How to maximise filling your vehicle with petrol

I received this in my email today so I thought I will share it with all of you in this day of high petrol/gasoline price!

Tips for filling your vehicles:

1. Only buy or fill up your car in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold.  Reason:  All service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground.  The colder the ground, the denser the fuel, when it gets warmer petrol expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening  .... your litre is not exactly a litre
2. When you're filling up, do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a Fast Mode.  Reason:  In slow mode, you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapours that are created, while you are pumping.  All hoses at the pump have a vapour return.  If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapour.  Those vapours are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less for your money.
3. One of the most important tips is to fill up when your tank is half full.  Reason:  The more fuel you have in the tank, the less air occupying the empty space. Petrol evaporates faster than you can imagine.  Petroleum storage tanks have an internal floating roof.  This roof serves as zero clearance between the petrol and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation.
4. If there is a fuel tanker pumping into the storage tanks, when you stop to buy, do not fill up.  Reason:  Most likely the petrol/diesel is being stirred up as the fuel is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Compiled by Ramesh Patel and edited by yours truly.

Price of Gasoline is UP AGAIN!!!

This is getting ridiculous!!!  I had to put petrol in my car today and had a chat with the station attendant and she said she thought her customers were going to lynch her yesterday when the price went up to $2.01 per litre!  Apparently some of her customers knew the price was going up before she knew it was going up!

To top it that, the New Zealand Labour government came up with the annual budget presentation informing the public that there will be a personal tax cut for us this coming October.  However, the media is calling it 'a family block of cheese' for us!  Why?!  Because it ranges from NZ$16 - NZ$22 per week.  So guess which one am I getting? Yeah the lower one of course!  Sigh.......   Critics say it is just a last ditch effort to gain some votes with the upcoming election where the National party has been predicted to win in these times of high inflation and high interest rates! To me, the $16 will just cover the price of petrol increase in the past year!

Price of Oil is up again!!!

picture courtesy of www.cartoonstock.com

With the price of oil constantly going up, nowadays, even the radio stations are into it!  How you may ask?  Well, listeners who spot a sudden increase in price will call in and everyone will be rushing around to hopefully find a station that has not up its price yet!

It is now $1.97 for 91 unleaded on Monday 19 May 2008!  

I think people are now just waiting for the price to hit $2 as the price of everything else is steadily increasing as the price of oil increases!  And the current Labour government says they are not reducing personal taxes.  Whatever increase in salary or wages one gets will be eaten up by inflation caused by the ever increasing oil price!

Also, a few more big companies are closing plants or factories creating redundancies!  Crime rate is also on the increase with more jobs lost and less money to go around!  New Zealand is definitely in depression right now>......

Gifts from GOD - see awesome video!

Most of us always take for granted of our normal body by finding all sorts of superficial imperfections which on the whole does not matter compared with people who are missing some parts of their body!  If you watch the following video, you will be awestruck with how these two Chinese dancers overcame their handicaps and performed such a fantastic and wonderful performance and it does give a new meaning to perseverance!

I was mesmerised while I watched how they substituted and make do despite missing a limb so much so that I do not even see anything lacking at how they danced.  At the same time, it strucked me of how God have blessed them with such gifts to make up for the missing limbs.

A big THANK YOU to my friend, Azlina, for sharing this video that I am more than happy to share with all of you.......

 

                                                   

Ecclesiasticus - The Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach

Growing up in a catholic family and in an all girls' catholic school I was really not exposed to the Old Testament as much as the New Testament.  But in the last few years, I have begun to appreciate the Bible more and I find that the book of Ecclesiasicus or Sirach is so applicable to every day life.  This book as I was told is found in the Catholic Bible so if you have not read one, I am sharing with you and how I parallel it to everyday life.

Sirach 1: 1-10  In Praise of Wisdom

    

    All wisdom is from the Lord,

        and with him it remains

             forever.

    The sand of the sea, the drops of

              rain,

       and the days of eternity - who

              can count them?

   

   The height of heaven, the 

            breadth of the earth,

        the abyss, and wisdom

             - who can search them

            out?

   

  Wisdom was created before all

            other things,

        and prudent understanding

           from eternity.

  The root of wisdom - to whom

          has it been revealed?

       Her subtleties - who knows

          them?

  There is but one who is wise,

          greatly to be feared,

       seated upon his throne - the

           Lord.

  It is he who created her;

       he saw her and took her 

            measure;

       he poured her out upon all his 

            works,

       upon all the living according to

            his gift;

       he lavished her upon those

           who love him.

We are always told that people who are old are usually very wise because they have seen it all and experienced it all!  But I totally agree that what wisdom we have is from God and that God can grant wisdom on anyone who believes in the Lord.  For example, you can view this video of this 8 year old preacher boy from Indonesia.  I strongly believe that he was given the wisdom and gift from God to preach the Word at such a young age and he talks with such wisdom about the problems of Indonesia.  Click here to view the video and judge for yourself how such a young child can have such wisdom if not from God!

      

Modern Excuses for Not Doing Homework!

photo courtesy of www.uiowa.com

A few of my colleagues and I were thinking about all the excuses students come up with when asked why they cannot hand in their homework. The old excuse of "My dog ate my homework!" has hardly ever come up if any at all!

Here are some of the excuses given by Kiwi kids these days:

I had a big game last night!
I had to work last night!
I was at my Dad's/Mum's last night so did not have my books with me!
I had an accident and all my books got wet/really disgusting!
Oh! I forgot! I did it honestly! I left it on my desk and forgot to put it in my bag!

And finally, the straight forward and honest but lazy answer(!!)

I couldn't do any of it!

I am sure some other teachers have more creative answers, too!

How much does your child assimilate what they are taught?

I was supervising one of my classes during their internal assessment when one boy put his hand up. I walked to him to see what he wanted and he pointed to a table and one of the columns with the title "Calorie intake" and asked me what the word 'calorie' meant. I tried my best to explain to him but at the same time wondered what he had been taught in his Physical Education and Health classes. Then he went on and asked me what the word 'urban population' meant and I told him (wondering what he had learnt in Social Studies). Finally, before I could walk away, he asked me again and pointed to a column 'literacy rate' and asked me what it meant! This time I was wondering he really needs help and told him it meant read and write! He goes," Ohhh.. "and some of his classmates around him burst into laughter!" I was really not sure if he was trying to entertain his classmates in an assessment or he really did not know at all!!! We are talking about a boy around 15 - 16 years old here......

It just goes to prove that what teachers always say is true, i.e., 'One ear in and one ear out!'

It is always so gratifying when a student you have taught from the previous year or years who comes to you and said,'Oh yes! I remember you taught us that last year!'

Figure Skating Camp

End of dance classes with their dance teacher

With their two Russian coaches, Fanis and Maryna

Well, Jo-Ann has completed her 5 days figure skating training camp in Queenstown.  She also met up with some of her friends and made new ones in the process.  I think it will be more fun for her next time she goes to competition as she knows her competitors as well as their capabilities.

Their camps included 4 - 4 1/2 hours of skating everyday, a hour of dance, and hour of technical class and an hour of off ice training!  Very intense of full of calories burning everyday!  Now she is winding down with lots of sleep and also eating junk food!  Not allowed at camp, of course!

Next skating event, club championships next month......

Giant Pumpkins!

Giant pumpkins at Millers Flat

Lots of giant pumpkins!

The 204 kg NZ record size pumpkin!!!

On my drive out to Queenstown, I passed this shop which caught my eye and I thought I'd stop on the way back to take some pictures.

I found out that it is a shop selling pumpkins including giant pumpkins and decorative gourds.  Thought I'll share some of the photos with you including that of the biggest pumpkin in New Zealand, all 204 kg of it!!! 

Found that these pumpkins are not for eating but restaurants purchase them for decoration over the winter months.  The unsold pumpkins will be fed to the sheep later on.  These pumpkins were planted in November last year and harvested about this time of the year.

We did not buy any pumpkins but bought some apples and walnuts instead.  Jo-Ann had a fun time cracking and eating walnuts yesterday and today!

Winter comes early this year!

A really beautiful rainbow on the way into Dunedin.....

Snowing as we drove from Alexandra to Millers Flat

Friday 2 May morning looking at downtown Queenstown to your left 

Picture taken on Friday differs from that on Wednesday, see previous post...more snow covering the mountains in the background

Well.. we are back in Dunedin but what a drive back.  It started snowing at the lower levels on Friday morning and was still snowing on our drive back for about 2/3 of the way until about one hour from Dunedin where it started to rain as well as raining hailstones.

We are supposed to be in autumn but it looks like winter is here early this year!  Our winter months are supposed to be June, July and August!  Looks like we are going to have a long and cold one, too!  We had a nice long summer, too!  Oh well.....