Big-boy food!

Yip. Jamie’s started solids. We were anticipating a bit of a mission trying to teach him to swallow, but it seems he’s been watching how I demolish a plate of food, and was in no doubt. So as of right now, he’s had 4 delectable maize-smoodge meals. Not bad!

Speaking of food, we had some pretty good Taco’s the other night with friends, one of whom is off to the beautiful coast of Hrvatska (Croatia) in a months time. Turns out she’s doing the same route with the same cruise company as we did, so of course I was delighted to offer rememories and advice and stuff… but OH! The delirium of my memories! We had such a wonderful holiday (photos of which I’m still planning on putting up here), and yet it’s so far away it feels like another life. At least with Google Earth I can relive to my heart’s content!

Anyway, it’ll be Settlers and takeaways tonight, courtesy of The Oosties. Can’t wait. And I also can’t wait because I’ve now ordered our own Cities & Knights, due back from the US in about 3 weeks.

PS: I’m already feeling guilt-ridden about my depression-session last-blog. Sigh… I could always go and hit the delete key?

Having a bad day?

Having just had to move my car twice in 5 minutes, because certain people fail to park cleverly in our work parking bay, I’m now in a lousy frame of mind. Which is allowed every once in a while.

And what better day than today, because I’ve sure got several things to moan about. Last night Jan and I are watching TV, and it’s all military and Whoo-hoo-patriotic USA etc, when something rat-tat-tat-tat catches my attention. Was it on the TV? I mute the TV, tell Jan to listen, but of course, it’s quiet. So we keep watching, despite an uncomfortable feeling that I’d just heard automatic weapons. Oh, and of course just for gags, we’ve still got to move the Clio into the garage, so I follow Jan outside to protect against the ‘baddies with machine guns’ and stand guard at the gate with a ‘giant frikken’ laser beam’ or something to fend them off.

First thing I read at work this morning is a neighbourhood Crime Alert newsletter which informs me that an innocent bystander was shot dead, point-blank last night outside the Lakeside SPAR because he looked like a policeman. Who shot him? Oh I don’t know – one of the 8 robbers armed with pistols and assault rifles who had popped in to fill their wallets. Did they get away? Of course! In hijacked cars? Of course! After robbing the drivers? Yip. Were more people harmed? No, and only by God’s grace, since they were collecting stray bullets out of car-headrests, deli walls etc. (News item)

So I’m actually pissed off. I’m sick and tired of reading about these brazen criminals who control the land. South Africa is so capable of going forward, but we seem to be intent on going backwards because we don’t understand how to prosecute and punish the people we DO catch. And of course criminals are protected by our super-dooper constitution. But you know. Who’s listening?

You want more? OK – my (now ex-) peanut butter at work was mouldy. Since I’d still no cash in my wallet since our empty-wallet-session last weekend, I was forced to rely on my frozen-bread-toasted with-healthy-peanut-butter routine.
So yeah. Frozen-bread-toasted today. Not great.

AND the fuel price is going up again.
AND I haven’t flown heli-heli for a helli-helli long time.
AND I feel like an ungrateful punk moaning like this despite having a great life. Like I said. It’s allowed once in a while.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Supababe’s birthday! We’re completely bushed after what can only really be described as yesterday’s revolving-door-tea-circus-party-a-thon-ation. Rain scuppered the plans to picnic at Groot Constantia, so Plan B kicked into action which loosely involved about 40 people dropping in throughout the course of the afternoon (ie gradually, in a gradual fashion, over a period of gradually passing time…), starting at 1:30. By noon we’d already served the first coffee, and the excitement continued until about 11:15pm, when an impromptu Settlers game finally concluded! What contributed to the mania was two definite ‘periods’ of visitors – multitudes descending like hordes with more-or-less military precision, bringing fine gifts, conversations and children!

Mr Dishwasher (yes, the machine) did three almost full loads yesterday, which by any account is quite impressive. What was also impressive is that a very large portion of the catering had been hand-baked by none-other than mom-on-duty-Supababe during the week.

Anyway. What lark, and we’d do it all again. It’s always fun seeing so many people at a time, but one can’t help noticing the absence of many friends (and eine-kleine-family-member) who’ve disappeared into the Northern hemisphere in search of… um. Gee. Beats me!?

So we’re off to lunch now, out with Jamie-boy who’s an absolute joy at the moment. (Just thinking, if I had a $Z for all the millions of smiles he’s dishing out… nah. Don’t think that’s a good trade…). I’ll update the photo’s tomorrow, and am still trying to figure out the best way of just popping in a few ‘general interest’ photos. Do I dedicate a whole gallery to that stuff, or subdivide events or what?

So yeah – here’s to my wonderful wife! Happy Birthday!

Don’t know why (?!) these are sorted weird, but the joke of our outing was that  we arrived at Chart Farm, ready for a kick-ass spoil of a lunch, and then discovered that they don’t take cards. So after looting the car, the seats, our pockets, wallets, Jamie’s bag, under the table etc, we scraped R77.05 together, which just afford two quiches and a tip. No drinks nadda! Memories are made!

Anyway, the evening ended with a re-watch of the brilliant U2 Elevation in Boston. Can’t go wrong ending a birthday with that! Thanks to all who made her day so special!

Beautiful beyond description

You know. Blogging may be one way of expressing creativity and beauty, but why duplicate effort? I mean, if you’ve got something like this on your CV, does one really need a blog too?!

Jamie’s fifth month

Motion-blur

Where have I been you ask? Well, Jan and I have had quite a humdinger! We’ve entertained solidly from Thursday last week to last night, more of the same from here till Sunday. We’ve introduced 5 new Settlers to Catan (NEWSFLASH! On our own board!!), completed LOST season 1, attended a rare Jamie-in-tow church service, cooked mean Porterhouse, learnt how to fold, just normal stuff! But I did nearly go to war…

Updated: Jamie’s 4th month gallery and new Month 5.

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Procrastination is a virtue

I have… arggh… just… resisted; the: temptation to write _ a long blog during — {work hours}.

Floyding Pink

Twelve torturous years after it was recorded, I finally own the Pink Floyd PULSE concert on DVD. And man-oh-man, it is worth the wait. The visuals are unfortunately not all that much better than the VHS we used to watch, since it was video’d, not filmed, but the sound is unparalleled and crystal clear – a terrific accomplishment.

Too bad they took so long though – one wonders whether Syd had just grown tired waiting? Also in the news is that U2′s ZooTV is finally being released to DVD. I wonder how much further off Popmart is?

Jamie-tv

Well, I know these have been all trumped up and so on because they’ve taken so long, so they’re bound to disappoint, but he’s still a star-studded cast member. Hope you enjoy them…

Jamie’s Journey #1 (WMF)
Daydreamer (QT)
Happiness of Nappiness (just a little extra, QT)

One Pablo Bummer

I’m narked. Bummed. All bleak. So he may have lost his shine a little in the last few races (despite his shiny set of wheels) but I didn’t expect Montoya’s dismal performance at US GP to be his last F1 start. And heading to NASCAR? Didn’t see that coming! That sucks.

Anyway, I suspect that F1 has lost something. And No. I can’t say exactly what. I know he’s had numerous critics – not least of half of my friends and colleagues – but the fact that he’s starred in so many discussions is already something. I mean, I don’t start many conversations about Ralf or Monteiro or anything…

So bummed I am. Since we can’t afford DSTV with it’s ESPN cover, I guess I’ve seen the last of Juan Pablo on my screen for a long time. Unless I unearth some of my videos of his feistier days ontrack. So long and good luck.

Foiled again!

Last night was a blast. Jan and I were up at 3am attending to a pretty funny situation. Not once did our young son decide to use his nappy-changing opportunity to pee all over couch, mom and carpet, but twice. As if those hadn’t been adequate targets, he managed to shrapnel his new nappies lying next to him both times, dispatching about four nappies in as many minutes.

Minutes later he hurled his milk up all over mom, some tiles and another carpet. So by that stage it had become hilarious, and we were both celebrating his timing and magnificent abilities.

So, life is never boring – even in the middle of the night. I’m told by my amused wife that a night or two ago, I asked her to high-five me while I explained the contents of a totally whack dream which I insisted was cold, hard fact. I cannot remember any portion of this. But I digress.

But this morning, at work. The flash disk. Was corrupt. Again. Each time I was awake last night, I was dutifully rendering videos and copying gallery files to the thing, planning on unleashing a mind-numbing array of bright and wonderous images to the web-galleries today. But I have been foiled again.

I predict that it’s pending demise will be blindingly quick and violent.

Home is where the heart is…

Well, I’ve been off work sick for nearly two weeks, and today marks the illustrious return to my desk. It’s been OK, but I certainly valued the time at home with the family, so I guess their absence is the low point today. Jamie’s becoming a real pal. OK, he’s not much good with bikes, or R/C or anything yet, but he’s always up for a good chat and is absolutely hilarious to listen to. He’s also realised that people are more fun than wind-up toys, so he’s a little bit more of a time-challenge at the moment.

I spent a good portion of my sick-leave coughing and sniffing my way through editing DV videos, so I certainly hope to have something up for download in the not-too-distant future. My problem is definitely absolutely certainly that I fiddle on perfection for too long, when it’s not always necessary. Anyway, it’s been quite strange because most of the video has been birth-day video, and Jamie’s now 4 months!

Other than that, LOST has captured Jan’s and my mind and I’ve grown completely obsessed. As usual, we’re a little behind the times, but we’ve now almost finished the first season, and oooh… I LOVE IT! Jan pretends she’s not obsessed, but I think it’s just a cover. How do I know? Because she’s always up for a late night ponder when she should be sleeping.

But now I must work. Hope to be posting a little more often here. Also, Jamie’s gallery will now officially move to here, and is currently up at jamie.rg.co.za, but will probably become incorporated in here soon. This is taking a long time because my STUPID memory stick is forever getting corrupt. Grrrr.

Jamie’s fourth month