Tschüss

It is time to sigh and say goodbye, to a good friend Delia. So long, farewell, au revoir, auf weidersehen, time to say goodbye, till we meet again.

Here is the content team, from left to right, though good times and bad, we have such memories, Litha, Louise, Delia, Marco, Noma and Bakang.

Tschüss Delia.

On The Prowl

What's with these cat people? Don't they realise that when cats go on the prowl they become murderous. Yes according to a research done by the University of Georgia and the National Geographic, one out of three cats are serial killers, averaging about two kills per week. The study was done on well fed, domesticated house cats which means that cats were not killing for survival, they were doing it for fun.

According to the statistics, 28 million cats are murder serial killers and the total body count from domestic house cats every year is 2,912,000,000. Now if cats were killing people, then every year they would wipe out 41% of the human population. If I remember correctly, there is a movement in New Zealand to eradicate domestic cats because of the damage they are doing to the local wildlife with a number of species going extinct due to our furry friend, the serial killer cat. Or maybe we should allow the evil cat to start wiping out the humans as it is we humans who endanger more species than them.

Shocked that your putty tat is a serial killer? Next time you should call your cat Ripper, Chikatilo, Bundy, Delia, Hector, or even Dexter.

Change of Seasons

Hopefully this is the last of the cold, that is until next winter. It should get much warmer from now until Christmas which is only 84 days away or 3 more pay days. Optimistically this change in seasons will also mean the end of colds, flu and hay fever. Shown above is the medical cocktail taken by a work colleague to combat her flu.

Pink Delia

Day Eight's Blue Monday became Pink Monday, as Delia who normally dresses in dark colours arrived accessorised in pink. Pink bag, pink lunchbox, pink water bottle, pink jersey, pink cellphone, and everything in pink, except the black.

Cats Everywhere

Oh no, there is no escaping these cats. Where is Schrödinger when I need him? It is enough having cats at home but now at work. Here is Delia, wearing her cat eared hoodie, meow. No meows from me but Grrrrowl!

Maaitjies

It is only Tuesday and I can't stop yawning all day. Even my boss noticed and asked if I am getting enough sleep but then he released what he asked and retracted his question :-) Anyway in the daze of the day, Delia made me smile with her finger friends hugging, maaitjies forever.

Space Boots

There are two people that I know that are wearing space boots, the first is a Resistance member who while placing the game Ingress was approached by two well dressed black men at the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens who calmly pulled a gun on them. Fight or flight and my Resistance friend took flight. While fleeing, he had to jump down this drop and that is when he damaged his foot but he continued to run to safety.

The other moonboot wearer is Delia whose foot this belongs to. She recently had to undergo surgery to correct a previous injury. So now I know two hop-alongs. They make an effective team.

Rose amongst the Thorns

With augmented reality game Ingress becoming more and more ingrained into my everyday life. I met a Level 7 team member CoupDeGrace1108 and two enemy combatants Level 6 XFactorSA and Level 7 Sminto. I am MaxyJade and although I have only reached Level 2 yesterday morning, I am hoping to reach Level 3 sometime during this weekend.

But before that happens, I have to get back down to earth with lunch at Doppio Zero in Rosebank with the office. Today's photo taken at Doppo Zero is of the Rose, moi, among the thorns, Noma and Delia.

Hopalong Delia

Last week Delia had a serious operation on her leg which now means that she will be off the leg for six weeks. Much like my little Jade who also has to be off her leg for the same length of time.

Here is Delia, hop alonging at work on crutches. It can’t be easy but she is trying her best juggling work and the need to be off her feet. One nice thing is that Delia bribes me by making Nespresso for me so that I can carry her cup of Nespresso to her desk. What she doesn't realise that she can just ask. Well I kind of like my Nespresso and it is even more tastier when someone makes me a cup. Uhmmmm Hopalong Delia!

Praying Mantis

Oh naughty Mantis, you better be praying after eating your husband. Delia found this heavily pregnant Praying Mantis in the garden and she became our photo of the day. Female Mantodea are known to cannibalise on the male during or soon after copulation. I bet he tasted like chicken.

Naughty Corner

After Friday's reshuffle the ladies found themselves on one side of the office and us men on the other. I must say it is too quiet down our side, too quiet. Without zooming in, I took this quick photo from my desk of the naughty corner as I now call the area where the content department find themselves. Now don't the naughty girls have all the fun? It is not the best of photos but hey it is Monday and the atmosphere has changed overnight. Oh well, soon it will be Friday.

Chastity Belt

One of my most popular posts is the one I did a few days after my birthday the year I first started posting. It is of a male chastity belt and only lost its number one most popular post last year and is now sitting at position five with 513 page views to date while my number one most popular photo of an armoured train has 927 page views.

A photo a day really took off last year with many people taking up the mantel of a photograph each day. Delia with her shocking pink camera took her photo today of an old padlock and key. When she showed me her stunning photo it reminded me of the chastity belt.

Blue Dress

Aaah the blue dress! Well most of us were feeling the Monday Blues, Noma decided to buck the trend and come to work wearing a blue dress. Everyone was impressed with firstly her courage and secondly that how lovely the dress looked on her. And it somehow helped the Ghanaians win their African Nations Cup football match tonight because Noma's partner is Ghanaian.

Continuing with good news, Matthew's test results have come back normal for thyroid and epilepsy issues. So that just leaves the hyper ectopic heart condition which could be causing the blackouts. He has been discharged from hospital this afternoon but has been referred to a cardiologist for further investigation.

I want to thank you for all your continued prayers. It has been a tough six months medically. It started with Theresa’s been diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease then it was my prostrate problems, followed hot on its heels by my kidney stones. Not soon after that Theresa had her entire thyroid removed and Matthew started having blackouts. Thank you for your support and prayers.

Rest Less

Hump Day is about over and Delia needed to remind herself that she needs to rest less by scribing onto her fingers REST LESS. I thinks she pushes herself too hard. Oh well not that she listens UNLESS I bring out the grammar nazi out of her and I know all the right buttons to push. Yes you do know the difference between your and you’re but it is far too early in the year to be pushing yourself like this. Courses will be done and conversions will fall into place one step at a time. As I have always asked "How do you eat an elephant?" And the answer which you already know is "One bite at a time". And you're not a crazy grammar nazi as we all know that you have a pleasant disposition.

Classic Bob

Things are getting back to normal around here. Theresa was discharged today. At work we are getting settled into our work after the summer holidays. Noma is getting acclimatised and is making sure that the air conditioner is always switched on which is culturally not done. Delia came to work sporting a new hair style, the classic bob cut. To top it all, tomorrow is Friday and I believe Delia is getting new contact lenses which mean no spectacles tomorrow. Oh well there goes her geeky looks, no glasses and a bob.

Back to Work

After the summer break it is back to work for us plebs and to add insult to injury it is a Monday. Looking back on today, we should have eased into things instead of jumping straight in. After three weeks on leave, we came back to three weeks of piled up work.

The ladies are back at work too, looking like they had a wonderful summer break, not like me who decided to drive back the day before. By midday I felt like it was time to go home. Delia, shown above, managed to smile for the camera while I wanted to crawl into a little hole and sleep.

Isn't there a mariner's saying that mentions that a calm sea at the beginning of a journey spells an ominous voyage. Well today was a rough start of the year for me so here an adventurous year ahead.

Three Women

I was feeling much better this morning and thought I was brave enough to go to work. Although there was no pain throughout the day, I suffered from nausea and had to rush to the little boy’s room twice to empty my stomach of water. Just before lunch time, I needed rest so I said my goodbyes to the three ladies in the office, Noma, Delia and Louise, because it is National Positions last working day of the year. I will only see them again next year after the summer holidays.

I had a small snooze on my couch when I got home and woke after two hours with the pain in my side returned. Oh dear, the drugs are wearing off. Happy summer holidays everyone. And those in the northern climes, say warm.

Life of Delia

The protagonist in our literary department, Delia, is still recovering from a rather severe migraine when I took this photograph of her in her recovery position. Well somehow the camera shifted settings to HDR and I took the auto bracketed photo without a tripod. But somehow the photo depicts the right mood for a recovering migraine Delia.

The day seemed to drag along, but I was looking forward to my evening at the movies. We had put our names down to see a free movie called the End of Watch and I was looking forward to putting my feet up. In the foyer of Nu Metro at Montecasino, we bump into Mark and Guinevere; they were going to see another free movie called the Life of Pi based on the book with the same name by author Yann Martel. 5 minutes into our movie we got up and went to see Pi rather as ours was a load of rubbish but was pleasantly surprised with the Life of Pi. The movie is very spiritual and as it says in the movie, it is a story that will make you believe in God. The Life of Pi explores the life of an Indian boy, Pi Patel, in a spiritual way as he tells the story of how he is ship wrecked with a Bengal Tiger called Richard Parker. I think Delia might like this movie, if only I can keep the camera still.

Non, Je ne regrette rien

The phone call came fairly early this morning. Early than I thought it would. Out fear of the unknown I was still making light of it all that was until the phone call. Denial then shock then I needed to breathe. Get out before anyone sees the tears welling up. Breathe as I could not do much else. I allowed my doctor to make appointments with the specialist for further tests and slowly fear turn to hope and faith. I need to gather my thoughts and move on with no regrets.

With not much going today other than to simply move on. And the day compressed into one big mashup. Compiling reports. A reassuring smile from Noma. More Reports. Meeting with Richard and Louise. Encouragement call from Robbie. Kind skype from Georgette. Concern Whatsapp from Lynda. Text chat with Craig. And here is Delia with grace in her heart and a flower in her hair. Aimlessly walking down the aisle of a supermarket. Tea with Rayne and Ricky. Welcoming licks from my dogs. That is why I hold with all I have. Non, Je ne regretted rien.

I don't know how I am going to manage and cope, yes I am scared because I am weak but I won't give up because I am not alone, not this mind and not this heart. Someday everything will make perfect sense. So for now, I will laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears and keep reminding myself that everything happens for a reason.

Facepalm

The Wiktionary states that a facepalm is to bring one's hand to one's face as an expression of mixed humour and disbelief. Oh well this is an awesome photo of Delia with her lovely smile and Noma with her facepalm. They are the perfect example of the gorgeous ladies that I work with at the office. With them we can conquer the internet. Step aside! Here we come, the SEO Ninjas, facepalms and all.