Fullarton Blokes

Cycle - 20th August

2007-08-13T22:11:00.000+01:00

Anyone have any suggestions for a cycle next Monday? Keeping in mind that we are starting at 7:30 and it will be dark by 9:00 and not everyone will have lights...

Anyone know of any good tracks in the area? I know if the New Town Trail which would take about an hour and a half and Andy mentioned the track to Troon. Any others for consideration?

Mark.

Fore!

2007-07-16T23:22:00.000+01:00

A fine night was had at the North Gailes short classics this evening. (http://www.north-gailes.co.uk/golf_card.asp)

It might be a par 3 course. The longest hole might be a debatable 100 yards. But write this course off at your peril! There are still plenty of places to lose a golf ball!!

The prizes went as follows:

Longest drive: Mark McIntee

Closest to the window: Mark McIntee

A Duck (not a birdie or an eagle or an albatross - but a duck): Mark McIntee

I'll let the other guys tell you about the other memorable moments...

Fullarton Quiz

2007-02-25T20:56:00.000Z

Guys,

Was thinking it would be good if the Blog's could submit a team for the Fullarton Quiz planned for Friday 16th March!

Only need 3 for a team.

Unfortunately I have already been booked for keeping the scores and in the interests of fair play it would be wrong for me to act as a contenstant (he he!) but I'm sure we can find 3 willing young Bloggers :)

Any takers?

Meeting idea

2007-02-22T23:22:00.000Z

Hey guys,

Just wondered, perhaps we should ask the Fullarton Men's Guild if they'd mind us joining them for a night? I believe they might partake of a bit of carpet bowling? Having just tried my hand at the Grange Bowling Club, it's both fun and challenging (you have to have a lighter touch than for 10-pin, for a start!). What do we think - should we ask them?

Controversy at Rugby Park

2007-02-08T08:00:00.000Z

No, it has nothing to do with the football result.

Who would believe that Rugby Park, frequent winners of the Best Football Stadium Pie award, would run out of pie's at half time?!! Outrageous!

That disapointment aside it was a good night and an enjoyable game, utterly freezing right enough. For those that didn't hear the final score it was Scotland B 2-2 Finland B, with the visitors scoring a goal in the first 3 minutes and equalizing with 8 left. Some decent players on show for Scotland.

At least they didn't run out of bovril :)

something missing?

2007-02-04T18:24:00.001Z

Hi Guys,Guess who didn't make church again this Sunday.I find more often these days that Sundays are becoming an extension to the working week. Too many Sundays are being spent preparing work for Monday.This means that my work is taking over my life, perhaps it's because I appreciate how fortunate I am to have a job or more likely that expectations in my workplace have risen to the level that I am PUT UNDER PRESSURE TO ACHIEVE! I know that I miss out, it is Sunday afternoon as I write this and I have a sense that something is missing. I miss the fellowship and understanding that I get being among others who have the same guiding light in their life. The feeling of companionship and camaraderie.I know that the work ethic which I have nurtured over my working life is in line with my beliefs. But sometimes I feel I can be put upon because of my conscientiousness and readiness to go the extra mile or so. I often put work commitments before family, it's about finding a balance, knowing where to draw the line, setting boundaries. I'll try harder.....wish me luck.....see you next Sunday?

Snooker Highlights

2007-01-23T23:24:00.000Z

Well, the highlights for several of us may just have been hitting the right ball! Seriously though, there was a good turnout with 10 of us there, including I think three blokes who had not been before which was great! We commandeered 3 tables, and did a sort of round robin doubles series on 2 tables with the other team playing singles. Of course, it's not the winning but the taking part that counts, but I can reveal that in the doubles matches, a total of 657 points were scored (not all from pots; a few might have been fouls! :-) )

There are probably several ways to present the scores but this way might be fair? :

DOUBLES (played, won, points for, points against, difference):
Neil & Gary: P2 W2 F110 A72 D+38
Mark & Mark : P3 W2 F174 A149 D+25
Keith & Douglas: P2 W1 F114 A112 D+2
Gordon & Phil: P2 W1 F118 A131 D-13
Dave & Eric: P3 W0 F141 A193 D-52

SINGLES (frames won):
Gordon 2
Keith 1
Gary 1

There was one abandoned frame, where Neil was ahead (so I'm told).
Unfortunately history does not record the points in the singles frames.

Well done to everyone (especially Keith, playing with an injury...) - it seems clear to me that I should stick to pool... But you never know - next time we all might have improved!

Snooker Night

2007-01-16T19:03:00.000Z

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay, but we are definitely 'on' for next Tuesday night (23rd) at Irvine Snooker Club, East Road. Cost for a day membership is £1 each, with tables for £3.60/hour. We can't officially reserve tables (not being full members) but I should be able to ring up on the day to make sure they keep 2 tables together for us (I'm assuming 2 should be enough?). I forgot to ask about cues, I expect there will be a few floating about for general use but I have a couple I can bring that we can share if all else fails!

I guess we'll meet at 7.30? The divinely ordained time for most church evening meetings? If not, let me know.

In other news, just a reminder about the blog http://fullartonblokes.blogspot.com - please feel free to join if you haven't already (if you've deleted the invite, let me know and I'll send you a new one) - and about the men's conference in Jordanhill in Feb - details below. UPDATE: If you click 'conference' on the labels for this post, it will bring up all posts that are labelled 'conference' - easier than searching back to November's posts to find the original details!

The Nativity Story

2006-12-19T23:11:00.000Z

So I went onto the web the other night to look up local showing times for this new Nativity Story movie so that I could plan a babysitter so the wife and I could have one of our few trips to the cinema.

When I went searching I was disappointed to see that our local cinema (the Odeon in Kilmarnock) are not showing it at all. The nearest cinema is Glasgow Quay. That's alright I thought, we can live with that, we'll just go after work one night. But no, that's not possible because the film is only showing once per day at 11am! (it has since changed to different times throughout the week but all still during the day). I read some of the customer reviews and noticed that several other people have encountered the same problem and have questioned the fact that there is a showing at midday on Sunday when a large proportion of the people who would like to see this movie are at church!! I read comments like "please tell me why, with a population of 250,000 it is thought that maidstone would not be a big enough town to show a film about the greatest event in history, at the very time of year, when we all remember it."

Not to be put off I checked out some other chains: Showcase (Paisley) and UGC (Glasgow). All have the same story to tell.

How disappointing. Especially since this is not exactly a small budget movie, it comes from New Line (the studio that brought us Lord Of The Rings) is directed by Catherine Hardwicke (of Thirteen fame) and stars Keisha Castle-Hughes (from Whale Rider) and Ciarán Hinds (who was in Munich).

If you would like to read the customer reviews I mentioned they can be found at:
http://www.odeon.co.uk/fanatic/film_info/s101/Kilmarnock/m10391/The_Nativity_Story/

2006-12-15T23:10:00.000Z

Film Night

2006-12-12T11:28:00.000Z

hey great night was that film night last night

Upgrade

2006-12-11T13:21:00.000Z

Hi everyone!

Blogger being now part of Google, they've had 'Blogger Beta' (the next version) being mentioned for some time now, and it means two things:

We can do more stuff with it (I'm particularly interested in the 'labels' feature - so you can group your posts by topic).

We have to upgrade our sign in. It means creating a Google account - or if you already have a Google account, then you can merge it with your Blogger account. Sorry if this means more geek-hassle for you guys, but as far as I can see we'd have had to do it sooner or later, so I reckoned sooner was better.

Dave

Reminder - Film Night

2006-12-07T09:35:00.000Z

I can't find the email, but I'm pretty sure our next event is a film night on Monday at the manse.

See you there!

Dave

Just a thought

2006-11-27T22:30:00.000Z

Rather than address a topic why not just use this space to share generally things which might crop up during a day. Just a place to perhaps let off steam? something beautiful happen? speak freely and openly, no requirement to contribute but if a blog appears which strikes a chord then join in.

At the moment I am finding the very real requirement to conform in my place of work can sometimes mean compromising my personal principles. This is problematic since it means that I'm not being true to myself and my beliefs but, the food needs to be put on the table and the mortgage met. It's all very well to say do the right thing at all cost. On the other hand reality can be stark, better to engage and influence or withdraw and complain about the state of the world as an observer. I knew someone once who gave up a job in sales because of this type of conflict he couldn't live with the daily deceit . I admire his courage and feel that perhaps I might be selling out, the alternative is to stay, stand by my principles and risk being ostracised..............

So ..over to you .... anyone identify with this sort of situation......what did you do? what would you do? is there a balance to be sought? where would that balance be? how far is too far? etc etc etc............

Conference?

2006-11-20T22:15:00.000Z

Hi, just found out about a one-day men's Christian Conference held at Jordanhill in Feb. It seems to have been going for 8 years so some of you may already have come across it.

The Commission

Do we want to think about going as a group? Cost for the day is £18 if booked by 30 Nov, otherwise £22. This covers teas/coffees and lunch. It's on Saturday 10th Feb from 10-4.

I'll send this by email too so that everyone gets a chance to see it.

Discussion Topic: Fatherhood

2006-11-20T15:06:00.000Z

Not that I want to be the main person posting on this blog, but thought it might be an idea to suggest a topic to discuss and see what people made of it.

So, Fatherhood. What do you make of it? I know that some of us are fathers and some are not, but what do you think about being a dad? Do you have thoughts to share about your own dad? What excites you about it, or what scares you?
What about God the Father - is that a helpful image for you or not?

(As always, don't share anything you don't want to, or anything you wouldn't like the whole web to [potentially] read)

Personally, I love it. I'm still getting to grips with it (expect that will take 18yrs+...) and there are things that scare me too, like protecting your child from harm, yet allowing them to grow up and learn from mistakes. I worry about doing the right thing, about being sufficiently involved as a parent while still fulfilling other responsibilities... Anyway, don't want to say too much in case I say everything that everyone else might say. Post a comment, short or long, or tell me why this is a bad topic to start with and we can choose something else.

Karting/Bowling Review 14 Nov

2006-11-16T23:43:00.000Z

Some of us met up this week at 'The Garage' - not the Glasgow nightclub but a bowling alley and go-karting track with fast food joint and bar attached.

When I arrived, I had missed a game of pool 'of the highest quality' or so I am told!

We then had a go on the karts... Modesty forbids me to be entirely forthright about how I did (ok so I came 6th - out of 6) but it was a great time.

We did 32 laps (and they went so quickly!!!) in two sessions - 3 on the track at a time. I think I probably hold the record for being lapped most often. Keith took the top spot by lap time but only about half a second in the lead.

After a period of refreshment... during which we tried to establish plans for the future (including the fabled ski & sun trip to California) we began our bowling. Phil was the most skilful and consistent in the early stages, notching up a few spares in the early rounds, then others started to get strikes which mixed things up a bit. Towards the end, Mark got strikes in the 8th and 9th rounds and everything was a lot closer by this point. I bowled a double strike and a 9 in the last round, which (after an inconsistent game) (I felt) got me to a score I was happy with - I used to do ok-ish but haven't bowled for a while. But Mark won the game in style and indeed finished the night with THREE strikes (FIVE in a row!) - so that makes him a Five-Bagger (apparently. Or is that what you score rather than what you are? Answers on a comment please).

Anyway, it was a good night, I reckon. Anyone got any pictures/video to add? Could be added to this post by editing it or added under a new posting. Also feel free to add your comments or indeed edit the review above if you feel strongly that my perspective needs embellishing!

Good idea Dave

2006-11-15T17:16:00.000Z

Good idea folks, might join you all sometime when I'm not 'snowedunder'.

Welcome

2006-11-15T16:31:00.000Z

Welcome, Fullarton Blokes, and others!

Since we've recently started to meet together under the banner 'Blokes Blog', I thought - why don't we create a blog for it too?

We can post thoughts, pictures, reviews of previous meetings, plans for the future etc.? Not really sure myself - this is more of an experiment, but it may be especially good to keep in contact when not everyone will be able to get to every meeting.

Also, we can perhaps make connections with other men's groups - I have linked to The Mandate which is a conference held in Belfast every November. This year seems to be sold out, but it could be an idea for next year? (You know, before we do our trip to California!).

I think I've left it so that everyone can make amendments to the template as well as post entries, but am happy to add material if you'd rather send it to me.

Please let me know what you think of this idea and if anyone already does their own blog, let me know and we can link to it from this one.

God bless,
Dave