Decontamination

I didn’t get much sleep last night as there was a pair of Staffordshire Bull Terriers or Staffies running outside our yard in the veldt much to the excitement of all the dogs. We asked on the chat forums if anyone are missing any staffies but not a peep. My neighbour Pieter let them into his yard for safekeeping till the morning and that is when our sleepless night started for us and our neighbour. The strange staffies caused all the dogs in the neighbourhood in a barking mood right into the wee hours of this morning.

Good news is that we found the owners first thing in the morning bad news that was not the end of my troubles today.

So here I was trying to keep my open when I got a phone call from Lynda. Ella, her son Dale’s house mate’s Boerboel puppy was very sick with vomiting and loss of appetite. Since their car was still off the road due to being repaired from an accident they had no way to take Ella to the vet. A boerboel is a South African Mastiff a large dog but Ella is still a 6 month old puppy.

I picked up Dael and Ella and took them to the vet. Bad news is that Ella has been diagnosed with a deadly virus called Parvo. She has been hospitalised and treatment will take up to 5 days with 1 out 4 dogs not surviving the treatment.

Since the virus is highly contagious especially to puppies, I had to decontaminate my pickup and as soon as I got home I took a nice long shower. Our dogs are older and although this virus comes from cats it doesn’t affect them but I was taking no chances.

48 Kilograms

Well done Ella, you are down 48 kilograms since you started on this journey. Just 2 more kilos to go then it will be 50kg and we will have a party.

In Memory of Ella Paulson

It has been a very emotional day, and I am just about cried out. This afternoon friends and family of little Ella Paulson gathered at BBC in memory of this young girl who was called back to heaven just shy of her 10th birthday due to a tragic horse riding accident last Saturday. To Gwen and Francis, when we heard the news we were in shock and had no words other than tears and prayers for your loss, which is also our loss.

Now today, we all wore yellow ribbons as our eyes teared up in memory of Ella. Yellow ribbons to represent uplifting and illuminating, offering hope, happiness, cheerfulness and fun, these are all the characteristics of Ella, sunshine to all around her. Now she is at the feet of God, a sunbeam in heaven, making God laugh with her infectious smile and giggles.

All is well. Nothing is past; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before only better, infinitely happier and forever we will all be one together with Christ.

Until we all see you again in heaven.

It is so Huge!

With the year about to run out of days, eKayaMedia decided to have their year-end function at the Berlin Pub and Restaurant in Ruimsig. Now this establishment specialises in German cuisine and is renowned as the best eisbeins in Johannesburg.

The day was sweltering but that did not stop us from ordering eisbeins and I can now vouch that the eisbein is one of the best I have ever had. The top photo is of Johan and the bottom one is of Denise, both are about to tuck into their huge eisbein. The rest of the photos can be found in my Facebook album Wow it is so HUGE!

Have another Cherry

The cherry season is in full swing down in the eastern Free State and our local celebrity, Ella, just came back from the a wedding which was held in Clarens not too far from the heart of Cherryland, Ficksburg, bearing cherries and more cherries.

Ella is now stricken with cherry fever. Cherries may be sweet but cherries scares me. Sadly I think my phobia to cherries stem from the iconic 80s movie The Witches of Eastwick and cherries.

Here have another cherry.

I sent Ella in

As South Africans we sure know how to laugh about ourselves. Bringing humour into our trying lives makes life a little easier. And things are tough here in South Africa. The Springboks are out of the Rugby World Cup due to a useless coach who had no game plan. The economy is on a downward spiral. Violent crime is becoming an everyday occurrence as if it is simply part of life. Our government are not for the people but themselves only. And I am not getting much sleep lately.

Oh well at least Oscar got to go home. I had to send Ella into the ladies restrooms to put up these signs to warn the ladies that Oscar is out on bail. We actually need to change the "Occupied" signs to "Don’t Shoot!"

The author Alysha Speer wrote once,
"Laugh, even when you feel too sick or too worn out or tired.
Smile, even when you're trying not to cry and the tears are blurring your vision.
Sing, even when people stare at you and tell you your voice is crappy.
Trust, even when your heart begs you not to.
Twirl, even when your mind makes no sense of what you see.
Frolick, even when you are made fun of.
Kiss, even when others are watching.
Sleep, even when you're afraid of what the dreams might bring.
Run, even when it feels like you can't run any more."

"And, always, remember, even when the memories pinch your heart. Because the pain of all your experience is what makes you the person you are now. And without your experience - you are an empty page, a blank notebook, a missing lyric. What makes you brave is your willingness to live through your terrible life and hold your head up high the next day. So don't live life in fear. Because you are stronger now, after all the crap has happened, than you ever were back before it started."

So laugh until your belly hurts and just a little bit more!

Super Team

It is not often that our awesome team at eKayaMedia get to let our shirts hang out. Wait, wait, I think my shirt hangs out often, oh well I better tuck it in then, as I have a long way to become a Super Villain extraordinaire, at least I don’t wear my under garments on the outside covered by a cape.

The New Media team at eKayaMedia are from the left to right, me Jerome the team leader, seo guru, and the super villain of the team, next is our social media wiz kid Paballo, next is our serious developer Mkuseli, followed by our take no prisoners content strategist Nomangaliso, and finally but not least is our genius graphic designer Ella.

That’s all folks, enjoy the weekend!

Azurite or Smurfy Blue?

Well I would like to call Ella’s new baby, a blue Renault Sandero Stepway 66kW Turbo. In other words a Smurf-mobile but Ella says NO Ways, the colour is Azurite, named after a deep blue mineral of a similar colour that is produced by weathered copper crystals. Well it is still Smurf blue to me.

Allured by the deep blue Stepway, Ella is now looking forward to going on many adventures as she leaves her Tata my chance of her last car behind.

3000th Post

Here are my team mates at eKayaMedia gathered together to wish me all the best on my 3000th post. In the front row, left to right is myself Jerome, Kabelo, Noma, Paballo, Sandra, Calvin, Des, and Ernest. At back is Johan, Ilana, Mpho, Ella, Xolani, Mkuseli, Philip, Bridget, Lawrence, Wayne, Viandre, and Jacques. Below are the three special children Rob, Velile, and Gillis, who couldn't make the group photo. Thank you everyone who participated in this 3000th blog post.

Wow to reach 3000 posts on this blog has been something of a ride. What do you expect with all ups and downs of over eight years of a blog post per day till now? It’s nostalgic looking back through all my posts. Some bring a smile to my face, and some make my eyes all teary, but such are these 2999 memories woven into the fabric of what I call a sorry excuse of my life. And now I have one more which takes it up to 3000.

Every one of these 3000 moments are precious to me even the broken pieces when my days were dark as the light, the joy of life just overwhelms everything else. Someone once said that a photograph can be an instant of life captured for eternity that will never cease looking back at you.

Please feel free to browse through all my life posts, right back to the start in January 2007. Yes one day I’ll look back on all this and smile because it was life and I decided to live it.

Welcome Continues

And the welcomes back continues from yesterday. Here are finger licking Philip and cross armed Rob visiting Ella, on her second day back in the office. She has only been away for just over a week and this is the welcome that she continues to receive.

Oh well this too shall pass and I better start looking for other subjects to use in my blog. And not to forget that on Thursday I need to come up with an awesome blog post for it will be my 3000 post. Not to put me under any pressure but any ideas?

Knee Arthroscopy

Welcome back Ella, I pray that you have a speedy recovery from your knee operation.

Peoples are traipsing through of our offices to come welcome Ella back after she had been booked off for over a week recovering from a knee arthroscopy procedure. It sound so painless but the reports back from Ella is that she wouldn’t wish it on her worse enemy, now that’s how painful it was.

Here is Jacques and Wayne welcoming Ella back and listening to the horrors of getting an arthroscope and tiny surgical tools inserted into the knee, urggh.

Busy Saturday

What a busy Saturday this was. Firstly we went to an Ingress First Saturday event held at Flora Farm in Boksburg. On the way there we picked up Dael and Matthew. We are part of the Northern Ninjas team who fights for the Resistance in this awesome global game. From left to right is Lynda aka BioniKat, me Jerome aka MaxyJade, Matthew aka MasterChiefZA, and Dael aka TaNkErGP.

The Enlightened outnumbered the Resistance at the First Saturday held at Montecasino where we just lost. We got our revenge the following week at the Darsana anomaly where we kicked butt. Today was the second First Saturday event for Johannesburg and 61 Enlightened turned up to face off against 70 Resistance fighters. Okay so I wonder what is the Enlightened’s excuse this time as they lost 5.9mil to our 7.6mil AP? Our scores were Lynda came in 11th out of the 70 Resistance players and overall 21st of all the 131 players. She had a score of 201,876, myself well I came 13th out of 70 and overall 24th out 131 with a score of 197,285, Dael 24th out of 70 and overall 38th out of 131, with a score of 154,234, bonus he managed to level up, and finally Matthew 26th out of 70 and overall 41st out of 131, with a score of 150,822. All I can say we did very well.

After an exhausting day of Ingress, we dropped off the kids and went up to Pretoria for Ella’s 30th birthday pool party, a Hawaiian Luau only to be greeted by a walking pineapple and a sea monster. So this is how my day is going to end. PARTY TIME!

We arrived late, well fashionably late and the party was well on its way. Just Adam was playing on the stage while revellers were in the pool cooling off after a typical summer thunderstorm.

We only knew a few people at the party, but merrymaking we did.

As it got dark, Duncan and Melanie, gave us an awesome display of fire dancing and fire breathing. What an end to a busy day.

New Media Team

I have posted photos of our awesome New Media Team before but on an individual basis, this is the team together sans me who is taking the photo. From left to right is Noma our Content Strategist, Ella our Multimedia Designer, Mkuseli our Developer, and Paballo our Social Media specialist.

The Royal We decided to kick start our weekly Progress Meeting out of our comfort zone by having it at Mugg and Bean. Yes sure, having our meeting at a coffee restaurant was a big change and it made a huge difference as we, Bosasa's New Media Team not only want to be a well-oiled machine but also we want to be family. And like families do, look out for each other and help each other grow, personally, work, and spiritually.

Now to let the cat out of the bag, for Bosasa’s Year of Significance, our theme is to start this Year of Significance with our focus on Growth.

How are we going to take ourselves to the next level? 

Personally for the team, I want to grow from the level of where the team follows leadership because they have to, to a level where the team follows because they want to. Now look what I have done, made it public which means how many will now hold me accountable for making this growth happen? Let the growing begin.

Attack of the Swans

Forget Alfred Hitchcock and his Birds, at first we had the killer zebras and now we have the killer swans and geese. Poor Ella, she returned from the canteen bruised and battered after a ferocious attack by a pair of swans. She was covered in red welts all over her hands and what is covered by the safety pin. If it wasn’t the swans I wonder who has been giving her hickies? I mean love bites on her bum, now that is over share!

Punk Rocker Ella

Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair. Spring no scratch that summer is back with full vengeance albeit without the summer rains, that is yet to come. With the storms of 9/11, eTolls, Oscar our fallen hero, Nkandla, Marikana, Gaza, broken hearts, and suicide behind us, we are left with the struggle of living in the ruins of our shattered lives. Oh but we can dream until the next maelström.

Dreams of a better future for ourselves, take Ella for example, here she dreams of being a punk rocker with flowers in her hair from a time when anarchy was still a dream. So live your dreams, you can do it and remember life is too short to be living somebody else’s dream.

Feeling Bosasa Blue

The Big Bosasa Paint Day dawned, and we all arrived at work wearing our old clothes ready to get stuck in and paint our offices. We had decided to paint one side of the office blue, the other a golden orangey yellow, and accent in red. My office side was going to be blue but along the way it was swopped with the yellow, hence I was feeling blue while I painted my office.

It should have been the blue, but oh well there goes my peaceful colours to a more bounce off the walls one. Looks like I have to move my morning meditation into the gardens. The lush gardens at Bosasa are very tranquil but it has been very cold in the mornings lately. Hopefully with the coming spring, the gardens will be the place you’ll find me first thing in the morning.

Ella, tried to bring a smile back to my face with her painted message on her wall. The overall effect of our big paint day was surprising very good. Maybe I should always leave to the experts as they know what they doing. Yehaa how about a little Blue Grass!

This is how Bosasa rolls

Yes, this is how we, the eKayaMedia Megaminds roll at Bosasa. Last year our team, the eKayaMedia MegaMinds won the coveted BOSASA Culture Day 2013 trophy. Will 2014 find favour upon us as we, the Strategic Branding and Marketing team, put our heads together to inspire.

Tree of Creativity

Here at eKayaMedia we don't like having a bland office environment, not while our offices sit in the lush wildlife garden of Bosasa's Mogale Business Park.

So given licence to fashion our own office space, we created and a tree grew, joining all what we do in the digital realm to the soul of creating something new. Here are Viandre and Ernest applying our Phase One to the bare brown cupboards all the while our graphic designer Ella continues to inspire.

Our theme grew into the Tree of Creativity, it is here among its branches that we allow our imagination flourish and bring new life to Bosasa's New Media. As CS Lewis once said "You never too old to set another goal or to dream new dreams".

Lassie Pirate Ella

Ahoy there! Last week, poor lass Ella had a problem with one of her eyes and avast the beauty wasn’t looking so good. The bilge rat of the doctor prescribed medicine and some eye patch gear so now we have a real resident pirate walking dem deck.

Arrr although not the official Talk like a Pirate Day, Ella needed to hoist the colours and get some practice before 19 September. Smartly she’d be able to rattle dem timbers and chill meself and here scallywags to the bone. Just be careful wavin' that hook around. Ye could put n' eye out!

Ella and Des

With the first month here at Bosasa coming to an end, work load is increasing by the minute. But so far I am enjoying the challenge being the coordinator of new media, in other words the interweb.

Here is Ella, the graphic designer with Desmond aka Des the motion graphics specialist. To infinity and beyond.