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I thought that I should add some more pictures. I once again managed a 1h33 at Witbank dam. This time the water was bearable. Still cold but hypothermia did not set in. The face... I think was simply the fact that walking in water was painful.
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Please also notice all the people still swimming. I am making progress. At least I am not last. Fitness rules!

I also decided it was time to buy my self a new helmet. These days they offer a lifetime replacement warranty. Hopefully I never have to replace mine. Red...because red is fast, just ask Shumacher.

The run was actually fun for a change. My knee was not too bad and I ran most of the 5km.





Some people ask me why I do this. Drive 140km to a race, torture myself and then drive back. I am still wondering myself. The only decent answer I can give... Because...(unsure pause) I can!

The last few months flew past, I still remember the cold of winter...when was that? yesterday? Everything lately seems like a big blur. I rarely touch ground. Not that I am complaining, life is great! Just time seems to fly so quickly. I still haven't found a house. I still have a couple of months to complete what I set out to do. It is rather difficult (not to mention expensive, but I won't, technically I did, but.. been there).

Work is tough but a lot of fun. Lots of people resigned from our company and I feel like I need to work harder and harder to fill the gaps. From a technical perspective I understand the project pretty well, and where I didn't previously, I am now forced to own up and become an expert where needed. I am mostly left out of the politics which is cool. I have been turning down quite a number of recruitment companies that call me. Looks like the South African market picked up considerably. Since the company only gave me a inflation related increase I might be forced to move to get the benefits of the current booming economy. Sad but that is the way the cookie crumbles.

I managed to cause considerable damage to my one knee(Silly sports and games), to put the cherry on the cake. Just after I bought myself some expensive shoes for touch rugby. So that might be the end to this season. I also completed in my first Triathlon and with an injured knee managed one of my best times. 1h33. Ironic, I have been working out a whole year to prepare and get into shape and now that I am finally in top shape I injure myself. I included some pictures from the event at Germiston lake.






I recently decided to support the underdog and got myself a www.virginmobile.co.za sim card... I am using it right now, to connect to the internet at only 50c/Mb. Once number portability is introduced I will probably move my CellC number over.

Hours turn to days, days to week and before you know it months passed. Everything is a blur. How did I get here? I want to buy a place of my own but property has gotten so expensive the last couple of years that I have no idea how to afford it. But I have a plan. I am turning a blind eye to the costs involved and I am finding a place. The problem of affording it will be solved once I find a place I like. What I find shocking is that places are getting smaller and smaller. Why do developers expect you to live in a shoe box? I guess profits are driving the industry, and if you can save a square meter and still make the same money then why not? Where are we going? Small cars, small apartments, small cellphones, small computers. Last time I looked there was lots of space. Now we try to squash everything into a single point. Exactly like a black hole is trying to do. I wonder what the prices are like. It seems like everyone these days is a real estate agent.

I hardly started looking and I have already found some agents that simply do not bother to show you places. I go through all the trouble phoned them (twice) and still they neglected to show me the place. Since the market has been on quite a run the last couple of years there are people trying to get crazy prices for their property. New developments are trying to sell for the same price as well established areas.

Another gripe I have is with the poor quality of websites in South Africa. http://www.privateproperty.co.za is the best site I could find. All the other websites seem to use a common package that they bought off the shelf and let me tell you it is....BAD.

I am spending every bit of free time to find the right property. As a result I hardly ever switch on my computer anymore. This blog has been rather quiet as a result.

Today I read an interesting piece on stopping time(or at least your perception of time). If you constantly feel like life just passes you by, one big rush, you have no time and no control over time. Find 10 minutes to do nothing, set an alarm, no peeking at the clock. Your perception of the time that passes will seem more than 10 minutes. Your day will feel longer and you will feel more in control of your time. Funny how the human brain works.

Till I manage to stop time. This blog might take some tim;)

Looking back at my previous post. I guess it did come out harsh...
A lot of people seem to agree www.hellopeter.com

I was very disappointed with Big Concerts. I bought my tickets a long time ago and was looking forward to the event for months. The artists did deliver!!!
I also heard that the Durban and Cape Town events went a whole lot better.

They never took responsibilty for their mess and blamed it on Supersport Park, which in turned blamed it on Big Converts for overselling the venue. Bunch of finger pointers...you guys should have been in politics.

Since I paid Big Concerts I can only hold them responsible. Yes, I understand that someone messed up, so take responsibility for their mess and them sort them out. Maybe I have a different value system but that seems to be the right thing to do.

In my oppinion they failed to respond, Big Concerts is a big money grabber, they could not care about their customers, they will milk them fot the last cent. Sponsors beware, Big Concerts will make you look bad, they will tarnish your brand, steer clear from them in the future.

Years ago I stopped listening to 5FM (I do not agree with their taste) so no loss there, accoring to me there is only Tuks FM.
I realised that Coca-Cola owns all my favourite drinks... How do you boycott them??? ;) Well I did buy Pepsi the last couple of times but I know I am farting against the thunder.

My public letter to the organisers

This company is a prime example of --> Unproudly South African!
Big concerts, 5FM and Coca Cola you are all to blame.

I am very upset. You guys are pathetic!!!! Don't shift the blame, you organised the concert you make sure that people get their money's worth. I paid my hard earned money to you, and you took the money and the responsibility. You should organise the event over at your own cost, or give the people their money back.

Thought you would save a couple of bucks by having less food stalls?, less security? less toilets? Let me explain the economics.

I took along R400 for beer and food, went home with R 400 (that is all the money, if you are to slow to make the sums) as I could not see the point of standing in a queue for 2 hours and miss the bands that I spent my hard earned money on. I was totally dehydrated, exhausted and Sun burnt(I don't mind this one) on Sunday.

1.There was too little food, no beer (how pathetic is that!!!), not enough cool drinks.
2.There was not enough toilets. (I have been to a lot of big events but this one is definitely amongst the worst I have seen!) Ladies were queueing for 2 hours. That is not on!!!
3.Security was insufficient. It took me 1 and half hours to get into the stadium, I missed 2 bands. Make all the entrances fully operational!
4.Screens and Sound died... Hello? Are we in a third world country? Sort your **** that is what we paid for. Get someone competent!!!

I was so desperate that I took empty bottles and filled them with water from the bathrooms. The sad part is that people were willing to buy those from me.

Catch a wake up call. You bunch of money grabbers. Spend the money and you will make more. R400 X 40 000 = 16 million bucks in tickets alone.

You could have easily made another 20 mil if you got the food and drinks sorted.

www.hellopeter.com

Your company is rated as bad as telkom, It is safe to say people hate you!!!

I and the whole of South Africa is ashamed to be associated with you.

Now for the people that did pull their weight, the bands!
The one positive was that the bands that performed was awesome and the sound quality was good (when it was on), good speakers, and good amp and stage.(too bad whoever did the mixing was a bit slow, I could not hear a couple of the lyrics, smack him/her please...also the screen that died was not cool)

I hope someone sue you and you go out of business.

Disappointed

Heinz
084 734 3694

My new blog can be found here

Posting to blogger is a real pain, it is down all the time ;(

My blog is already far behind. I give up on blogger.

You never know what you have till you lose it!

I am very sad to see Roberto leave the company. Beginning of January he resigned his position as CEO of Devstream. He is joining a small company with something like 5 people. I guess our company just matured/grew too much, to the point where it was not fun any more. Lots of politics, and little less coding for him. I can understand why he left.

In a way I myself decided to accept a permanent position to be part of the team, and gave up lucrative contracting. Now I am also considering going back to contracting, funny how some link a team together and without them it feels like the team is falling apart. My time working permanently has been one of the best learning experiences.

Reflecting on my time there I can say that I added a couple of skills.

1. People skills, I used to be a lone ranger type of programmer, arrogant and ignorant. Yes I can code, but to work closely in a team is an art. I really learned how to work in a team. I became a XP-programmer, test driven development seems like the only way to code.
2. I totally had to adjust my idea of a good leader, leading by fear vs leading by respect. How some people just don't get it. There is a big difference between someone that wants to be a leader vs someone that is a natural leader.
3. Managing complex software projects. How to plan and deliver working with lots of different people. I am shocked to discover a project well managed vs previous companies I worked for.
4. What it takes to make a cool development environment, what I need to do to create an environment where people want to work.
   

I suspect more people will resign in the next couple of weeks. We have a mountain of work and I do not have a lot of confidence in the current people that call themself leaders. Hopefully the issue will resolve itself. I am going to do my best to make sure that the right stuff happens.

Funny how you do not even notice what you have... Do you talk about the good old days? Do you miss it and wish you can go back? You should start realising what you have and appreciate it, it might be gone tomorrow.

So I decided that today must be great and I am declaring it a good time, it might not be my best day, but it is certainly not a bad day either. In spite of some minor setbacks... Life is good!

Personal rant... Blogger was down last time I tried to publish this post