Nambiti Lunch

While my mind is still spinning I popped into Nambiti's offices in Mid-rand to look at the opportunities there. I had a good time catching up with my good friend José. Here is José with his colleagues sitting down to a KFC lunch.

Is this the end?

With two offers, I am not sure which one to take. One offers security till retirement but not much growth and the other offers lots of growth with even overseas potential but not much security. So this might be my last day at Metrorail and so I needed a photograph of the team, well two thirds are already on leave which means this is not the full team. In the photo are José, Sello, Masilo, Khathu (seated), Jimmy, Leon, Mulalo, Thanyani and me.

Real men don’t wear pink

Well José has joined the metro-sexual trend and started wearing pink. Oh José, look what you have gone and done, you've started to express your femininity.

Friendly wave

Monday morning is here again. Thank Goodness that this week is rather short with Thursday being Heritage Day or better known as National Braai Day. That is why José is so pleased.

Post Delayed

As things are moving steadily forward I am looking forward to be out of the rapids and into calmer waters. Here is José and Willie from Metrorail discussing the way forward. Support non-human rights.

The lighter side of Life

Wow what heavy few weeks. Things are improving ever so slowly. It was good to just put my guard down today and relax with my colleagues at Metrorail. Here is José, Calvin and Masilo with some students enjoying a good laugh.

Monday Monday

Yes Monday and back to Metrorail in the cold winter but with some exciting hot ideas about applications for next year’s World Cup that are coming through. ICT want to move ahead and not wait for some other departments who normally wake up at the last minute. If I am still here at Metrorail, then it will be exciting times ahead. Here is Leon with José in the background towards the end of a heavy Monday.

Prasa Ducks

Well SARCC, sorry PRASA, is getting all their ducks into a row and using us here at Metrorail to make them look pretty. Today I spent the whole day making animations showing the 2009 Confederation Cup and 2010 World Cup special train routes to be used in presentations and the PRASA website. I still not have received their new corporate identity. I suppose the Metrorail logo will have to change sometime, as soon as PRASA releases that we still have "Operated by SARCC" in it. In the meanwhile José (shown above) and the rest of the BIM (Business Information Management) were kept out of mischief with the changeover of the LAN system to VLAN.

The Grandfathers Club

Hey all, let’s welcome Leon (on the left) to the Grandfathers Club. His daughter just had a baby boy yesterday, no name yet. He weighed in at 2.8 kg and had a perfect AGAR score. You can see that he is a proud granddad just like José on the right and me in the centre. Come to think of it the trio of us must be the only grandparents in the whole Information and Commutation Technology Department of Metrorail. We are the wise older men of ICT. We are the men of the Grandfather Club. We are the Super Granddads!

Monday Morning

With the rush of the weekend fading fast, Sello educates us about e-fashion and the township threads. All Sello needs is some Bling Bling and he could be your next Pimp Daddy. Trust José to pipe up from the peanut gallery that we have a giraffe in our midst.

Still Agreement

After the rush of the last few days I have reached calmer waters but there are more rapids ahead. So today started off with the ICT’s departmental meeting to kick start the coming weekend. Here is Willie and José in agreement during the meeting while Zuma rushes past in his cavalcade. Are they wearing the same type of watch?

Vulture Culture

I have to get this off my chest. Last week Keba left Metrorail all of a sudden, reasons unknown to us. She left three pairs of shoes, six litres of UV milk and a large tin of coffee. I noticed that the coffee and some milk had disappeared during the week. So I contacted Keba and told her to come and pick up her stuff before it all disappears. This morning I threw my toys out of the cot. This morning there was only ONE litre of milk left. I said on top of my voice for all on our floor to hear that we have a thief in our department. Someone with long fingers is stealing Keba’s stuff. I won’t mention the person’s name as it could be liable, so just call her Ms Longfingers. While I was busy proclaiming to the department that we have a problem, Ms Longfingers stood up and said how dare I call it stealing? It was taking not stealing; there is a big difference to her. She admitted that she took the milk do I have a problem with it and now that she told me there was no problem with it. It is not stealing in her eyes but just taking. I am starting to think that there is a culture in South Africa that we can just take what is not ours because we have been discriminated against in the past. So it is our right. It is not stealing. To Ms Longfingers and many others that we can see in our government, there is a big difference from taking and stealing. Okay that was me given my 5c worth. Today’s photo is of Paul and José with their heads bowed in shame about the vulture culture. Paul who used to be our ICT manager is now the Logistics and Benchmarking manager. Who can blame him?

Rains continue

The rains continue to fall. At Metrorail we received news that Ayanda had a baby boy yesterday. Well that’s all I know for those who want sizes and weights, sorry for you. Back at Metro we find Norman going over some stats with José and Sibusiso (who is looking disinterested).

Volcom Stone

I am feeling much better about this Friday than the last one. The weeks are improving at it is still some way to go until pay day. I just have to put my head down, stomach in and push for the day. So to keep with my bleak mood here is a shot of what hangs around José’s neck: glasses, a pen and a memory stick.

First ICT Meeting

We started today with Metrorail’s ICT’s first departmental meeting of the year now that everyone is back from their summer break. Not everyone is in the photo but here is half of the department in one photo. Round the table from the left is Refiloe, Daleen, José, Kevin (behind the hands), Ayanda (standing), Motloli, Masilo,Ellen and Thembinkosi. Behind them against the back glass are Mokgosi and Theophylus.

Super José

José, shown here in the ICT's New Year pose, needs a break. He has worked right through the summer holiday season because he cannot be replaced. In other words he is too essential for the running of Metrorail's network. He has not been on leave for the last seven years. Well he is a sucker for punishment. I suppose every super hero needs to put his feet up once in a while. Girls, you must see José in his cape and underwear on the outside, it's indescribable.

The bunnies

The year is fast coming to the end and we all looking forward to the summer break. The temperatures are already soaring towards the 30 degrees C. which is enough to monkey around in the ICT department. Here Keba pulling bunny ears behind José and Karibo backs.

Who’s the man?

Friday is coming fast and still no news from one of my clients who needs a site up by you guessed it Friday. When do you want it? Now! Well José just folds his arms and says that people take advantage of me.

Funny face

Oh get over it. José just likes to pose for the camera. He says if I upload this photo of him shopping around for something to drink at the bakery in Park Station, he will kill me. Nah I don’t think so.

More work

Two of my other clients phoned yesterday with problems. One had a computer not starting and the other had numerous SQL injection attacks on his client’s website and wanted me to fix. The first one had a power spike and it may have damaged the memory on the motherboard. Here Leon and José putting their heads together, trying to get the computer to work. On top of this I signed up another client today. Well all in a days work.