Aaah. The Bush...

All packed and ready to go tomorrow morning. Not quite sure how Dave is going to react when he sees all the luggage that we have :-)
To be honest, I don't think we're taking that much. It just looks like a helluva lot. We're sharing a clothes bag, sharing a shoes and towels bag. Have a backpack with books camera and jerseys, and a cooler box with drinks. I don't think we'd get away with much less, but it'll be interesting to see everyone piling into the car tomorrow morning. We're all going up in a Microbus, so I'm sure it'll be fine.
Essential items: good pair of walking shoes and a hat
Necessary items: sandals (for after the walks each day) and maglite torch (with new batteries)
Luxury items: Ouma rusks (for morning coffee) and 2 bottles of Meerlust Red wine.

Going to really enjoy being in the bush for the next few days. No cellphone reception. No work. No email. Oh hang on...that means no blogging for the next few days either - oh well - will be sure to take some pics and have an update by Sunday evening.

Kruger awaits...

Sunday evening - movie on tv has just finished. Sitting in the lounge, tweaking the Vaio, and contemplating the week ahead.
Work tomorrow - not really looking forward to that. On the upside though, is that K and I are going to the Kruger National Park on Wednesday morning. We're joining Dave and Leigh Fisher, and some other mates of their's - all doing a walking safari for a couple of days.
As far as I am able to make out, its the Napi trail, which starts just outside Pretoriuskop. Dave did it last year, and said it was fantastic, so we decided to join them this year.
Bought some drinks and snacks today, batteries for the torch, and some mozzie lotion. Really looking forward to a couple of days in the bush. It would be great if we could take the bikes - cycling up in that part of the country would be a real treat, but I guess that there are safety considerations to bear in mind.
So, we leave on Wednesday morning - arrive by lunchtime. There is a walk on Wed afternoon - sunset walk I'm told - and then another walk early on Thursday morning. So it goes, morning and afternoon until Saturday, where we leave Napi, and will then be staying at another camp for Saturday night, before returning on Sunday.
I suppose it makes the week a little more bearable when you only have two days of work, and then five days off.
Also decided this evening, that because we can't take the bikes up with us, we'll have to scope out the surrounding areas on the way back, and then book a weekend trip up to do some cycling. There are some wickedly good trails in the Nelspruit / White River area.

The Vaio

Oh, forgot to mention...bought me a Sony Vaio today :-)
Yup...VGN FE28GP - Duo Core, 2 Ghz Centrino, 120GB HDD and 1024MB RAM - this puppy just purrs.
In the words of the Foo Fighters - Its times like these....

Week in Summary

Been a relatively easy going week for me. Monday and Tuesday were their usual challenging selves, but was then on training from Wed to Friday. Also managed to sneak in a teambuilding session on Thursday afternoon - which was fantastic. It involved cooking zucchini as part of a 3 course meal. The idea is that everyone takes a bottle of wine, and an apron, and then gets stuck into making a 3 course meal during the afternoon - in the most amazing old style kitchen. One group made the pasta (yes, made it, let it dry, and then cooked it), another made the pasta sauce - we made the zucchini, tomato, herb and mozzarella side dish. There was also roast fillet of beef, covered in layers of parma ham, and a nut filled phyllo pastry pudding.
Going to try and get the dinner club to do a 3 week course with K and I - should be a blast.

Site worthy of a visit...

Every once in a while, you come across a website that blows your mind away. If you haven't ever visited Pandora, you've been seriously missing out.

It really is one of the cleverest uses of technology and music (my two big passions) that I have ever seen. Basically, the guys at Pandora have been working on something called the "Music Genome Project" for the past few years. They've taken thousands of songs, and stripped them down into what they sound like - not who they are sung by or what genre they belong to - but the actual sound of the song. They've then tagged these songs with the categories that they have defined, and provided a tool that allows you to listen to a song, say whether you like it or not, and then based on your decision, they will recommend another song, and another, and another...

The whole point of the project, is to allow the user to build up a "station" of the type of music they like, and then go out and buy the albums (or buy them online if you want). Pure genius.

This site...as a graph!

This image represents the structure of the blog that you are reading (well, technically it has changed since uploading this image, and this blog entry). Confused...? Let me explain. Some guy has written an algorithm that reads the source code of your website, and translates it into an image (check out the site here). The image depicted (click image to enlarge), represents the source code of our blog. In terms of a key, this is what the colours mean:

blue: for links (the A tag)
red: for tables (TABLE, TR and TD tags)
green: for the DIV tag
violet: for images (the IMG tag)
yellow: for forms (FORM, INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT and OPTION tags)
orange: for linebreaks and blockquotes (BR, P, and BLOCKQUOTE tags)
black: the HTML tag, the root node
gray: all other tags

Lightning Crashes...

Came across this photograph, taken by some guy whilst on holiday in Moscow, and thought it quite appropriate seeing as we're having a bit of an electrical storm at the moment. Woke up this morning and it was windy and rainy, and here we sit this evening whilst the rain lashes down in intermittent waves, and the sky is alive with currents of lightning.

From one rainy, cloudy city to another!

Went to CT yesterday for another round of meetings. Got up at 4:30am to make sure that I made the flight at 6:00am.
Trip wasn't too bad actually - bit of turbulence out of Jhb, and some more into CT.
Didn't get to see the mountain this time, as it was covered in clouds.
Three quick meetings, an even quicker lunch, and then back to the airport to make the 4pm flight back to Jhb.

Apart from the early rise (after an evening out celebrating my 30th birthday), it was a pretty good day.

Over that hill...

Yup - hit the magical Three O this week.
As far as birthdays go, it was a pretty average day to be honest - although I was treated to a cooked breakfast by K, and showered in gifts, which was really special. There is so much hype around reaching 30, and you see it coming for months, with big expectations. Next thing you know, you've been so busy and wrapped up in other things that it springs upon you and you're not quite prepared. At least thats how I felt.
Went to work, had a 4 hour meeting...took some cakes and ordered pizza for the office, another set of meetings in the afternoon...rush home for dinner with the family...and next thing you know, its all over.

Having said that, I was spoilt, and we did have a great dinner. Went to a place called Jungle Sushi and Tepanyaki. Sat around the Tepanyaki bar with the family...and had some great food. I had some Salmon Nigiri, a salmon hand roll, and a beef fillet tepanyaki - delicious.

Still intending on having a bit of a celebration - but because of other commitments, friends away, other friends only arriving - it'll only take place in September sometime.

How does it feel? Not too shabby...I'm at the beginning of my next decade in life, with another 10 years of thirties to look forward too. I'm told that this is the decade in which things 'really' happen in life. I guess one can justify anything really.

The Epic Cycle...

Managed to get out on Sunday afternoon, for what turned out to be quite an epic cycle as far as K and I are concerned. We headed off towards the Klipriviersburg Nature Reserve, with Brett (the neighbour), to meet up with Frank. Getting there was tough, but not too bad in the end. Anyway, we met up with Frank, and cycled through the reserve, and back in about 90 minutes. Frank had the luxury of getting back into his beetle, and not having to tackle what must be classified as a Category 1 climb (I know there are no Cat.1 climbs in SA, but whoever made that claim has clearly never cycled back up Columbine road in Winchester Hills). It was a pretty intense climb at that point (which marked about 3 hours in the saddle), but nothing that an Mp3 player belting out the consistent beat of the Foo Fighters could'nt sort out. K and I made it to the top of Columbine, and back onto the long downhill of Klipriver - whilst Brett had to be rescued by Frank, and driven home.

43km round trip, 4 hours in the saddle, and a whole lot of energy burnt up. My idea of a great Sunday afternoon.

Latest from Sony

Ok, so I know I'm a bit of a gadget freak, but how cool is this...
Its the new Sony Mylo handheld music, video, photo, Instant Messaging, Browsing and Skype all-in-one gadget. Check out the clip.

Women's Day...

Another public holiday today - gotta love this country.
K and I took a drive to Midrand today, with the intention of spending the morning at Decorex - an annual interior design / lifestyle exhibition. That was until we spent 30 minutes trying to get a parking, and saw the queues of people outside waiting to get in. No thanks.
So we went through to the Design Quarter at Fourways - similiar sort of centre, had a great lunch and looked around.
Intend to go through and do a spinning class at 4:30 this afternoon - and then a quiet evening, maybe a dvd and a light dinner.
Pretty relaxing day - what a treat.

Not looking pretty for Landis.

The results of the B sample have come back as positive, and it looks like Floyd Landis is going to have a hard time proving his innocence now. The tests show signs of synthetic testosterone - which rules out the possibility of the testosterone being produced naturally by Floyd's body. Even so, Floyd flat out denies taking any testosterone, and is putting the high levels found in both the A and B samples down to "natural" causes. He also states that the possibility of whiskey and beer taken the night before his 17th stage comeback could have resulted in increased levels of testosterone. Also, the medication that he is taking for his hip disability may have something to do with the increased level. Nevertheless, this assumed that the testosterone may be elevated, but naturally so, as opposed to ingested - which the tests seem to indicate.

So where does that leave Landis? In a pretty tricky predicament I'd have to say. In his defence though, he did have 8 other tests conducted throughout the Tour, and all other tests remain negative. It is only the 17th stage win test that seems to incriminate him.

I still maintain that he'd be pretty stupid to take something, go out and win a stage like he did knowing full well that he'd be tested, and hope to get away with it.

According to Floyd's blog, he is encouraging supporters to "Keep the Faith".

You make up your own mind.

High performance driving experience

I had the opportunity this week, of doing a High Performance Driving course with Audi.

Actually, it was a customer function that we organised for some of our premier customers - and what better way to spend a Thursday afternoon, than driving around Kyalami race track, at speeds that are illegal anywhere else :-)

I was assigned to a driver and a silver Audi 3.0 TDI Quattro. It helped that my driver was a former driver of Formula Ford cars, and encouraged high speed above all else. Actually, it was quite unreal to see what these cars are capable of doing. There is nothing special about them - in that they have not been modified for racing. They are your standard commercial out the showroom spec A4's, and what beautiful cars they are.

We got to practice straight line braking, avoiding obstacles in the path whilst braking at high speed, cornering and acceleration. The highlight for me was definitely the 12 laps of high speed, controlled driving around the 4.7km odd kyalami track.

Definitely a course that I recommend doing if you get the opportunity. The course is run by a 4rings, based at Kyalami.

Baby Nicholas...

K's good friend, Tsvet, and her husband Graham started their family last week. Tsvet gave birth to Nicholas Graham Kort on Thursday morning.

We went to visit them on Thursday evening - everyone looking happy and healthy. Its amazing how factory-like maternity wards are these days...go in, have your baby at the scheduled time, spend two days in bed, visitors between 19:30 and 20:30, and out you get. Truly amazing stuff.

Now the fun begins Graham... :-)

30th Birthday...

As August rapidly approaches, I'm racking my brain to think of something to do for my 30th birthday. I guess the expectation is that it should be celebrated with some kind of bash, but the question is, what?

Richard's 30th comes up this week (3rd August), and he's planned a "Vegas" evening. Sounds good, and I look forward to pitching up, and cleaning up at the tables. At least that's the idea I have in my mind. Will have to wait and see - takes place this coming weekend.

Pat celebrated his in London, with the UK clan. Frank and the SA clan went out for Sushi. Hmm, and I'm out of ideas for mine.

Will have to give it some thought and planning over the next few weeks. Any ideas or suggestions, please leave a comment. I could use the help...

The first "gig"...

The concert was pretty good. There were about 7 or 8 levels of guitar players, from kids, beginners and intermediate, to advanced and classical. K went up in the first group of beginners (they split us into 2 groups, as there were about 15 of us). Her songs included Let it Be and Knocking on Heavens Door. My group went up second, and we did Stand By Me and Wonderful Tonight.
To be honest, I don't remember much about the actual playing - it was over in no time at all. Was really interesting to see the progression of skill from one course to the next, and encouraged us to seriously think about doing the next level. For me, the next level is a must - its a forced practice once a week.
The event took place at a pub called "Millhouse", up the road from Kyalami. Forgot the camera at home, so don't have any pictures, but Gillian (who also played in our group) took her camera, so will try and get some pics. Nothing glamorous...but proof of playing live nonetheless.

Landis guilty or not?

It came as quite a shock on Wednesday last week - listening to radio on the way home, news that Floyd Landis had been suspended by his team for failing a doping test. After supporting this guy for the past three weeks, you can imagine the disappointment I felt. I mean, what kind of fool takes performance enhancing substances, when he is the favourite to win the Tour de France. Given the recent events, and the scandal at the start of the Tour, you would have to be some kind of idiot to think that you could get away with something like this. The long and the short of it, is that nothing has been proven yet. There are two samples taken in the tests, and the first sample has shown signs of "elevated levels of testosterone". As the days have gone by, the allegations have dropped from "doping", to more like "cheating" - as there is no substance abuse involved from what I have been able to read. It is widely known that Floyd has a degrading hip, and has been on medication for some time now. Some even speculate that the rise is testosterone can be put down to natural reasons - especially given the physical changes that an athletes body goes through whilst riding a race like the Tour de France.
Nevertheless, there is a cloud hanging over the victory - and whether the rise on testosterone is put down to natural causes, or deliberate cheating - the Tour is once again tainted with controversy.
Check out this useful Tour blog for more detail.

Guitar Update

I mentioned a while back that K and I had started guitar lessons with a group of mates that K used to work with. We have one week of "Beginner Lessons" left.

The time has flown, and whilst we have not practiced as much as we should have (mainly because good practice involves an hour a day - I think our record is about 2 hours a week :-), we certainly have learnt a few things in the 12 weeks since starting.

We have our "gig" next weekend - all the classes from beginner to super advanced will converge on a local pub in Kyalami, and thrash it out to a live audience. Should be a real hoot - especially given the fact that all our practice has involved reading the chords directly from a book, and there will be no books on Saturday...

Amongst the songs that we'll be playing: Knocking on Heaven's Door, Let it Be, Stand By Me and Wonderful Tonight.

Will keep you posted on how well (or not) it goes.

Tour Update

Well, it may have been a farce to start off with, but this years Tour has certainly been filled with excitement and tension, right up until the penultimate day, the Individual Time Trial. This week has seen some fantastic swings at the front of the general classification. The stages on Wednesday and Thursday this week must rate as some of the most entertaining in years - with Floyd Landis losing 10 minutes in the Alps on Wednesday and being written off as a contender for this year, to fighting back in an aggressive breakaway on Thursday, and claiming back 7 of those 10 minutes. Todays time trial saw only 30 seconds between 1st and 3rd position (Oscar Pereiro in 1st, Carlos Sastre in 2nd and Landis in 3rd). Needless to say, Landis has launched himself straight back into top spot, with a 59 second lead as the riders tackle the final stage into Paris tomorrow. Unless something really dramatic happens, Landis has already won this years Tour - as there is no real attack on the final day. The yellow jersey is acknowledged, and the riders will fight it out for the glory of a win on the Champs Elysees, rather than trying to take time out of the yellow jersey.

I picked Floyd as the winner three weeks ago, and its been touch and go from the start (he lost valuable time in the prologue stage, after spotting a cut in his tire, and missing his time trial starting time). Although he wore yellow in the second week, this past week has seen him move from favourite, to write off, and back into guaranteed winner again. Even though the usual heads of state have not been present in the tour this year, it has turned out to be a fantastic spectacle once again.