A New Home

For my posts that is. Yes, I have finally managed to setup a blog that I am using for posts that are more relevant to my line of work. K and I will still keep this blog in place, for the family, travel and life related posts (although we have been very quiet of late), but please head on over to www.graemecumming.com for posts that are related to my day-to-day projects and working experience. In the meantime, I will try and get K to contribute to this space more actively :-)

Another Trip to Cape Town

So it was just over a month ago that K and I came down to Cape Town for a long weekend. This weekend, I find myself in Cape Town again - mostly for business, but with a long weekend in between, some relaxation too.

Came down on Thursday evening, in time for busy Friday, with back-to-back meeting from 8:30am until around 4pm. We met with various people, including the social networking team from 24.com, the New Media Head from Touchline Media, editor of Kick-Off, and finally the guys who run myvideo.co.za. A pretty good day actually - gained some good insight into what these people are doing, and also affirmed some of our thinking on what we should and should not be focusing on.

Tuesday we meet with Grapevine Interactive, Blueworld and MXIT. Much the same objectives as Friday - touch base with these teams, let them know what we are up to, see where we can work together.

In between the meeting though, a long weekend. We used to opportunity to fly K down for a bit of break. Saturday saw us catching up with some old work colleagues at Forrester's Arms in Newlands to watch the rugga. On Sat evening, we went for dinner with Lance and Cath, who are recently engaged and have just moved into their house in Wynberg. Had a fantastic home cooked dinner with them over a glass or three of wine.

Sunday was pretty much spent in the car - the weather was pretty crappy, but perfect for a slow drive along the coastline from Cape Town, up through Strand, around to Gordon's bay, then through Pringle Bay, onto Betty's Bay and finally past Arabella and into Hermanus. Beautiful part of the country, and a stretch of road that K and I have not driven before, so that was a bonus. We usually take the N2 to Hermanus, but the coastal road was a refreshing change.

Today was meant to be the golf day - but the weather is a bit temperamental at the moment - quite cold and windy. Not the sort of climate that makes golf pleasant. So instead, its been a bit of inner city exploring, cappuccino's and breakfast's at the hidden deli's along the way, and hopefully some catching up on a bit of reading this afternoon.

Exciting times

Ok so its been just over a month since the last post, and there is much to tell.
On the home front, things are looking good. We've finished painting the interior and its all looking nice a clean. The colour is a bit deceiving at times - depending on the natural light and the light bulb in various areas - the tones range from a sandy colour, to a pinky one. Not sure I'm wild on it in the lounge area - as it shines up with too much pink - but we'll give it a bit of time to see how it works out.

Things are going well on the work front for K and I. She remains very busy and involved with her team - with some nice opportunities for growth in the next year or so. I have my hands full with some exciting new media projects at the moment and am enjoying every day of it.

We also have some exciting news - we have recently invested in a new restaurant (we're silent partners, so no need for us to be hands on in any way, which suits me fine). Yup, between the property and stock market volatility at the moment, we decided that it would probably be quite an adventure to throw some money at something different - so we did. There are a bunch of us that have been working towards opening a new restaurant/bar in the Rivonia area over the past 2 months - something that finally happened this weekend. We called it 'Juniper', after the Juniper berry, which is the ingredient that gives Gin its distinguishing flavour. I would never have believed it about a month ago, as the place that we had picked was barely more than an empty shell in a new centre on the corner of Rivonia and Witkoppen - but it was quite exciting to see it all come together on the night of the opening. Just to give you an idea of what I am talking about, I took this video about 5 hours before the first customer walked through the door for the opening event.



So that's the news of the past month. I've been a bit slack with some pictures of the house, but as soon as I get around to taking a few, I'll be sure to put them up. Will also get some pics of the restaurant up in the next couple of days.

Another weekend of DIY

Sitting at home after a productive weekend - watching 'Snakes On a Plane'. I mean really, who thought of that? And worse still, why did it do so well?

Anyway, I finally got around to sorting out the TV lounge. I had a friend of mine make a cabinet for me - its custom designed to fit my AMP, DVD player and MVIX, and looks awesome in the lounge. He fitted the doors with those anti-slam goodies - I think I have open and closed the doors at least 30 times this weekend - in awe each time I do it. Also put up some trunking to hide all the cables and wires leading up the LCD that is mounted on the wall. Gave the trunking a painting so it all looks pretty good and neat now. Also managed to fix a tap, tidy up the herb garden, shuffle some furniture and put a mirror in the shower.

K is on her way back from Dubai - she was supposed to land about 20 minutes ago, but I have just checked out the Emirates site and see that the new time is 9:36pm - so anytime now.

BTW, have finally yielded to the phenomenon that is twitter. If you want to follow: http://twitter.com/graemecumming

Champagne Castle

K and I were fortunate enough to spend a couple of days in the Drakensberg this past weekend. We stayed at the Champagne Castle Hotel, which is tucked up against some of the most spectacular mountains in the country. Played a round of golf at the magnificent Champagne Sports Resort, did a bit of walking, some reading, and plenty of relaxing. Here are some of the pics:

February - the month that was...

Ever had one of those days where everything seems to go wrong? How about a month of that? That's what February felt like for me. Yup - its been a month of endless problems and disappointments.

Lets be honest - moving into a new place sounds fantastic at first. Bigger rooms, bigger garden, loads of ideas on how you are going to fill the new spaces. This was tee'd up to be the month of painting, decorating and settling into a cozy new environment. It was destined to be month where it all came together and we could kick back, soak it all up, and get back onto the golf course.

Instead, what we ended up with was one (i would refer to them as 'earth-shattering', but for fear of being labeled a dramatist by the readers of this blog, i'll settle for 'major') disaster after another.

In no particular order of importance, lets start with the alarm. I had an alarm put into the house during the last week of Jan, and after surviving two days of installation and having my paving ripped up to make way for the outdoor beams, I was told that all was in working order. "Here's the technical manual sir - you'll have to program the LCD keypads yourself - its after 5pm on a Friday, and we're out of here". In retrospect, it was probably a good thing they did leave the manual with me, as I bet you that I could now program that system better than any of their technicians could. Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that the system wasn't working properly. After a bit of testing, I discovered that none of the 'panic' buttons placed throughout the house actually worked. Two aggressive phone calls to the alarm company later, and a technician rocks up at the door. He proceeds to cut through a bunch a wire in the roof, and reconnect some new ones, and promptly leaves. Then we discover that the door mag and passive in the lounge don't work. Another phone call threatening cancellation of the contract, and two days later, another technician pitches up to fix this latest problem. So far so good, but I have to say that along with tow truck drivers, I now consider alarm company salespeople to be absolute bottom feeders.

Following the alarm theatrics, I wake up last Saturday morning ready to take on all the action and excitement that the kick-off of the Super 14 has to throw at me. Its been a while since the world cup, and I'm having rugga withdrawal. Proceed to tv room with cup of milo in hand, ready to take my seat, and get my weekly dose of Rugby Build Up. Switch on the tv - no signal. Reboot the decoder - no signal. Get onto the roof to check the LNB - no signal. Spent half the morning dismantling the dish and reassembling - no signal. Eventually I get into my car and drive to the nearest audio shop to get them to do a Saturday call out (which they at first refuse to do). After another 2 hour wait, a new LNB and R550 later I have a signal. Rugby is all over for the morning, and but that time, it was the last thing I felt like.

Incident number three is a real treat though. Last Tuesday morning I drive down the driveway and off i got to work. I get about 1km down the road and my power steering goes. K calls me to say that there is hydraulic fluid all over the garage floor. I pull into the nearest garage to top up - no stock. I go to the next garage, and I kid you not - no stock. THIRD garage later - I buy 2 bottles of hydraulic fluid, thinking that this will sort it out. I get another 1 km down the road and run out of fluid. Anyway, regardless to say, I limp the car to the nearest Audi dealership, and dump it there. 2 days later I get a call from the workshop manager - advising me that the damage amounts to around R40k! Not exactly what I'm going to do to solve this little dilemma.

Oh yeah - its been a fun month and I haven't even mentioned the countless other issues - trenches being dug up for sewerage pipes, irrigation pipes that have had garden forks put through them, water pumps that stopped working, the electric fencing that I had to have repaired, and the disappointment of not having K's folks come and stay with us.

Let's look on the bright side though - only 3 days left in Feb. Then we're into March...the month where things come together, we get to kick back, relax, and take up golf again :-)

Well done Telkom

So whilst Eskom has leapt its way up the ladder to position itself as public enemy number one, at the same time, Telkom has slid down a rung or two - and not without good reason. I am happy to report that my most recent Telkom experience has been a very pleasant one.
As you may have gathered, K and I moved house - mostly last Friday. In fact, tonight marks the seventh night in the new house. Anyway, back to the point. About a week ago, we gave Telkom a call - notifying them that we would need a telephone number, and ADSL line installed into our place. This morning I got a call from a very pleasant guy, who came over within 1 hour of calling, tested the exchange around the corner, installed the necessary wiring, enabled it for ADSL, tested the line, and left me with a phone (as ours is still in some box down the passage, and after 20 minutes of looking, I gave up). I was blown away by how efficient and fast the whole process was. I've heard the horror stories about people waiting up to 6 weeks for phones and connectivity - so was very grateful for my 4-day turnaround experience.
Well done Telkom. I'm just grateful that I have electricity at the moment, so that I am able to make this post. Hold thumbs.

We're in...

Its Sunday evening, and the end to what has been a long four days. K and I are physically exhausted. We've moved boxes, carted pots plants, unpacked boxes, cleaned cupboards, washed glasses, washed cars, sorted out cupboards, moved furniture, changed globes, fixed fountains, hung pictures, hooked up TV's, cleaned floors, painted cupboards, swept driveways and connected washing machines.
Yup, its been a long four days. But its over now. We're in! We have a CD playing in the background, a glass of wine in hand, and a nice cooked meal to look forward to.
Thanks to all our friends and family for offers of help and well wishes. We soon hope to have you all over for a celebratory drink and a meal.

Day 1 of the house move

Ok, well not exactly day 1 as we’ve been moving boxes in the evenings, but it’s day 1 of the moving long weekend.

Things got off to an average start. Met the gardener, took him through to the nursery to get some weed killer? Yup, wedd-killer. Coming from a city slicker who’s never really had to worry about grass, my gardener is throwing bottle after bottle of the stuff into our trolley. One for rose bugs, one for broad leaf weeds, one for weeds in grass, one for weeds on paving…good thing I took him with me. Or not! Then onto Mica to buy a weed-eater. He’s insisting that he needs one (850 watt electric to be precise) if he’s going to maintain the garden to the standard of the previous owners. Into the trolley the following items, along with the weed-eater: extension cord, rake, garden broom, pressurised container to mix and spray the weed killer, extra gut for weed-eater, plastic bags, wire. I reckon he’s pretty sorted now – for at least a year anyway.

Next up, the alarm guys. They’ve delayed the installation by 2 weeks because their supplier only got back from holiday this week. Fantastic! They thought they’d come across and tell me in person. Thoughtful of them. They also pointed out the 35 metre’s of trench that I’m going to need to dig (through manicured flowerbeds, around trees, under paving), so that they can lay their cabling and whatever else they need to install. The real reason for their visit I suspect.

And finally, the fridge guys arrive. They’re a little later than I had hoped, but they arrived on the agreed day, which is always appreciated. Time to get that double door puppy into the space between the two cupboards. It’ll fit guys – I measured. Oh Shit! I didn’t cater for the height of that piece of metal protruding from the top of the fridge!

Wave the delivery guys off, and now sit down trying to figure out how I’m going to sort this one out. I could always cut some of the cupboard away. Or better yet, rip some of the tiles up and dig a trench for the fridge to sit in. It only needs to go down 5cm. I though they had adjustable legs on these things. After 30 minutes of irrational thinking, I figure that all I need to do is dismantle the cupboard above the fridge, take it out, and shave the 4-5 cm off that.

So that’s what I’m going to do. Tomorrow. With hired help!

I’m wasted. Its pizza tonight, and then we start with the next set of challenges. Getting the couches through the 1^st floor sliding door of the townhouse, into the garden below, and onto the removal truck. I’m paying for that though. I did it manually once before. This time I took the attitude of “if you throw money at the problem, it’ll eventually go away”.

Time to move on...

Its difficult to leave a place that has given you so much happiness for so long.
This was the feeling that I had last night, sitting on the couch and looking at the bare kitchen and walls in our townhouse of the last 6 years. I remember the day we moved in - Dec 15th, 2001. K and I used a cooler box as a fridge for about a week whilst our fridge was in the process of being delivered. We put up some terrible pink hand-me-down curtains in the lounge whilst we hunted for fabric and waited for our new curtains to be made up.Over the years however, we accumulated, decorated and shuffled our things around, turning an echo'ey space into a comfortable home - one that we have loved since the day we took the plunge and signed our lives away. So its with a hint of sadness that we pack up our memories into cardboard boxes, and move onto a new echo'ey space - a space that will require lots of time and attention, but that will hopefully reward us with many more happy times. Its exciting. Its new. The nostalgia will quickly evaporate. Its time to move on.

New beginnings

Here's a quick update on the house that K and I bought a couple of months ago. It seems like ages ago now - and whilst we'd like to get the move done as soon as possible, there is still a lot of preparation to be done before we'll be in a position to move in.
Part of the reason for the delay, is that the current owners sub-divided their property a while back, but never got clearance certificates from the council. They left it until the house was pretty much sold (to us) before applying for this clearance, only to find out that the council would not grant clearance until sewerage and electricity supply had been added to the subdivided piece of land (essentially we're buying a piece of their land - the piece with the house on it, and they are keeping the rest). We were then told that this process could take up to 4 months to get sorted.
The other part of the problem is that the deeds office, apart from being evicted from their Jhb based offices, close shop during December, so nothing gets done until early Jan.
By some small miracle, the owners managed to get clearance from the council during December. I think that they have had to put money into a trust, as a form of surety, until the council sorts out the sewerage and electricity requirements, in return for granting clearance. Either that or a decent back-hander was paid. Who knows? Besides the delay, its not my issue anyway.
We have also agreed to pay a nominal occupational rent from the 15th January, until the transfer goes through - we're hoping by 1st or 2nd week in Feb.
So, what that means is that from 15th Jan, we'll have a new house to move into. Top of the list of things to do still:
- Get quotes for outside security beams and link them up to the existing internal system
- Look at lighting options for the driveway
- Automation of the entrance gate
- Organise movers and transport for the day
- Buy a lawnmower

So much to do still - but really exciting at the same time.

Happy New Year

To all our friends, family and readers of K&G Online, K and I would like to wish you all the very best for 2008. We hope that you have had a happy and safe festive season, and that the year ahead is filled with health, peace and happiness.

The perfect end to a rainy weekend

After a weekend of rain, it was quite exciting to step out onto the balcony and witness a magnificent sunset over a glass of single malt. Its tough in Africa!

NGC 2007

So I had the opportunity to travel up to the Nedbank Golf Challenge last week - in a chopper! Well, a Bell-407 to be exact. A friend of a friend is a pilot, looking for any opportunity to rack up flying time, and this was the perfect opportunity. Six of us left from Lanseria airport at 8am Thursday morning, and 39 minutes later, touched down on the soccer fields at the main gate to Sun City.

We spent most of the day in one of the tents, catching all the action as it unfolded around us. We watched the entire field come through the 8th hole - lucky for us the weather was pretty mild. In fact, the conditions were perfect for following the guys around the magnificent Gary Player course. As for the result, well, apart from Trevor's little choke on the 18th on the final day, he looked like he was going to win from the very first tee shot on Thursday - starting off birdie, birdie, birdie - with an eagle on the 9th. Fantastic stuff.

Once the field had come in, we made our way back down to the soccer fields, buckled up, lifted, and headed back to Lanseria in just over 30 minutes - topping 260km/hour at one stage.

Here are a few pics from the ride:

The Bell-407 that was to be our ride for the day

The view of Pecanwood from the air
The parking lot at Sun City

Counting the cost

Once again the weather service get it monumentally wrong (not that I ever take the weather report seriously mind you). I drove to work yesterday morning listening to the chaos that the wind and rain had caused across Gauteng the previous afternoon - low lying bridges flooded, taxi's and buses having to be evacuated due to fear of being washed away, trees being blown over, a blue gum tree being uprooted and crushing 3 cars, 2 people killed by lightening - the list goes on.
So when the weather bureau spokesman puts out a message that the storms have cleared, and that there is less than 30% chance of more rain this weekend, you think they know what they are talking about right? Oh boy, how wrong could they have been.
Traveling home last night from a year end function, I stopped in at Eastgate at around 9:15pm to collect the pizza that K had ordered. I parked in the rooftop parking area, and when I came out, was intrigued by the odd 'popping' noise as I made my way back to the car. Then it dawned on me - I looked up at the skies, and knew exactly what was coming. Quickly slid into my car, threw the pizza on the passenger seat and jumped on the accelerator. I must have broken at least 7 cardinal traffic rules in my quest to get my car under cover before the hail heavens opened up. Bear in mind that we stay within 1 km of Eastgate - I drove like a raving mad banshee to get home in time. Well, I was caught about 50 meters from the front gate in what can only be described as the-mother-of-all-storms-that-I-have-witnessed. I managed to maneuver my wheel-spinning car up the slippery driveway of our complex and into its covered parking spot, but not before being mortar bombed by cricket-ball-sized pieces of ice. Luckily for me, most of the impact was absorbed by my soft-top roof - although at times, it felt like the ice bombs were about to rip through the material. I then stepped out of my car, under the carport and waited for the storm to pass. Bad move. By that stage, I was caught in a river of water at my feet - water torrenting over my shoes, and pieces of ice shrapnel flying all around me as the ice bombs battered the ground.
It lasted all of about 6 minutes, and this morning we're counting the damage:
- 1 x smashed tail light on my car
- 2 x dents on K's bonnet (even though it was covered, lateral bombs found her car's bonnet)
- 1 x broken bathroom window
- 1 x cracked loft window
- 1 x louvre roof, riddled with hail damage
- 1 x louvre roof side cladding, blown off
- 2 x shredded rose bushes on the patio

As for the rest of the complex, well, I counted at least 7 other broken windows, 2 smashed windscreens, and the remains of countless plants, trees and leaves strewn across the road.

All of that, from a 30% chance of rain this weekend.

Update: its raining at the moment, and looks like it will be for the rest of the weekend. Well done weather boys!

The Palace...

K and I have just arrived home after a weekend away at the Palace of the Lost City.

The reason for the weekend away was twofold - firstly, the company that K works for took the management team away for their efforts over the past year, spouses included, and secondly, it was our 5th wedding anniversary, so a weekend out of town was on the cards anyway. It just worked out nicely that we got to spend the weekend at the Palace. Even more of a bonus was that K was pampered with spa treatments whilst I was given the opportunity of a round of 18 holes at the Lost City golf course (see picture below, taken from atop the Kings Tower).

The food was magnificent, the decor opulent and the service world class. Great weekend!

Battered Ballito and latest Books

K and I had the fortune of spending the weekend in Ballito this past week. Its the annual family getaway down to the coastal timeshare unit that the folks have had for some 18 years or so now. Not everyone could make it down, and I only went for the weekend, but it was a good break nevertheless.

One of the things that was really interesting to see this year, was just how much damage has been caused to the coastline, promenade and some property along the Ballito beach front. In fact, the damage was done the day after K and I were last in Ballito in March of this year - I blogged about the turn in weather as I was completing my second nine at Prince's Grant.
These places were lucky to escape the wrath of the tide - quite a few other places were not so lucky.

On Saturday morning we headed down to Salt Rock beach (mainly because the rest of the Ballito beaches are laden with rock, brick, pieces of wall and the odd window frame) and were lucky to stumble upon the start of the Dolphin Coast Sea Kayak challenge. The girls were quite impressed with the "Mens Health cover model" bodies on show - Grant and I tried to compete, but I think it was the lack of tight lycra pants and tops that did us in. Anyway, to say the surf conditions were rough would be the understatement of the month. We watched as the single man kayaks tried to make their way past the breakers and on towards the Durban finish, with one or two lucky guys making it, and the bulk of the teams being washed back onto the beach. Next up were the 2 man kayaks, who were just as entertaining in their quest to conquer the breakers. Some poor guys were out there, paddling their hearts out for 20-30 minutes, only to make it to the breakers and be side swiped by a monster wave, and washed back onto the beach. Ten points for perseverance though.

K has stayed on for a couple of days - she's working out of the Durban office. Me - bought myself some books at Durban International, and am thoroughly enjoying the first of the two - Freakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Daubner. Its about an economist who applies economic tools to life's daily riddles, and comes up with some bizarre truths. Very interesting read so far. You can follow their blog here

The other one, Super Crunchers by Ian Ayres follows a similiar line of thinking. Ayres takes a look at the world of data mining and how statistics and data are being used to highlight patterns all around us.

Last week also saw K's mom heading back to Perth after her surprise 3 week visit. She seemed to have had a fantastic time both here and in London, and it certainly was good seeing her in high spirits again. By the way, send our love to the rugby team down there mom :-)

This that and the other...

Been a while I know.
Here's the news:
- Bought a house with K. Its in Bedfordview - close to where we stay at the moment. Didn't intend to buy it - put in a stupid offer that was accepted, got a bit of buyers remorse and tried to back out of it, but in the end, we decided that it was a good step in the right direction. There goes that ski trip next year...
- K's mom dropped in for a surprise visit two weeks ago. Was good seeing her again. She's in London at the moment visiting with K's aunt before stopping back in SA for a couple of days on her way back to Aus. Speaking of Aus - shame, being a rugby fan must be kak at the moment :-)
- Went to Moyo Melrose Arch this evening with K, her boss and some potential clients. Reason for the trip is that they are negotiating an oil and gas contract in Tanzania at the moment. Sean and Aron seemed like nice guys - hopefully K gets the contract.
- Squash is going well - killed my opponent in the summer league match on Tuesday, 9-3; 9-7; 9-1. Have my club champs match tomorrow against Keith. From past experience, I should take it comfortably. Although, that's what the All Black's thought I guess.
- Played 2 rounds of golf this past weekend. It was tough. I mean, a round of golf on the weekend is a treat, but two rounds! Managed some half decent scores of 88 and 85. Be careful Sean Morgan - this weekend is going to be deadly for you.
- On the work front - all good. Has been a bit slow for my liking over the past few weeks, but some nice ideas floating around, and some killer projects on the horizon.
- Oh, went to the AV/Sony Expo last week. Lusting over the Sony HD DV Cam's. Some great equipment on show. Pity about the purchase procedure though - what a shambles. If you buy anything, including the HDMI cable that I got from the Ellies stand for like 80 bucks, you fill out a form, go to the exit, pay for your goods and then wait for them to be delivered to the till at the exit. You do that for every purchase. I understand the security concerns, but what a joke!
- Finally, will be wearing my Bok golf shirt with pride tomorrow. Ole, Ole Ole Ole.

Work, wine and wind...

Arrived back home a couple of hours ago from a little getaway weekend in Cape Town. I flew down on Friday morning for a meeting with the guys at 24.com, and another meeting with MXit. Both were pretty good meetings, and will result in some future interaction on a few of the projects that I am involved in.

Friday evening allowed me the opportunity of catching up with Lance and Cath. Haven't seen "The Hoff" in a long while, and although brief, it was good catching up with them. Although I did feel a tad guilty as they rushed down to the V&A for a drink, and on their way, some chump rear-ended them in the wet conditions.

Then rushed back to the airport to fetch K - she caught the early evening flight down for a weekend away. We booked ourselves into a nice little B&B in Camps Bay. Had dinner at my all time favourite sushi spot in Mouille Point - a place called Wakame. Awesome food.

Saturday was a fairly pleasant day - did a bit of driving around - Hout Bay, Chapman's Peak - which was closed halfway up (what's up with that anyway - its always closed), Constantia and Fish Hoek. Found ourselves in the Cape Quarter at a place called Fiesta for dinner and red wine.
Apart from the South Easter howling all night, and all of today, it was a pretty good weekend - and what would the weekend be without a sunset over the Atlantic?

Boklash...

I thought that some of my English family and friends would like to see the changes made to the English rugby jersey. Its been awfully quiet from that side of the world since the start of the RWC.