victoire

moving on...

2008-06-30T21:34:00.004+02:00

i've moved on over to the new blogger template / layout goody (finally) and a brand new address too. so if you want to keep up to date with my random ramblings, antics, and whatnots you better update your feeds, blogrolls, and whateverelses.

a moment of thought...

2008-04-11T09:41:00.001+02:00

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment...

money for nothing and phones for free

2008-04-01T15:07:00.001+02:00

i got a call from a call centre today, offering me an "unbeatable deal" - a free nokia 3110 sim card, and simsure on a cell c casualchat 100 package. mmmm... after having a bit of a look on the internet, and checking out the video review below i'm not convinced this is a fantastic deal... it just seems like another version of my old sony ericsson phone... who needs another cellphone anyway?

Nokia 3110 Classic - Click here for more amazing videos

returning to the basics

2008-02-29T18:43:00.001+02:00

i have taken a bit of a blogging sabbatical over the past while, or that's what i think it has been... never know really. i keep on worrying that i have added to the blog graveyard, or that it may be perceived so. i still feel to be a blogger at heart. yes, at times i forget about or wish to forget about all things online, but most of the time i'd rather be in the middle of it or am wistfully longing to write a post about something or other. problem is that i often just cannot find the time for it. i used to think this was a pretty lame excuse in most cases, but have come to think otherwise. i have much more empathy now. anyway... it is ironic that although i think of myself as a "new media doyenne" of sorts i am alarmingly disconnected. i mean literally. disconnected. sure, i have a laptop, and an iburst modem, and my firefox browser with gmail as a permanently opened tab. but that's it. no more feedreader. no more browsing blogs, tools, wiki-wiki-wiki's, del.icio.us, social-media-whatevers... disconnected just like before the *big blogger boom* which occurred, in my life, just over a year ago when i joined mybloglog. although a little disconcerting at times, it is also a relief. i can start over. i am starting over. i have slowly started finding the time for blogging in between my hectic schedule (more info on this to follow) and well, the time i could use to sleep. i've started reading my favourite sites, those original blogs that got me excited about blogging, and how refreshing it has been. no frenetic scanning between a myriad of blah, i have been surprised at how much i've missed simple, clean, quality. i'm looking forward to re-discovering the simple pleasures...

oh home sweet home...

2008-02-28T14:32:00.001+02:00

one hour to go before i leave for the cape town international airport, and i can't wait to get home. it's not that i haven't enjoyed this business trip to cape town, i love the opportunity to travel brought by my new consulting job. i just miss home.

the trip has brought some pleasant surprises, most notable of all being dinner with my friend martin - d2 (for love, nothing less). what a fantastic opportunity to catch up in person, rather than sparsely replied upon (by me!) emails.

i didn't even get to go to the beach, something i make a point of doing (in my office heels) every time i visit a coastal regional office and not particularly encouraged by my travel colleagues. what is it with people and doing something out of the ordinary?

half an hour.

nearly home...

don't do alcohol and antibiotics mmmkay...

2008-02-28T09:22:00.001+02:00

this is what i learnt after ONE cocktail with a colleague in cape town recently...

Do not drink alcohol while you are taking metronidazole and for at least 3 days after you stop taking it. You may have unpleasant side effects such as fast heartbeats, warmth or redness under your skin, tingly feeling, nausea, and vomiting.

http://www.drugs.com/metronidazole.html

yup it's true, the following day i felt like i had been at sea for a month, and the ground was still moving...

blah blah blah

2007-11-03T23:52:00.000+02:00

it's funny how things change so quickly... just over a year ago i got into social media as a hobby, formed chilibean the blog with paul jacobson, and in february this year launched chilibean the business. then things started getting busy, i found my time more and more absorbed by scheduled blog posts, podcasts, meetings, and my day time job. i moved from change management and training to customer account management to leaving my job entirely, and becoming a consultant. now i hardly blog anymore - not because i don't want to, but because i hardly find time to examine what's going on in my head, let alone publish it to the whole wide world. i spend most of my free time in pretoria, involved in various activities to do with church and the inner healing ministry. then there's mister super gusto, who came whizzing into my life in january and has stubbornly stuck by my side ever since. i miss him so much even though we have only been apart for 28hours. a year ago we were preparing for my little sussie's wedding, i was single without any clue of when i was going to meet the man of my dreams... now i can't wait to begin my own journey with that man. mountain biking, pottery... my hobbies have really suffered neglect of late, clashing with church activities most of the time. it feels as if my life has gone through the rinse cycle - whilst the changes have been wonderful, i would still like to find a balance within... find that place where i don't feel quite so harassed, rushed, up-side-down.

travelling thoughts 2

2007-10-24T05:53:00.000+02:00

We live (over) complex, self-involved lives. Everything around us demands it. The "me" age.

Yet how small we are... I'm on my second flight to cape town this week, and had a chance to admire our city from above on take-off. Humbled, I watched as the monopoly town below bustled with activity. The morning traffic. The tiny little cars. So close yet too far away to make out any people.

Louie Giglio talks of the earth as a golf ball, yet here I am just meters above the surface and I still would not be able to pinpoint myself if I were down there. And my great and adoring Father knows every hair on my head. It's unbelievable, unfathomable, indescribable...

travelling thoughts 1

2007-10-22T05:52:00.000+02:00

There's not much running about to do far above the great karoo mountains... So i've decided to write a long overdue blog update.

As some may know, i set out on the great adventure of IT consulting 2 months ago, to the day. Although i've been consulting to only one company so far, I have enjoyed a little local travel to durbs (my 3rd day on the job) and cape town (just today,& in 2 days time). Consulting has given me a very different & refreshed outlook on work, corporates, life in general.

I find myself much more relaxed, at peace with myself, and I can only attribute it to being in a much happier, healthier environment. When I think of all the positives of the decisions I made I can't believe I stuck around in that unhappy mindspace I was in. I've learnt the truth in not putting my trust in the money a job gives or the unfounded feelings of loyalty I might have... I thank God for His gentle and persistent persuasion.

Whilst on the topic of travel, I find the people one travels with interesting. Although it can be said that I find all people interesting, those travelling tend to be just that touch more intriguing. Like the band members sitting in front of me, who checked in their extra long suitcases, huddling together as if either expecting to be shunned by general society or trying to give the "we're too cool" impression. Or the guy who accused me of stalking him (i couldn't figure out what he meant till I realised that he had bumped into me earlier) whilst in the check-in queue. He didn't seem to mind too much & proceeded to elicit conversation, even inviting me to join him in seating on the plane when he found out we were on the same flight. Naturally I declined, but did enjoy rather entertaining conversation whilst waiting to board. Turns out he's an ex-lawyer who writes non-fiction books now. The most recently published of which is on Thabo Mbeki and something about controversy... (available at CNA's).

Ah the flight is almost at an end, we've survived the thunderstorm en-route & each other in the confines of this small nationwide plane. I can't wait to run into the arms of my sweetheart, and share the details of this day's great adventure.

spam breakfast

2007-07-29T23:24:00.001+02:00

whilst i have no experience of it, it would seem that according to gmail's spam folder headlines, a spam breakfast is the schizz nizz...

Spam Breakfast Burritos - Bake 5-10 minutes, serve with salsa

i'd rather *not* get it all in the morning...

help, i've fallen off the interweb

2007-07-29T23:01:00.001+02:00

i don't even know when it happened... there is no single defining moment of disconnect, but somewhere, sometime in the beginning of this year i slowly began falling falling falling... falling off the interweb.

and here i am now. my life is hectic. i can't remember the last time i had time. i am constantly doing stuff. and if i had more time there would be more stuff to do. that's not even including the fun stuff of reading blogs, writing posts, contributing to the online consciousness. for now it lies neglected.

at least i have managed to keep up with "real world" social politesse and am still attending the 27dinners on a bi-monthly basis, go for lunch with friends ever so often, and see my man as often as possible.

not so much when it comes to actually answering phone calls, emails, blog comments, and other socially acceptable forms of communication. i apologise now for being so lax if you are among those still waiting for a response from me...

i really hope to get back to some form of balance soon... busy is wonderful, but i would also like to spend some time on my other passions, interests, hobbies - not to mention having a moment to contemplate life, love, and everything else going on! ;)

ah well. at least i can tick "write a blog post (any blog post)" off the list. baby steps...

ciao!

my top 5 (simple) things to do...

2007-05-11T14:45:00.001+02:00

now that winter is here...

whilst most people's top 5 list would include such things as romantically sipping glasses of red wine in front of a fireplace, or escaping to the maldives for lingering summer days, for me it's all about the simple pleasures of life...

wake up early
go to work early – i enjoy the crispness of the air as i step out of my front door, the darkness of the early morning hours enveloping me, and the golden hues of the sunrise touching the skies as i drive to work. there is method in my madness too – not only does the sun rise later in winter making a 6am front door exit feel like you’re actually doing it at 4am, but the winter air is far warmer before sunrise than after! oh and traffic rocks early on a winter morning!
make porridge
winter is the time to stock up on morning warmers – comfort food rules in winter, and porridge is underrated in this category. i tend to make my favourite porridge in the microwave at work because i leave home early, but the best sight (and smell) is a pot full of warm goodness gently bubbling on the stove. in case you were wondering my fav’s are tastee wheat and maltabella, yum.
go for a walk
work up some heavy breathing, heat, and an appetite to boot! – there is nothing like the fresh feeling of a winter’s breeze on my face, gently tugging on my hair, as I stroll down the open road. a walk gives me some time to reflect on the hectically rushed goings on of my life, and to appreciate the flora (& some fauna) of the neighbourhood. even better if taken off the beaten track in a nearby nature reserve or park.
hot chocolate
another winter warmer winner - i’m unable to drink more than one or two caffeinated drinks a day without bouncing off walls so i turn to hot chocolate for a little mid-day warmth. mmm… chocolaty goodness… to avoid the associated winter padding i tend to mix my cadbury’s hot choc with boiling water and a little milk for creaminess. for a very special treat try pure belgian chocolate ecstasy at your favourite chocolatier – mine is pretoria’s von hapsburg – for the capetonians out there, yes i would drive all of 40km (one way) for it!
snuggle in
comfy and cosy - i tend to get up early every morning, even on weekends (because i have to rather than want to), however winter affords the perfect excuse to snuggle deep into my duvet in the evenings! the perfect thing to do on a friday evening along with a good movie or book…

problogger has been running a "top 5" group writing competition this week - 5 days of top 5's - and although this is late for submission, which ended yesterday (or today - it's confusing), i thought it would still make a good meme! so i tag the following people to blog their top 5's:

my number 1 - aquila
the other chief chili - paul
my first blogger buddy - martin
the friendliest chic blogger i know - carly
that guy who can like to dance at the next 27 dinner - groogle

howzit cape town!

2007-04-25T10:42:00.001+02:00

bru, i'm going to like chill with the dassies on the mountain...

yes cape town, get ready - this jo'burg girl is going to enjoy being a tourist in the legislative capital of south africa for 6 days! woo-hoo!

it all started when chilibean (i.e. paul and i) decided to do the 27 dinner in slaapstad after a hugely successful first jozi dinner. then the arrangements started, with some messing around from a friend of a friend of a... who would be able to organise super cheap flights (which didn't happen and resulted in much more expensive flight prices)... eventually we booked tickets, accommodation, and car hire. except that paul & gina could no longer make it and i had managed to convince aquila to join me (by twisting his rubber arm - muhahaha!)instead. i should also mention that he was a complete honey and did all the bookings too!

mmm. so i finally woke up on monday and realised that we are departing on thursday (before the sparrow's first farturas - friendly reminder: lusito land 2007 is closing this week), and i haven't even thought about what i am going to wear and pack! this of course leads to ponderings on what the weather will be like... considering my tendency towards (always) being prepared and limitations on travel bag weight this is a (very large) concern. seems we chose the 6 days of the month with all the rain. seriously.

weather underground:

sa weather bureau:

Forecast: Thursday, 26 April 2007

Min: 15°C Max: 17°C Weather: Widespread rain, thunder later (100%) Wind: strong westerly
Forecast: Friday, 27 April 2007
Min: 11°C Max: 14°C Weather: Showers abating by evening (80%) Wind: fresh south-westerly
Forecast: Saturday, 28 April 2007
Min: 12°C Max: 17°C Weather: Showers morning and evening (60%) Wind: strong north-westerly
Forecast: Sunday, 29 April 2007
Min: 9°C Max: 18°C Weather: Cloudy, morning and evening rain (30%) Wind: fresh westerly
Forecast: Monday, 30 April 2007
Min: 13°C Max: 22°C Weather: Cloudy periods Wind: fresh westerly

anyone with a good view of the mountain want to give me the capey's weather report? (the last time i was in cape town the locals maintained that they could tell the weather by looking at the cloud formations around the mountain top...)

weather aside though, i can't wait for a proper holiday! i'm not even taking my laptop with, which does make me nervous, yes. i'm also looking forward to seeing my first blogger buddy martin again - it's been a year and a half since we last saw each other! also meeting up with some more recently aquainted buddies as well as the plethora of bloggers i'll meet for the first time on friday. and then hopefully seeing my varsity buddy francois and his lovely fiance monika in stellenbosch too!

did i say i was going to get some rest?!

---

extras

did you know? "the media" is well represented in cape town (via wikipedia)

Communications and media
Several newspapers, magazines and printing facilities have their offices in the city. Independent News and Media publishes the major English language papers in the city, the Cape Argus and the Cape Times. Naspers, the largest media conglomerate in South Africa, publishes Die Burger, the major Afrikaans language paper.^[28]
Cape Town has many local community newspapers. Some of the largest community newspapers in English are the Athlone News from Athlone, the Atlantic Sun, the Constantiaberg Bulletin from Constantiaberg, the City Vision from Bellville, the False Bay Echo from False Bay, the Helderberg Sun from Helderberg, the Plainsman from Michells Plain, the Sentinel News from Hout Bay, the Southern Mail from the Southern Peninsula, the Southern Suburbs Tatler from the Southern Suburbs, Table Talk from Table View and Tygertalk from Tygervalley/Durbanville. Afrikaans language community newspapers include the Landbou-Burger and the Tygerburger. Vukani, based in the Cape Flats, is published in Xhosa.^[29]
Cape Town is a centre for broadcast media and has several radio stations that only broadcast within the city. Good Hope FM (94-97 MHz FM) and KFM (94.5 MHz FM) mostly play pop music, while Fine Music Radio (101.3 FM) plays classical music and jazz. Heart FM (104.9 MHz FM),the former P4 Radio, plays Jazz and R&B. Bush Radio is a community radio station (89.5 MHz FM). The Voice of the Cape (95.8 MHz FM) and Cape Talk (567 kHz MW) are the major talk radio stations in the city.^[30]
The SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) has a small presence in the city, with satellite studios located at Sea Point. e.tv has a greater presence, with a large complex located at Longkloof Studios in Gardens. M-Net is not well represented with infrastructure within the city. Numerous productions companies and thier support industries are located in the city, mostly supporting the production of overseas commercials, model shoots, TV-series and movies. The local media infrastructure remains primarily in Johannesburg.

annie are you ok?

2007-04-23T03:54:00.000+02:00

first of all i need to mention that myspace videos rock because i can view them from behind the firewall at work... not that i have any time to spend my days watching videos, but when i do take a quick break i can! it also rocks because of this video - a violinist playing a medley of tainted love & smooth criminal... watch and wonder...
violin player

Add to My Profile | More Videos

those funny south africans...

2007-04-20T12:34:00.001+02:00

facebook has released stats (don't get too excited, turns out it's pretty simplistic) on their networks... whilst bored with the stats, i discovered that the south african network contains some pretty funny people - not really surprising, we're a pretty funny bunch!

here are some jokes copied straight off the south africa facebook wall:

You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon.' Need I say more?

Étienne Myburgh

Hoe vang jy 'n haas? (how do you catch a rabbit?)
Jy staan agter 'n boom en fluit soos 'n wortel (stand behind a tree & whistle like a carrot)
Hawt Rawr

whilst on the topic of funnies, it turns out i'm still on top when searching for riaan cruywagen on google! :) yeah!

Technorati tags: south africa, joke, jokes, funny, funnies, facebook, facebook network, statistics, riaan cruywagen, victoire

about her...

2007-04-13T04:40:00.000+02:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

oppikoppi: ticket to cuervo cocktails

2007-04-02T00:26:00.000+02:00

it's oppikoppi time again, and although i haven't ever been able to get around to the april event myself, it wouldn't stop me from sipping on a good cocktail or two inspired by their competition...

Hey, we’ve got a ticket to give away! Whoohoo! Yes, YOU, you lucky bugger, can win one single ticket to OppiKoppi’s More than Somewhat Easter Festival. And it’s easier than ordering a Cuervo at the bar (which is in fact one of the easiest things to do, just ask for it by name.) So, just click on the comments link under this post, then we want you to give us some recipes for the Cuervo Cocktail that you would like to drink at the bigger-than-dear-life-itself More than Somewhat festival. We’ll choose the best recipe and the winning cocktail creator will get a ticket at the gate.

Click Here for more info on the Easter Festival

must say that the design work for the concert looks rather dark and brooding, not really my bag baby... but hey, maybe it's yours!

three six five

2007-03-21T05:11:00.000+02:00

say that out loud a few times...

it rolls off the tongue quite nicely, but it doesn't sound very impressive does it?

now say three hundred and sixty five. less tongue rolly. very impressive.

especially when you consider that today is my three hundred and sixty fifth day milestone. a year of getting to know me as me. a year of change, growth, discovery, adventure, fun, baby steps (and some big ones too), candle-lit dinners all on my own (not barring that time i managed to give myself food poisoning!), lone moonlit walks at the nearby lake, neighbourhood mountain bike rides with only my own thoughts as company... i could go on boasting, but won't. some things are meant to be kept just for me.

three hundred and sixty five days of just me!

spicy spam kabobs

2007-03-15T03:43:00.000+02:00

what better than to indulge in some spicy spam kabobs (kabobs?!) when you've done collecting all that spam kindly deposited in your spam folder? yummmm.... spammmm...

Spicy Spam Kabobs - Serve with hot cooked rice

you learn something new every day

2007-03-09T20:56:00.000+02:00

i just found out, after 2 years of blogging on blogger, how to enable rss feeds for comments on this blog... it's embarassing. if you have pondered this pondering, as i have, you can find the blogger help file here.

sociopaths conversing

2007-03-09T11:32:00.000+02:00

in response to wired gecko's We don’t have children anymore, we are raising sociopaths , i find today's daily dilbert rather apt in a rather round-about way:

i am DeLaRey

2007-03-07T15:57:00.000+02:00

on mybloglog... apparently.

it would seem that mybloglog has some security glitch. when i navigated from this site to the mybloglog site using the widget in the sidebar, it automatically recognised me as DeLaRey...

and as victoire too...

really strange. and funny. :). but mostly strange. it seems that i can't actually do anything malicious (not that i would want to, but i'm sure mr DeLaRey over there would like to know i can't), because mybloglog still sees me as victoire, even though it welcomes me as "DeLaRey"... have i confused you yet?

vote chilibean!

2007-03-07T14:31:00.001+02:00

chilibean is through as a finalist in the sa blog awards 2007, and we are sooo proud. we've been nominated for the:

Best SA Blog about Technology / Computers / Web Development
Best SA Business Blog

categories, which is just awesome...

of course we would like your votes, so head on over and click for chilibean!

... a new toy ...

2007-03-07T11:28:00.000+02:00

every once in a while my toes curl with delight as i gleefully run off to a corner to...

play with a new gadget.

today is such a day. although i have expected it, i almost didn't believe it would actually happen. i'm almost speachless with surprise. but i will utter one word...

TyTN.

*runs off giggling to play with her new toy...

(i'll be back with a review / to show off later...)

spam of the day

2007-03-06T10:13:00.000+02:00

i'm thinking of making the spam of the day a regular installment on this blog... only because it's so... spammy... it could happen at any time at all... but it will probably occur whenever i empty out my spam folder on gmail. they do, after all, provide me with these wonderful spammy thoughts...

so watch out for that spam!

Spam Primavera - Toss with linguini, serve immediately

5 things you didn't want to know about me...

2007-03-05T18:24:00.000+02:00

i have been tagged for the first time ever in a blog meme! yay! carlz tagged me because she thinks i'm fab, and i'm responding because i think she's one kick-ass awesome chic! (and i'm hoping she takes no offence to the word "chic"... :) )

i will be baring my all today. yes, it has been decided that i will not only throw away my last semblance of dignity, but i will completely embarass myself in the 5 things you didn't want to know about me (slightly altered from the original meme, because i am really quite sure no one really does *want to* know this kind of stuff about me!)... ok so here goes...

1. one of my nostrils is larger than the other

a friend once pointed this out to me... that the one was flaring at him, and he was scared of it (and rightly he should be, it's a monster). i didn't believe him, until i saw this photo...

now stop staring at my nose!

2. my favourite book and tv series when i was growing up was anne of green gables.

i was infatuated with anne, that ~~red~~ auburn-headed smarty-pants orphan with the freckles, vibrant personality, infectious laugh, and sense for constant adventure! not only that, but i was in love with gilbert... with his southern (? not sure what accent it was really) drawl *swoon*

3. i have read jane austin's jane eyre more often than any other book.

ever.

it's one of my favourite love stories.

4. i can play the piano. i successfully completed the unisa piano exams up to grade 4 when i was 16. and i will be moving my childhood piano all the way to jhb just so that i can bug the heck out of my neighbours everytime i have the urge to endeavour to relearn everything i must have forgotten in over 10 years of not playing. can't wait...

5. i don't do karaoke. although i may have embarassed myself to some degree in this post, i will not put myself through the humiliation that they call karaoke. almost anything other than that.

perhaps something like...

dancing. if you've had the honour of going out to a club, or indeed any place that plays music, with me you will know that i cannot keep still when there's a beat around. my body must comply in joyous celebration of movement... very often through some move i just made up in that very moment... which in turn tends to be embarassing in its own right...

pick a cherry

2007-03-01T10:49:00.000+02:00

the inimitable cherryflava media has done it again... introducing cherrypicka to the masses today!
as you well know i have a... thing... for design. and the site is well designed. not only that though, as far as i have clicked, it's proven to be a pleasure to browse. but that's not what impresses me about the site. i am impressed with:

the concept... awesome!

sell tickets
to potential life-long consumers
at a reduced rate
to test
commercial providers' products and services
and then the consumers blog about their experiences,
providing advertising,
and a source of real consumer's opinions
at the finger tips
of both (further) future consumers
and anyone else who wants to study consumer trends
it's ingenious

it's all about referrals - word of mouth marketing at its best

cherrypicka was released as a beta version on the streets before word was let out on the interweb... and it proved not only popular, but that it's not only about who you know... although i am sure that with its official release things are really going to *pick* up now...

i'll be keeping an eye on whether the site will:

focus on cape town specific deals, and whether the greater south africa will also be kept in the mix
implement an automatic "best before date" implementation... i went to look at the "in the kitchen" section and noticed that this item is only valid up till... yesterday

congratulations to the cherry's! i'm giddy with excitement at the prospects of exploring the site to find something delightful to try out soon...

the triangle below canal street...

2007-02-24T09:11:00.000+02:00

more commonly known as TriBeCa, is one of my favourite old haunts in ol' "snor city" (as pretoria is loving known by many a south african).

last night it was the scene of good food, great company, laughter, forgetting, and a chocolate cake or two... yes, my friend phil is visiting from germany and he surprised me with a phone call as i was leaving work! seeing as i missed any opportunity of meeting up with him, and of meeting his girl of 3 and a bit years, the last time he was in ptown, i jumped at his invitation of a drink. not only that though, i haven't been out in pta for ages. i miss the place. although it seriously lacks in quantity of quality eating establishments, there are some real gems. it also provided an opportunity to entice nico, who very kindly offered to ferry me around after that-event-we-shall-not-speak-of, with a taste of the capital from an insider's perspective.

plesierig.

indescribable carnage

2007-02-23T06:18:00.000+02:00

the unspeakable, the unthinkable, the inexpressible has happened...

my poor baby was mauled... by a truck... today. i am ok. my little clio is not. or at least she is just a little maimed. of course the truck got by virtually unscathed. guess it will teach the little podhopper for trying to clamber all over the truck.

*sob*

keep on keeping on

2007-02-23T02:32:00.000+02:00

hello everyone!

my, what a hectic start to the year! things have been all over the place, with many exciting things happening over at chilibean, and not much of anything else going on in the rest of my life. well... not much that i could blog about in a few seconds or so. we should do coffee. how is your 2008 looking?

so this post is just to let you know that i am still alive, still victoire, and if i owe you an email i know who you are, and would love to get back to you... and i will get back to you... but not anytime soon. sorry!

let me know how things are going on your side... it will help me to keep on keeping on!

lots of love, v.

discovering the nerd in me...

2007-02-19T08:05:00.000+02:00

You Are 24% Nerdy

You're a little nerdy, but no one would ever call you a nerd.
You sometimes get into nerdy things, but only after they've become a part of mainstream culture.

How Nerdy Are You?

hot chili luvin'

2007-02-14T02:14:00.000+02:00

paul & i are very excited to announce the birth of our new media business, chilibean media! we're looking forward to many chili hot ventures and spreading the chili luv in the new media arena... check out our video for more info about our passion...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DveSuEJ8aKE

our bloopers are really funny too... or i was laughing a lot at least! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GF-iOR9NTE

as paul says...

Victoire and I are thrilled to announce that we are launching a new business which we are calling chilibean media. Given that chilibean media is a media business, we thought we would launch our new baby using this video:

You will start to see changes to this blog as we begin the process of migrating to a new blog (we have a niggling technical issue to resolve and then we’re renovating!!).
This is just a start of what we hope will become a pretty hot new direction for what is already a pretty hot blog. Thanks for being part of chilibean. We are only hot because of you.

Tags: chilibean, chilibean media, announcement, launch, business

mini makeout sessions

2007-02-09T11:57:00.000+02:00

ok so i received the following email from a colleague... not only does it annoy me that people send this kind of thing to my work email address, but i really wonder at what a single guy at the office is thinking by sending a single me at the office an email like this. or maybe it's just me...

singles vs property ads (2)

2007-02-06T05:17:00.000+02:00

LOL!

I am looking for a female who is of sober habits to rent the flat with me. ...

*speachless*... talk about knowing what you want...

i am also worried about receiving all these "to share" ads from private property now... if this is what's going on out there, i'm happy to be broke... but living alone!

grab a chilipod!

2007-02-05T04:50:00.000+02:00

chilibean have launched our own chilipod! that's right, you can listen to us talking new media from now on at any time of the day or night... so go on, subscribe to the feed... you know you wanna!

oh and while you're at it... why not send us your comments / criticisms / suggestions? t i p s At c h i l i b e a n dot coza

laughter

2007-02-02T06:20:00.000+02:00

i had the nicest compliment i've ever had today - from the cleaning lady, Joyce, here at the office!

she said that she loves my laughter... she always listens to my laugh around the office and it rings in her head. she reckons she could laugh all on her own just from hearing my laugh!

it makes me feel all warm & fuzzy inside. i think i'm going to go home and laugh to myself a bit... :)

greetz to all my fellow lonely heartz...

2007-02-01T11:21:00.000+02:00

gregor shared, and then promptly blogged about, this article earlier.

i think he really does say it all (and apparently so do i). the article is laughable to say the least... i mean seriously? yes, there are always exceptions but from what i experienced on the 27th jan i couldn't disagree more with prof keren.

anyways i won't go into my thoughts of him or ask how he became an expert on bloggers...

but i will note that i find it rather ironic that so many singles ads appear on the article...

like this one of the girl with freakishly blue eyes... or the thirteen year old (looking?) "actual member"...

chuckling in the morning...

2007-02-01T09:56:00.000+02:00

i recently joined the obsidian jabber server, and was rather delighted to discover the administrator has a wicked sense of humour on two occasions... and since then i have been mulling over sharing them with the world. so, after obtaining his permission, i have published both admin messages below in chronological order. in actual fact, paul may identify with some of this...

Conversation with jabber.obsidian.co.za on 13/12/2006 00:30:26:
(00:30:26) jabber.obsidian.co.za: Well, that will teach me for poking a stick at the jabber server! Chaos, mayhem, destruction. My work here is done.

Will explain later, once things are working properly and my underpants are dry.

Warren
(serverslayer@jabber.obsidian.co.za)

[actually, it's ]
(02:08:43) jabber.obsidian.co.za: Right then...

Last night I decided to investigate an issue on the server that had nothing whatsoever to do with jabber. Imagine my surprise / horror / chagrin / underpants when the server died, taking her transports with her. The main server is up, along with two transports due to some serious duct-taping (during which no alt.hamsters were harmed, seduced or 'accidentally' fed Rohypnol.) Please be patient while I secure more hamsters ERR.... .duct tape..

Currently two transports are having library-version issues [MSN and AIM] - a deft rebuild of a package or two ought to set things straight.

Thanks for your patience and that LOVELY hamper of second-hand mens underwear some kind soul left on my door step... You guuuuuuuuys :) *sniff* I promised myself I would cry.....

I guess I'd better get back to the duct-taping.

Regards
Warren, slayer of Jabber

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(31/01/2007 21:54:44) jabber.obsidian.co.za: Greetings Jabberites......

As many of you must have noticed, our server was unavailable for approximately one day recently. I'd like to open this confessional with a small but important statement:

NOT MY FAULT!

Believe it or not, I was not in any way involved. I wasn't optimising, or upgrading, or experimenting in any way, shape or form - it was an issue with our leased line! There I've said it.

Be aware, however, that between our [until very recently] only telecoms company and South Africa's only power company, there may still be trials and tribulations ahead - this is Africa after all: Cables get stolen, migratory ostriches get caught in power lines and elephants routinely purloin large satellite dishes for their myserious 'Elephant Braai Area' skottel parties.

Sorry for the downtime - we're busy implementing preventative measure as I type:
1) We're painting all our cables to look like snakes.
2) We've ordered a battery of SOM (Surface to Ostrich) missile launchers.
3) We've confiscated the elephants tongs and spatulas. Let's see them skottel NOW! HAH!

So please be patient with us, Eskom and Telkom. We're doing our best!

Thanks
Warren

PS: For our foreign users:

Braai: Like a barbecue, only with more meat, beer and khaki safari suits.
Skottel: Like a braai, only you cook over gas, on something that looks like a flat-ish wok.
Tongs: The things you use to turn the meat on a braai.

mission drupal 5

2007-01-29T08:19:00.000+02:00

i am a geek on a mission[1]. mission drupal 5 to be exact.

the tactic:

read INSTALL.txt word for word.
try to understand it.
you will do well young one.

the frontline operation:

download, extract, and copy the resultant drupal 5 folder into a directory within your root directory. check - using ftp program.
create the drupal database. umm. where? how? oh... i finally found it on cpanel's MySQL account maintenance, no need to delve into phpMyAdmin.
create the drupal user. check - easy once you know where to look, similar to creating the db.
link the user to the db. check! now the db configuration looks like the configurations for the other db's i already have installed.
run the install script. install script? i must run it? but when i point to the folder it doesn't do anything. it gives me an access denied. *help* go back to the beginning...

"move the contents of the directory". hmm. maybe i shouldn't have moved the whole directory, but only it's contents.
ha! it works! but now to give access to the settings.php file. also helps if you take note of the location of the settings file ;)
voila! see how it runs!
remember to restore the access permissions on the settings.php file

configure drupal. *tears fill my eyes*... it worked! i can see the config screen.

the outcome:

i win!
drupal 5's so pretty!

[1]actually, the use of the word geek when referring to me is very liberal. considering i haven't done much *real* programming in yonks... i am an enthusiast...

shaun of the dead

2007-01-29T00:03:00.000+02:00

call me crazy, but i could've sworn i saw shaun last night. yeah yeah, i can hear you... but you don't understand. i mean shaun from back in the day when i was young and innocent and just starting out at varsity. yeah, that's right, i knew shaun before he became a "rock star hacker". what a trip down memory lane. guess now would be the time to delve back into the embarassing bits of back then... so:

- shaun was a gangly geeky cute shaggy haired dude, and i'm not afraid to say he has certainly improved with age ;) as have i, because:
- i used to have much shorter spiky gelled hair and wore glasses back then! ugh. something i'd like to forget. and no, you may NOT see ANY photos...

ha ha... ummm. ok, i've embarassed myself (and shaun possibly too) enough for today.

dude, i thought you had dropped off the side of the planet... welcome back!

singles vs property ads

2007-01-28T08:30:00.000+02:00

I am looking for a young independent employed single female to share a 2 bedroom upstairs apartment with.

hmmm... if i didn't know that this ad came from private property, i'd have marked it as spam. surely there's a better way to word the ad? just a thought...

p.s. i had a chuckle at the inclusion of the "independent" parameter... independent as opposed to... clingy?

celebr-8

2007-01-27T02:38:00.000+02:00

yay! i just found out today that my right eye improved by 0.5... that may not seem like alot... in actual fact, it's not... but when you have eyes like mine, it's a miracle... ;)

madam & eve say it all...

2007-01-25T11:38:00.000+02:00

27

2007-01-24T11:33:00.000+02:00

cerebra is starting the year off with a bang, in a big way... they're launching tonight. and the 27 dinners are launching on saturday in joburg. yay!

27 is a get together, held on the 27th day of each month for geeks, marketers, entrepreneurs, writers, media practitioners, speakers - well, just about anybody who is keen - to share ideas and news and opinions over food and drink. Alternating between Jozi and Cape Town, 27 is open to anyone who wants to attend (and/or contribute).

I really can't wait for the dinner... think it's going to be awesome to be able to put some real-live faces to the ramblings i read. i might even be tempted to prod a few of 'em just to make sure they're real... ha ha... erm. ok.

27 jan is also a special day personally... it's my dad's birthday! :) i'll be spending most of the day with him at a course. and i'm really grateful he doesn't mind me going to the 27 dinner, instead of his birthday dinner. :) i've actually been telling him all about this new media revolution thing... and will be setting up a blog for him for one of his businesses soon. it's awesome to be able to share a passion with your pops.

friend or foe?

2007-01-23T07:35:00.000+02:00

ok, i'm starting to feel freaked out...

i've received numerous missed calls from a "withheld" number on my cellphone in the past week. quite by coincidence i haven't been there to answer the calls. but still. there must be over 10 calls by now... and they never leave a message.

don't you think that's freaky?

happiness at work

2007-01-22T10:37:00.000+02:00

i've been corresponding with the author of my favourite blog, alexander kjerulf, recently. his blog is my favourite not only because it deals with one of my passions - happiness at work (everyone should be happy at work, really!) - but because his topics are so relevant... so apt. and it's down-to-earth too...

anyways, he asked me a few interesting questions about working in south africa, which really had me scratching my head - probably because i don't have much experience in the corporate world. so i thought i'd pose his questions to you, and see what you have to say. what are your experiences? how do you perceive things to be in south africa?

here's what he said:

*snip*
I would like to know more about what work is like in South Africa.
*snip*
What I'm wondering about is the general mood at work. Are people
generally happy at work in South Africa? Are bosses nice and caring or
tough and authoritarian?

Do people quit if they don't like their jobs, or do they accept jobs
that suck because "that's just what work is supposed to be like"?

If course it can be difficult to generalize, but I'd like to hear your take.
*snip*

my general opinion is that there is a vast majority of people unhappy at work... people who just accept work for work's sake. this is illuminated by the service levels we experience in our beautiful country... we have so much to give, and yet it often (too often) falls flat.

so what do you think south africa? how do you feel about your job?

restored

2007-01-22T02:23:00.000+02:00

*phew*

i finally managed to restore drupal to it's original state! (i hope) i tried to update drupal, and it really just bombed out. you can see my frustration here.

finally, the answer to my problem lay in the error log, which pointed me to the include files. somehow these refused to copy over properly from the backup. eventually i managed to go through each one by one, and replaced those that were not of the same file size as the original in the backup.

ok, sanity prevails, and i am going to bed.

south african skies

2007-01-21T10:05:00.000+02:00

gauteng did you see the amazing sunset, and ensuing dusk today? i had the privilege of driving home from my weekend away as the sun was setting. just stunning, a perfect "malibu sunset" (if there is such a thing). bright red-ish orange half-round sun disappearing into the horizon against a perfect sky.

and the moon. the moon was as wafer thin as the sun was large. it seems that aquila managed to capture the moon and some of the dusk...

grumble

2007-01-21T09:03:00.000+02:00

drupal. 6 letters, and so much pain.

i upgraded the drupal installation on victoire.za.net, as fantastico requested, a few minutes ago. and now. well now it's messed up, that's what. now i have to go and fix this mess.

*grumble*

*****update*****
ok, what now? i followed the instructions given to restore in case of emergency, and now nothing displays on victoire.za.net... bah. another late night. the instructions below:

- delete all the files listed in /home/***/public_html/fantastico_fileslist.txt
- delete /home/***/public_html/fantastico_fileslist.txt
- Untar /home/***/fantastico_backups/.backup.*****.tgz
- Empty the database ***_drpl*
- Import the file /home/***/fantastico_backups//backup.sql into the database ***_drpl*
- Move /home/***/fantastico_backups/ to /home/***/public_html

I'm just a little unsure about that last point, because the backups folder only has backup files in it, but i did copy the files that were backed up from the .tgz file into the public_html folder.

any ideas? re-install drupal and forget about the changes i made?

*grumble*

Ginger Spam Salad

2007-01-16T10:58:00.000+02:00

yum.

spam. spam. spam.

spam i am.

please tell me that i am not the only person on this planet who thinks it's disgusting that gmail gives out spam recipes when browsing your spam folder?

then again... maybe that's where all the deleted spam goes... to be re-assimilated into spam recipes.

any other explanation is beyond reason...

behind the scenes footage

2007-01-16T02:05:00.000+02:00

mr p has kindly authorised my uploading of our most glamorous behind-the-scenes moments whilst out sailing... well at least his is glamorous! just notice how many times i proclaim to be cold... and all that giggling whilst mr p nearly drowns!

intro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6cSu80sf44

karl's bomb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SowF44saXXs

smile! (also known as "cccooolllldddd!")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs3L6jKdSEU

bad victoire! (also known as "cccooolllldddd! 2")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT7itIgkMQI

peter strikes a pose
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sopx9yS8WNg

do i look glamorous?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdcx0wt8e5k

well there you have it, victoire & friends' most famous movie moments. anyone brave a soundtrack suggestion? :)

*edit
so after all the effort of embedding my YouTube videos into this blog post it seems that they are too large for the blogger frame! and that last video didn't want to display. i have no idea why. i've replaced the embedded video with links to YouTube... sorry for the inconvenience folks!

celebrities... now cloned!

2007-01-15T11:02:00.000+02:00

this is just crazy... i can't believe how natasha sazonova so accurately identified the similarities between these celebrities! she basically takes photos of various celebrities, puts them next to each other and describes why she thinks they could be twins...

I don't know about you, but I'm constantly noticing strangers who look like my friends, objects that remind me of some other objects and celebrities who look like twins of other celebrities... I'm beginning to suspect that Hollywood is cloning celebrities just to have a spare in case if something happens to one.

although there are many that are uncannily spot on, some of my favourites are:

bernadette peters & madonna

dana ivey & susan sarandon

helen hunt & leelee sobieski

helena christensen & cameron diaz (wow... i can hardly tell the difference!)

jason lee & joseph fiennes (double yum - jason lee is one of my favourite actors for his role in american cuisine)

marsha thomason & eva longoria

eric mcCormack & tommy lee jones & adrian paul ( i think i could like the neanderthal look)

meryll streep & natascha mcElhone

michael douglas & bill pullman

natalie maines & charlize theron (yay it's our benoni girl!)

peter greene & ralph fiennes

rupert everett & matthew perry (rupert is a favourite in the "chick flicks", he plays those romantic comedy roles so well!)

scarlett johansson & naomi watts (i find naomi so stunning)

tagged - your life as a movie soundtrack

2007-01-15T03:26:00.000+02:00

aquila posted an interesting and agreeably distracting mission, and tagged any takers.

the premise is this, to come up with your life's soundtrack all you have to do is put your music library on random... my problem is that i have imported music from all over the place, some of which i have never listened to before. i mean, where'd the grease soundtrack come from?! i did however listen to each song in the context of its scene, and it makes more sense than i expected! judging from my soundtrack my life would make a pretty wacky, sometimes ironic, art movie. somewhat like me.

if you do try it please remember to add a trackback, i'd love to see what your soundtrack is...

So, here’s how it works:

1. Open your music library

2. Put it on shuffle

3. Press play

4. For every question, type the song that’s playing

5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool - I know you have Celine Dion in there somewhere…

01. Opening Credits: Look at me, I’m Sandra Dee – Grease OST

02. Waking Up: With or Without You – U2

03. First Day at School: Silent All These Years – Tori Amos

04. Falling in Love: a true story of a story of true love – the books

05. Fight Song: the nurse – the white stripes

06. Breaking Up: King of glory – WOW Worship

07. Prom/Matric Farewell: Passage de recherché - scanner

08. Life’s Okay: All along the watchtower – Dave Matthews Band

09. Mental Breakdown: Track 07 – Maxwell Embrya

10. Driving: Mall Radio – Max Normal

11. Flashback: Live Forever – Michael W Smith

12. Getting Back Together: Be here to love me – Norah Jones

13. Wedding: heartstrung - chill

14. Birth of a Child: Praise Medley (Psalm 150) – CeCe Winans

15. Death Scene: Inmigrant - Sade

16. Funeral Song: Fools gold – lock, stock & two smoking barrels soundtrack

17. End Credits: I bow down – Travis Cottrell

lone wandering

2007-01-14T19:05:00.001+02:00

i decided to go for a bit of a drive around my suburb last night. everything was just perfect for it. it had just rained so the smell of rain and wet soil and plants was fresh. i wound down the window and took a very laid-back drive. it was all rather pleasant until i got stuck behind a driver who didn't understand how stop streets worked. nor the gas pedal for that matter. and i thought that *i* was driving slowly. i actually did feel bad for getting annoyed though... i mean i wasn't in any sort of hurry, i hadn't anywhere to go. time was on my side. and yet, spending an extra 2 minutes at each stop street before we went our separate ways was so agonising. i have become *such* a joburg driver!

my aimless driving eventually led me to the nearby "lake" (that's what they call it, i use the same term for lack of a better noun), and decided to park and take a stroll in the deepening dusk. it was so peaceful, as if i was in my own little world. i noticed that they had done some landscaping since my last visit, with rocks and indigenous plants. really lovely.

the water birds had all gone to roost in the trees perched on the little island already, and were making quite a fuss with their pre-slumber calls. it's amazing how many birds can fit into those trees!

the sky was spectacular, the clouds reflecting blushing reds to light orangey-pinks to deep purple hues as the day drained away. and the fountains in the middle of the lake, with lights reflecting off of the dancing water, emphasising the splashes and ripples as they hit the surface once more, provided a fair amount of amusement as i watched from the wooden bridge. what is it that holds me in awe of water shot out of its source? all the while the gurgling of the run-off into the river below me provided a chorus or two. i found the occasional splashing noises (as that of a fish flopping about in shallow water) disconcerting though!

finally when all was quiet except for the murmur coming from the patrons of a nearby restaurant, and a lone duck making his presence known out on the waters, i returned home to make pancakes.

sail away...

2007-01-12T19:10:00.000+02:00

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain

what seems a lifetime ago i posted this quote on my "about me" page (soon to be resurrected) on victoire.za.net... and then i got the opportunity to do just that these holidays! i went sailing - for the first time ever - on the vaal dam.

and what an adventure it was... the three expeditionists mr p, mr k, and i started off early on a sun-shiny monday morning full of excitement. we were almost there when the rain hit us, and fearing that we were going to be rained out we assured ourselves that it was all part of the adventure. it cleared up just in time, and we put on our brave faces when faced with a yacht full of bird poop, which had to be washed off!

as for the rest... it was mostly sun, wind, sunscreen, and cool waters.

i got to sit at the helm and steer us into the blue yonders... believe me it's not as easy as it looks! especially when the winds come up, the whole boat starts tipping, and you have to counter-steer!

i got to sit at the front of the yacht with my legs dipping into the water as we rolled over the waves, and got a little more wet than i bargained when a really big wave hit!

i learnt to tie knots. seriously. the first rule of sailing is "know how to tie knots". ok well maybe that's not the *first* rule, but i'm sure it's pretty close to the top. i learnt to tie knots under the patient guidance of mr k. man that guy has a gift in patience. and now i practice my l33t knot tying abilities at home on the blinds. a really useful ability to have i am sure. and i need to stay in practice just in case i *have to* go sailing at the spur of the moment! ;)

and this little gem of an embarassing moment occured, which i promised mr p i would not tell anyone about. all i can say is that my bottle of sunscreen was safe through it all, and mr p survived! :)

we anchored in a bay and had lunch and a long swim. the water was wonderful... but i kept wondering whether anything was lurking in the depths, watching me (the plumpest of the 3), waiting to strike...

mr p and i were dragged (me first, him after i had proved it was safe enough ;)) behind the sailing yacht, holding on for dear life till my arms ached. (i have hilarious video footage of this, i just have to get permission to publish it...)

and then the rains came! wow. what a storm. thunder. lightning. water. rain. us in the middle of it all. large waves jostling our little yacht about. tipping us till the water came up the window and threatened to hurl mr p and i across the cabin. being the only girl onboard i got to stay inside the cabin through the whole storm whilst the boys kept us afloat. after the storm had passed the wind died, and we ended up with the engine put-putting us back to land.

what excitement! what an exploration! what an experience!

Explore. Dream. Discover.

and i am wonder woman...

2007-01-12T04:33:00.000+02:00

and supergirl. at the same time.

Your results:
You are Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman		75%
Supergirl		75%
Spider-Man		65%
The Flash		65%
Superman		65%
Robin		55%
Catwoman		50%
Iron Man		40%
Green Lantern		35%
Hulk		25%
Batman		20%

You are a beautiful princess
with great strength of character.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

seems mike has better legs than me! :)

the iphone has landed...

2007-01-10T08:56:00.000+02:00

well now you have seen everything. that's right, apple has launched their iphone. and it looks like it blows all the other mobile phones out of the water. i mean "multi-touch"- use your fingers instead of a stylus... need i say more.

read the full story over at ed burnette's dev connection

blogalog

2007-01-07T08:54:00.000+02:00

i have discoverd mybloglog... and i'm hooked! so far i've stumbled upon some interesting blogs, mostly south african for a change, and exchanged some words with a few cool bloggers. networking... gooood... :)

on that note, i'm going back to work tomorrow. i have mixed feelings about it - really could've done with just one more week of lazing about on holiday... but then a full month at home is pushing it - and i am looking forward to going back at the same time. i'll be wrapping up a big project, getting my interior design (first non-it project in a while) sorted out... yep, it's going to be an exciting year. and what does that have to do with you? or blogging at all? i'll tell you... i probably won't have as much time as i have become accustomed to for blogging. i won't have internet at home for some time, at least until i organise my new cellphone contract, which is probably going to happen at the end of january. ah man, i'm going to miss this!

victoire.za.net under construction

2007-01-04T10:21:00.000+02:00

if you've tried connecting to any links to my home site you would've noticed that the content, everything, has disappeared. i have been planning to update the site for a while, i want to make a victoire portal of sorts, but haven't quite known how to do it before. well after checking out paul's 3puppies, listening to him go on and on and on about drupal and blogs and... ;) i decided to "just do it", how hard could it be?

this is where i'm at... a default drupal screen...

i have been trying to get filezilla to connect to my server for ages. honestly, been struggling with it all morning... and then i download ipswitch ws_ftp and it works. one time. so i will have a new theme soonish.

and then i'll see.

*update:

well... let me know what you think... i'll be updating it as i go, but the basics are there.

so much to do in the last days of leave i have!

two years of blogospheres and cyberspace

2007-01-03T08:51:00.000+02:00

this past december i celebrated 2 years of blogging. you see i posted my very first post on blogger on the 21st december 2004, here. i will have to do a little more research to figure out if i posted anything before then on my long forgotten first blog. nope. would seem this is history folks. :) and proud of it.

ag no...

2007-01-03T07:33:00.000+02:00

it is with great sadness and indeed, regret, that i inform you...

the traffic in joburg has returned. i saw it with my own eyes. rows and rows of cars. on their way home. at 16:50 this afternoon. the bliss of tranquil, empty december streets is over. safe driving folks!

happy hippy hoppy new year!

2007-01-03T07:06:00.000+02:00

it's 2007. hope you've had a great one so far.

new year's eve in new town. very cool... sabc2 new year's eve concert with vusi mahlasela, kelly (?), and kabelo. fireworks. dancing in the square. the only whities in sight... not so cool: a rasta kissing me on the side of my face as i turned away, asking me for my number. at least he called me pretty lady. then trying to feel up my ass as i danced. and ducking other amorous youngsters after some caucasian lovin'... the citrus lounge. men with tops off. trying to impress other men. dancing and some fancy footwork with uriah, a proper dance-off. one of the more adventurous/crazy new years eves i've had. fun.

must make more plans this year... or not...

2006... 2007

2006-12-31T10:24:00.000+02:00

it's the last day of 2006. can you believe that? where has this year disappeared to?

hopefully 2007 will be as exciting, adventure-filled, and successful as 2006 was for me... for all of us... so have an awesome one!

get in on the action

2006-12-31T10:18:00.000+02:00

paul has everyone involved in bookmarking south african blogs on del.icio.us... read his article here. i think this is an awesome initiative, and it is really taking off, with all sorts of people adding the tag "sablogs" to their del.icio.us tagging. go sablogs!

the last gasps of 2006...

2006-12-31T04:14:00.000+02:00

well maybe not *that* dramatic... but anyhoo...

i was wondering what everyone has been up to on the last legs of 2006? what did you do on sunday 31 december 2006? where were you?

did you have a chilled and relaxed day like me? i only got out of my jarmies at 12, but i was up since 5:45 (because that's when i wake up now that i'm on holiday... *sigh*). i browsed the internet. blogged. emailed. did some research into new media solutions and updated a google doc. listened to my new music (check out my last.fm scrobbles http://www.last.fm/user/victoire_za/). mulled over my cv. tried to figure out what's happening tonight, with my sis not really in a communicative mood lately...

and then i decided to go for lunch. all on my own, seeing as there aren't many people around or not that i know of. so i got dressed in a lovely white number, and felt very european sitting on the sidewalk eating my delicious cajun calamari starter and small primadonna pizza (half of it) at doppio zero. mmmm... now i'm going to have a quick nap before i get ready for tonight's dancing at the citrus lounge. fun.

do remember to let me know what antics you were up to before the bubbly, countdown, firecrackers, and all that smoooooching! (ugh)

joburg rains

2006-12-28T09:04:00.000+02:00

i don't remember it raining this much in a long time... i know that we are supposed to have summer rains over here in joeys, but... almost every day? maybe it's just because i'm on holiday and at home. or because it's the first time i'm living on my own, and i'm at home alot. actually, come to think of it, this is my first december out of "the nest". not that i am complaining about the rains, it just seems so... obvious, so in my face.

shopping...

2006-12-27T23:12:00.000+02:00

yes you got it... there's a "best" time to shop for everything! check out smart money for some pretty good (although americanised) tips on when to buy what!

as for me, i still don't have a tv, and looking at their suggestion of when to buy, i don't think i'll be getting any of those lcd's i've been drooling over anytime soon.

iwin

2006-12-27T09:35:00.000+02:00

i seem to have forgotten to blog about a fairly significant occurance recently... i have an ipod.

well, i guess now is as good a time as any to hear the story...

it all started with me not being able to attend my work's year end function in the last week of november because i was working on a church camp, which started that friday. there were rumours that anyone not attending the function would not get their christmas gifts... so, not wanting to miss out i decided to have a chat with my boss, who instead of consoling me managed to connive me into going! i managed to make an arrangement to arrive at the camp late... hurray i was going to the office eoy party!

it was a rather fun, and eventful party for me... it was the first in four years at which i consumed no alcohol. i found "the dot" under the salt cellar with some help from a... and won the opportunity to humiliate myself dancing the twist with one of the managers, and a hamper of goodies to eat. then there was an announcement that a "ching chong cha" (otherwise known as rock paper scissors) championship was to be held. and the prize... you guessed it... an apple ipod nano.

at first i wasn't going to enter. but then it slowly dawned on me. i could win an ipod. i could win an ipod. an ipod. and the game was on. we played the best of 3. and i kept on wiping out my opponents. somehow. i was too nervous and jittery to figure out how. then i was in the final round! - first i have to tell you that we have mostly guys in our company, being in i.t. that is not uncommon. guys take competitions very seriously. especially when you call them championships. so me getting to the final round was quite something. - my opponent was especially serious about this whole thing. i was nearly scared. but i just stared into his eyes and gave it my best shot. (i have been told that i have eyes that look into your soul. i have no idea what that means. but i hoped that it would assist in winning)...

i had no strategy. i just managed to withstand his fervent shouts of "CHING CHONG CHA!" as we played one round after the other. i won best of 3. but then the rules changed and we had to do best of 5. the heat was turned up, and my legs were jelly. i can't even remember my last choice of rock / paper / scissors. i think it was paper. and i won against his rock.

and now i have a 2gb 2nd generation nano. just like that. :)

migrated

2006-12-24T09:44:00.000+02:00

hoorah! i took the plunge... after first saving my blog template in a .txt file... to the new and improved blogger. and it seems that nothing is broken. now to explore what has changed on blogger's side... :)

wallet 2.0 live

2006-12-23T08:38:00.000+02:00

it seems that web 2.0 is slowly seeping into everyday design... yes, that's right... get your next generation wallet now!

As found on MoCo Loco:

All the way from Taiwan and just in time for Xmas, MoCo Loco gets its very own "wallet from the future", the Wallet 2.0. It's bigger than expected, more for a back pocket than a front one. It's made of pliable silicone and bends easily. The flip-top container contains organizer/planner-like refill sheets designed for use with the wallet. It comes with five types of refill sheets - bill, coins, ID, credit cards and 'others' and there are more sheets on the way.

Kinda fits in with what i was saying about design the other day... personally, i love the wallet 2.0... i might even get me a green one :)

annoyed

2006-12-23T08:36:00.000+02:00

so blogger is out of beta... but does it have to log me in under my gmail account automatically?! do i *have* to link all my blogger accounts to my gmail? bah! humbug!

design

2006-12-15T11:42:00.000+02:00

blogger joel over at joel on software describes his views on elegance with relevance to software in his article "elegance"...

i love the article because it describes exactly how i feel about design. design of anything, and i guess that would include software and architecture as described in his article, as well as websites, home appliances, cars, kitchenware... yes, everything.

i can't describe the joy, the tingling happy feeling i get when i see or get to use something well-designed. and of course the utter disappointment at having to face something badly designed or lacking in elegance. when i see something i like i just want to share it with the world, say "hey! look at this, doesn't it look / feel awesome?!" now, if only more companies, designers, manufacturers would hook onto the elegance concept and realise that there is money to be made from me (and people like me) advertising their stuff for free, just because it looks good!

to track sites i find yummy check out the del.icio.us tag: v.design

fabulously famous!

2006-12-12T08:08:00.000+02:00

i just happened to do a search for "victoire" the other day... and well, almost fell off my chair! it would seem that i am famous now... in google terms at least. :)

yep, that's right... victoire ranks at the top of the list. and i took a screenshot for proof!

hippy hoppy...

2006-12-08T14:09:00.000+02:00

happy birthday paul! :)

i am sure you're going to have a blogging brilliant day!

moved

2006-12-07T14:54:00.000+02:00

it is all over. or perhaps it has just begun! i moved very successfully with the help of eezi move and my (now favourite) folks.

the place is gorgeous.

now to unpack and re-discover all my stuff.

and most importantly enjoy my new space!

unlocked

2006-12-04T14:50:00.000+02:00

life is hectic and exciting... thought i'd just let you know that dear blog readers. that and i go to fetch the keys to my new place soon! :) and then i move in tomorrow. ah the hip & happening life of a young, single, metropolitan woman!

3 weeks of wedding (and a funeral)

2006-11-29T21:36:00.000+02:00

i have been itching to blog for weeks (it almost feels like months), but my rushing about has kept me from it... and now that i have actually made the time i have no idea what to say. or perhaps it is a struggle with where to begin. the past few weeks have certainly been eventful!

alright... where did i leave off?

the kitchen tea
i've only ever attended a handful of kitchen tea's... and never really participated in any of them fully. well this was to change. i had to help host & organise (mostly by myself) my darling sister's kitchen tea! my what alot of organising goes into these things. mostly getting people to actually attend! unfortunately many of the ladies attending the wedding were going away the last weekend of october, and so there were but a handful of us that did make it to the kitchen tea - it was a very lovely and memorable occasion none the less.

p & i have always dreaded our kitchen tea's... i guess in anticipation of some awful humiliation. thankfully for sis i was organising it, and i would not have any of the talk of doing anything remotely embarassing to her! well... not too embarassing at least...

marius...
i have already posted about marius' passing away, i mention it here because... well, it had a great impact for me, on me - and is indelibly intertwined in that moment.

he died on the morning of 5th november. i was told by t as i got in at work on monday. at first i thought he was joking, some sick joke... it slowly sunk in... and that whole week was just one big blur... life had to carry on, and yet it felt like everything had stopped... or should've stopped. more pre-wedding festivities had to be organised, and in between was all this sadness. i really nearly lost it, almost didn't quite make it. thanks to the support of my family and close friends, and God's love and strength, i did carry on.

i went to marius' funeral in mpumalanga's delmas on friday 10th november. it was a bit of a bitter-sweet (?) experience. the pastor got marius' surname wrong, and never corrected it. it seemed like he cut and paste all the sermons he could find into this one sermon, and didn't really sound like he'd taken much thought to it being a funeral. i will remember marius differently.

v & p's first afternoon at a day spa
i had decided to treat p to a bit of a pamper session before her wedding, so off we went to life day spa. it was the first time either of us had been to a spa and we were really excited! we were delighted by everything - fresh bathrobes and slippers - all sorts of different showers - ice tea on tap - the decor - everything; as you are if you've never done anything like this before. (spa's really should give newbies an introduction on the do's and don't's so that one doesn't feel too much like an idiot when trying to figure out what to do in seemingly simple situations)

i tried out the swiss shower... and nearly drowned. clearly not designed for short people, hot water just comes gushing out at you from all angles and then when you switch on the cold water "waterfall" in front of you that overwhelms you with rivers of cold water aimed at your face! after the initial panic i managed to escape in fits of giggles.

all in all a wonderful experience - and i will return a "seasoned professional" to show that swiss shower who's boss!

the ~~girls~~* night on the town
* although it started out as a girl's night out, we decided to invite o to join the girls for the fun, and it wouldn't have been the same without him!

all sorts of prep went into this evening - with me feverishly searching the web as well as asking people on mailing lists for advice on where to go, what to do, etc. but eventually the places were booked, the transportation arranged, and we were ready to have a blast!

the night on the town actually started out in the morning with all sorts of pampering and preening and the sisters going off to the hairdresser to have our hair coloured, cut, and straightened. i spent the longest at jeauval with my hair being coloured as well as having highlights put in (and them making the highlights too light!)... as i was leaving i received a call from the limo company i had booked for a limo (2 hours before arrival) that the limo had a crash, and there was nothing to be done! of course the whole evening had been planned around having the limo so i was in a bit of a panic. thankfully b (p's fiance) came to the rescue and saved the evening by finding another limo which was just a bit more expensive. *breath a sigh of relief*

the evening started off with each of the girls giving p a flower / bunch of flowers and telling her how it reminded them of her. this was really touching, and p never expected it at all. i even managed to give her my bunch of flowers and how it reminded me of her when i arrived home an hour before without her suspecting a thing.

the limo finally arrived and we climbed in, hitting our heads on the entertainment box awkardly placed as one got in, but that was soon forgotten with us opening up the complimentary bottle of champagne and the sun roof. just as the sun roof came off in o's hand (oops!) the limo stalled whilst still inside our complex! and it wouldn't start again. not that this stopped us from having a good time, we were standing outside the broke down limo, glasses in hand - when a kind girl who was leaving for a braai offered to jump start the limo with jumper cables. so we gave her a glass of champagne for her troubles. of course when the limo did start again we couldn't continue our evening in it, and were driven around montecasino boulevard waiting for the replacement 4x4 limo to arrive.

when you're new to limo's and someone says that you're going to be picked up by a 4x4 limo you're hardly impressed. heck, you wonder whether they actually mean a limo at all. well we needn't have worried... we were only upgraded to one of the best limo's in south africa! and what an experience it was...

so off we went with our second (or third depending on how you count 'em) limo, popping open our 2nd bottle of champagne. on the way to the cocktail venue i played a dvd, which i had made on thursday evening, on the flatscreen tv inside the limo. i had gotten together with b and interviewed him using some questions o and i had come up with. the basic thing is that p had to guess what b's answers were! because it was such a big surprise i think p was too flabbergasted to respond at all, but it was wonderful playing the dvd, and having everyone joking around and getting to know b better.

we were running at least an hour late by the time we got to the cocktail venue. as we walked in o and i looked around in confusion, whilst the 3 girls merrily disappeared. this didn't look like the website at all. there were carpeted walls! there was a cheesy piano man! the regulars were leering from the bar! we had been taken to the wrong place! i eventually located the girls in the bathroom and had to explain to them through fits of giggles that we were at the wrong place entirely.

so back we trapesed to the limo. as we got back the limo owner was showing a pair of policemen the interior of the very zooty limo. when we explained we were at the wrong place the policemen gave us a police escort to the right venue! there is very little to say about the cocktail venue, except that it was dead quiet and the service was shockingly slow.

on to dinner at moyo's!

b, who was our after dinner transport, met us for dinner since we were running so late. as we arrived we were told that the electricity was out! we decided to stay anyway, and descended into the dark depths of moyo's basement dining area, lit only by candles. it was a lovely experience with all sorts of interesting dishes and flavours. the girls even got blankets (amongst complaints from o about the lack of cleavage showing) to get all cosy with after dinner.

all in all it was an amazing experience, however i wouldn't want to be in charge of organising something like this again anytime soon!

the wedding
the wedding finally came around after months of preparation... and what a delightful day it was! everything went so well in spite of a few hiccups, like it drizzling and raining on the day... or perhaps i should say because of... because of the rain the wedding turned out to be incredibly intimate and lovely. i managed to carry out my part as bridesmaid with aplomb, and delivered a cool speach (prepared the evening before) too. there were many tears shed, even by some who professed to *never* cry. the food was outstanding, prepared by james the resident chef at lethabo (the wedding venue p&b had orignally booked) - every tray contained treats more delicious than the ones before. everything looked beautiful, and the bride looked stunning. it really was a day of love and sharing.

gauteng watch out for...

2006-11-24T10:30:00.000+02:00

the cosmos on the road side!

:) one of my favourite flowers is brightening up the journey to work!

enjoy...

wedding bliss

2006-11-22T16:41:00.000+02:00

just a quick update...

the wedding was absolutely stunning! words cannot describe how beautiful the day was... and the bride... she was exquisite. and now i am really tongue tied!

more to follow...

:)

2 days...

2006-11-16T07:18:00.000+02:00

to my little sister's wedding! can you believe it?! well... i can't. i am so excited & a little sad & happy & bouncy & excited & can't wait & ... guess i'm not getting much work done today!

we're going to set up everything tomorrow & then it's the big day!

can't wait...

(i will have to update you on our night out on the town this past saturday & everything else that's been going on after the weekend... yay!)

passing moments

2006-11-08T21:48:00.000+02:00

this post is dedicated to marius r...

life passes by so quickly. one moment you're living your life, thinking that there's always tomorrow... the next your life is taken away from you. and there are no more tomorrows to postpone to, look forward to, dream for.

m was always full of ideas... always busy... always kind. we were becoming friends... better acquainted... after knowing each other for 3 years (maybe more). he was always so keen to share the latest technologies discovered. we spent hours chatting about knowledge management. and he introduced me to rss feeds and feedreader. one could say that our early conversations set off my interest in the new media space.

my condolences go out to marius' family. what happened to your son was tragic. i have mourned, knowing him as a colleague and friend, you mourn for your only child and son.

33. so young.

farewell dear colleague ~ dear friend.

i'm a little teapot!

2006-11-04T22:19:00.000+02:00

wow, what a week... what a month... life just seems to be rushing by... toooo ffaaaassstttt!

it's my sister's wedding in 2 weeks. in actual fact, at this time in 2 weeks, it'll all be over! wow.

i'm still searching for a place to stay. it's been a very long and arduous journey to nowhere thus far. except that i have acquired a dislike for estate agents - most of them say they'll call you back, and don't. and i've only viewed one place thus far, out of all the phone calls i've made, all the time spent scouring newspapers... it's frustrating to say the least... i don't know whether i should carry on searching feverishly, or just let go, wait until the week (day?) before i need to move, and then stress it.

of course it's not all the agents' fault, i take some of the blame myself... i'm incredibly fussy about where i stay. yep. i'm only looking to rent in 2 suburbs. i have a fixed-ish budget (fixed-ish because it has been creeping higher and higher... heck, i don't need to eat!) i won't stay in a thatched complex (i don't need to pay more insurance, and they're depressing places, okay!)... i won't stay in a middle unit - it's ground floor with a garden or loft apartment, or i won't look at it. i don't know... i don't think it's unreasonable... home is where you go to unwind. home is where your heart is. home is you. and seeing as i'm going to be staying all by myself, well i'd better be comfortable with the four walls i'll be staring at! (my sister and i split up the stuff we bought together last night. the tv's her fiance's, so i get to listen to music on my super duper home entertainment system... whilst staring at the walls!) all in all though, i'm excited to be going out on my own. i can't wait!

on teapots... i got to take mine home from pottery this week! wow. wow. wow. it's stunning. i can't believe i made it. it came out so well. i am really proud. the guys at the office have finally let up asking me about "the teapot" as well... since i told them i was making it not one wednesday / thursday has gone by without a discussion of "the teapot". i actually had to take it to work to show them, or they would not have been appeased. it was rather sweet though - when i got in to work that day, i found a piece of paper printed "happy birthday teapot" with a whole bunch of pictures of teapots... heh heh...

oh, and to inflate my ego even more, apparently my pottery teacher's 9 year old son warned his mom, "careful mom, she's going to overtake you!" I doubt that'll happen... but it's nice to know that one is actually half decent at a hobby!

googles of fun

2006-10-18T17:33:00.000+02:00

as you may (or may not for that matter) know... i am a very enthusiastic, if somewhat rusty, newbie mountain biker. i love mountain biking. especially the meandering through countryside, watching the beauty unravel before me. not so much the battling up a MoUnTAin, over (yeah, right) rocks, legs unable to push any further, lungs burning, and legs too (from all the sudden rock confrontations...), nor the crazy 5m drop off into a swirling mud pool and then straight onto a pool cue thin plank spanning a gorge the size of the victoria falls (at least from my vantage)... you get the idea, and i digress.

you may also know that i am somewhat of an undercover techie - cool gadget and new technology enthusiast.

considering this, you should be able to imagine my excitement at discovering this article on google's blog... google. mountain bikers. blogging. about mountain biking. like... wow! and there's more... the team has a blog too.

awesome stuff. makes me want to go hit some dirt on my trusty giant, with google earth leading the way...

chilibean planted in the sa blog scene!

2006-10-16T19:47:00.000+02:00

hooray for chilibean, it is featured on the south african blog directory as blog of the week! michael wrote:

Welcome back to Victoire and a new welcome to Paul - the two contributors behind this blog. They describe themselves as: "We are new media evangelists. We will tell you about all the tools you can use to communicate better with your clients and the people you work with. We use many of those tools ourselves and we're passionate about them. Let us share our passion with you."

chilibean is an awesome tool and should be mandatory for any business person, blogger and people who communicate with other people. OK, so basically everyone should read chilibean! Personally I thought their best post to date was the one about my blog! Other posts I also really enjoyed were Calling cards reinvented, Making sense of it all, Overzealous censorship and It's a Google Life: Part 1 and Part 2. Like I said, this blog should be mandatory reading.

indeed! this is exactly what we have envisaged for chilibean... a new media tool for the masses! :) as paul says, we welcome comments and suggestions from you, our readers on anything new media.

on a personal note, i have definately found my involvement in chilibean very exciting, and can't wait 'til i have more time to dedicate to it. my mind boggles at the prospects. :) happy chilibean reading!

those were the days...

2006-10-10T21:50:00.000+02:00

it has finally come and gone... that dreaded event i had magnified beyond the worst scenario possible... my 10 year high school reunion! and guess what. it wasn't so bad. it was actually really enjoyable - in a reunion kind of way.

of course the first question on my mind was... what do i wear?! i only really decided on that on the day... when it was too late to make a dash to the shops to find a new outfit that would perfectly convey the "new me" to around 92 pairs of prying eyes, and who knows how many more when the dvd and photos emerge!

many other questions followed, including what have i done in the past 10 years? - a question answered only by a rather thorough racking of my brain as to what i had achieved. 10 years is a long time. considering that i had no clue about life or what i was going to do with it when i left school all those years ago, i would say i haven't done too badly for myself... - and on the questions went...

right up to when i arrived in the main foyer and was faced with new old faces and... more questions! how are you?! what have you been doing? what do you do? ARE YOU MARRIED? - which i found rather amusing considering that less than 10% of the "girls" there were actually wedded!

i guess the whole reunion was overwhelmingly surreal. girls one almost remembers transformed into stunning women, some of them unrecognisably so. it was wonderful to see the transformation, to see the characters formed in their own unique way, difficult to relate to people one hardly has anything in common with anymore - and yet finding so many mutual elements, delicate misty nostalgia, experiences-incidents-memories softened by time... life written on each one's face.

all in all delightful.

c'est la vie

2006-10-04T17:17:00.000+02:00

i can't believe how hectically busy i've been since... when last did i post?

things suddenly picked up at work with me heading the roll-out / change management team for a while, and are just getting more and more stressful. so much to do, not enough time to gather oneself and just do it. i should be presenting (not only organising) demo's and training on the project soon too... it's exciting times for me, if things don't change (negatively)[1] too much. but honestly, i am thrilled to be busy, running around, doing things, speaking to users... it's so welcome after all that time i spent bored with repetitive work.

what else? i've been looking around for a place to stay, occupancy from 1 december... i've worked at 2 camps, which have been awesome and very rewarding, but very tiring too. i'm still enjoying pottery, although i'm not too sure what my next project should be... creativity and stress do not walk hand in hand. and i need to get organised for my lil sister's wedding in a month & a half! i still don't have a bridesmaid's outfit & have to arrange all the kitchen tea, hens party stuff now too. fun! oh yes! i have my 10 year high school reunion this coming weekend! should be interesting...

that's my life... ;)

[1] i have come to realise that there exists both positive and negative change. positive change (to me) is managed change, it's exciting, and well... it brings about positive things. i love positive change. negative change is disruptive, causes headaches and an enormous amount of stress, and is basically identified by the negative effects it's the cause of. i have been dealing with negative change for the past 2 years, if not more, and it's been trying to mess me around lately. not cool.

one small seed

2006-09-06T17:08:00.000+02:00

talking about design... and because i feel like talking...

check out one small seed (also featured in my links bar)... it's an excellent south african design mag, accessible to anyone with an interest in contemporary design / culture. i certainly find it interesting, as you know my only link to design is the interest my sis' studies have instilled in me, along with a good dose of general consumer bombardment. it has a funky website. and it's well designed.

compact design

2006-09-06T16:26:00.000+02:00

living in the north of jhb i'm always interested in compact living space concepts... plus i have this keen interest in design. i believe that is why this caught my eye. don't you think it's funky? depending on how comfy it actually is, and it's price tag, i can totally see myself using one of these bunk bed sofa's... like... shar! bring on the minimalism!

thanks to el-el-zed for the link.

gtd

2006-08-31T18:31:00.000+02:00

this is where my "personal productivity" / business productivity / stuff to do with business in general / whatever-else-you-want-to-call-it interests surface... i'm a big sucker for such sites as 43 folders, the chief happiness officer, and business pundit. i like the idea of happy people at work. i like the idea of happy people using technology - happily. i like the idea of all-round happiness of work things working. i think i'm getting that idea across...

i have recently picked up extra responsibility at work, and have a dire need for organising things. organising time, tasks, people, information, myself, you name it it has to be organised, and organised now! the problem is that i have no set methodology / procedure for this. all along i've managed fine with my spreadsheets and outlook (i am forced to work with ms windows and office suite because of the kind of work i do, having to constantly sync documents with other people, and my belief that ms does indeed provide the best office suite i have yet come across. but perhaps this should be kept to a later conversation).

but now, i just feel like i need something more. i need one place where i can go and see what i need to do, make my lists (as simply and with as little effort as possible), and get things done. with this in mind, i approached one of my bosses, who mentioned a tool that worked for him, as long as he stuck to it, a gtd or get things done tool. so i went to look for it. and discovered it is actually a whole methodology.

before i go ahead, and go to all the effort of learning the methodology... does anyone have any suggestions? anything to add? any tips, tricks, tools (free preferrably) to recommend?

perhaps i should list some of the things i need to do?

schedule meetings
schedule training sessions
a whole lot of stuff to do with preparing for the training sessions
draw "pretty pictures", otherwise known as process diagrams and stuff that goes into the training material
present training
keep an eye on (and track of) other people's progress on their phases which i'm reliant on
meetings meetings meetings
confirm meetings, confirm training, confirm confirmations
gaaaaa! toooooo muuuucccchhhh ssssttttuuuffff!

you get the picture.

make my blog day...

2006-08-31T15:55:00.000+02:00

so silentcoder wrote an enticing review on victoire...

Quite possibly the most lamented thing about the I.T. Industry is the lack of women in the field – but I think this is less of a problem in South Africa than elsewhere, we have some amazingly clever ladies in the field. Victoire being a case in point, writing cleverly about technology and the news stories that catches her eye. It's by far the most technical on the list – but well worth it even if you aren't a geek.

i think that's pretty sweet coming from a geek ;) and hooray for women in i.t. in sa! if my blog adds to some awareness about our presence in the market then bonus! although i don't know where aj gets the whole technical thing from. probably the most technical post is the one about tectonic, and most of that was written by the tectonic guys... or maybe i'm in denial... :D

and with that i bring you some stats on blog day from technorati, considering one is asked to use a "BlogDay2006" technorati tag when blogging your blog day post.

i retrieved 374 websites (with "any authority")
66 of these were english sites

Posts that contain BlogDay2006 per day for the last 30 days.

Get your own chart!

happy birthday!

2006-08-31T08:45:00.000+02:00

it's my lil' sis' birthday today! happy birthday sista sista!

she's a super duper information designer, and has been working on a new design for her website, so keep an eye out for it! it's looking really slick.

every blog has their day...

2006-08-30T15:59:00.000+02:00

and it would seem that mine is tomorrow... (although one could argue that mine has lasted this whole week) :)

i received an email[1] earlier informing me that i am one of 5 bloggers to be blogged on by aj venter, aka silentcoder, for blog day. did you even know there's a blog day? apparently there is.

according to the blog day site:

BlogDay was initiated with the belief that bloggers should have one day which will be dedicated to know other bloggers, from other countries or areas of interests. In that day Bloggers will recommend about them to their Blog visitors.

What will happen on BlogDay?

In one long moment In August 31st, bloggers from all over the world will post a recommendation of 5 new Blogs, Preferably, Blogs different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog surfers will find themselves leaping and discovering new, unknown Blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers.

BlogDay posting instructions:

1. Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting

2. Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending on them on BlogDay 2005

3. Write a short description of the Blogs and place a a link to the recommended Blogs

4. Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) and

5. Add the BlogDay tag using this link: http://technorati.com/tag/BlogDay2006 and a link to BlogDay web site at http://www.blogday.org

Celebrate!

fascinating... i'd be interested to know how many other bloggers actually knew about the day, and how many will be participating. i'll certainly be keeping an eye out for the review tomorrow!

[1] aj wrote a very nice email which i'll leave with you, in case you're interested...

Hi everybody,
Some of you know me, some of you have never heard of me. What you all have in common is that I read your blogs.
Now tomorrow (August 31) is international blogday (see http://www.blogday.org) all blogday participants around the world will post an entry linking with a short description to five blogs they reccomend to their readers. Part of the process is to let your chosen five link-recipients know in advance.

You five are my list, for an entry which will be posted at midnight, South African time tonight.

In the spirit of blogday, this means that I believe you write something interesting. Of each of you I can say that I agree wholeheartedly with some of your writings and dissagree as passionately with others - which in my mind is practically the point of blogging - sharing ideas and discussing them, with every point of view getting fair coverage.

So then, this is part one complete - letting you all know. Part two will then be posting the actual article tonight.
In case anybody has forgotten (or do not know) my blog is at: http://www.silentcoder.co.za

Feel free to take a look tomorrow and see how I described you.

Ciao
A.J. "silentcoder" Venter

do it like a pro

2006-08-28T18:21:00.000+02:00

so i did it... converted to a pro account on flickr... even though i know that there's a free pro account for me to be had over at zooomr... what actually put me off zooomr was the amount of time one waits for the site to load, or for a photo to load, it's ridiculous. also all my photos are already on flickr, and believe me i can like to be lazy! :)

for anyone questioning the need, i'll try to keep you up to date as to how much i'm enjoying the account... so far i have been really impressed by how fast i was converted into pro! like, whoosh, and you're a pro user! i've only created 3 sets, but i found that on the free option i was mentally limited to 2... i felt that i had to keep that last set for something spectacular, which of course never really happened.

hmmm... how's that... being treated like a pro, and blog of the week all in one day... ;)

hooray!

2006-08-28T08:47:00.000+02:00

i'm "blogger of the week" on the south african blog directory! *beam*

i've already started drafting my acceptance speach... "thank you for bestowing this honour upon me, i'd like to thank my inspiring... blah blah... and lastly... blah blah... just one more person i'd like to thank..." i can hear the applause now... :D

anyhoo... michael certainly did a good job of sifting through my entries and coming up with all the juicy bits i had almost forgotten about... i mean kamakis! and who remembers the totally outrageous googlism?

what he forgets to mention is that i am the "feeling lucky" link on google for the all south african super star news reader, our very own riaan cruywagen... i will have to get riaan to do a special appearance on my acceptance night, endorsing my blog of course! :)

correction... i WAS the "feeling luck" link for riaan cruywagen, but i've been replaced by wikipedia... which only makes sense. i am, however, still on the top of the google search, right after wikipedia. thankfully i got that screen capture of when my blog made history...

:) thanks michael for a sterling job, and a brilliant idea!

to flickr pro

2006-08-25T22:56:00.000+02:00

or not to flickr pro... that is the question.

i was uploading new photos last night, when i suddenly noticed my photo sets disappearing to my dismay! one minute they're there, the next, they're gone... along with all the photos that were in the sets. naturally i suspected foul play, and that my photos had been deleted somehow. nope, apparently that's not the case at all. since i only have a free account, and i had reached the 200 photo mark, my older photos were hidden on purpose by flickr. unless you have a pro account you can only view 200 of your photos. so either you delete some photos or you upgrade to the pro account. i tested this theory by deleting some photos, and voila! one of my sets came back, along with 5 photos.

the pro account option works out to just under R200 per year, which is not bad i must admit... so now i ponder. i could use my vox account as a photo storage area, but i like flickr. i will probably upgrade to the pro account... what do you think?

bloggers of sa unite!

2006-08-22T19:58:00.000+02:00

i've been mulling over the idea of getting a blogroll of south african blogs together for quite a while now, simply because i have met or know quite a few sa bloggers in real life [1]. it would be interesting to see what sa is doing in terms of blogging...

*drum roll*

... and now you can!

thanks to paul off chilibean, i found out about the south african blog directory, run by michael, and i've already signed up! pretty funky... so if you're a south african blogger, get your blog up there! basically how it works is that michael keeps a listing or blogroll of south african blogs, and then assigns a "blog of the week" every week, based on his opinion of the best blog for that week. this has lots of potential for growth, such as having bloggers vote on their favourites, etc. as well as the obvious bonus of linking sa bloggers.

soon pinky... soon we will take over the world! ;)

on another note, the chilibean article also refers to sa blog top sites. no i'm not putting a link to them. not until they fix up their site! i registered, had a problem with the file size of the banner, and next minute it was telling me that the username had already been used. now when i log in and try to add my site, which was not added in the end, i am just repeatedly told to log in because the session has expired. poo3y to that! how can you host such a prominent site and not have the proper working technology in place?

[1] here is the list of bloggers, in case you're interested (perhaps i'll fill you in on how i know them at a later date, or i'll just leave you to figure it out yourselves... :) ):

martin @ d2
paul @ the gecko media network
axkd @ axkd writes (and wrongs - but don't we all)
daan @ doi
adi @ stfi
ashley @ ashley
brandon @ brandonstafford.com
herman @ sizeight
jen @ the life and times of jen smit

hmmm... have i forgotten anyone? it's late and i should be heading home...

if the oogle's google's...

2006-08-22T19:37:00.000+02:00

why is blogger.com only showing signs of google-ism now, if it's been google owned since 2002? not that i am questioning the ownership, just the logic... why did google leave blogger alone for so long? why are they only developing their own google-blogger now (or i assume that's what they're doing, considering the new blogger will require a google id login)? questions questions...

more google to oogle over

2006-08-21T19:41:00.000+02:00

i've heard rumours of google buying blogger.com, but until now it seems everything's been business as usual... until the other day, when i saw a little orange square inviting me to convert my blog to the new blogger beta... it is really i tempting i tell you, especially for a google addict as myself... however being the cautious gal i am, and being warned that one cannot "undo" the transformation from blogger pumpkin to google princess, i continued reading, having cunningly distracted my mouse from the glowing "continue" button.

first the good news... there are lots of funky new features like:

New ways to customize your template (Drag and drop page elements and easily change your template's font and color scheme)

Private blogs (Create a blog visible to just your friends and family, not the whole world)

Labels (Give your posts a category label so that you and your readers can easily sort by topic)

now the bad... my there are a lot of known issues for blogger beta! this one in particular annoys me enough (and is sufficiently vague) for me not to convert - "here's what's missing: -Edit HTML mode for Layouts". I need to edit my html. that's where all my template functionality hides. imagine if i converted and suddenly half my functionality couldn't be implemented! imagine my fury! (or rather not... i'm told it's rather frightening)

so i will wait. with baited breath. for the google blogger extrodinaire version to whisk me away to my blogging delight.

tectonic - end of an era

2006-08-18T11:11:00.000+02:00

i received an email yesterday from the tectonic team stating that they have had to stop publishing their magazine. this is a great pity, however i have really been getting into their email newsletter and am really glad that they will be able to concentrate on this. i can see good things coming from these guys in the future.

here's the letter in case you're curious...

Dear Tectonic reader

Free Speech Publishing cc, the publisher of Tectonic Magazine,
regrets to announce that it has decided to discontinue publication of
the magazine.

The decision to close Tectonic Magazine is not one we wanted to make
nor a decision we took lightly. The encouragement and positive
response from readers has consistently exceeded our expectations and
has made us proud of the magazine and glad that we could play a role
in the growth of free and open source software in South Africa.
Unfortunately the financial burden of producing and distributing the
magazine has made its continuation unsustainable.

The Tectonic.co.za website will, however, continue to operate and
with renewed focus is expected to continue its exponential growth.

The website has grown from strength to strength and today boasts more
than 75 000 unique readers a month, serving up almost half a million
pages and receiving 1.7 million hits a month.

With the website growing exponentially and the financial strain
placed upon us by the high cost of running a magazine, a decision was
made to halt production on the magazine and focus on the website.
Since we are a small operation, running both simultaneously was not
doing justice to either publication.

We concluded that although our readership was ready for a magazine
focused on open source in the marketplace, the advertisers are not
yet ready to support open source. We would like to thank those
advertisers who did support us, including Sybase, the Team Linux
cycling team (Oracle, Intel and Dell), African Legend Indigo,
OpenVoice, Tangent Systems, SevenC Computing, SmartSource,
LinuxWorld, Linux Holdings, Lead, Impi Linux, Yellow Penguin, Synaq,
Amppol IT, OpenLab, Connection Telecom, Go Open Source, Obsidian
Systems and Intoweb.

We will continue to assess the marketplace and may revive the
publication in some form in the future. Until then, we would like to
thank our loyal readership and ask you for your continued support of
the Tectonic web site.

We do ask that all subscribers who paid for a subscription after May
2006 please contact us so we can arrange a suitable refund with you.

Kind regards
Alastair and Jason

life, love, and everyday adventures

2006-08-10T16:40:00.000+02:00

wazzup friends and friendly blog readers! considering that this blog's main aim is to keep my buddies across the world, country, region, city, and hallway informed about what i'm up to, there has been very little personal posting going on here. hopefully this post will change that a little...

well now. where to start...

i'm enjoying a very chilled and much needed break from routine... all because of the women's day public holiday yesterday. when i finally realised on monday that the holiday was on a wednesday, i thought it a perfect opportunity to take 2 days off work and enjoy an extended weekend. so far it's been great... and now i have some time to blog too! hoorah for mid-week public holidays!

i'm a regular at the botshabelo babies' home now, over the past 3 or 4 months visiting once a week for 2 to 3 hours to play with the little ones, and lately helping to feed the very little babies too. they are such sweet little souls who just crave love and attention. it's incredible to watch them growing up right in front of my eyes. some of those that were babies when i first visited are proper little people now, and most of the babies are starting to walk! it's just awesome to see. it certainly isn't easy being a parent, what a huge responsibility! they have taught me so much including patience, compassion, and the ability to just plain love without asking questions or judging on whether they 'deserve' it - some of the naughtiest need the most love. not only that but i've learnt so much about myself! one of the little girls was adopted earlier this year by a dutch couple, which is so encouraging i really hope that all of them will go on to loving homes sometime.

i started going to a new church at the end of march, and am enjoying getting involved with helping out wherever i can. i go to the "youth club" on fridays, and before you say it, nope i'm not too old... the cut off age is 30! it's great getting to know others, around about my age, with the same kind of frame of mind as myself.

i haven't been cycling much due to various factors such as "not enough time" or "can't i just sleep in once in a while?" :) i do miss it though, a lot. i'm hoping to start cyling with some people at my church on saturday mornings, it should get me fit again and give me an opportunity to get to know them better.

pottery is going well... i'm almost done with my ice cream bowls, although i managed to break another one just as i'd completed glazing it! argh! i'll have to re-glaze it and hope that it'll stick together in the firing process. i can't wait to just be finished with those bowls. my next project is slab work, and i've decided to make a teapot. if all goes well i'll make an entire tea set. of course maths has stuck its head out, with me having to work out angles and proportions to make the templates for the slab teapot pieces. i never really believed my maths teacher when she went off about maths being an integral part of everyday life...

i have decided to attend my high school reunion. i even helped out with setting up a mailing list using google groups, and a blog using the opera community blog portal... which i am mildly impressed with. i would've preferred using blogger, or something similar... but couldn't find anything free that allowed for multiple authors. so far there are no posts on the blog, other than the one that i made as an introductory welcome. i'm not sure whether this is because no one else is able to post, or whether they don't know how, or whether they don't want to. but oh well. the reunion mailing list has me thinking about whether mailing lists work if they don't have a very direct theme... so far only reunion type stuff has been discussed. i don't know what other topics to engage in.

i had a bit of a scare with an absyss in my jaw a while ago... believe it or not this is not new to me, i have had numerous dental problems over the years. a re-do of a root canal on a tooth that had already been crowned seemed to sort it out. there were threats of me having to undergo the trauma of another apisectomy, right as i had finished the official healing period (5 mths) on the one i had earlier this year. i am so glad to have avoided this. the last one was bad enough. the good news is that dr stoney has started preparation for the crowns i have been waiting for, and i already have the temporary ones in place! woo-hoo! i was really getting very self conscious about my teeth. now i can smile as much as i want again! ;) i should have the final crowns in place well in advance of my little sister's wedding.

yes, that's right, my sis is getting married! coincidentally today happens to be p & b's 2 year anniversary (happy anniversary you two, love you lots!). they're getting married in november. i am responsible for organising the hen party and i have no idea about what to do! anyone have any suggestions on something fun (and clean) for a few girls to do? some of the ideas i have are to spend a day/night at a spa getting pampered, getting a limo to drive us about the town to a concert or a play or a restaurant, or something and then have a slumber party at a really nice hotel. something out of the ordinary, not exhorbitantly expensive, and fun. hmmm...

i was planning on doing a whole cook-up tonight with roast chicken, homemade bread an all, but considering p & b are going out for dinner to celebrate it'll have to wait for saturday lunch... i wonder what i'll make for dinner for one... speaking of which, i'll be moving out by myself at the end of the year, which i'm rather looking forward to... i'll be moving my piano in with me and it also means that i'll have an excuse to get a pet. heh heh... single twenty something, plays piano, has cat... gotta love it ;)