Category Archives: Ek

Weekend away in nature

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I spend the weekend away on a smallholding the other side of Somerset West just before you get to Sir Lowry’s Pass.  It was so good to spend the time outside the hussle and bussle of town life and be in a relaxing environment away from everything.  The house is standing on a smallholding amongs all this massive trees.  Although it was raining most of the time, there was some breaks in the rain where we could walk around in the gardens.  Here are some pictures I took.

At the bottom end is a river that run through the property. Here you can see the water making a small waterfall as it runs over a wall.

The house looking back from the river.  

With all the rain and cold it was nice that the house had a fireplace and we had a fire going quickly.  

Good company, some red wine and the nature all around you.  What else can a guy ask for 🙂

What I was up to on my last day at IBM

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Yesterday, Friday, the 13th was my last working day at IBM.  IBM really do not want you to work on your last day.  When I arrived at work I was no more authorized to use my email and some other IBM systems.  ILC was still working and I had to do that …yes you not going to get away with not doing your ILC.

I did my last paperwork and then handed back all I had to hand back.  The office then got together and said good-bye .. thanks Herman and Alex for the speech.  I was handed this massive card – the photo does not do it justice.

Good-bye Card

and the inside was full of personal messages (and a gift card for some gadget buying) – thanks guys & gals, I will treasure it.

Card - inside

I then said my good-bye’s, which took a while and was out of the office by 10:30.  Met up with a friend for some vida coffee and just sit in the sun and chat.

Then drove through to the V&A Waterfront and met up with another friend who is in town for the weekend from Pretoria.  It was such a gorgeous day that we again sat outside, had some drinks and just chatted away.  It is always so good to meet up with close friends from far away whom one only see once or twice in the year.  The time is never enough to catch up.

Drove through the Stellenbosch in the afternoon to go pick up my son from varsity.  The 2 of us then went to The Dros in Willowbridge for some drinks and just catch up on each others life.  Was so good to sit down with him and get to know what is going on in his life.  

Was a great day spending time with dear friends and my son.  Now a couple of days off not thinking at all about any work since I am actually unemployed until I start my new job on Wednesday, the 18th.

Farther’s Day — the PostSecret way.

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One of the first things I do on a Sunday morning is to read PostSecret.  Today’s one is dedicated to all the Farthers out there, being Farther’s Day.

Being a single dad, if it was not for my children, life would have been very lonely and a real struggle.  To all dads out there, appreciate your children, treat them with respect and give them unconditional love. 

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What have I been up to …

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I have not blogged for a while .. have just been tied up with other things.  So what were that other things:

  • Work wise –  have completed all projects I was working on.  Was a time to reflect on what I want to do next.  Is IBM the correct company for me to work at?  Have not got that answer yet.  In the mean time I am looking at other IBM projects around the world like Singapore, Malaysia and even London … so I might pack my bags early in the new year. 
  • Daughter is almost done with Matric exams — Friday she writes her last exam.  Currently battling to find accommodation for her in Stellenbosch next year.  She will be studying Human Science and Biology (definitely not fathers daughter 🙂 ).  Think we have find something but it is costly … at least it is safe, close and in a varsity community and that is what is important.
  • Son has completed 2nd year Chemical Engineering.  It was a tough year and he had to write a couple of subs.  Have to wait and see how he does on it.  At least he can carry on with his 3rd year next year.  Lets hope it is a better year for him next year.  Second year is always the toughest and that is now behind him.

For now that is it … as can be seen .. nothing about myself since there is really nothing to say.  I am really struggling at the moment to keep things together. 

 

Day too late for me: Burglaries

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In today’s Cape Argus and on IOL:

Durbanville and Bellville police are warning
residents to be on high alert and to ensure that they set their house alarms at night – even when they’re inside the house.

Police say a number of burglary gangs are targeting houses in those areas.

New research has shown that during the past year, house robberies increased by 13,5 percent and a staggering 97 percent of all robbers are armed.

This is the latest in crime intelligence research done by Dr Rudolph Zinn, senior lecturer in the School of Criminal Justice at Unisa, in an intensive study on house robberies and robbers.

Zinn, a professor in the department of forensic and crime investigation, said almost 15 000 residential robberies were committed last year.

Read about my experience yesterday here.

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What is this world coming too .. as mad as hell – break in while sleeping.

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I should probably not be writing this at this moment because of the way I feel.  I am as mad as hell.

While we, my daughter and myself, were sleeping, somebody (probably more than one person) came into my house and took some of my stuff.  I know it is just stuff and everybody tells me that we should be glad we did not wake up.  But still, having one’s privacy invaded like this is not nice at all .. in fact it sucks big time.

How they got into the house, we not exactly sure.  All doors were locked and only one window in the kitchen was open.  They got away with my cellphone, 2 old laptops, my new laptop bag with couple of things in the bag and the most valuable thing was probably my new Canon camera.  In the laptop bag was my passport, and you all know what a slept it will be do get that replaced.
Also there was 2 credit cards in the bag that I hardly use but still had to get it cancelled and a couple of loyalty cards.

Except for the camera, that was in the kitchen, everything else was in my study.  They took the money out of my wallet but luckily left all my bank cards alone.

It is things like this, where they do not even care anymore whether somebody is in the house or not, that will make me pack my bags and leave this country.  Yes, there is crime in other parts of the world, but I am sure that it is not as bad as this and as blatant as what is happening here.

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Wat was jou eerste rekenaar?

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Na aanleiding van ‘n inskrywing van Jo-Ann waar sy praat oor haar eerste rekenaar, het ek dit goed gedink om bietjie te skryf oor myne.  En hier gaan ek sekerlik my ouderdom weggee en die jonklomp van vandag gaan nie ‘n “clue” hê waaroor ek praat nie.

My eerste rekenaar het ek aangeskaf in, ek dink 1978.  Dit was nog die dae voor PC’s.  Dit was ‘n Apple II wat min of meer so gelyk het.

Daai skerm wat julle daar sien was groen gewees en dit het een of ander vorm van Basic gehad.  Die floppy drives was, ek dink, 128KB en ek het net een gehad.  Ek kan nog onthou dat ek ‘n huis finansies program geskryf het en ‘n hele 3 kopers gehad vir die ding.

My volgende rekenaar het ek in 1981 aangeskaf en die was ‘n IBM PC wat in Suid Afrika gemaak is met die naam Psion.  Dink hulle bestaan lank nie meer nie.  Hierdie rekenaar met 2 floppy drives and 640KB geheue het my seker naby die R8000 uit die sak gejaag wat baie geld in daai dae was — geen hardeskyf nie.

Vandag staan hier 3 rekenaars, waarvan een ‘n laptop is, in my huis.  En alles is genetwerk en met die druk van ‘n knopiie kan mens basies enigiets in die hande kry. 

Die beste ding wat verander het vanaf 1980, toe daai PC, DOS op gehad het en later Windows, is dat daar geen Microsoft/Windows op enig van my rekenaars is nie en dat alles wettig is en my nie ‘n sent gekos het nie.  Ja ek gebruik net Linux (Ubuntu), by die huis en by die werk.

Laat hoor van julle wat julle eerste rekenaar was en wat julle vandag gebruik.

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How cute — love to have one.

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One of these was parked in front of my neighbours house this morning.  Do’nt you think it is cute. Do not know if the yellow is my colour though .. something in red I think.

It is called a Diahatsu Copen.  Just the ideal thing for city driving and then on warm summer days, the roof down and enjoying the open air with somebody special — hmmm now where is that somebody special again 🙂

This is what it looks like with its roof down

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I am a gambler — for fun :)

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Greatodds is a sport’s betting site and a while ago I decided to have some fun with it.  Now they have 1000’s of different bets one can do and it will probably take me a year to understand what is going on so I take the simple route.  I have invested a small amount (very small – one round of golf cost me more) and place some bets about once a week or when I see something that take my fancy.  Mostly it is betting on who the winner will be between 2 competing teams like the Super 14.  Here is my track record so far:

The blue bar is how I did in the individual bets.  The 3rd one is when I got it right in predicting Retief winning in America that week.  So far I had 2 winning bets and 2 losing bets.  The orange bar shows how I am doing overall .. currently I am down about 25%.

So instead of playing the lotto week in and week out, I took that bit of money and have some fun with it.  Ok, I will not get stinking rich by winning a jackpot but at least I have fun playing and who know’s where it will end.  As they say, maybe a little bit everytime will end up being a big lot :).

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