Loop of Death

Ahhhhhhgggg Monday has not been kind to me. As I get to work I found my computer already switched on with the dreaded blue screen. So I calmly do what a normal person would do and that is start a disk scan and fix all the errors, note the critical word calmly. I finally get the foul thing going again. Don't get me wrong, it has not given me too much trouble in the past but today it was awfully terrible. After working for about two hours, a "cannot save" error popped up because it couldn't find the hard drive. Oh oh, looked like either the hard drive is on the way to bit heaven or maybe Windows she's broken. Anyway I rebooted and hoped for the best but it got into an odious loop. As you can clearly see in today's photo, just ignore Thando, no matter what I selected it starts booting up but then quickly ends back at this screen. Time to look for that wench of a Windows recovery disk.

The technical cavalry arrived in the form of Louwellen just before I threw the wretched thing off the balcony. He proceeded with the Windows disk to recover the poor sick puppy. Anyway but by that time my boss was very concerned with my personal state of health that he sent me home and told not to come back unless I am well again.

Yes it has been two weeks and I am still not 100%. I am feeling strong but it is in the mornings and late afternoons that the cold affects my lungs and I start coughing all over again. I am also constantly out of breath. Sigh, so off I went to the doctor and luckily he could see me straight away. He was concerned that I still was not getting better so he prescribed some stronger medicine which he promises will get me right as rain within this week or else I have to go see him again. R1,300 later, I rather get better as this is starting to cost me an arm and a leg not to mention a lung.

Chekhov

Anton Chekhov once wrote "We are accustomed to live in hopes of good weather, a good harvest, a nice love-affair, hopes of becoming rich or getting the office of chief of police, but I've never noticed anyone hoping to get wiser. We say to ourselves: it'll be better under a new tsar, and in two hundred years it'll still be better, and nobody tries to make this good time come tomorrow. On the whole, life gets more and more complex every day and moves on its own sweet will, and people get more and more stupid, and get isolated from life in ever-increasing numbers." Does this still ring true some 150 years later? Uhmmmm.

Today has been a normal coding day with me all dressed warm battling to recover from my bout of cute Bronchitis and code being rendered to take a user on a path of my choosing. Chekhov also penned "Any idiot can face a crisis; it's this day to day living that wears you out." Yes so true, so here I am, thinking of Chekhov instead of taking my medicine and getting into bed, I must going crazy. Anyway before I head for my warm bed, here is a portrait shot of Thando who sits opposite me at the office.

Chommies

Like peas and carrots, Keisha and Thando are chommies, South African slang for friends. Thando is about to go back to Zambia on leave while the rest of us are stuck here in cold Johannesburg. This evening is a lunar eclipse and while Matthew, myself and two chommies had supper we watched the moon get eaten away by the earth's shadow and finally turn to a brownish red moon, only to be reversed later.

Thando

Monday has heralded the week in full force with the new month of June about to start. Would you believe it the year is nearly half way gone. Here is Thando from the office also wondering what has happened to the year. With my future uncertain but full of hope, I will leave you with a Poem of Questions...

How strong is the beauty that calls to you?
Does anybody hold it always as a guide–or
is it the search that is required of us? Is there

rest in beauty? Or does the best of what we may
know require battering waves? Times we have loved
brought to ruin, and new times asking: How will I

rise to take my punishment, so that love
will again name itself the only path?
We turn to the dark for an end;

we walk out of it by knowing we have loved.

Keep my mind busy

I am not coping too well sitting in Matthew's empty room. It seems the only way I can cope is to keep myself busy. The past weekend was great as my friends kept me constantly on the go with hikes, getting lost and playing Citadels. Now the long week has started and friends have gone so colleagues at work just have to do. Here is Thando giving me the hairy eyeball well his version of one.

45mins

This morning my body was hurting in places that I didn't knew existed but after a good hot shower I was ready for the world. But was the world ready for me? Arriving at Kyalami Estates for my SEO work they wouldn't let me in as the security was not notified that I would be coming. It took 45 minutes for the okay to be sent through. I was very upset which had a profound affect on the rest of the day. I tried to extract my revenge on poor Thando (shown above) as he was instrumental in my clearance NOT getting through to the gate security. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

SBE, TBE and GBE

The hosts and hostesses from the Business Expresses came to our Metrorail offices do a first aid course and I managed to take some photos of them while they were waiting. Here is Inga, Thando and Thami enjoying themselves immensely.