2 line update...

Been a bit quiet lately in terms of posts - apologies for that. Truth be known though, is that things have been pretty busy on the work front, and pretty quiet on the social front. We're gearing up for our trip to Australia at the end of next week, so as usual, there are a ton of things to get wrapped up before leaving. Its K's birthday next week Friday, so we'll try and organise a bit of a celebratory dinner before leaving. She's also taken the day off on Friday, so it should be a good one for her.

Podcasting...

There is a whole world out there, just waiting to be listened to. Everything from news reports, personal messages, music compilations and poetry, to sporting tips, training techniques and technology lectures. Yup, what I'm referring to, are podcasts.

So, what's a podcast then...? Well, I guess you could say that it is a recording (usually audio, but could also be video) that is available for download, usually to a device like an iPod, for instant, or offline listening. The term podcast is derived from the process of "broadcasting" to "iPods". The difference between a podcast, and any other download though, is that podcasts are usually subscribed to, and the latest content is then delivered to you.

Podcasting has been around for about 2 years now, but South Africans have been quite oblivious to the technology, largely because of the lack of a decent broadband offering. With the explosion of ADSL over the past year or so in SA, podcasting is gaining popularity - so much so that I now read that Tony Leon will be adding podcasting to his list of "campaign tactics", and that Derek The Bandit has also resorted to providing one show a month, via podcast. Check it out here, its pretty good actually.

So anyway, I've found quite a couple of decent podcast sites and resources, so here are a couple, if you're interested in listening:

- no iPod required : an introduction to podcasting
- www.podcast.net : the ultimate podcast directory site, literally hundreds of thousands of recordings.
- MTBcast.com : Mountain biking news
- Active.com : Sporting/Training tips and interviews
- SoundRepublic : DTB's site
- The Onion Radio News : List of "The Onion News" podcasts on podcast.net. One that is worth listening to is - "President Bush Escapes From Weekly Bath"

Oh, also found this interesting snippet on the popularity of podcasting in Wikipedia:
The word about podcasting rapidly spread through the already-popular weblogs of Curry, Winer and other early podcasters and podcast-listeners. Fellow blogger and technology columnist Doc Searls began keeping track of how many "hits" Google found for the word "podcasts" on September 28, 2004. On that day, the result was 24 hits. There were 526 hits on September 30, then 2,750 three days later. The number doubled every few days, passing 100,000 by October 18. A year later, Google found more than 100,000,000 hits on the word "podcasts."

S14 at Ellis Park

We're well into the Super14 season now, and had the opportunity to go and watch my first game last night - took Stuart with me, as I was given an extra ticket. The Cats played the Chiefs, and although the Cats won the game, it was not a very interesting game to watch. In fact, the Cats were lucky to win, as they did not score any tries, and missed 4 penalties. A win is a win I guess, but it wasn't pretty. We then stayed on, and watched the next game in the suite - Bulls vs Brumbies. The quality of the game was about 300% better that the Cats game, and quite a battle right up to the last minute. The Brumbies managed a last minute try to take the game - what a quality side though. With players like Gregan, Larkham, Mortlock, Smith and Giteau, you need to play really world class rugga if you want to win your game.

Imagining the Google Future

If you have the time, take a look at this article - its written by some top technology journalists and strategists, and takes a look at four scenario's of where Google may be heading. Scenario 2 seems most likely to me. It talks about the possibly of Google becoming "the" internet. Given the technology, the speed at which web pages are stored and indexed, and their current bank of servers (some 150,000 machines), the scenario paints a picture of people going directly to Google, their a Google browser, and retrieving their information, rather than simply using Google as the search engine - making it more efficient to use that the internet that we know today. Some of the other scenarios seem a little more creative, but they are all equally interesting.

A local literary treat

Every once in a while, you come across a really special book, and on our weekend away last week, that's exactly what happened. When we arrived, there was a "gift" basket in the room, filled with some body shop creams, soaps and a book.

The book is a collection of short stories put together by Max du Preez, a South African journalist, and although I have not finished the book yet ( I've read about 6 stories so far), I know that this is a special book - partly because it is written as a story as opposed to some history textbook, and partly because it is local and you can easily identify with what the author is explaining. Really fascinating stories so far...from the first South African to travel to London, to the relationships between the Dutch who settled at the Cape and their slaves.

The title of the book is "Of warriors, lovers and prophets: Unusual stories from South Africa's Past".

A weekend in the countryside

When I mentioned last week that we were going for a company weekend away, I had no idea that it would involve absolutely no work at all. Yup, no meetings, no planning, no laptops, no conference - nothing.

We spent the weekend at a place called Kloppenheim, which is somewhere between Dullstroom and Belfast, and about 250km outside of Jhb. Arriving at around 5:30pm on Friday afternoon, and having checked into a magnificent room, overlooking a trout dam, we didn't quite know what the weekend held in store. That was quickly changed, when at dinner that evening, the big cheese at the company I work for announced that this was a weekend of "relaxation" for all the hard work put in over the past year. Yup, that's exactly what I wanted to hear.

I took my bike with, so got up early on Saturday morning (around 4:45am early), and went off with Andre and Anton on a 30km off road trail. The rest of the day was spent fly fishing (in the trout dam pictured above), eating, reading, sleeping and picnicing. This morning, K and I were both treated to a facial - something that I have never done before, and given my experience today, will probably not do again. I can handle aromatherapy and back massage's, but oily face, mouth and nose...not for me.

The place is definitely recommended - probably best to go during winter, as that particular part of the country gets really cold. All the rooms are equipped with lots of duvets, underfloor heating and a fireplace - so it could get nice a cosy during the cold winter evenings.

I guess I complain about work quite a bit - this weekend seems to have made it all worth it (well, some of it at least :-)

Once a pirate, always a pirate?

Well, not too much exciting news this week, although there are a couple of things to update on:

The gollf last weekend was great. Played a round at Parkview on Friday afternoon with the guys from work, and again on Sunday with Grant and a couple of his mates. In fact, quite a few of his and Stuart's mates - 3 fourballs to be exact. Played at a course down on the Vaal river called Maccauvlei, which was in great condition. Stayed a bit late though - considering that we tee'd off at 9am, and at around 6:30pm (after a couple of juices) we were having putting competitions on the practice green, and longest drive competition off the 10th. A good day out though.

I've been playing in a squash tournament over the past week or so. I'm a member at Pirates sports club (which is literally 500m from where I work, so its convenient), and play league most Thursday evenings. Last year, we played against another club, Chamber Exiles, who also happens to be about 3 km from where I work. I got quite friendly with some of the guys at Chambers, and we've had a couple of "out of league" games since. Anyway, to cut a long story short, they invited me to play in their early season tournament. The thing is, its been a great tournament so far (i play in the quarter finals this week), they have 7 courts compared to Pirates' 2, and they have about five times as many squash players as Pirates - so why am I feeling guilty about abandoning my club? I think that in terms of squash, and quality of games, I'm definitely better off at Chambers. Its also cheaper, as all they do is squash (compared with all the other facilities at Pirates). My subs come up for renewal in about 2 months time, and it looks like Chambers is going to benefit from the renewal this year. Will keep you posted.

Today has been pretty quiet - went to the folks place for a braai yesterday afternoon, and today has been spent doing some work, whilst watching the cricket and A1 GP. Its been this way partly because of the work I had to do, and partly because my bike is still in the shop being repaired (I apparently broke something in the pedal axle). Next weekend however, we go away with my company to Dullstroom for a "teambuilding" weekend. Spouses have been invited, and I'm told that there is no "work" involved. So, I'm hoping that the bike is fixed this week, as I'd like to take it with. A bit of fly fishing and mountain biking is definitely going to go down well.

Till then...

Work, wine and cycling

Its been over a week since the last post I made - purely because things have been so busy in our lives over the past few days. Here are some of the things that we've been busy with:

K's been pretty hectic at work, since her boss resigned 2 months ago. She's running all the contract meetings, seeing as there is nobody else representing her division anymore, as well as taking on all the other day to issues that he used to deal with. She's also had to make one or two decisions about her position recently, but I'll leave that for her to share with you.

On my side, things at work have also been insane. In amongst putting a plan in place for the upcoming year, I'm also busy with reviewing all my staff, and their performance with regard to the last quarter of 2005. Its tiring work to say the least.

We hooked up with Ronald and Hazel and a couple of other varsity mates on Sunday at the zoo lake Moyo, for a Sunday brunch. Was good catching up with the Tweedie's again - they're expecting their first child in May. I was really impressed with the venue - very chilled out place on a Sunday.

We went out to the 'Brown's - Best of 2005' evening on Tuesday. Each and every week, Brown's of Rivonia hosts a wine evening (usually on a Monday evening) where they get the winemaker up from the Cape, and the guests get to sample the wines from that estate over a meal that the chef puts together to compliment the wines. And each year, they have a "best of" evening - selecting the best of the best from the previous year, all rolled up into one enormous wine tasting evening. We were lucky to get a spot at this years event. And what a treat it was. They limit the evening to about 30 guests, and it is hosted by the cellarmaster, chef and owner of Brown's - in the cellar. Here are some of the wines that we sampled:
Welcoming Drink - Paul Cluver Sauvignon Blanc 2004
With Starters - Mulderbosch Chardonnay 2003 (K enjoyed this one) and Raats Cabernet Franc 2002
With Main - Rustenburg John X Merriman 2000 (highly recommended) and Beaumont Pinotage 2002 (also very nice)
With Cheese - Weltevrede Cape Muscat 2001 (almost too sweet for me)
With Dessert - De Krans Vintage Reserve Port 2002

And as far as the food went, well, also very good. We started with "Buffalo Mozzarella", I then had the duo of game (springbok and ostrich fillets) while K had the lamb fillet. We then got to sample some delicious European and local cheeses, and ended off with the most delicious chocolate creme brulee (different I know, but definitely recommended).

We've also done a bit of cycling this week. The ribs seem to have healed nicely (mostly bruising I guess), and I managed a 25km cycle on Saturday, a 10km with K on Monday evening, and another 14km with K yesterday evening. My bike is making a bit of a strange noise now, but is due for its first 200km service this weekend, so hopefully will be sorted out then.

Oh, and did I mention that I'm playing golf tomorrow afternoon. I know I know...hard to believe that I'm busy at work, when I'm playing golf in the afternoon, but this is honestly the first time in a long time. And its work related - what a bonus.

Pain in the...ribs!

It happened just over a week ago. K and I decided to go for a 10km cycle around the neighbourhood. Whilst fooling around on my bike, and trying to impress K with a "front tyre in the air for 5 seconds wheelie", I lost balance on the bike and went tumbling. Problem was, the side of the handle-bar jabbed me in the ribs as I hit the ground. Getting up and brushing it off as nothing, we continued the ride home. I didn't think much of it that night, but woke up the next morning, barely able to pull myself out of bed.

The hike up the mountain in Clarens, and the frisbee throwing with Frank and Pat didn't do much for the healing - and after returning from Clarens on Sunday evening, barely able to breath, we decided to get the ribs x-ray'd. According to the doc, there's nothing broken, just some internal bruising. Given the discomfort, it would have been better to hear that something was fractured - at least I would then have an excuse for walking around like I'm 75 years old.

Clarens gets a thumbs up

Well, all I can say is that Clarens, and the Golden Gate area is definitely worth visiting, and deserves much of the fuss that we have heard about. Although we only spent a couple of hours in the town of Clarens (of which most of the excitement takes place in a 4 block area called 'the square'), the entire region is full of rolling hills, green grasses and mountainous peaks and valleys.

We stayed on a game farm called "Rebellie Game Farm", which is between Clarens and the Golden Gate National Park (a part of which is pictured here). Although the dirt road was quite challenging, and at times a little unpleasant, the farm and accomodation more than made up for it. We stayed in a 7 sleeper thatched cottage, which was more than comfortable. It was equipped with a separate jacuzzi room, which proved very useful after the 3,5 hour drive down on Friday afternoon.

Saturday saw us climb to one of the peaks behind our cottage - a climb that definitely raised the heart rate somewhat. Upon reaching the summit (which had a fence running across the entire range), we were treated to magnificent views of the neighbouring Lesotho.

We took the mountain bikes with us, and Frank and I got some good mileage out of them on the rocky dirt roads. We also spent a bit of time hiking through the valleys, and looking for bushman paintings, after Dave, the owner of the place pointed some out to us.

All in all, another great weekend, in the great South African outdoors. I can definitely recommend a trip to Clarens, and if you're looking for a place to stay, Rebellie Game Farm is a gem of a spot (if you can put up with the gravel road that is).

Good times with old friends

So Neil and Mandy have gone back to the UK now, but this weekend, we'll be going away with Francois, Joanna and Patrick (another one of our good mates living in the UK, who is out on holiday). We met up with Pat briefly on the 24th Dec, before leaving for Madagascar, and again 2 nights ago. Its always great catching up with old friends that you haven't seen for a while, and going through all the stories and memories that have been shared over the years.

This weekend, we'll be going down to Clarens, which is a little 'arty' town near Golden Gate in the Free State. I'm told thats its quite picturesque and quaint - will report back on that one after the trip. We leave this afternoon, and are staying in a thatch cottage tonight, and Saturday night - and then come back on Sunday sometime. Will definitely be packing the mountain bikes, and a couple of good bottles of red wine...

Holiday in Madagascar

Well, the holiday is over now, and back to work again for K and I. Madagascar was fantastic though - we stayed at an island off the north west coast of Madagascar, called Iranja for 4 nights, and then at another (bigger) island called Nosy Be for 2 nights. We also spent a night in Antananarivo when we first landed, and although it was interesting to see, its not the kind of place you want to spend too many days in.

The islands on the other hand, were incredibly remote, and incredibly beautiful. 38 degree C temperatures during the day, and 60-70% humidity, ensured that we spent a great deal of time in the warm waters, and lazing about on the beach. I did a bit of snorkelling, and even got to see a turtle during one of the sessions. Besides the heat at night, and the lack of an aircon in the rooms on Iranja, the only major issue was trying to fight off all the mozzies. We lathered up in Tabard lotion and stick on, but that did not deter them at all. Having said that, we would gladly put up with the heat and mozzies, for the scenery and the food.

Our stay at Amarina lodge on Nosy Be was also very good - although the hotel was a bit more established than the palm thatched bungalows on Iranja (we enjoyed the rustic, natural experience). Mind you, by that stage, we welcomed the aircon in the room and felt we chose well in terms of accomodation, and the fact that we got a nice mix.

All in all, a great trip, and a great way to end off a tough year at work. 2005 was definitely the year of travel for us, having spent 2 weeks in Austria skiing, a week with K's folks in Australia, and a week in Madagascar. It'll be tough trying to beat that in 2006, but its the kind of challenge that I'll take pleasure in trying to beat. Here's to 2006.

Insomnia(c)

3am, Friday morning. Can't sleep. Today will be my last day at work this year. I wish I could say that I'm awake because of the excitement of having reached the end of this 'working' year, but truth be known, it is the work that is keeping me awake. Funny how even though things have quietened down now, I'm still worried about the last minute things that need to get done, and anticipating the problems that I need to sort out when I get back to work in January. So wrong!

Anyway, besides work issues, I'm also mentally going through the checklist of things that I need to pack. Camera and battery charger are essentials (oh, and come to think of it, I'd better add cellphone charger to the list - although I'm not sure that there is coverage where we're going). I knew there was a reason I needed to logon and post this message...

What a day!

So the new addition to our family was the “Mongoose” - what you don’t know is that we also acquired a “Schwinn” – my entry level mountain bike complete with entry level components. What I learnt from G about the purchase of any bike is that it’s not about the paintwork or how attractive the bike looks (which, being a woman I thought that was very important) it’s all about the components!! So I am pleased to say that I now own a Schwinn mountain bike with Shimano components.

Now you can’t have a mountain bike without the mountain bike rack and you can’t have a mountain bike rack without a tow-bar. So my little A class was chosen as the vehicle which will be used to transport these two new additions. We have fitted the tow-bar and the mountain bike rack and my car looks quite snazzy now.

Our first mountain biking expedition into Africa was last Friday at the Ezemvelo Nature Reserve. After a long hike with G and his dad, we set off in the mid day heat to try and find the mysterious White Rhino which we were not able to spot from the car. G’s advice to me just before the ride was that should I be charged by a white rhino and her baby or any other wild animal for that matter I was under no circumstance to try and ride away from them but should rather discard by bicycle and run. I was really impressed that he believed I could out run a rhino ;-) thank love.

The dirt road/sand/rocks/incline of the hill seemed a lot harder to ride through than what I had originally expected. The first km was hard, the second even harder and by the fourth km I was finished. Having gearing down from 6 to 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 gear, G seemed to disappear into the horizon and as fast as my legs rotated I could not keep up. It was at this point that I turned my bike around waved goodbye to G and happily free wheeled down the road I had ridden up, heading back to the camping spot. I must admit that there was something quite tranquil about being on my own in the wild, I passed one Wildebeest and a family of warthogs who seemed a lot more scared of me than I was of them. Once safely back at camp I was quite proud of the fact that I had a) found my way home on my own (my sense of direction must be improving), b) not been charged or mauled by any wild animal, c) had ridden 7.9kms according to my odometer.

I loved the day out and will definitely be trying another mountain bike trail in the New Year. My first New Years resolution will be to get my mountain biking body into shape!

One week of work left

We had our annual xmas braai with our dinner club mates last night...Gillian and Pieter, Chris, Murray and Tanya, Anthony and Liezl and Chris' sister Trudy. Dave and Leigh couldn't make it, so we still haven't seen their baby. The whole point of the evening, besides getting together with our mates, was to each buy a R40 gift to exchange. K and I ended up getting a matching coffee mug set - very cool mugs, and a bit of a hangover this morning...great evening though.

There just seems to be so much to do still. We leave for Madagascar in 6 days time, and I still need to get K a xmas present, we need to sort out our forex, have the family over for festive drinks sometime this week, fit in a round of golf one afternoon in the next week still, try and organise a dinner out with Richard, Joanna, Gail, Trevor and the Morgans, pack all our clothes for the holiday, go through for a braai at Neil's folks' place on Friday evening, and then still get all our presents wrapped and ready for Saturday's lunch. Going to be an interesting week this...

The Morgan's are back in town...

Met up with Neil and Mandy on Friday evening. Frank called whilst we were on our way back from eZemvelo, and wanted to know if we were keen to go and see the new Harry Potter. We said we'd hook up with him at Eastgate and get tickets - but 5 minutes later, Neil called. He arrived back from the UK the day before for his sister's wedding. Anyway, we all ended up going out for pizza's and catching up. It was good to see them again. Last time we saw them was at Gail and Trevor's wedding in March - they're both well, and looks like they are keen on moving back to SA sometime soon. Mind you, this is Neil we're talking about - that's what the plan was...oooh, about 18 months ago now. We'll see.

Here's the proof

Just in case you thought I was pulling your leg about seeing Kudu on our hike, here is the proof. They're normally quite difficult to spot, and very shy animals, but we were lucky to spot 9 (i counted 4 bulls and 5 cows) at once. Really special to see these animals...

A day out at eZemvelo

We're nearing Christmas day now, and there are still so many things to do. We're not taking leave this week, and there's still a lot to get done before we leave for Madagascar on Saturday afternoon.

Friday was a pretty good day. It was a public holiday here in SA (Day of Reconcilliation), and K and I decided to get out of town. We went through to a game reserve / farm called eZemvelo - getting up at 5am in the morning, we arrived at around 8am. We met my dad there (he had camped over the night before) and set off on a hike that took us through some spectacular countryside. Some of the game that we saw included Impala, Kudu, Warthogs, Blue Wildebeest, Springbok and Eland. Top picture is on top of the "lookout" rock, with some great views of the surrounding countryside and the Wilge river (pictured below).

We also took our mountain bikes with, and after lunch, took off for some more sight-seeing, in some fiercly hot weather. Needless to say, we didn't cover much distance. K managed about 7km's, and I think that I notched up about 12km before heading back to the camp, and then home again.

A course I'd like to play

Ernie Els has just won the Dunhill Championship event (which forms part of the Sunshine Tour) at Leopard Creek. Mental note to self - have to play at Leopard Creek someday - it looks incredible. Ernie didn't have a great tournament last week at the Nedbank Challenge, so I'm glad that he's back on the scene again.

A little Fisher...

This week saw the birth of Belinda Fisher, first child to our good friends Dave and Leigh Fisher. She was born on Wednesday 7th December. We haven't seen the Fishers yet, but will hopefully catch up with them, and get to meet Belinda at our annual Christmas braai with other good mates, Gillan and Pieter Fourie, and Chris Trehearn, taking place next weekend at the Fourie's house.