Newsletter No. 38: June 2006

BIRTHDAYS

JULY

2nd Brian Woodhead
2nd Lachlan James Turnbull
5th Pauline Joan Turnbull
8th Daniel James Wood
11th Maureen Barbara Muir
13th Christopher Edward Wood
16th Michael Charles Bellman
19th Stephanie Ann Collins
21st Helen Maree Bellman
24th Kevin James Turner
27th Madison Kathleen Wood
28th Anthony John Robb
29th Alicia Clare Lyell
30th Brent Edward Woodhead
30th Lesley Jane Bellman

AUGUST

1st James Edward Lyell
1st Sonja Elizabeth Wood
2nd Joshua Dylan Wood
4th Leanne Mary Richards
5th Jake Mitchell Lyell
7th Elizabeth Lyell
13th Justin Michael Wood
17th Nicholas Stephen Turnbull
21st Megan Rae Bellman
21st Patrick David Turnbull
22nd Victor Prawdiuk
24th Matthew Dean Wensor
28th Patricia Mary Wood
28th Jordyn Mackenzie Muir
29th David John  Turnbull
30th Bernadette Camish

• Birthday Milestones coming up: Chris Turnbull will be 30 on the13th July and Brent Woodhead will be 21 on July 30th.

• Anna Robb has recently obtained the prestigious position as stage manager for the famous Cirque Du Soleil in Las Vagas on a 12 month contract which could help her to go on for even bigger shows, and top of this Anna was excited to inform her parents that Addam (her boyfriend) had proposed to her so we look forward to wedding bells ringing in the future.

• Tom Lyell who has been living in Perth has headed over to Ireland for 12 months with girl friend Annalise, they may find the water that they surf in will be a mite cooler than that in Perth.

• Rob & Clare have rented a house in North Fitzroy which will save them a lot of time travelling to work, they have also brought all their furniture from Canberra

• I have had to change the "Woodchips" address since I have gone onto broadband, the new address is http://www.familiesunearthed.com/wood/
  so would you change your records.

• Pam & I travelled to Perth for 5 days late in May to catch up with Michael and his family and also to attend the opening of his new Physiotherapy practice in Leederville.

• Fred Turnbull turned 70 in May as I will later this month and we celebrated these events with the Wood brother & sisters plus in-laws at the St Georges restaurant in Preston.

Here is an article (by Bill Gates) Eddie sent which we felt worthy of including in the newsletter. Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! To anyone with kids of any age, here's some advice.

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

• Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

• Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

• Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

• Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

• Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

• Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

• Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

• Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

• Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

• Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

• Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.