Farewell

February was a busy month and March does not seem any less. The days are hot with afternoon thunderstorms. There was a farewell to one of Metrorail’s staff today. So we had to trudge to a house in Roodepoort for a braai. Paid per hour while braaing. Not bad for a days work. Management help contribute but not one of then decided to pitch up. That to me shows some disrespect but who am I to tell it like it looks. Anyway more meat and beers for us. In the photo is Patrick who is from the Congo, watching how Greg braais the meat.

Another hot day

Another hot, sweltering day at Metrorail and with no air-conditioning it didn’t help. The afternoon thunderstorm did little to help. With Metrorail’s save electricity policy, I should go to work in shorts. A break in my routine happened when security had to scan my index finger’s print for Metrorail’s new biometric security system.

Cooling rain

Back at Metrorail but very tired, the reason for my tiredness is that I only finished International Property Solutions work about 1:30am. Wits Metrorail turns off its air-conditioners to help with the Eskom problem. So with the heat, it sometimes gets unbearable. But today it rained quite a bit which helped cool my work area down. The photo is looking downtown from the Metrorail building.

Traffic

Two traffic jams on the way to Pretoria. The first was on the N14 where the Gautrain crosses the highway. The construction workers had narrowed two lanes down to one. Once past that I hit the other one just before the Pretoria railway station. I don’t know what the cause of that one but when returning in the afternoon the traffic police had closed the road leading to the area.

Oscar

I don’t normally watch the Oscars because I feel that they were long winded and hardly award the movies that should be. But this 80th Oscar Academy Awards was different. Some good movies won, only one disappointed me and got an award which it shouldn’t have. I won’t even mention its name nor seek a device that will answer any question. Some good movies this year, Juno for example and don’t forget that barber with his cutthroat. Things just were different at this Oscars this year. I was not there so sorry, no photograph. But I did take a photo at Toyota Lexus this morning which shows autographed bats from all teams that played in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003. Does that count?

Reflection, Remembrance and Thanks

Work is finally been caught up or could I say under control. I got so behind after those 7 days without a telephone or DSL and with one client just piling up work with next day deadlines. Wow this has been a busy February. Just think it was only last month that I was slightly concerned about new work. My calendar for the next few months is getting full at a staggering rate. In the photograph are my friends Denise and Zahava organising Haggadah which is next month. Yes it is that time again where we reflect and remember what God has done for us and to give thanks to Him.

Catch up day

Today, I spent catching up on clients work. Carol fetched her mom to spend the night so otherwise not much to write home about.

Camp Out

Camp out time again. After last year, I was not keen on spending a night camping on the school’s sport field. It is okay to camp in the wild because there is stars and no noise but this is pitch your tent on the school grounds under a powerful flood lights which are on all night. This equates to lots of fun for Matthew and no sleep for me. Cookie, Brian’s nanny offered to spend the night with the kids. Victory for me. After a short thunderstorm we left for the school. Matthew, who was shown by Ken, pitched the tent all by himself. I stayed until 10pm before leaving for home and a warm bed.

Bar One

The Bar One! For those who aren’t in the know, a Bar One is a yummy chocolate bar similar to the Mars bar. The slogan for Bar One is "For a 25 hour day." Why am I bringing the Bar One up, well it is for the Information and Communication Department of Metrorail. The Bar One has become a jinx for them. If anyone sees you with one, you would be frog marched out of the department and hands would be washed of you. You see, from what I have gathered, when a Bar One is eaten in the department, something serious goes wrong, for example the network goes down, and it would take over 25 hours to fix. As the slogan goes "For a 25 hour day." The question been asked today was who ate a Bar One because my computer is still not working 100%. It is somehow losing network setting when restarting. Here is Leon, pen in the mouth, fixing.

Metro start

At Metrorail today everything that could go wrong went wrong. The IT department set about setting up a work station for me.
1. Monitors would not display.
Problem: (Only found after a few hours of sukkel) the bios of the computer was a newer version than the bios sitting on the 4 monitor graphics card.
Solution: Update the bios of the graphic cards.
2. Computer won’t boot up. Burning smell wafted from the computer.
Problem: (Spent a few hours trying) Not sure, but the 4 RAID drives not responding.
Solution: Find another box.
3. Computer won’t power up.
Problem: Power supply not working.
Solution: Swapped power supplies.
4. Not finding the RAID during formatting
Problems: Wrong RAID drivers
Solution: After spending some time finally found right drivers
5. Windows keeps rebooting
Problem: RAID controller giving conflicts
Solution: Throw out controller and reformat drives

Then it is home time. Tomorrow is another day

Hellcom

I spent most of my day at College Campus Pretoria lecturing graphic students. They are a great bunch of students. While Carol spent most of her day sorting out Telkom or should I say Hellcom. Anyway she was successful and we have our DSL back up and running but the question on everyone's lips is "For how long?"

Telkom again

Our DSL line is down today but this time our phones are still operational so we can phone them to report the DSL. Droning music played while holding for way over 2 hours. Every now and then an automated voice stated that we should go online and log the fault instead of holding in the queue. What? No DSL means no internet, you peep peep. What is wrong with these people at Telkom? “Please be patient. We are experiencing a high call volume. Your call will be answer shortly.” You are always experiencing a high call volume even in non peak periods. How many people work at the call centre? One? Is Telkom load-shedding the phone lines now? Now that is enough of me throwing my toys out. Last week one of my contract agents for phoned and said that Metrorail has asked for me by name. I had meetings with Metrorail today and they said that they were impressed with me the last time I was there that they wanted me to do some more work for them. The photo today is from their building showing the Gautrain terminal station in Braamfontien under construction.

Friends

After a terrible night of not much sleep, Carol and I crawled out of bed to prepare for church. Carol left earlier to take her mom to Ferndale and I had an extra hour to get ready. Thank You. I needed it. In the photo above are Rachel, Lu-Marie, Angie, Saskia, Sonia and Matthew.

Seeing Double

Went to see an old friend who also has an Italian Greyhound (Iggy) and was surprised to see how similar they looked. Nero is 5 years old and Maxy is only 7 months old. Maxy behaved like the puppy he is and was all tails. He was bouncing everywhere and would not keep still. One of the few times he remained still was when he lifted his leg and marked his territory to Nero’s dismay. So that is the photo you get tonight.

W580i

I tested my new Sony Ericsson W580i phone today and while at Toyota Lexus, I took a snap of a Samurai’s head gear that they have in the reception. Not the clearest but just fine for quick photos wherever I am. I will take a photo of my new cellphone soon.

Indaba

Deadlines are tumbling with half left to go. One happens at midnight tonight when the client’s logo changes. In the meanwhile we joined Ken and Simone at the Indaba Hotel for their Arabian evening, but it was a doomed. The concept was good but the wheels came off when the head chief left early. On top of it all, our waiter needs more training as she was very scarce when needed. I won't mention all the wrongs because the manager saved the evening and if it wasn’t for him, a long letter would have been written. Personally I feel they should stick to what they do well and that is their buffet. For Saturday breakfast and Sunday Lunch, it is the best in all of Gauteng.

More the better to see you with

Busy, busy catching up, so much work so little time. Zero27, International Property Solutions, Wellspring, general network maintenance and banking duties. I have deadlines tomorrow, Friday and Monday, plus it is Valentines evening tomorrow. Matthew received his first pair of glasses. He looks so intelligent.

College Campus

Yippee, our phone lines have been restored. Now I have to start playing catch up with all of my work. Carol phoned to inform me about the phone while I was helping at the College Campus. Then off to Lexus. On the way to Lexus, Metrorail phoned and want me to start next week. Still need to be briefed. At home cell tonight I mentioned to them that while I was a bit concerned about February, it has been blessed.

Day Seven

Day 7 and no phone lines. Today I started the Lexus contract and started helping out at the College Campus. I am getting behind on my other work due to the phone lines. Not good., not good at all.

Lad

Lad was back in town. In the photo is Lad talking with Gary with Tom standing in the background. Lad with his wife and 3 children work in Swaziland amongst the AIDS orphans. They have no internet connection there so his blog …failing forward frequently… is updated infrequently but as a friend I will keep on nagging them. On Day 6 with no telephone lines, our 3G data bundle ran out and I had to buy another 1Gig data bundle. This is starting to get expensive. The lines better get fixed soon as I am about to throw my toys out of the cot. I think one week is the limit of my patience.

Unfair puppy sizes

Saturday, well after spending 3 hours in the bank only to be told that I am short two other papers that I did not have with me, along with no phone lines for the last 5 days, I was not in a good mood. So Matthew and I took Maxy, our Italian Greyhound, to see a puppy school to calm my nerves. Notice that the puppies are different sizes.

Rush rush

Day four without phone lines. Telkom says it has to order a part. We would be suffering if it weren’t for the 3G modem. Thank goodness it is Friday. What started as a normal day ended up just one mad rush. While at Lexus getting briefed, International Property Solutions phoned and informed that the Sheffield web page had to be live by 12 noon UK time, as that was when a press release was to be put out. UK is two hours behind us and the time was 12:30. That gave me only one and a half hours to get home, finish the work and upload. It was cutting it too fine. On the way home, traffic was stand still, so a little detour via Midrand left me with only a half an hour. Afterwards rush out to Sterling Exports to talk to them about an adaptor for my second monitor then off to Sun International to pick up a disk before rush hour starts. Weekend, you beauty. Feet up and rest before the rush starts all over on Monday. We ended up at the Cape Fish Market for dinner.

Third Day

Third day with no phones and Telkom is just responding by saying that they are working on it. Oh what can the matter be? Three days and no one in Telkom knows what’s going on. South Africa. Work is starting to pile up. In the meantime I installed my new computer but still have to convert my old computer into a development box.

Helkom

Yesterday the telephone lines went down. First the electricity, then potholes and talk of the water supply, now the phone lines. Telkom is still working on it. I had to buy an E220 HSDPA USB modem that works with a cellular SIM card. The photo today is Carol’s side table which surprised me after the maid lined up all the bedroom remotes and phones.

Transvaal Museum

I had to do a mock lecture in front of the Vice Principal, Head of Human Resources and the Head of IT as part of a valuation for a college. I chose web image formats as my topic. The feed back was very positive. The lecture happened in Pretoria and afterwards Matthew and I went to the Transvaal Museum. Only the mineral and bird sections were very good. The other sections were suffering from lack of funding. We left there with very sore feet.

Busy meetings

My day was filled with many small meetings. It started with Eagles Christian Centre, then Sun International, followed by a lunch meeting with @126. Vernon cancelled his afternoon appointment so it was back home to work on International Property Solutions, Sun International and Chef Franz projects. Load shedding was in full swing again and it took me 2 hours to get from Rosebank to Douglasdale. Carol arrived home later with Sharon and her daughter Bree. At first Bree was scared of the frisky Italian Greyhound puppy but it was not long before they became friends.

Camera stolen

My body is telling me that I am too old for parties, I must slow down. Well Angi, Gary and Bev gave Saski a wonderful party last night. The Chinese food was delicious. I swear there was something is that punch because I battled to wake up this morning and missed church. Matthew and I bathed Maxy this morning. His coat is all nice and shining. Mom spent the day here with us so Matthew and his friend Brian went to the movies. At Montecasino, Matthew had his camera stolen and he is not very pleased with himself. He also has a daily photo blog called Matthew’s Groove. It is not easy up keeping a daily blog, so I asked him if he would like to continue with it. He answered if I give up so easily. Humph 9 year olds. It looks like I have to share my camera with him until he can get another one. I had taken a photo of mom on Matthew’s camera which I was going to use for my posting so all you get tonight is Maxy, our Italian Greyhound, posing. I think he i getting good at it.

40th

As cats in hats we all gathered to wish Sasika a great 40th. We me at Angi and Gary’s house for the shin ding and the storm did not keep us from having fun. Angi and her sister Bev prepared this lovely Chinese meal that consisted of a number of courses. Happy Birthday Sasika.

Marching to Pretoria

I ended up in Pretoria this morning to see a client and afterwards at African Defence Systems. I got a bit waylaid in Pretoria due to the Gautrain road works. And while driving around I saw names of areas which brought my thoughts back to the book I am reading “Memoirs of the Boer War” by Jan Smuts. It was very hot today and the car’s air-conditioner helped a lot. It is weekend and I am looking forward to tomorrow evening because we are going to Saskia’s Cat in a Hat party. This cat got a hat. A light on the end he put. A bright spark he thought, alas load shedding makes a dull cat he.