Johnny Be Good

So, we're sitting in a cosy little pub in Edinburgh one evening, sampling some of the excellent single malt on offer, when the topic of the Johnny Walker range of whisky's comes up (admittedly, more than a couple had been sampled by this stage):

Dad: I've decided, I'm not going to drink any more Bells when I get home. I'm splashing out on quality stuff.
Stuart: Well, I personally enjoy a little JW Black Label every now and then. The range isn't as expensive as you may think.
Dad: Oh, I'm not so sure about that. The Blue Label comes with a hefty price tag. I reckon you'll pay more than 4k for the range.
Stuart: Never dad.
Dad: Of course. The Blue is probably 2k on its own.
Stuart: Never dad.
Dad: I'm telling you.
Stuart: OK. Put your money where your mouth is dad. When we get home, you go and price the range. That's Red, Black, Green, Gold and Blue. If its more than 4k, I'll buy the range for your pub. If its less, you buy the range for my pub.
Dad: Deal. You'll cry when you see the price. I can't wait.

Listening to all of this, and spotting an opportunity as it gets presented:

G: Great deal guys. However, when the official handover takes place, in celebration of winning the range, the winner will open at least the Green Label for all present to sample.
Dad: Suits me. I've got nothing to lose - that range is coming my way.
Stuart: Fine by me too. I don't mind opening a free bottle of Green Label.
G: Lets all shake on it.

A few weeks after that great evening in Edinburgh, I attended the official "handover" ceremony. Needless to say, it was Stuart's pub that was stocked with the JW range of whisky. The Green label wasn't bad either :-)

London, Scotland and Spain

Well its been just over three weeks since my last post, and not without good readon. K and I have been on the road, doing what we love most - experiencing the sites, sounds and tastes of new destinations. Here's a quick summary of the August 2007 tour of London, Scotland and Spain:

- Alan and Samantha's wedding, set in a quaint little church just outside Milton Keynes, with reception at Whittlebury Park (next door to Silverstone).

- Middlesex Sevens at Twickers (where Newcastle pipped Worcester 20-19 in the final).

- Fringe Festival at Edinburgh castle and surrounds. Went to see a few stand up comedian acts in the Underbelly, or catacombs of Edinburgh. Great setting for these types of acts, as you walk through a series of interconnected rooms, and then all of a sudden find yourself underground in what can only be described as a humid, musky tunnel. Watched a comedian called Martha Mcbrie, in a show called "So you think you think you can heckle?". Wasn't overly impressed with her, but we were blown away by the talent of a stand up comedian/musician called Rob Deering in his show called "Charmageddon". Worth a watch if you ever come across him.

- Tour of the Edinburgh castle, and views from the top.

- Gardens around Edinburgh castle.

- Boat trip out to Loch Lomond.

- Scottish Highlands.

- Tour to Stirling Castle (with William Wallace monument in the distance).

- Seeing our good mates Neil and Mandy again.

- Windsor Castle and surrounds.

- Cabopino Beach just outside Calahonda, Malaga.

- The ancient city of Antequera.

- The El Torcal mountain range, and limestone rock formations.

- The beautiful village of Mijas.

- On our way to the Picasso Museum in Malaga. Incidentally, although Picasso painted most of his work in France, he was actually born in Malaga Spain. We were also treated to works on temporary display by artists such as Matisse, Balthus and Dubuffet.

All in all a great trip with lots of good memories.

My iTunes...Apple's answer to Facebook apps

Being an ardent follower of the social networking wave that is sweeping the globe at the moment, and having worked on some local social networking initiatives, I found it quite interesting to read about Apple's latest initiative - MyiTunes. They're hoping to get users to drive more traffic to the iTunes store by developing a couple of nifty widgets. From what I can make out, MyiTunes is a set of widgets that can be added to your blog, allowing you to display your latest iTunes purchases, reviews and favourite artists (in the form of an artists cloud) - based on your interaction with the iTunes website. I can see this as a big hit in countries that can actually make iTunes purchases - and a big competitor to such Facebook apps as the "iLike" app.

Speaking of iTunes - have just read that Google will be launching a competitive service called gBox. Non-DRM mp3's for 99c (US that is).

Shock Horror - The Internet Isn't Backed Up!

No more blogging...You Tube'ing, Facebook'ing, Flickr'ing :-)

One down, two to go...

Been a long weekend - launched the Big Brother Africa New Media platform last night, and got home at about 2am. So what exactly is "the New Media platform"? Well there's a website (www.mnetafrica.com/bigbrother), there's a social network (www.mnet.co.za/profiles/bba), there's a scrolling sms ticker across your screen (Channel 37 on DStv), there's a whole host of networks throughout Africa receiving and sending messages, an IVR line and of course the content management systems that make it all happen.
I didn't do this all myself of course, but behind every project, there's a wee bit of project management and planning needed to make it come together - that's where I fit in.

So yes, BBAII is down (or up, depending on how you see it), with Idols and Survivor to go. And then a holiday :-)

Whirlwind update

So its been a while since my last past - and I'm starting to feel the guilt. Thought now would be as good a time as any to post a whirlwind update.

The Tour:
Its over - and life has returned to normal again. No more dominance over the remote control - K is free to change channels if she wants to. So what was up with the Tour de Farce anyway? Things were looking so good at the start of the third week - I thought we were in for a cracking final couple of stages - and then it all fell apart, and continues to push out a daily sport headline revealing some new scandal. On a lighter note, there has been talk amongst one or two mates of putting a "Tour holiday" together for the 2009 season.

Graft:
On the work front, things have been pretty hectic. We're busy with the development of the web, mobile and other interactive elements for the three reality shows that are about to be launched. Interesting times - exciting projects to be involved in.

Golf:
Haven't put in as many rounds as I would have liked this month - although I did manage a round with Tweedie at Obs 2 weeks ago. Had a dogdy start, but came back strongly. Also managed a round at Irene, and shot a respectable (for me) 87.

Travel:
Had the pleasure of being able to spend a couple of days in Dullstroom this past weekend. K and I went down to a place called Millstream - its a trout farm about 4 km's before the town of Dullstroom. Old style stone cottages with fire places - was really nice. We ventured out on our mountain bikes on Friday morning for a ride down to Highland Gate estate. They are busy laying the fairways and greens at the moment, and its looks like its going to be a magnificent course (and housing estate) once complete. Riding the 22km back to Millstream into gale force winds proved a little too challenging for K and I though - we hitched a ride back through the farm roads on the back of a tractor after battling for about 12 of the 22km's back. In fact, the winds were so serious, that on Monday morning, we heard that fires (aided by the strong winds) were responsible for the deaths of two people in Lydenburg, and a number of runaway fires in Dullstroom. Luckily for us though, Millstream wasn't affected.
The fishing wasn't that great either - although I did manage to land a sizable brown trout. I blame the wind for the lack of success :-)

Social:
Off to dinner club tonight - its the "cheap and cheerful" round for the next four dinner clubs. No take out, no franchise restaurants - cheapest total bill out of the four couples wins this round. We're up tonight and will be going to a place in Emmarentia called Lapa Fo. Should be good.

Hunter takes first place in Stage 11

Robbie Hunter has become the first South African cyclist to win a stage on the TDF. Hunter has threatened several times in this year's tour, and today was his day.
The wild card Barloworld team are proving their worth in this years tour, with a 9th Stage win for Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez, and today's 11th stage victory for Hunter.
Tom Boonen, the leader in the green jersey classification crashed out on a sweeping right turn, with 600m to go - it would have been interesting to see the lunge for the line between Boonen and Hunter. Robbie admitted in the post race interview that Boonen is a stronger rider than himself, saying that he would try his best for as many sprint points as possible, but that chances are that Boonen would always be in front of him.
If you missed the race this afternoon, make sure you catch the delayed feed this evening - this is South African cycling history in the making...

TDF Crashes

Seeing as its that time of year, and in reference to my previous post, I thought I'd find some footage on TDF crashes. This clip isn't very comprehensive, but it has a couple of classics, like Ullrich's wipe out on wet roads during the 2005 individual time trial stage.

The Tweedie's...

Hooked up with Ronnie, Hazel and young Edward this past weekend - they're out from the UK for a couple of weeks visiting family and renovating their place at the coast. They arrived on Friday and stayed with us for the weekend, leaving on Monday morning for East London.
Was good seeing them again - also nice to spend a bit of time with Edward - he's a cute little guy going through some teething problems at the moment. When K and I got up on Monday morning to say cheers, we just looked at each other and smiled after our 8 hours of sleep whilst Ronnie relayed how they were up every hour during the night. Our day will come sooner or later...

Top 50 SA websites

If you haven't already posted your Top 50 SA websites on Arthur Preston's Facebook Group, or Online Trek blog, get over there and do it quick.
The point is try and compile a list of the top 50 SA websites by popularity and not necessarily page impressions.
Time recently released their list - which provided the inspiration to Arthur to get an SA list going. My contributions so far include:

• www.bizcommunity.com
• www.moneyweb.co.za
• www.keo.co.za
• www.amatomu.com

The rules for submission - the site must be South African in origin, and can be personal or commercial in nature.

Vive le Tour

Right, so the TDF is back, and my evenings are once again being planned around the delayed feed and highlights packages of the days racing.
Its weird - every time I mention to non-TDF junkies just how exciting a race it actually is to watch, I get this blank Icouldn'tthinkofanythingmoreboringthanwatchingcycling stare. I've given up trying to convince people now, and resorted to changing channels in the office at around 2:30pm each afternoon, with a gentle nudge on the volume control as the afternoon progresses and the peloton winds its way through some of the most magnificent fields, forests, hills and mountains, into the streets of the town that the race will finish in.

As for picking a winner this year - well its pretty wide open at this stage. Alexander Vinokourov has been labelled the favourite, and to be honest, if I had to back a rider this year, he would be the guy. He's the one who was so aggressive in the mountains during Armstrong's last three Tours, and was denied participation in last years tour due to his team pulling out at the last minute because half its riders (excluding Vino) were part of the doping scandal. After todays stage though, it'll be a tough task for him - he was involved in a nasty fall about 30km from the finish, and rode superbly to limit the damage but still ended up losing over 80 seconds. Will make things interesting in the days to come, as team mate Kloden now appears to be the best positioned rider in Vino's team (second place overall), and may take over leadership as a result. Watch Vino in the mountains though - he'll be deadly.

Yes folks, its mid-July, the evenings are long and cold, but one thing's for sure - the voices of Paul Sherwen and Phil Liggett are a familiar comfort at this time of year and the sights and sounds out of France are an exciting end to each day. Vive le tour!

Wimax trial disappointment

I signed up for the MWEB wimax trials a couple of weeks ago, and the guys came around to install today. Seems like I'm not in the right area though, as they could only get a maximum of 2 bars out of ten in signal strength.
Was looking forward to some uncapped bandwidth as part of the trial, but I guess I'll have to make do with my adsl connection for the time being.

MK89 video blog now live

I blogged last night about the imminent launch of the MK89 video blogging network - well, I can tell you now that its live - check it out here.
Its important to stress that its still in Beta - there are some known issues that we're working on (like translations, and styling issues), but by and large its up and working. As of 5 minutes ago, there were 25 profiles loaded - mostly bands, artists and presenters, but you have to start somewhere I guess. The newsletter went out this afternoon, so we'll see what effect that has on spreading the word.
27 and counting...

iPhone Launch problems

Seems like there are a couple of glitches with activation on the new iPhone keyboards. From Adrian Kingsley-Hughes:

The iPhone keyboard issues seem to be a moot point compared to the activation hassles that early iPhone adopters are facing. A poll over at Engadget suggests that over 38% of the 9,000 respondents to the poll are suffering from activation problems and have an iBrick to show for their cash.

Eh eh - iBrick - gotta love it.

MK89 Video Blog Network Ready To Launch

Its been a slog over the past week getting the new MK89 video blog site ready for launch. Lots of late evenings and work this weekend, but its finally launch ready.

Its quite ironic actually, as the launch of this site was prompted by Uno de Waal in his post, MK89: A social network waiting to happen written on 6th June 2007. The M-Net New Media team felt the same way, and has been hard at work getting the platform together. At its basic level, it incorporates profile creation, with the ability to upload video (in mpeg, avi, 3gp, mov and mgp format) and images, create blog posts, request friendship, become fans of other users, as well as full forum functionality.

Not another Facebook, or MySpace, or Blogger site you're saying. Why create yet another profile? Well, the idea is that this network will allow its users the opportunity of getting their video and profiles on TV. There aren't many other blogging/social network platforms out there that will give its users that opportunity.

Its still early days, and the site is most definitely in Beta status still as we iron out some of the issues that we know exist, and as we get feedback over the next few weeks. Its due to launch this week when it gets a heavy punt in the M-Net newsletter, but here's a sneak preview of what the site looks like.

Current Favourite...

Came across this music video on the One Lite blog for the Linkin Park song that I blogged about the other day. Rate this song as my current favourite at the moment.

Blues Room Tonight...

K and I are off to the Blues Room tonight to celebrate Pat's birthday with him. Looking forward to it too. Among the lineup posted on the Blues Room site is a guy called Dean Meldau - haven't heard of him before, but looks like it could be interesting.

As for the rugga this afternoon - what a disappointment. I'm not going to go on about it, as there are hundreds more qualified blogs that could give you a breakdown of what went wrong, so all I'll say is that it was a good match to watch - lots of aggression, lots of excitement, but you have to feel like we threw it away in the last 15 minutes. My simple take on it, is that in a game of that intensity and pace, you can't bring on 4 or 5 replacements all at the same time. It takes them a couple of minutes to get a feel for the pace and the tempo of the game, and to bring 5 on at the same time, you're weakening your side for at least 5-10 minutes. That's where we lost it in my opinion.

The Good news or the Bad news...

Mobile phone interrupts my trail of thought...

Alan: "Good day sir, Alan from Audi Centre"
G: "Hi Alan, is my car ready?"
Alan: "Well sir, there's good news and bad news"
G: "Ok, hit me with it"
Alan: "The good news is that we managed to get the water bottle. Its only R189"
G: "Awesome. So when can I collect?"
Alan: "Well sir, we fitted the water bottle, did a pressure test, and we need to replace the water pump as well"
G: "Ok, how much?"
Alan: "Water pump is only a couple of hundred rand sir"
G: "Awesome, when can I collect?"
Alan: "Well sir, in order to fit the water pump, we need to remove the cam - which we do again as part of the major service due in 5oookm. Can we go ahead and do the major service now? It'll save you, as we only have to remove the cam once that way"
G: "Makes sense. How much, and when can I collect?"
Alan: "Umm, thirty bucks short of ten grand sir, and you can collect on Wednesday"
G: ". Umm, I guess I don't really have many options here?"
Alan: "No sir"
G: "Go ahead Alan"
Alan: "Awesome. See you on Wednesday"

iPhone launches in 12 days...

If you haven't heard yet, the iPhone launches in just under two weeks. June 29th to be exact - in the US first, and then Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. Its not very clear when the first batch will be shipped to SA yet, but you can be sure of one thing - getting your hands on one of these puppies will only happen with some serious influence over the next few months.

From what I have been able to read so far, they will retail from around 499USD, and Apple will be shipping somewhere in the region of 3 millions units for launch. So what's the big deal? Why would you want one:

- Well, its another slick looking device from apple for starters.
- Comes with contacts and calendaring functionality - much like any other new mobile phone.
- It got a built in 2 megapixel camera - still not the unique selling feature.
- It can do email. Ok, so which device released in the last few years can't?
- Its an iPod. Yes, an iPod. That's music and video. Making sense now?
- Oh, and it doesn't have any buttons. Its all driven through a revolutionary multi-touch interface.

If you still need convincing, check out these adverts on the iPhone site.

Check the oil and water please...!

My mobility has been somewhat hampered over the past 2 days, and probably will be for another 2 days. Thats because my car is currently sitting in the workshop, waiting for a new water container.
It all started on Friday afternoon, on the way home from work. Rush hour traffic through the detours in Rosebank and I notice that there is steam rising from the left side of my bonnet. Thinking that I've probably run out of water, I quickly maneuver my way into a side road and turn the engine off. I wait about 45 minutes for the engine to cool down before taking the water cap off. The bottle is empty, so I figure that I caught it just in time. Luckily I have a 1.5l bottle of water in my boot - I quickly pour that into the bottle. Not enough, so I find a tap, fill the bottle, and continue to top up the level in the container. Still not enough, I go back another 3 times. Eventually the level reaches the top, and I figure that its all sorted.
I make my way home slowly, watching the gauge to make sure the temperature doesn't rocket - all looks good. I promise myself that I'll check my water more often.
Anyway, wake up on Saturday morning and figure I'll go and have the oil checked, tyre pressure checked, and give the car a good clean. When I ask the guy to check the water and oil, he starts filling up the water container once again, pours and pours and pours until its full. I then check under the car, and its leaking out all over the garage floor. Problem.
So I take the car straight to Audi, about 1 km up the road, and then do a pressure test. Sure enough, there's a leak. They remove the bottle only to find that it is quite badly cracked underneath - probably as a result of the heat, and the fact that it has seen over 100k km's in mileage now.
Long story short, they need to order a new water bottle which will take a day or two, and once received, is a 5 minute job to replace. I just hope that the damage has been limited to the water bottle, and that everything else is ok. Also means that I am car-less at the moment - so between K and I, we'll have to make a plan to get to work in the morning.