recall anyone in church talking much about the clubbin' scene. Whilst no one talked openly about clubbin' some how i knew that it was a no-go zone for Christians.

Here's 3 things i learnt growing up in church through direct or implied means, which taught me that clubbin was wrong.

drinking alcohol is wrong [P.S the bible doesn't say alcohol is wrong, sometimes it recommends it]
night clubs are places where you go solely for the purpose of picking up
Hanging around those who are not Christians may/probably will infect you
And therefore...clubbin must be bad for you will obviously get drunk, pick up a chick and have sex

One day when i was 18 i was having tea with mates and they went into town i came too...i didn't know where we were going i simply followed. It was 11pm and i lined up outside this building...(i thought it was a tad late for a movie) It then finally dawned on me: this is a night club!

now i have a delemma! i'm in the line with friends. If i stay in the line i will be participating in something that has been taught to me as wrong. If i leave i am basically staying to my friends "ahh sorry i'm far too good, far too holy to go clubbin with you" And so i didn't decide...i stood there and the line took me inside.

Determined to hate every minute of my experience, i discovered that people were very friendly, everyone was having a fun time, i noted there were some who drank too much, there were those who did stupid things, there were most who did the right thing and enjoyed their experience.

That was 4 years ago, today i'm about 3-4 times a year clubber. It's good for a party, loud music (Summer Rain by Belinda Carslie...bring it on)...but it's pretty anti-social (it's hard to have a good conversation) so i'm not a massive fan.

I've thought a bit about the issue a bit and here are some beliefs i have

It is my belief that there is nothing essentially wrong with going to nightclubs but it is possible to do wrong things while your there.
Alcohol is alright when taken sensibly
Nightclubbin isn't for everyone, some people would find it very challenging and i understand that
"Bad company corrupts good character." (It's a statement that's often used to say don't hang around nightclubs, pubs etc) I do agree with the statement it's for this reason i stopped hanging around some of my cynical Christian friends. I do not think it means dont hang around unbelievers. Jesus hung around unbelievers often and i would say his character wasn't corrupted.

Big Joke Battle

2007-01-25T13:19:00.000+11:00

Every year since 2006 Cafrine and i have had a joke competition. Last year it was an 8-8 draw...(but i so won). It works like this: I pick a joke, she picks a joke and you vote and decide which is funnier.

My Joke: Two Fish are in a tank, one says to the other: "HEY! how do you drive this thing???"

Cafrine's Joke:

knock knock
Who's there
Oil
Oil Who
Oil tell you when i see you

The rest is up to you, Vote Fish or Oil to decide who wins.
[much thanks to Craig for his research and provision of the fish joke]

Back!

2007-01-21T14:01:00.000+11:00

"No situation is so urgent or important that it should lead us to betray our deepest values"

Got back from Warrnambool last night after 2 fantastic weeks. It really was great.
One thing i thought about while making numerous hurried car trips, had hard conversations with people, faced disapointment, failure, huge success..all at once was the above statement. Often i think what i'm doing is so important that i might think it warrants telling a lie or making an exaggeration or an omission. Or maybe it's so important that i dont have to love difficult people because they are clearly getting in my way. Or perhaps i dont have to follow all the rules prescribed because success is more important.

It might not be a bullet proof statement, what do you think?

60

2007-01-08T12:20:00.000+11:00

Today i'm off to Warrnambool and will be there for 12 days. I'm leading Warrnambool Mission which runs 2 programs: Champion City (kids holiday program) and Ignite (teenage youth events)

This is my 6th time on the team...and i love it! it's one the most worthwhile things i've put time into.

Some of my Bendigo friends from last years team have started Bendigo Kids 4 Life which is similar to Champion City and it's starting today with their program commencing on Wednesday.

See ya!

4 Weddings and a bowling alley

2007-01-06T13:49:00.000+11:00

Today i went to Dion and Michelle's wedding...I met Dion playing touch footy during my dominant half season career and then at uni.
After 21 years 5 months of non-wedding attendance i've been to 4 in 11 months. There was a time when funerals led 2-0 now their trailing 2-4. And with my brother and sister both engaged it seems my wedding shoes will be getting quite a workout.

I went bowling with Karl last night and his friend Mark. My 86 and 105 was a slow start for the bowling season. But the strangest thing happened: This guy came and bowled in the next lane his name was Glenn. And he typed in 2 names into the bowling scorecard computer thing

Bowler 1: Glenn
Bowler 2: Me

So Glenn would go bowl and then it was me's turn and Glenn would then also bowl for "me" he was playing against himself! Which i could understand if he was like a pro and was practicing....But he wasn't any good! Glenn got like 70 while "me" came in 2nd with 66.

My only advice for him was "don't beat yourself up"

Boring Ballarat

2007-01-01T10:47:00.000+11:00

Last night i hung out with Josh and Mel and two of their friends.

Ballarat did not celebrate new years eve.....there was no one at the lake, no one at the show grounds, and only 8.5 people in the middle of town and no fireworks.

Nothing. Zip. Nil. Naught. Zero.

So we drove around in my car listening to simple plan and then we to a bar with the 8.5 people and counted down new years. How did you celebrate?

Next year i'm going to maldon.

2006 TravBox Awards

2006-12-27T11:01:00.000+11:00

Here we go, it's time to announce the best blogs of 2006.

Most Newsworthy Blog: Chris was in the middle of a massive protest at the G-20 summit (although to his credit his group had a peaceful protest). I was most interested in hearing about the protest from his blog's point of view not just the TV.

Best Post Name: If you call your post: Just for Trav as my friend Chuck did your bound to get nominated. His opening lines were: Hey everybody who reads my blog. Certainly many more people read his blog now.

Best Blog picture: 3 way tie
Chris for his mario picture

Jo for her toilet roll picture

Aaron for his Kangaroo picture

Funniest Blog Post: Craig wins for his very funny petrol and banana post

Least updated blog: For 3 months of no blogging this award goes to Kell, not sure if she'll know about it until next year sometime.

Best parody: I've taken to parodies again recently but it was Stoz's rendition of the 12 days of Christmas while waiting for his nintendo wii that won this award.

Best special effects: I didn't realise you could use YouTube until i saw it on Sammy's blog, a worthy winner.

Best countdown: I have taken to countdowns a fair bit this year, few were game for such a challenge but one who consistantly counted down everything from books, to things that pissed her off, to songs was Cafrine. She released top ten tuesday which was very exciting. Well done.

Most consistent: Spatch wins, for consistant blogging throughout the year....mostly.

Most thought provoking blog: Switch despite his newness to blogger, constantly blogged things that made me think.

Most controversial post: I think i'm usually the one who stirs the pot, but Cara's post on whether you can be humble and rich was a lot of fun

Most Improved Blogger 2006: That award would have to go to Mum, who turned her blog into a book worm haven making her blog look very sharp.

Best new blogger 2006: This year saw unprecidented numbers of new bloggers but the winner goes to someone who took a lifetime to get her own blog but since doing so has been blogging like a veteran, Steff wins this award.

Favorite Post of 2006: Hundreds maybe thousands of posts but which was my favorite.....well i picked a series of blogs from the same blogger: Cafrine

Firstly her admission that if Damian doesn't win idol she'll quit TV. (I then challenged her to quit TV for a week)

Secondly the challenge to go without TV for a week.

And finally her concession speech after not making it.

Your welcome to make an acceptance speech, but no poems by Russel Crowe.
And on that note, since i'm not sure whether it's my last post for 2006, I'll say a half hearted goodbye. Looking forward to seeing you in the blogosphere in 2007 and many new bloggers with you.

Trav

God Goodbye

2006-12-19T12:51:00.000+11:00

As requested,Parody of Everybody's gone to war by Nerina Pallot.

I've got a friend who rejects all things unseen
He says there's no way a loving God exists
He's blaming God for the messed up world we see
He's a man who rejects the man of Christmas

and so...
Everybody's closed the door
On a God people all ignored
And now the world is full of flaws
That no one thinks is worthy

You think when God's angry, he acts like a cobra
Striking us down, until it's all over
We have no faith in something sublime
God Goodbye?
God wants to play but we gave him a joker
Sent him outside and he's not allowed over
We don't like his ways, we don't think they apply
God Goodbye.

God sent his son to live here in this world
He was a man helping us to be free
We didn't learn the lessons he wanted learn't
And now we've got the symptoms of our disease

and so...
Everybody's closed the door
On a God people all ignored
And now the world is full of flaws
That no one thinks is worthy

We bitch and we bicker, over and over
Relationships down, like a bulldozer
When lying and cheating isn't a crime
God Goodbye
We all want his help, but God's not a broker
He steps aside until he's called over
Invitations are open, will you reply?
God Goodbye?

Bye-Bye-Bye-Bye
Bye-Bye-Bye-Bye
God Goodbye
God Goodbye

and so...
Everybody's closed the door
On God people all ignored
And now the world is full of flaws
That no one thinks is worthy

We think of ourselves, over and over
Selfishly drunk and greedily sober
We hate and we hurt and everything's mine
God Goodbye
Wrongs we conceal like bluffing in poker
Acting alright, our lives medicore
I wonder if God could be nearby?
Is God nearby?
Near-Near-by
Is God nearby?
Oh God's nearby

But God Goodbye?

I've got a friend who rejects all things unseen
I hope he mets the man of Christmas