January 2010

 

Great song and movie to watch!

I have mentioned Third Day - the Christian rock band before on this site. I really really enjoy listening to them and the more and more I do listen to them - the more I appreciate the musicianship and their awesome song writing ability. Here is the link to a video of one my favourite Third Day songs - Cry out to Jesus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAk8KBjB6Mo 

Go and have a look at it - its a really uplifting song and they have added some really powerful pictures to it.

Going to have my moan now!
I do not know how other places work but if I do not do my job to a satisfactory standard - I get my boss and or my manager on my case about it pretty quickly and I have to fix it. Clearly it does not like that in the Durban Municipality! Outside our house house we have a grass verge that has to be cut periodically and it was almost a metre high before they cut it the other day. I realise that they are busy with important other things like eating lunch and striking for more pay but when you cut grass 1. You should cut it with a lawn mower and not a weed wacker thing so its all rough the same length and 2. Clear the cut grass up afterwards! Well they did neither and the resultant situation is the verge is all differing lengths and looks shabby but worse than that is that they have left the grass cuttings which have gone all over the road and looks terrible. The problem is that the cut grass is now dead and stopping the grass underneath from growing properly!
GOOD JOB DURBAN MUNICIPALITY - NOT!!
 

So much loving too...

Third Day sing in one of their songs - "There is so much hatred in this world but there is so much loving too". I love that line and decided to dedicate a page to being more positive! Click here to see it. Please send me stuff (via email) that you think is positive and I may put it up if I think its suitable.

Another day trip...

On Saturday afternoon we decided to get out of the house. I had been in the books all morning so Carrie decided I needed a break. We headed off to botanic gardens. We like trips there because we have quite a lot of history there dating back to our tech days. We went to the tea garden and had tea and scones and went for a walk around the gardens. It was very pleasant and a very nice break! It is always so peaceful and one would never guess that you are in the middle of the city. We took some photos but they are still on the camera but will come soon!

From the gardens, we headed off to the beach. From our house we have a choice of beaches within driving distance. Furthest away are the town beaches (from blue lagoon onwards) and Umhlanga. The three closest are Glenashley, Virginia and Beachwood. We have been recently to Glenashley and Beachwood so we decided to go to Virginia beach because it was the closest to our house on the way home. We got onto the beach and discovered a very depressing sight - the beach was incredibly dirty, there were loads of cars on it (illegally or legally I do not know) and the litter was overwhelming! The beach was so bad that we decided that home was better and we left. I do not know why this beach is so disgusting because its in between  the other two and they are clean and very nice to walk along. The only litter on those beaches is natural debris which is fine to walk over.

So we chilled at home for a bit. Then we decided to treat ourselves to dinner so we headed off to Westwood Mall and the Spur there. As usual the place was pretty dead but the food was fantastic and the service was good too. All in all a good day trip.

 

Credit is now given where due!

We have a tea lady in our office who is amazing and I will give her credit for at least one (amongst others) thing here! Her ability to make so many cups of tea and coffee with the exact specifications everyday, in fact, twice a day is, to me, mind blowing! I see her regularly line up about 25 mugs and cups belonging to the different people in the office. The line is like 1.5 metres long! Yet not concerned about the mass of cups each with all different specifications, she goes about making each one perfectly! I have never had a problem in like 2 years that she has been there and the only problems have come form people who are known to pick faults even when nothing is wrong!

In contrast to other places that I have worked at where, despite being told that I would love a cup of tea with milk and no sugar, I GOT COFFEE WITH 2 SUGARS!! So I am giving credit where it is due because its awesome to get a great of tea twice a day delivered to your desk! She may never read this but even still thank you - your hard work is appreciated!

 

Awesome News from family in the UK!!

I got an sms today with the most amazing news this week from my older brother Guy in the UK. His wife, Sarah, is pregnant with their first child! they got married last but managed to get pregnant first. After the necessary scans and blood tests - all the news is good so far. The preliminary due date is towards the end of July.

Congratulations go out them both!!

Ever get that feeling?

Have you ever got that feeling that you are either being watched or followed? Following today - I am certain that I am getting both watched and followed! Not a cool feeling but going to be a great game to play.

 

Gate crashing pictures!

After the passport adventure we headed off to Galleria in toti for coffee. It is a long way to go to get coffee but we had ulterior motives!! we went to Mugg & Bean and had too much coffee and then got hold of Mark and Nicole to see if we could go and see them and. of course, Rebecca. I was super happy when they said they were at home and willing to see us. We went on the way home and sat with them which was very cool. it seemed like it was about half an hour that we were there but it was closer to 2 hours! Nicole is doing great and recovering well and Mark is settling into fatherhood well too. Rebecca is simply amazing in my eyes - too much for words in fact and seemingly progressing faster than I would have thought so its all good there! I have to say this - I do not feel confident holding little babies and prefer not too but while we were there Carrie got to hold her and managed to get me to have her on my lap which cool and required concentration of note but Rebecca was well behaved too. We got some photos when we were there so here some of them are:

 

Thank you to Mark and Nicole for letting us gate crash!

8 out of 10!

That is what I would give home affairs in Umgeni Road, Durban! Strange but true. Carrie had to get another passport due to a change in her surname. We are going to the UK in June so we had to do it sometime soon because we also have apply for a visa too due to new over strict, although relatively understandable laws. There were basically two choices that we had in order to get the job done. 1. Pay extra and get an agent to do it for us or 2. go to the nearest home affairs and sit in the queue ourselves.

Due to the current financial situation we decided to do it ourselves. This meant getting up early on Saturday morning and heading off to home affairs in Umgeni road and sitting in the queue. I thought that it was going to take about 2,5 hours at least and was ready for a long morning. Boy, was I wrong!! We got there and got photos, which was an experience in itself, and got the form to fill in and joined the queue just in time before about 20 people joined behind us. The only things I would take those 2 points away  from home affairs for are: 1. The queuing system is not orderly at all! I think they should take a leaf out of SARS Durban's book with the ticket system in that you get a ticket with a number and you get called up when it gets to your number. 2. The place needs more signs as to where to go and in what order. We eventually figured out that you have to go to the counter first then pay and then go to get your photo on record.

All in all though is was a 'efficient-ish' system that clearly works and now we wait for the passport to arrive. We got out of the place about 45 minutes so it was not a long morning at all! I repeat 8 out of 10!

 

Send your comments!

If you have any comments (suggestions) on the posts that I put on the website - send me an email and tell me! I have not put on comments below each post mainly due to internet security issues that can arise. Do not send me spam otherwise I will take measures against it!

South African Rugby Double Standards.

It's going to be a bit of a dodgy topic I realize that but I have to comment on it. If you had read the link below - read it here and make your own mind before reading my opinion. My opinion is this. This is a doping offense therefore he should be banned for at least some time - normally its 2 years. What stands out in my mind is this.

1. This is not his first offense! It was swept under the carpet and "sorted out" - CLEARLY NOT! Strike two comes along and the Bulls with "sort it out" again! Rubbish! Ban the guy. I do not care about who he plays for. If it were a sharks player - I, as a fan, would be upset naturally but would stand by the ruling of ban him if guilty.

And 2. Just because he 'admitted to it' means its okay?? So if someone kills someone and then admits to it then he must not get sent to jail? That's absolute stinking rubbish!

Also 3. Two other players in the last 5 years have been caught for doping and have been banned for 2 years - Double standards are clearly evident in South Africa and only begs the question of how much more is going on in the the South African rugby administration that the public do not know about?

I believe that cycling in Europe can teach rugby in South Africa a lesson in drug abuse control. The cycling fraternity are not perfect but clearly they know how to enforce consistent rules.

Pictures! Baby Pictures!!

They have finally arrived! I had to ask Mark if it would be okay to put pictures on the internet of Rebecca Lyn. He said I could - thank you! Most of you would have seen them on Facebook but here they are anyway! She was only hours old!

 

Traffic has come back / first day back to school!!

Being the first day back at school involves ALL parents to take their kids to school! So guess what? The traffic was horrendous - but why? In response to an earlier post - where do all the parents go?? My trip to work was not that bad actually but I did hear some horror stories about jams and time spent to get to work.

The other thing is this. I heard on the radio about kids going to school for the first time as we always do in January every year - fine. This morning I heard one parent say that he and his wife are taking the day off and celebrating the kids being away from them!! How rude! I do not have kids but surely you treasure every moment with them and want to spend time with them? Maybe not - who knows!

Been busy!

I do apologize for the lack of posts recently but I have been fairly pre occupied with work and exercising etc. I will be back soon with a number of things to say - I have a list of 4 at the moment so the site will full up quickly from tomorrow!

For a sneak preview - I have to have a say about the hypocrisy of this situation http://www.supersport.com/rugby/article.aspx?headline=Pedrie%20`lucky%20not%20to%20be%20banned`&id=329085 Go and have a look and see for yourself to make your mind up. Think cycling and the doping bans that occur there even in recreational drugs!

A new addition!

I am proud to be an uncle! The first time too! Rebecca Lyn Ward was born today! She was born just after 2pm today and was at home by the time I got there at about 5:30 pm!! Well done to Nicole and Mark! We went to see her tonight and we all were amazed at the fact that this little person was at home and very relaxed after only a couple of hours! She is beautiful!

Watch this space for more updates and possibly some photos.

 

Engineers Golf 9th January 2010

Saturday morning marked the first round of the Engineers golf season. This is a bunch of guys who get together every month at Umkomaas Golf Club and try and play golf (some do play golf while others just DO NOT). Its called "engineers" because it was started by a bunch of engineers at AECI in Umbogintwini roughly 54 years ago and they played at the golf course. Since the course was ripped up recently to build the Galleria shopping centre, the organizers took the decision to move the guys to Umkomaas GC.

The group does have engineers in it but has developed into a nice bunch of guys from all sides of Durban and the professional arena. The group is run by Alan Payne (my father-in-law) and he did a very good job on Saturday especially since it was his first time in charge since taking over at the end of last year. The competition on Saturday was a 4-ball alliance with 2 scores to count. For all those who do not understand - you are not alone. Basically, you add the best two scores out of the 4 people in the group together to get a total at the end.

This was my first game of golf since April 2009 so the fact that I could actually hit the ball and survive the walk around the course is a miracle in itself! I was playing off a 12 handicap. I would normally play to about a 16 but because there are now special handicap rules for alliance competitions - I had to play off a 12. I got off to a flyer start and scored 10 points in the first 5 holes but faulted from there and landed up on 26 points with a gross score of 92. Considering how much I have played, I am very happy and look forward to playing more this year especially with engineers.

A very cool picture

Yesterday an ex-colleague and friend of mine, Kim G, sent me (and others) an update email and also a few pictures. One of which I have to share because I think it is an awesome picture! It is of London from the plane as she flew into the airport. Thank you Kim!

An old foe rears its head..

I am sure that I am not alone on this one. I did a post with a word of the day in December on the word hypocrite and this week true to form it reared its ugly head again! There are people on this world that honestly believe that the are the only ones that ever do any work. They are always busy and never have any time for anything. You know these people! That is all true until they want to mess around and have a bit of a joke with the people in the office or friends who phone etc. I could not have any less time for these people even if I tried. They can think what they like and my theory is that as long as I do my job for the person to whom I report - then it does not matter. The problem comes in when the "always busy people" mess with this scenario. When I am talking crap to someone or whatever (I admit I do not work 100% of the time - NO ONE DOES) then the "always busy people" have a problem with that!

In other words, they can do whatever they want, when they want but when they see others do the same (even if at the same time) then its a huge issue, Hence my reference to the word Hypocrite! Unfortunately, my situation at the moment does not warrant me doing anything about it. This goes against my motto and plan of action for the year. YES it DOES bug and it bugs me alot! But this period is limited and will end!

If you want something done...

Yesterday morning, I went for the first cycling outing with the gears on my bike fixed. Man was I disappointed! It sounded like a train was being driven in the gearing mechanism of my bike!! I managed to complete the ride by using the gears that were not grinding away at my front derailleur but it was not a pretty sound. Let me say this now, I only took the bike to the professionals because I know there are certain things you do not touch yourself unless you know exactly what you are doing otherwise it will end up in disaster and the inevitable trip to the cycling shop anyway. Anyway, last night when I got home I took a look at the front derailleur to see if there was anything obviously wrong. When the bike shop said that they did a "wash and lube" I believed them but clearly they did not!! There was almost no lubricant on the back cassette and chain!! NOT GOOD!! So I put some on and the noise went away. The grinding noise from the front derailleur was a little more tricky but I managed to set it right. Moral of the story - If you want something done ... do it yourself!!

2.9786 out of 3!!

Man that was close!! For those still confused - I am talking about my goals for my Christmas break in terms of running and cycling. The .9786 comes from the 97.86 km I cycled - Close but not quite there. I am going to blame my gears and the puncture for missing this goal because if I had finished either one of those two rides I would have easily reached the target. I am over it - you can probably tell that though. The other score of 2 out of 3 was for the 2 runs of in excess of 6 km. Initially I thought that this is where I would fall down but clearly I was wrong (I love being wrong like this).

It was a good break from all angles and especially from an exercise point of view - its began a great year ahead from a really good base. Upwards and onwards!!

BL 06/01/2010

Plans for the year of 2010

So here they are - a long time in coming I know but here they are: My goals for 2010. These are not resolutions! They are broken into the major categories that I am involved in.
Study:
To pass all subjects taken in the first and second semester. Preferably all first time but this is very challenging but I am planning to pass them all first time. I am taking 4 subjects in the first semester and 4 in the second semester so 8 in all for the 2010 academic year!
Sport:
The plan is to do 4 sessions a week split up into 4 week cycles of 3 and 1. 3 weeks cycling as the focus and one week running as the focus.
During the cycling focus - I plan to cycle twice during the week with a longer ride on the weekend and one run midweek
During the run focus the opposite will be done.
 

Cycling: This is my first sporting love.
I plan to cycle 3000 km in 2010 which includes the tandem.
This equals 250km per month at an average of just over 60km per week.
I believe this is attainable if I maintain an even effort over the year.

There are 3 big distances being put into the plans

    - The Tour Durban in May (exams may disrupt this)*

    - The amashova shova in October (again exams may play a part)*

    - The tour of the South Coast in September (only my fitness will play a part here - I believe I will do it provided the winter training goes well)

* If exams do play a part - chances I complete the shorter "fun rides" of the first two races (45 and 38 km respectively)

Running: A newly acquired love for running, with the added benefit of making me stronger on the bike!
I plan to run over 450 km in 2010 with the longest run being a 15 or 16 km race sometime in the year.
I would like to run a half marathon in the future but 2010 is not the year to plan that sort of effort!

There are others but they escape me currently!
 

Sunday 3 January 2010

The agenda was full yesterday! First up was a run to complete my two runs of over 6km during the break. So at 6:30 am the alarm went off and I managed to get up and go. It was getting really warm by them but thank fully it was not completely sunny but more overcast. Details of the run are here. It went alright - not as fast as would have liked but the distance is in my legs now so its all good.

Next on the list of to-dos was church. I play the drums at church and Carrie does the sound so its and early start! This was a little special as we had a new member of the band on stage with us. Katherine is part of the junior band setup and when they did there thing for the Christmas presentation at church, she was sick so we made a plan to incorporate her hard work that she put in into the regular worship session. She did very well and was cool to see her up there and capable of playing with adults who have been playing in the band longer than she has been alive (she is nine next month).

From church it was a tight squeeze to get to the next engagement - the gathering!! This marked the first "gathering" of 2010. The term gathering is given to the meeting / gathering of the family members on Carries dads side of the family (I forget the surnames involved as there are many). Sundry other people come along to these awesome events. They are usually held at the house of Gordon and Margaret Ainsworth in Pinetown. The age range is massive and quite literally takes in the whole spectrum of ages. The youngest yesterday was about 18 months old and the oldest was, well, older than that!
They are the coolest events for a number of reasons. One of the reasons is that the parents of any kids can be pretty relaxed because there are at least 5 baby sitters willing to look after their kids while they relax! All the gatherings I have been too have involved the kids getting wet by means of a hose and some sort of fountain device on the end. Yesterday was no different except the hose had a normal sprinkler that spun on it. One little guy, Owen, took great pleasure in running around with just the hose spraying everybody (including unsuspecting adults) - I have never seen adults move so quickly! Other means of getting wet was the drinks ice bath which Jack (about 18 months old) just climbed into! Many other followed and also involved wetting adults by means of polystyrene cups (initially used to drink cool drink from). Before this went on the food arrived and there was enough to feed twice the number that were there (as per usual at a bring and braai) but as usual the food was awesome and was eaten by some very hungry people.

Much fun and good laughs were had with the great people that were there. Thank you to the hosts for (again) a fantastic time had by all! I certainly look forward to the next one!
 

BL 04/01/2010

More eating!

Today was good! It started with a trip to the Mount Edgecombe driving range to hit some balls with my dad, well actually it was a test to see if I can still play golf and see whether I can play this Saturday with a group of guys called "Engineers" without seriously injuring myself! Myself and my dad hit 50 hits balls each and Carrie and my mom sat at the Callaway Cafe (located at the driving range) drinking coffee. At first it was raining so we all had a cappuccino and by the time we had finished, it had stopped raining and we went to hit some balls. So far, my back has held up so its all go for Saturday! Watch this space for the tales of the round!

The afternoon was spent at my parents place and a braai with Carrie's parents. It was very pleasant and involved getting whipped at Trivial Pursuit!

While we were taking wood out for the fire from the pile in the garden - this guy popped out! I think we must have damaged his leg - I can only count 7?

 Although I should be full of energy and full of life - after the week of hard exercise and some tough little things going wrong - I am messed and ready to sleep! Sad but true! I have one more goal I have to achieve before work on Monday - another more than 6km run - will attempt it tomorrow morning before the gathering in the afternoon after church!

BL 02/01/2010

2010 cycling outings: 1 Punctures: 1!!

As part of my doing 100km in the Christmas break - I went cycling today. It was a day that involved two rides! The first was a tandem ride with Carrie. The first ride in along time went well. It was very hot in Durban this morning and we took it easy. The second ride of the day was later in the day (therefore hotter) from our house to Grans house in Toti. A ride that I have done numerous times before. It was going well with the Third Day Revelation album in my ears and newly tuned gears under me until I all of sudden felt a very distinct wobble of the front wheel! After almost crashing trying to slow down and go to the side of the road - I found a punctured front wheel. Never a problem - just an inconvenience! I whipped the wheel of and went for the saddle bag with the spare tyres in it - DOH! Its not there! I had taken it off when the bike went to get the gears fixed and never replaced it! OH DASH!

The phone call was made to my support crew (some of us normal people do not have cars following us to change a wheel in 18 seconds) consisting of Carrie on the way to Grans place. She detoured from the relative speed of the freeway to come fetch me! Thank you Carrie.

Do something about it!

This is officially my motto for 2010. Too often you see people (myself included) sitting around and saying negative stuff about this country or their jobs or their other halves etc and doing NOTHING ABOUT IT! Well I have had enough of this attitude and have decided that if you are not trying something (to the best of your ability) to change that situation in your life then you are just adding to the problem and you have no right to moan about it! If you are overweight (I am currently) then get off your couch and do something about it - stop eating badly! Having said that - if you are overweight and your are eating correctly and exercising then you can tell people about it but still try and change it because clearly you are not doing something to lose weight. I think you get the picture!

 

Happy New Year!!

To all who read this - 2010 is here and it is going to be good! May you have the year you have always wanted and achieve everything you ever dreamed of!

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