Well today marks the end of the second semester of studying for 2010! Now I can focus on the good things in life without distraction! Results are only out on the 21st December 2010 - just more proof that UNISA are lazy (my opinion of course).
"Well I just heard the news today,
seems my life is gonna change
I close my eyes and begin to pray
then tears of joy stream down my face
With arms wide open.
Well, I don't know,
if I am ready
To be the man
I have to be"
Creed
The news I received was that I have a new job starting on Thursday 4th November 2010. It was a scary phone call to receive knowing the the number on the screen. Ultimately, I had to take it and it has changed my life! I obviously took the offer.
I have a lot to learn over the next couple of months but I believe that with much prayer and guidance - I can do it!
I would like to thank Nexia Levitt Kirson for everything they have taught me and the opportunity they afforded me to do my articles. A special thank you goes to those people at NLK over the last 5 years who took the time to help and teach me when other just did not! I will always be thankful to you for that time spent with me - you know who you are.
Tyefield-Gibson Commitment ceremony - Hogsback Eastern Cape
We were invited to a very private commitment ceremony on the weekend. Only about 40 - 50 people were invited to The Edge at Hogsback in the Eastern Cape for the commitment ceremony of Sue Tyefield and Ally Gibson. We elected to drive to the wedding as flying was just too expensive.
Too long!!
It has been a long time since I updated this page! There have been a couple of events that I need to upload and tell the world about.
A lot of Durban was in darkness yesterday morning (31 August). Something in the main line went down leaving me to get up and go cycling in the dark! I know that 5:30 am is normally dark but without street lights its really much darker! There was a huge area out too so there was no other light. The only place with lights on was Gateway as they never turn off their lights!
It was a really good ride too which made it even more worth the effort!
The long weekend in September will never be the same again! Last year, we went camping at Umlalazi on the north coast of KZN. the Sunday morning we woke to the sounds of runners along the road next to the campsite. On further investigation, it turns out it was an organised run of 16km. So this year after having trained a bit more - I had the idea of entering!
I had been training on and off and I entered the race. The weekend before I did a training run of about 8,5 km but was really sore afterwards with some knee pain. Thankfully it eased up before the weekend. I only realised that I had made a big mistake when we saw the route! It involved trail running and a beach run.
The race started on the Sunday and about 90% of the first 6km was off road. OUCH!! the first 6 km we did in 48 minutes! very slow. from then the next 5 km was on road. It was on this section that I saw a guy with his shoulder strapped up in a sling - running! I caught up to him and spent the next 3 or 4 km talking to him. He was in a motor bike accident and has no feeling in his left arm. I also found out that he enters all sorts of sports events ranging from mountain bike races to running races to road cycling races!! Hats off to you Darren - what an inspiration!
I finished the race in about 2:09 hours and was very sore and stiff with many blisters. I did however really enjoy it and even though I lost three toe nails in the process - I will probably enter next year. Thank you to the organisers for a great race all round!
Congratulations go to my older brother and his wife, Sarah, on the arrival of the first child. Charlotte Bridget Laister was born this morning (28 July 2010) at about 06:41 am (UK time). This is the first of the next Laister generation to arrive.
In Durban, even during winter, the weather is not all that cold but sometimes there are exceptions. Today is one of those exceptions!! It started yesterday evening - very cold. Cold enough to use the heater in the car which very seldom is used. It was cold enough to enjoy washing the dishes because the water was warm! Well this morning I was supposed to get up and go cycling. I got up and went and it was a very crap ride. It was too cold. It was a ride that is going to be labelled a WTF was I thinking ride. I do not even know what speed I was doing as it was dark. I went and I am sure that counts for something, somewhere.
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UK Page loaded.....
I have made the link available to the story of our UK trip. Its certainly not finished but is a working progress and will be added to as much as I can get to it. I have loaded it unfinished because I have realised that if I do not put it up and add to it - I would never finish it and no one would ever know.
I have been away for the last 2 weeks in the UK. We had a fantastic time and took so many photos (about 3000 or 9,5 Gb). I will be creating a page dedicated to the trip shortly with loads of photos (not all though) and some of the events that took place whilst we were there.
I pretty much always wear shorts. I live in Durban and it is normally warm enough all year round to wear shorts. I went looking for a couple of pair the other day and in the whole of Gateway I found about 2 shops with shorts in them. Mr Price had a massive variety of 2 pairs (thats if you are a size 28!) and Woolworths always have a rack of their standard shorts. I am talking about decently priced shorts not upwards of R 400 a pair.
We went yesterday to Mr Price Sport and they again had a massive selection of 2 pairs!! In the golf section there was no shorts at all!
Come on guys, this is Durban and its warm enough to wear a pair of shorts all year round in Durban so please stock your shops with shorts!!HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
The road to hell is paved with good intensions?
On studying my auditing study guide as issued by UNISA, there was a glaring error in spelling. Intensions!!!! The lectures admittedly are from deepest darkest Bulls country (Pretoria) and there gramma may well be shocking at the best but is there any excuse for spelling errors? It begs the question Who educated the educators?
Just bear in mind that these lecturers are highly educated and often have 2 sometimes 3 degrees!
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Over the last couple of months I have noticed a disturbing trend. We went to Gateway to the food court to be exact and I noticed that people are just getting bigger in fact massive. I think most people are a little overweight (not all though!) but I would say about more than half there that night could loose about 20 30 kg! The Gass family (Lar and Hugh) clearly is growing by the day. The terrible thing is that kids (younger than 12 years) are as big! Surely as a parents you realise that your child is larger than they should be and cut down on the coke and sweets. Another thing though the large adults were being followed by large kids so no guessing what goes on there!
Well another weekend has come and gone! The year is flying past at a rate of knots and the only problem with that is EXAMS ARE NOW NEXT WEEK AAAAARRGGGHH! I have been studying so its not a major problem but exams are never nice to write even if you have prepared properly.
The next two months are crazy crazy crazy! Here is the itenary:
10 - 12 May 2010 (study leave with exam on 12th)
14 May 2010 Exam
15 May 2010 Happy birthday to me!
17 - 18 May 2010 (study leave with exam on 18th)
27 - 28 May 2010 (study leave with exam on the 28th finishing at 4:30pm)
29 May 2010 Fly out to the UK
14 June 2010 Land in SA again
16 June 2010 Public holiday
17 - 20 June 2010 Chrysalis Boys walk.
On Monday, I was asked to do some banking for my company. Being a Monday and the day before a public holiday - I accepted (also because of the travel claim too). I went off to Westville mall - the closest Nedbank to our offices to cash a cheque and do some deposits as well as go to ABSA to deposit one cheque.
Nedbank at first were very friendly and efficient until they said (after taking my drivers license) - take a seat and it will not take long at all. There were 2 fundamental errors with the statement - (1) there were no chairs and (2) I was still waiting after 30 minutes!!! I know they had to phone the office for clearance that I am employed here etc etc but that only took 1 minute (I asked when I got back).
I went to ABSA after that and it took longer to get in and out than to deposit the cheque! Top notch efficiency!
Recap since the last post
Its been a while and I do apologize for the delay in the posting of any updates. Its actually not really my fault. I qualify this statement with this reason. My computer screen died and I had to send I to Acer in Joburg to get it fixed. This was quite a mission. When an Acer dies (only the 3rd problem I have had with my machine) you phone Acer and log a call and receive a case-ID number. They then come and collect the machine from wherever you want and courier it to Joburg. I did this Thursday / Friday 11 / 12th March. I then waited and on the Tuesday received a sms saying that my case-ID number was . I phoned Acer and asked what was wrong with the old case-ID number. They said that the serial number of the machine was incorrect on the first call so they had to relog the call! IT took 2 days to do this. WTF!
Anyway, I eventually received a quote for the repair and instantly vomited on the page all over the column that ended in R 2 919.11!! So this is why I have not been posting messages on my website.
MORE UPDATE!
I have subsequently to this info bought a new laptop - yes its an Acer!! Acer still have mine in JHB and are "waiting for a part" WHATEVER!
Another first
Yet another first was enjoyed on Easter Friday. I got to ride on the tandem with my dad for the first time. It was short ride of just over 10 km and was along the Durban beach front. It was really cool to get out and have some fun on the bike. Having mainly ridden the tandem with Carrie it was very different to have my dad on the back. It was good fun anyway.
First ride with a family member
Last night earmarked the first ride of my cycling career with a family member other than on a tandem. My parents have bought mountain bikes so myself and my dad took to the road last night for a short ride. As we live on the top of a hill, we thought it best to put the bikes on the bike rack and drive to the bottom of the hill and start off on probably one of the flattest roads in our area. As I said, it was a short ride but it was fun anyway and I am sure that it is the first of many many more in the future.
