Tuesday, July 27, 2004
taking the next step
Why must starting a new business seem like such a daunting task?
Well I am going back to basics, some things I can do well. I have done this before on a smaller scale and failing was not such a big issue, not that I ever failed. This time around however I will have to employ some people, they will be dependent on me. Some things I will never know unless I try, even if it means I will be loosing a bundle along the way. Somehow I will regret it either way.
1. Not trying wondering if it was do-able.
2. Trying and failing regretting the money wasted.
Succeeding and being able to look back, or failing and smiling about the "dumb mistakes" I used to make. Only a wimp does not take any chances! This is no a chance but more a calculated risk. Breaking even will be the target. Focus on the target and do not get distracted. We all make mistakes, I better learn out of mine then!
Well after some time I decided that this was not what I wanted to do, I cannot start something if I am not totally committed to it. Yes it is do-able but the dedication was not there. I should stick to what I like, programming! Making a business out of it is tricky, but it should happen over time.
Well I am going back to basics, some things I can do well. I have done this before on a smaller scale and failing was not such a big issue, not that I ever failed. This time around however I will have to employ some people, they will be dependent on me. Some things I will never know unless I try, even if it means I will be loosing a bundle along the way. Somehow I will regret it either way.
1. Not trying wondering if it was do-able.
2. Trying and failing regretting the money wasted.
Succeeding and being able to look back, or failing and smiling about the "dumb mistakes" I used to make. Only a wimp does not take any chances! This is no a chance but more a calculated risk. Breaking even will be the target. Focus on the target and do not get distracted. We all make mistakes, I better learn out of mine then!
Well after some time I decided that this was not what I wanted to do, I cannot start something if I am not totally committed to it. Yes it is do-able but the dedication was not there. I should stick to what I like, programming! Making a business out of it is tricky, but it should happen over time.
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Trip to America
Note to self: Clicking back and forward loses the whole blog you typed... Grrr. I hate expressing myself more than once. Computers... Hate them but cannot do without them.
Lets see a lot happened since my last post... One thing I need to blog about is my trip to America. After finishing my last project (on 17 May) I was pretty close to burn out. Working 18-20 hours a day is insane, yes it was fun b/c I had the chance to make the impossible happen, and it did. I managed to complete the project before the deadline and in the word of IT that rather rare. But working flat out for 3 months is not my idea of fun so a proper holdiay was in order.
My grandmother wanted to visit the family in America, and since I also wanted to visit them again it made perfect sense to take my grandmother along. Organising the visa's was a real pain in the butt but we did the whole jumping through loops exercises and got our visas, I booked the tickets online and they couriered the tickets to me... which was pretty impressive if you consider this is africa and people say that service sucks... well when it comes to the telecoms they certainly do... Telkom is expensive and their service is not close to matching the price that you pay, plus every year they rake in BILLIONS in profit. Let me not get side tracked by Telkom's monopoly and poor service since I can fill a whole blog with that issue.
On 2 June we departed from Johannesburg after almost missing our flight. That was nerve wrecking but all is good, we made it and now I have a story to tell my friends. Johannesburg to New York stopping over in Dakar (Africa) and New York down to Orlando was a loooong trip. I stopped counting the hours but it was close to a full day of flying. One thing I noticed about New York is that people over there seem to have dull expressions, there are no smiles and therefor it seems that people are in general unhappy....
We left cold South Africa and arrived in Florida... every day 32-38 degrees celcuis with 90% humidity, the word hot does not clearly explain the heat. I made sure that I got a proper tan in the time that I was there. Florida is also called the sunshine state, and it does not take much to figure out why, going outside in uncomfortable, every house has a aircon, every car has a aircon, I think in Florida an aircon is standard piece of equipement.
I had the chance to meet some nice people in Florida, people are generally very friendly and polite, it sometimes catches me off guard since I am used to South Africa where people are also friendly but always keep to themself, rarely will people greet you. Over in Florida people in shops will always greet you and ask you how you are doing, when you leave they will wish you well. Of course I cannot say that about all the people I met but that was to be expected...
A dollar was about R6.50 and that is a pretty good deal comparing it to the R12.40 I paid for a dollar last time(2 years ago). Things are still a bit on the expensive side when you compare with South Africa prices but I did not go to America to save money. While over there we practically visited every tourist attraction (not really since that could easily take a whole year). A lot of the tourist attractions are very much overrated, they are expensive but are not wort visiting more than once. Maybe I should try to list all the places I visited.... World of Wonder, Disney world (Magic Kingdom), Islands of Adventure, Sea World. Sea world was pretty good, I would recommend it to anyone that likes nature and Islands of adventure if rollercoasters is your thing.
Personally I preferred this one ride, what is it is 2 tall towers with a cable and spring system attached to a seat, they basically strap you into the seat, and hold the seat down with a electro magnet, then strech out the springs a launch you into the air, you travel close to twice the distance of the towers up into the air. Then for a split second you stand still before the springs and gravity yank you back to earth. The acceleration and G's is not easily descibed and are better experienced. It costs $25 dollars for the first launch and $10 afterwards if you want to go again. I did it twice but the second time wasn't as good as the first... It never is.
One other thing I tried over there was wake boarding, since Celeste made such a fuss about it. Thanks Celeste! It turned out to be better than what she described. We went to Orlando watersport park for the day and after a few wipe outs (5 or so), I figured out how it is done. At the end of the day I was even trying some tricks, but was way too tired to hold onto the cable. My arms kept on aching for the next 2 weeks after. So now that I got back to South Africa I want to go wake boarding, but I will have to wait for summer. In the mean time I have to be content with putting on my rollerblades and taking the neighbour's dog for a walk. Starting and stopping seems to be most dangerous part and I already ruined another one of my jeans, I wasn't hurt but my ego suffered the most damage.
Let me get back to the America trip before I get lost. So what else did we do? Everything... Movies, bowling, shooting, dining at a couple of places, shooting pool, hanging out on the beach, going for a walk on the beach at night, shopping(ouch my poor credit card), taking Nala for a walk around the block. I probably already forgot some things... Lets just say that I almost needed another holiday to recover from my holiday. I wanted to stay for the 4'th of July but there was no way I could convince my grandmother that we had to stay longer, she missed South Africa so much. Even though it has lots of problems it will always stay home and there is a lot of nice things about South Africa. To everyone so negative about South Africa, I suggest you go somewhere like Zimbabwe, I mean, look at Americans, they tend to complain about the conditions in America, South Africans also complain about their country. You should rather look at what you have and be thankful. I think that people in Zim have a reason to complain so I would see their point if they were to complain.
I also got to do the american thing, drive an American fuel guzzling car, Anuschka's 3.8L V6 Camero T-Top. The raw power and acceleration is awesome, but since it is a heavy car the handling is a bit more difficult. It feels weird sitting on the wrong side of the car, using the wrong hand to change gears, and driving on the wrong side of the road, but since everyone in South Africa drives a manual there is nothing funny about that.
Michelle had a phase or something but she hardly talked to me in the time that I was there, I proably said something wrong... I got to meet a couple of her friends but I already started forgetting their names, Megan, Amy, Eric, Nate, Brandon, Jessica are the ones I still remember. So I had to make friends with Anuschka, and she turned out to be an excellent friend. I had a lot of fun hanging out with her, her friends also seem to be very nice people Bruce, Jenny and Cybil(?Spelling?sorry). Still wanted to shoot some pool with Shelby but the time simply caught up and the next I can remember I was on my way back home. Time flies when you are having fun.
So in the 29th we arrived back home. I have to face reality again, I need to find a project/contract to keep me busy. But what? Life really seems to sneak in a curve ball when you least expect it, reality hits you pretty hard.
Lets see a lot happened since my last post... One thing I need to blog about is my trip to America. After finishing my last project (on 17 May) I was pretty close to burn out. Working 18-20 hours a day is insane, yes it was fun b/c I had the chance to make the impossible happen, and it did. I managed to complete the project before the deadline and in the word of IT that rather rare. But working flat out for 3 months is not my idea of fun so a proper holdiay was in order.
My grandmother wanted to visit the family in America, and since I also wanted to visit them again it made perfect sense to take my grandmother along. Organising the visa's was a real pain in the butt but we did the whole jumping through loops exercises and got our visas, I booked the tickets online and they couriered the tickets to me... which was pretty impressive if you consider this is africa and people say that service sucks... well when it comes to the telecoms they certainly do... Telkom is expensive and their service is not close to matching the price that you pay, plus every year they rake in BILLIONS in profit. Let me not get side tracked by Telkom's monopoly and poor service since I can fill a whole blog with that issue.
On 2 June we departed from Johannesburg after almost missing our flight. That was nerve wrecking but all is good, we made it and now I have a story to tell my friends. Johannesburg to New York stopping over in Dakar (Africa) and New York down to Orlando was a loooong trip. I stopped counting the hours but it was close to a full day of flying. One thing I noticed about New York is that people over there seem to have dull expressions, there are no smiles and therefor it seems that people are in general unhappy....
We left cold South Africa and arrived in Florida... every day 32-38 degrees celcuis with 90% humidity, the word hot does not clearly explain the heat. I made sure that I got a proper tan in the time that I was there. Florida is also called the sunshine state, and it does not take much to figure out why, going outside in uncomfortable, every house has a aircon, every car has a aircon, I think in Florida an aircon is standard piece of equipement.
I had the chance to meet some nice people in Florida, people are generally very friendly and polite, it sometimes catches me off guard since I am used to South Africa where people are also friendly but always keep to themself, rarely will people greet you. Over in Florida people in shops will always greet you and ask you how you are doing, when you leave they will wish you well. Of course I cannot say that about all the people I met but that was to be expected...
A dollar was about R6.50 and that is a pretty good deal comparing it to the R12.40 I paid for a dollar last time(2 years ago). Things are still a bit on the expensive side when you compare with South Africa prices but I did not go to America to save money. While over there we practically visited every tourist attraction (not really since that could easily take a whole year). A lot of the tourist attractions are very much overrated, they are expensive but are not wort visiting more than once. Maybe I should try to list all the places I visited.... World of Wonder, Disney world (Magic Kingdom), Islands of Adventure, Sea World. Sea world was pretty good, I would recommend it to anyone that likes nature and Islands of adventure if rollercoasters is your thing.
Personally I preferred this one ride, what is it is 2 tall towers with a cable and spring system attached to a seat, they basically strap you into the seat, and hold the seat down with a electro magnet, then strech out the springs a launch you into the air, you travel close to twice the distance of the towers up into the air. Then for a split second you stand still before the springs and gravity yank you back to earth. The acceleration and G's is not easily descibed and are better experienced. It costs $25 dollars for the first launch and $10 afterwards if you want to go again. I did it twice but the second time wasn't as good as the first... It never is.
One other thing I tried over there was wake boarding, since Celeste made such a fuss about it. Thanks Celeste! It turned out to be better than what she described. We went to Orlando watersport park for the day and after a few wipe outs (5 or so), I figured out how it is done. At the end of the day I was even trying some tricks, but was way too tired to hold onto the cable. My arms kept on aching for the next 2 weeks after. So now that I got back to South Africa I want to go wake boarding, but I will have to wait for summer. In the mean time I have to be content with putting on my rollerblades and taking the neighbour's dog for a walk. Starting and stopping seems to be most dangerous part and I already ruined another one of my jeans, I wasn't hurt but my ego suffered the most damage.
Let me get back to the America trip before I get lost. So what else did we do? Everything... Movies, bowling, shooting, dining at a couple of places, shooting pool, hanging out on the beach, going for a walk on the beach at night, shopping(ouch my poor credit card), taking Nala for a walk around the block. I probably already forgot some things... Lets just say that I almost needed another holiday to recover from my holiday. I wanted to stay for the 4'th of July but there was no way I could convince my grandmother that we had to stay longer, she missed South Africa so much. Even though it has lots of problems it will always stay home and there is a lot of nice things about South Africa. To everyone so negative about South Africa, I suggest you go somewhere like Zimbabwe, I mean, look at Americans, they tend to complain about the conditions in America, South Africans also complain about their country. You should rather look at what you have and be thankful. I think that people in Zim have a reason to complain so I would see their point if they were to complain.
I also got to do the american thing, drive an American fuel guzzling car, Anuschka's 3.8L V6 Camero T-Top. The raw power and acceleration is awesome, but since it is a heavy car the handling is a bit more difficult. It feels weird sitting on the wrong side of the car, using the wrong hand to change gears, and driving on the wrong side of the road, but since everyone in South Africa drives a manual there is nothing funny about that.
Michelle had a phase or something but she hardly talked to me in the time that I was there, I proably said something wrong... I got to meet a couple of her friends but I already started forgetting their names, Megan, Amy, Eric, Nate, Brandon, Jessica are the ones I still remember. So I had to make friends with Anuschka, and she turned out to be an excellent friend. I had a lot of fun hanging out with her, her friends also seem to be very nice people Bruce, Jenny and Cybil(?Spelling?sorry). Still wanted to shoot some pool with Shelby but the time simply caught up and the next I can remember I was on my way back home. Time flies when you are having fun.
So in the 29th we arrived back home. I have to face reality again, I need to find a project/contract to keep me busy. But what? Life really seems to sneak in a curve ball when you least expect it, reality hits you pretty hard.
