I know, I know, the posts this month have been far and few between. I’ve had a lot on my mind since last month and my blog has taken a little bit of a back seat.

As you by now know, May brought some news that rocked the boat. I’ve now spent two weeks at the new company and it’s been a good and productive two weeks. It’s the usual work your butt off at the new company to prove yourself time for me, hopefully for the last time. It’s not the end though, I’ve got 3 months worth of work ahead of me and hopefully things will go well.

This weekend started off with a bang around 4pm on Friday. The bang being the sound of automatic gunfire and grenades going off. No, South Africa hasn’t turned into a war-zone but the network at the company did. We had a round of playing network computer games against each other, with even some of management getting involved in the action. It was a lot of fun and was a nice ice-breaker getting into a new company but by 10:30 that evening I’d had enough and packed up to head home.

A friend of ours was down for business this week and she stayed with us from Thursday evening. A little after I got home she arrived after visiting friends and asked whether or not I was keen on going to the rugby game on Saturday (British & Irish Lions vs Western Province) as she had organised two tickets from her brother. Now, I’m no sports fanatic but as of late I’ve been getting more and more into watching and enjoying a few rugby matches so I said, yeah I was keen.

British & Irish Lions vs South African Western Province team on Saturday 13th June 2009

It was my first trip to the rugby stadium in the area I grew up (sad, I know) and it started off with us walking (briskly) in the rain and sitting in the rain for the first few minutes of the match (hence the blurry quality of the photo, as well as having taken it with my mobile phone). There was a lot of kicking going on in the game and I almost wondered if we were watching a soccer match and not a rugby one. Eventually the game picked up pace and with 3 minutes left of the second half Western Province scored their only try of the match bringing the score to an even 23 all. The Lions finished us off with getting their last penalty of the match through the uprights winning 26-23. I’m actually keen now to go and watch some more games – so watch this space.

Today we had family over for Melissa’s up-coming 7th birthday on Wednesday with home-made waffles and sweets. All in all a quiet and chilled weekend which is very welcome. Let’s see what the rest of the week brings. I’ll do my best to try and get a few more posts up soon.

We now have two rabbits (Spikey and Snowey), a Golden Retriever (Max), a cat (Spookie) and now my wife’s Mother’s Day present has arrived, Laki, the orange Canary!

Two of my kids, sitting in a tree, s.. m.. i.. l.. i.. n.. g! They grow up so fast, don’t they?

Taken on Sunday, while celebrating Mother's Day at my brother's place.

So we’re in to the 5th month of 2009 – how did we get here so quickly? It was just the other day New Years day and look where we are now. People laugh at me when I say after January, six months of the year are gone!

April’s been a busy month, rushing to get my project at work launched (which we did last week) before going on leave. Perfectly timed, yes, since this week, in South Africa, this past Monday and tomorrow (erm, today), Friday, are public holidays – so a 9-days off for only 3 days worth of leave.

I’ve tried to do as little as possible on my time off, which includes sleeping in some mornings (after helping Dina with the kids) and just bumming about, checking my RSS feeds, posting a few blog posts and playing some CS.

Speaking of CS, you have the option to either play on a Counter Terrorist or Terrorist team – so, what does it say about me if I do better playing as a Terrorist (uh-oh, I said Terrorist 3 times already, make that 4, on my blog post – the FBI, CIA and Interpol will have a field day with me today)?

Rebecca, our youngest (almost 3) has been taking swimming lessons for a couple months now (they pick the kids up from the creche and take them for swimming lessons and bring them back) and I really wanted to see for myself what it was like and how she was handling it – she’s always excited about it when we ask her how it went. So I tagged along yesterday when they picked up the kids.

It’s quite an experience – but the kids all seem to thoroughly enjoy themselves. They all dash off to one end of the pool where the benches are and begin to strip – right down to their birthday-suits. Then they run off to the other side of the pool where two staff members help them get into their swimming costumes – shame has no place here! They then each wait their turn as 3 teachers in the pool take them for their lessons – the younger kids get individual attention and the older ones that can keep themselves afloat are taught in groups. It looked like so much fun, I found myself feeling a little envious. It’s a heated and indoor pool so they can teach the kids all year round, which makes for an excellent business. They teach the kids very early on what it’s like going completely underwater and getting to the side quickly to get out – in case they ever fall in – and it also helps getting rid of that fear of their head/face going in the water. Rebecca’s coming along nicely and we’re hoping to get a spot for Melissa our eldest (almost 7) soon as the space for the older kids was already full when we wanted to book her in too. For me, being able to swim is an important life-lesson, which I feel is a must for everyone.

Today I picked up Melissa after school and took her to her weekly ballroom/Latin dance classes and I was mighty impressed (and again a little envious). Melissa has taken to dancing just like she took to water when she first swam. She listens carefully to what her instructor, Andre says and she picks up the steps very quickly – that little sponge of a brain of hers absorbs almost everything and it amazes me at how many steps she remembers.

She went through a number of her dances (boogie, cha-cha, jive, tango, waltz, foxtrot, jazz, 2-step, box rumba)  today doing level 1 and 2 steps. She should be doing her level-2 exam in June or July and then she can start learning level 3 steps and work on her styling. We only got about half-way through level-3 steps when we gave up our contract so that Melissa could go and dance instead. Check out her previous match-dance if you’ve not seen it already which took place last year (and here were her results).

This evening I helped Dina with some “remodeling” in Rebecca’s room to make more practical cupboard space. Tomorrow should hopefully be a chilled and relaxing day since the grandparents picked up the kids this afternoon so at least we can sleep in tomorrow morning without worrying about the kids waking us up early. Saturday we’re going to do a little wine-tasting with friends, so we’re all looking forward to that which will be concluded with lunch at one of the wine-farms. Not sure yet what Sunday will bring. 

That is all

Melissa attended her first day of “big school” (grade 1) yesterday and here’s a pic in her uniform with her brand-spanking-new suitcase to boot:

"I'm a big, big girl, in a big, big world...."

You can now locate your child via GPS. What’s new you ask? That’s old news, my kid has a mobile phone that they can’t live without and it has GPS, I hear you say?

Well, kids being kids, they tend to lose things. So then how do you find them? Well a tech firm, Loc8U, is launching its GPS tracker wrist-watch for kids. It is activated as soon as it is securely fastened to the child’s wrist and is shock- an water-proof. If the child manages to remove it, it sends a text message to your mobile with their exact position and a Google maps image of their location. The company offering the service also allows geo-fencing, which allows you to mark an invisible boundary which if the child crosses will also alert you via a text message on your mobile.

Something similar was launched at CES in 2006 but it was more of a push technology, allowing kids to call home/mom/dad. Whereas this version allows for passive/active tracking by parents.

Here’s a sample video of the num8 in action ast CES-2009:

Is it too big-brotherly? Will kids feel like parolees with parents knowing their every move? I don’t know about you, but I’m not the type of parent to leave my kids unattended anywhere, but with kidnappings, maybe this might help? What do you think? [via news24]

Just before the new year our cat, Spookie, simply disappeared without a trace. She’s gone missing once before but that was just for a little over a day as she managed to get stuck up a tree and was too small and not nimble enough to get down on her own.

Like clockwork she’s up with us in the morning’s walkiing with one of us to the kitchen to get her breakfast. We called the SPCA, local Vet in our area but no one had spotted her, nor had anyone brought her in.

This evening, almost a week after she went missing, the neighbour came knocking on our door, asking us if we were perhaps missing our cat. They have a granny flat (with 6ft high walls)  in their back garden, with it’s own enclosed garden and she had managed to get in, with no way out, since the flat resident was away. 

They heard the insistent meowing and when I jumped over the wall into the garden I found her hiding in a corner. We’re glad she’s joined us again and she’s very happy that she can get some much needed water and food again. 

All’s well that ends well!

We had a great Christmas with family at our house, with way too much food. A few days later it was new year’s eve and we spent it with friends eating delicious oxtail potjiekos, drinking quite a bit and playing texas hold’em till 4 in the morning. Only to get up 5 hours later, get ready to go to the folks for new year’s day lunch with family. It feels like we’ve been eating non-stop for the last week! Now it’s over and we’re winding down as we head on to the weekend before the first week of work starts.

2009 is going to be the year, I just know it. My wife read my horoscope for the new year and it said this was going to be my year and things are going to look really good for me financially. Well, lets hope that works out, I’ve been working hard at it for the last week and a half, in preparation Watch this space!

We attended our kids’ creche’s graduation ceremony last night. It’s hard to believe how quicky the last 4+ years have gone. Melissa (now 6) is growing up quickly and next year she’ll be going to Grade 1.

Rebecca (2) received her certificate for the year. Lighting is terrible at the front of the stage.

The graduating class walked in pairs from the back of the hall towards the stage holding candles while Josh Grobin’s song “You Raise Me Up” was playing – perfectly selected to give you that lump in your throat.

We’re also very proud of Melissa and her best-friend, Elzaane, for sharing the floating trophy award for being the top performing students of their class. My wife’s sentiments can be read here.

Elzaane and Melissa

You can view the music video below of Josh Grobin performing “You Raise Me Up”.

If the weather we had this weekend was any indication of what our summer is going to be like, it’s going to be hot!

We had our company braai this Saturday out in Tokai and it was a very enjoyable event. Everyone brought their partners/spouses along and those that had kids brought them too. We had a great braai, with some very, very tasty lamb-chops and boerewors. The kids thoroughly enjoyed swimming in the pool (very refreshing after standing in-front of a hot fire in the sun), while some of the others played cricket and threw frisbees around.

Sunday we had my brother and his wife together with our parents over for lunch to celebrate my dad’s 63^rd birthday this past week. The weather looked a bit daunting in the morning but it cleared up nicely in the afternoon. While the kids played outside on their new jungle gym we played some friendly Texas Hold’em. Why is it when you bring a new player into the game, they inevitably end up cleaning everyone out?

All in all, a great weekend, nice and relaxing – now back to the grindstone for the week ahead!