Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Lurf is a MARVELLOUS motivator

Strongest Dad in the World
[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]

I try to be a good father. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots. But compared with Dick Hoyt, I stink. Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars-- all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Massachusetts., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old, "Put him in an institution.'' But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. "No way,'' Dick says he was told. "There' s nothing going on in his brain.'' "Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate.

First words?
"Go Bruins!''

And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that.''

Yeah, right.
How was Dick, a self-described "porker'' who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried.

"Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks.'' That day changed Rick's life. "Dad,'' he typed, "when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!'' And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon. "No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor.

For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?'' How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried. Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time'? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

"No question about it,'' Rick types. "My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day. That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

"The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, "is that my dad sits in the chair and I push him once.''

Click here to watch the video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4B-r8KJhlE

Monday, March 19, 2007

Greater Is He

Who am I that You washed my feet?
The Prince of Heaven's blood shed for me

Who am I that You called my name?
Nailed my sin to a cross
Unfailing grace

Greater is He who's in me
Greater are You than all the earth
My closest friend, my saviour
So much more than I deserve

Let my life bring You honour
Let my words bring You praise
Your great love is all I want Lord

My Refuge, my Shelter
My Healer and Rest
Almighty Redeemer
Salvation and Strength

Friday, March 9, 2007

page-a-day wisdom

I like this.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."
~Anais Nin~

And this.

"Realizing that my life has turned out so much better than it would have if I had been able to control it when I wanted to has been one of the greatest insights of my life."
~Anne~

May our hearts be as

Strong as Gideon's,
Soft as King David's, and
Resilient as Ruth's

when we go through threshing times.

'Cos it takes all in us to decide to go through what we need to, but when we are shaken and going through the fire, we can look forward to emerging as a diamond.

Have a great March, you all! :)

Monday, March 5, 2007

Taipei really looks like a city of cabs hor....














To do justice to Amy, this is a much nicer pic of me and her...














And this is the trenchcoat she helped me pay for, then turned around and said it's my berfdae gift in advance...ooh I like it so! :)


















Somemore can take out the top to become this!

Sunday, March 4, 2007

my fortnight in picture form...

I like how this shot came out! Doesn't Father Nic look happy with all those wings and potato skins? I'm asking you, HOW not to put on weight in Taiwan?! Sigh.














While Kai and Nic were chugging it ...














... I couldn't resist a shot with Amy.














Me and the handsome boy! Even tho he refused to smile at the camera, he's still cute cos we caught him mid-manja. :)














The cactus the zone guys gave for V-day FLOWERED! How pretty. :)














Me and Na with Eh-driel's and Xueling's little boy-Asher.
I still can't believe Eh-driel's a DAD!!
Gosh, that makes him a grown-up... Hahaha. :P














My cell group (plus Wee Tat's forehead, seemingly) celebrating Pris and Krystal's berfdaes at our special room in Fish & Co. :P