Mike Crowl's Blog

 First published on Column 8 on 25th Sept, 1991

 

I spent the better part of a wet Saturday afternoon lastweekend at the Computer Expo being held in the chandelier-lit Southern CrossHotel.

Computers intrigue me, though not to the extent that I’lldiscuss them from dawn to dusk. But there was a particular Point of Sale set-upon display which impressed me as being of possible value for my shop. In fact,so impressed was I that I lay awake till 2 am thinking about the possibilities.

Computer...

First published in Column 8 on the 11th Sept 1991

If you want some free entertainment in these recessive days,leave your credit cards, cheque book and cash at home and go to an auction.

I recommend it to anyone who wants to relax and let theworld go by, to keep the blood flowing at an even pace, and to avoid clutteringhis/her brain with excess thoughts.

You’ll probably even be able to sit down and enjoy the show –until they sell the chair from underneath you.

I enjoy auctions for all sor...

First published in Column 8 on the 4thSeptember, 1991

 When armed robbery took place last week at our localpharmacy my family was at home only a block away. One of the robbers made hisescape down a street only one away from where my kids were at school. I becamerather unnerved at my wife’s phone calls to me at work relaying the latest newsreports. Was it possible someone with a shotgun was still wandering thestreets?

We found out later that the robbers must have left the areapretty smar...

First published in Column 8 on the 21stAugust, 1991

 

[One of the few Columns to get an introduction from theeditor: ‘If you are looking for a piano player, Mike Crowl is your man.Experienced with a variety of keyboards, he tells why he is so adaptable…onpage 2.’ ]

 

If you want an adaptable person, find a pianist.

Pianists acquire adaptability far more than any other kindof musicians because they work with a major disadvantage: they play aninstrument that isn’t portable.

Yes, I know in ...

First published in Column 8 on the 28th August,1991

The Central Intelligence System is under attack!

The main air ducts to the outside world resound with continuousexplosions. The two large video screens steam with condensation. And, if they’renot already in this state, it’s likely in the near future that the twoloudspeakers will crackle and splutter until their sound ceases altogether. At presentall noise is interrupted by a static-like coughing and choking.

Yes folks, it’s time for th...

 First published in Column 8 on the 14th August,1991

 

Back in 1981, a marvellous phrase was sprung on the nationby one Peter ThomasMahon. He said, amongst other things, that some of the Erebus evidencewas ‘an orchestrated litany of lies.’

Because the phrase so hit the mark, it perhaps had the seedsof self-destruction inherent in it. In fact, now that every writer and his brotheruses it to describe all manner of things from a schoolboy fib to a prisoner’splea, its value has plummeted fur...

 In one of the Psalms that KingDavid wrote, he asks God: What’s so important about human beings that You takenotice of them?

Why does God take notice ofus? 

Each one of us is barely anatom in our own solar system. And our solar system itself, when compared to thevastness of the Milky Way, is like a blade of grass on the continent of Africa. 

When it comes to the Universeyou’d think we’d count for nothing. So when we think of the immensity of God’sBeing compared to us, why does He take ...

 First published in Column 8, on the 7thAugust, 1991. This version is slightly altered from the original.

 

During the recent DunedinCompetitions I sat in a large room I hadn’t been inside for years. I ran myeye over a quiet corner where I’d spent half my childhood reading books on filmuntil I could tell you everyone who directed this and everyone who acted inthat. The shelves from which I’d taken the books were still there, but theirworn brown boards are now bare, apart from a couple of b...

 The longest Psalm in theBible, Psalm 119, has 176 lines. In one verse after another it focuses on theway in which we should live, that is, according to the commandments and instructionsof our Father God. 

But every so often there’s aline in this Psalm which seems puzzling, almost out of place. One such line is,My life is continually in my hands. 

In whose hands? You’d expectthe writer to say my life is in God’s hands. But no, he writes: inmy hands. 

How can that be? Surely oneof the ...

Unusually, the Editor of the Star Midweek gave me alittle promo on the front page of the paper – or else he had a little gap tofill - and decided to introduce my column thus:

Mike Crowl in his Column 8 today writes about the budget;well, sort of writes about the budget; well, would you believe almost writesabout the budge on…Page 2.

()()()()()()()()()

The budget

A friend asked me if I was writing about the budget. (I hadn’tthought about it.) Without waiting for a reply, he answered his ...