Tony Flanigan

Tomato Trot 2012 - the run up on the day

2012-02-03T23:01:00.000-08:00

2012 annual Tomato Trot at Lilyfontein school happens later today...

It's still (fairly) early in the day, and there is a nippy blustery wind blowing, and it is wet, wet, wet out there.

somewhere out there is a Weather forecaster who, according to new legislation in South Africa, is due to be (a) hung, drawn and quartered at dawn, or (b) given a promotion. The reason for this is that it is now a criminal offence to predict the Weather incorrectly. The relevant penalty depends on the weather predictors standing within the ruling Party.

About the only thing the weather forecast got right was that there was an incredibly good chance of rain on the day.

The fields at the school that were to be used as parking for the competitors are waterlogged, and consequently parking has been moved to the nearby Gonubie Farmers Hall, with a bus shuttle service moving people to and from the school.

The Cycle Race has been postponed/cancelled.

There will apparently be no Beer Tent :( , but there will still be beer :)

All functions of the Tomato Trot are being moved to the school hall, which was flooded a few days ago.

The graveled road sections of the race are going to be filled with puddles, and running water. The tarred part of the race should be okay though. The part of the race that none of the athletes are looking forward to will be the Start. The piece of road on which the Race starts was in bad shape earlier this week, and is probably worse now. The roadway is graveled, slopes downhill quite steeply, and is badly rutted. The water on the road surface will make it awkward to see where the holes are, and will also make everything very slippery.

Further on, those parts of the race that go through neighbouring farms are going to be interesting as well, as the ground is extremely waterlogged, which is going to make the surface very unstable.

Okay, so I've whined about the weather, and I've whined about the road. The other area that concerns me, particularly for those less tough individuals, is keeping warm. There is limited protection from the elements at the school, however, some competitors will be at the school from early on, with minimal outerwear. It is very likely the competitors will be running in the rain, and the ablution facilities at the school are not yet operational.

Our preparations? Running kit without shoes (they go on just before the race, nice and dry and cosy), long sleeve top and track suit pants. In a sports bag, 2 sets of dry clothing, towels, a few energy drink things, deodorant, and then whatever else gets tossed in just as we leave home.

What the hell, we only do the Tomato Trot once a year, so let's just enjoy being cold and wet and miserable. We can laugh at ourselves tomorrow...

2012 Tomato Trot

2012-01-31T02:27:00.000-08:00

It’s that time of year again.

The annual Tomato Trot, starting andfinishing at East London’s top adventure school, Lilyfontein, is here again.

Just because the 15km run is a recognizedBorder event, it doesn’t mean the Tomato Trot is only a race. Far from it, theTomato trot is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon/evening.

There is a 15km cycle race, a 15km Run, a15km Walk, a 5km Fun Run/walk/cycle/pram-push, and my personal favourite, aBeer Tent.

There are prizes for the winners in thevarious categories, and there also loads of Lucky Draw Prizes. This year TnT(Terry and I), have donated a Free-for-a-Year WordPress website as a Lucky drawPrize. So, if you want or need a website, you need to enter one of the TomatoTrot events to stand a chance. If you don’t win the site, well, just call us.Our prices are that reasonable that you don’t actually need to win the site tobe able to afford a website (you don’t even need to live in East London – we haveclients all over the world!).

Enough of that, the Race now.

On Saturday 4 February 2012, at 3pm, thefun Starts, with the start of the 15km Cycle Race. The other starting times arefurther down on the page.

Apart from the Beer Tent, my Tomato Trotinterests are the 5km unFun Run. UnFun ‘cos that’s what I do. I go out thereand get around the course as quickly as I can run/walk/hobble/crawl, with loadsof moaning. I moan to keep myself busy. I enjoy the run, but only before andafter, not during.

My other main Tomato trot interest is theweather. I read somewhere that top athletes are able to predict their finishingtimes according t the weather. I don’t bother with predicting times becausethey’re generally too long, but I do like checking the weather, only because Ihave to be out there in it.

At ten minutes past four, on the afternoonof the 4^th of February 2012 I will be adding to the mad frenzy atthe start of the 5km Tomato Trot unFun Run. The weather will have cooled a bitfrom the predicted maximum of 26 degrees C, but not by noticeably much. It willbe pretty humid, which means lots of sweating (Tip: Drink LOTS (Tip Tip: ofwater)).

The chances of rain are pretty good aroundthat time of day, and the wind will be fairly strong but if the direction isaccurate, East-North-East, it won’t bother the 5km entrants. The 15km entrantswill have isolated areas of head-winds, but will mostly be having the wind fromeither side or behind.

There are maps below to give you anindication of the routes. The maps are from Uncle Google, hope he doesn’t mindme using them…

The bottom line here, for a Saturday ofgreat family fun, doing something together, as a family, The Tomato Trot mustbe on your list of things to do. You can enter at the school, before the race.

Starting Times:

15km cycle – 15:00

15km walkers – 15:30

15km runners – 16:00

(Runners/walkers doing the 15km race must be 16 years or older on race day)

5km fun run – 16:10

To Find Lilyfontein School:

View Larger Map

The 15km Race for Runners and Walkers:

The 5km Fun Run:

East London Surfers Marathon 2012

2011-12-30T02:24:00.000-08:00

2012 is just around the corner.

Just after landing in 2012, is the Annual Surfers Marathon, an athletic event along the coastline of East london, from the Kwelera river mouth in the north, to the Nahoon Beach in the south. Between the two points the entrants in the surfers Marathon will pass through the seaside resort town of Gonubie.

If you are considering doing the Surfers Marathon, and don't like Gonubie, there is an option for you: get a surf-ski!

The Surfers Marathon is a competition between runners, walkers and surfers, to see who can finish first.

In my opinion just finishing is good enough. Since moving to East London in 2007 I have done 2 Surfers Marathons. The first because I didn't know any better, and the second because it seemed like a really cool birthday gift to myself.

2012 I'm doing it again. I still have no idea why, or how.

At this point in time I am the perfect example of anti-athleticism. Overweight, unfit, sedentary, smoker.

This is the slim and trim part of my er, physique.
From here it all goes bad...

Never sleep enough, never exercise. Go outdoors only to check that the sun has in actual fact come up.

So!

Some serious work is called for, and there are 49 days left in which to get into some semblance of shape - scrap that, shape like I have won't change without major surgery, so I'll keep the shape, and just work on getting a little fitter. I won't be breaking any records, but I do want to finish in time to get that t-shirt.

Hmm... Biting off more than I can chew? Dunno...

2011 Surfers Marathon is History!

2011-02-13T06:45:00.000-08:00

24 hours ago, at the time of writing, I was close to the Gonubie river, having done about 5 km over loose loose sand, and treacherous slippery rocks. Ahead of me, once across the river was the part of the race I was looking forward to...

The 2011 Surfers Marathon started a 14:30, at the Kwelera River Mouth. Almost 3000 participants on the roadway behind the Start, and 17km of sand, beach, rocks, and tar, with 2 river crossings, before the Lifesavers Shack at Nahoon Beach.

Knowing that I would take strain on the first third I started as close to the front as possible, and joined the rest of the lunatics in the mad gravel road sprint to the beach paths. Generally, once I hit the sand I wasn't too dismayed. I'd started the race with my left calf in some kinda spasm, but it didn't really slow me down. With the tide being so low, there was a lot more rock to use, which was great, although I was slipping a lot, due to minimal shoe traction. Just about halfway through the first third I found that my left sole had loosened from my shoe.

The Surfers Marathon is definitely a shoes-on race. The treacherous footing on the rocks, many areas of sharp rocks, and of course the areas where ignorant party animals break bottles on the beach mean you just don't do the surfers barefoot. also, the Gonubie section, on the tar, is not good for bare feet.

By the time I got to Gonubie the sole was hanging on only at the toe area, and I went off to find a medic, to strap the sole onto the shoe. Guess what? No medics around in the first 500m out of the river, so I tore the sole off the shoe, and carried on like that, one good shoe, and another shoe with no soul(?).

At this point I was still feeling good. Chest okay, legs mostly okay except for the left calf, and I managed to move with some resemblance of a jog. Within one and a half km's I knew I had a problem. The uneven gait was putting strain on my left calf and knee. By favouring the left I was putting strain on the right. Not a happy state of affairs.

Several times I was tempted to pull out, knowing that I had a justifiable reason, but, because I'm too stupid to know better, and because I've got a series of Blog Posts about the Surfers Marathon, and because I wanted to at least catch up to Terry, I pushed on.

As always the Gonubie crowd was great. The cheering, and the support are incredible, and the one or two places they have music, well, the music does help. Well done Gonubie on keeping us going. I'm sure the Gonubie crowd are the reason there are not more people dropping out of the race.

By the time I reached the beach track at German Bay I knew I wouldn't catch anything, or anybody, and that if I finished in time I would be extremely fortunate.

Power walk (?) down the sand track onto the beach, get down to the waterline, and then turn right. I was kinda on auto pilot, trying to keep my left leg in its place, and to ignore the constant jabbing and stabbing with every step. Shuffle and shamble onward. left foot right foot left foot...

The first half of this stretch is pretty rough going, and when I could see the Bonza watering point I knew the sand would be hard and good, so I stopped to take off my shoes and socks, nearly losing my tag in the process. This did help a lot, as I was now able to even out my gait, but, too late, as my left calf and knee were pretty stuffed, and were just not co-operating anymore.

Oh yeah, I tied my laces together and slung the shoes around my neck. The shoes bouncing on my chest made me realise that I had a touch of nipple chafe, so now I was totally miserable, but, because I was off the bus route, and there were no taxis around, I had to finish the race.

Into the Nahhon River, and dragged myself across the river. Thirty seconds of absolute bliss, before it was back onto my feet. I forced myself to shuffle that last 400m, to a finishing time of 2:53:20

Way longer than planned, and a lot more after race pain than I've ever had, but for all that, I did enjoy the 2011 Surfers Marathon.

Gripes about the Surfers? The Prize giving started with little or no warning. We accidentally heard over the PA that they were busy with the prize giving. After the race most runners like to chill for a few minutes before going back to their cars to get fresh clothes to change into, get money, and go back down to the Finish. When we got back there was no food left, and having something to eat after a race is actually a pretty big thing for most athletes. We had a quick drink and ducked off.

Oh yeah. The shoes-for -life Competition lucky draw whatever it was. Did it happen? No-one we spoke to remembered hearing the results, or if there were any lucky draws at all. I suppose the winner of the shoes for life would have been expected to go back along the route to pick up the discarded shoes left along the way. I saw at least 5 pairs that would have fit me...

And, in closing, thanks to all who were on the side of the road cheering and supporting. In order of appearance, as I recall seeing you, Jenn Seady of Love Dogs, Basil (thanks for the beer, and sorry I didn't do it any justice. I was in a hurry at the time), Bernice, Carmen, Samantha, Mr and Mrs Bosch (thanks for singing 'Happy Birthday" to me), June of the Crowned Crane, and then at the finish Basil, Bernice, Basti, Carmen, Samantha and her boyfriend, and Terry.

2011 Surfers Marathon is Tomorrow!

2011-02-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

So yeah.

Tomorrow is the day.

I've been quietly confident that I would manage the Surfers Marathon, if not comfortably, then at least in one piece.

Because I am no athlete, I have developed and devised a Race Plan to suit myself. I know I don't stand a snowball's chance of being anywhere close to the front. In fact, if there are any kinda halfway serious drinkers in the top half of the field, they will be somewhat inebriated before I even get my sights fixed on the Nahoon Clubhouse.

Terry, who has 13 Surfers Marathons behind her, wrote an awesome blog post full of hints and tips for those who are running or walking the Surfers for the first time.And poor Basti has to memorize it all cos this will be his first Surfers!

My aim is to finish the Surfers Marathon. That's all. If I am able to improve my time over my first Surfers in 2008, then I'll be even more pleased.

Kwelera Mouth to Gonubie: Fast trot on the gravel road, and then catch the first track down to the beach. Carrying on on the gravel is slightly longer, and dumps you onto the beach quite a distance from the waterline, and lotsa loose sand between. Mostly walking along here, sand kills me.

At Rainbow Valley, on the rocks, I'll pick the pace up a bit, as I'm generally happier on hard stuff. I'm hoping to pass at least a few of the people that would have passed me earlier on.

Crossing the Gonubie, this is a no-brainer, use the ropes.

Gonubie to German Bay: Once out of the river, I'll start shambling and shuffling onward, trying not to lose too much time, or too many places. This was my favorite part of my last Surfers, and hopefully it will be good for me again.

German Bay to Nahoon: Now this is kinda awkward, because I really have no recollection of the first half of this stretch! I do remember that we were moving well from before Bonza Bay. Terry was taking a bit of strain from having to babysit and molly-coddle me through the first stretch, but even so, we had a comfy pace.

First time around I had a time of 2hrs 11 min. To equal that I need to add a few minutes for that extra loop just after the Gonubie River, so, a time of 2hrs 20min will still be okayish. However, if I can do 2hrs 11min again, I will be extremely pleased.

On a side note.
Terry found a blog today, written by a gentleman from Port Elizabeth. I also went to have a look at it, and am now following Peter Giddy. Peter is very athletic, and is clearly passionate about running and swimming. i kinda like them both, and Peter's style is down to earth, and easy reading. Kudo's Peter, thanks for a great blog!

Weather tomorrow? Upper 20's, humid, and a not too strong North East wind. Cooling in the late afternoon with a sea-haze, and possible drizzly/rain stuff about 6pm-ish. I did go into the predicted weather in an earlier article. I have not consulted the Met Service, as there are loads of conflict, and none have been quite accurate.

Right Now?
I stopped work on the new Wavecrest website a little earlier, and am just chilling now, before going to bed early. For Terry and myself anything before midnight is early. Today has been hydration and protein day, and tomorrow morning it will be several small snack things, and loads of fluid. The heat of the past few days has been a bit concerning as regards hydration, as I seem to just sweat it out.

Why do I want to do the Surfers Marathon if I moan so much about it?

I'm doing this to prove to myself that I can, no other reason. And its my birthday present to myself :)

Surfers Marathon 2011 3 Days and counting...

2011-02-09T12:21:00.000-08:00

In a little less than 3 days (72 hours, or 4320 minutes), The 2011 Surfers Marathon will be nothing but a memory.

For some competitors it will be a great memory, for others, it will be a time for self-loathing.

For me, should I (a) Complete the Surfers Marathon, or (b) not complete the Surfers, it will be a time of celebration. Before the loathing hatred tendencies surface in an attempt to mask my innate masochism.

So okay, now I'm also confused. The bottom line here is that no matter how I finish the Surfers Marathon on Saturday, on foot, on a stretcher, or in the back of a hearse, I will at least have started the race.

By no means am I an athlete. I don't even really enjoy athletics, and my sole contribution to promoting any kind of athletic feat was to try and wake up early enough to watch the start of the Comrades Marathon. I lost interest in that shortly after confusing Shaun Meiklejohn and Bruce Fordyce. Sheer embarrassment kept me from the TV.

When I arrived in East London I was told in no uncertain fashion that until I had done the Surfers at least once, I would not have 'arrived'. So I did the Surfers in 2008.

Just to arrive.

DUH!

What I wasn't told is that the Surfers Marathon is in actual fact a VIRUS! It infiltrates your system, and you cannot get rid of it. So. I'm doing it again. Against my better judgement I'm doing it again.

Training for The Event has been shoddy, consisting of a few laps around a school field, and an occasional crawl/walk/stumble around a 3km track in the middle of the veld. And then as a trial race we did the Tomato Trot 5km Fun Run.

I'm trying to keep psyched up, but that first section of the Surfers has got me beat before I even start. Loose sand, my grossly overweight frame and small feet are a sure recipe for disaster. And then of course seeing the ground beneath my feet is impossible because of the gut! I am hoping to at least shuffle through Gonubie in a semblance of running, mostly so that I won't embarrass any of my clients that may be there.

I do hereby undertake to return all Greetings, and to not Greet anybody unless they Greet me first.

Embarrassed clients take their business elsewhere.

I have been watching my diet the past week or more. I've managed to lose a few kilos, but they get lonely and come right back, except for the little buggers who are totally lost. There were only 4 of them.

I drink less coffee now, but more tea, so, no gain or loss there. But I do have only one sugar!

We've started having breakfast now.

Tomorrow night its Spaghetti Bolognaise carb loading time, and then on Friday night it's Cold meat and salad type healthy protein stuff.

Saturday morning, a light breakfast, then mid morning banana and sugar sandwich, and all the while drinking plenty of fluid stuff.

Then it's the race.

The after the race, depending on how I get to the finish, it's a beer! Or several...

To celebrate my birthday!

Tomato Trot 2011 Results Released

2011-02-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

So the Tomato Trot came, and the Tomato Trot went.

The race started in blistering heat, and extremely dry conditions, with a looming thunderstorm watching from the horizon. As the distant thunderstorm got closer, for a better view of the race, humidity levels shot up, and doing anything more strenuous than breathing was sure to cause sweating.

At 3:30 the 15km Race walkers left, followed by the 15km Runners at 4:00.

Ten minutes later the fun Run Cyclists were released into the field, and as soon as they were clear of the start the 5km Fun Run walkers/runners/pram-pushers set off. I did my race pretty much as planned, walking hills, and running on the flats. Generally, I feel I did okay. I don't have an exact time, but we finished round about the 40 minute mark, which translates to an average of 8km per hour. So yeah, I've been told athletes don't use km/h, but then, I'm not a big shot athlete. I run because I have serious masochistic tendencies.

Okay, never mind that nonsense, the first three positions for the 15km heroes, in their categories, are as follows:

Mens Runners:

Melikhaya Sithuba
Mzukisi
Makaya Masumpa

Women Runners:

Hanlie Botha
Louise Heyns
Sharon Wood

Mens Walkers:

Thando Lumkwana
Richard Alexander
Stephen Boatwright

Women Walkers:

Stephanie Ackerman
Sharon Rust
Louise Potgieter

I do have the official times available if anyone needs to know their time for the 2011 Tomato Trot

2011 Annual Lilyfontein Tomato Trot

2011-02-05T02:04:00.000-08:00

Every year, just before the Surfers Marathon, Lilyfontein School, just north of East London, host the Annual Tomato Trot.

The Tomato Trot has a 15km race for Runners, Walkers, and Cyclists, all with their own start. Then there is also the 5km Fun Run, which has a combined start for Runners, Walkers, Cyclists, and just generally whatever means of manual transport there is. I have seen push-chairs, but as yet, no wheel chairs.

The annual Tomato Trot is held at the peak of the South African Summer, and temperatures are generally on the high side. For that reason, the races start in the late afternoon. There is always the chance that the competitors will be caught by a thunderstorm, as this is the time of year for thunderstorm activity, but that hasn't happened for a long time, that I know of.

The 2011 Lilyfontein Tomato Trot is today. This afternoon we are doing the Tomato Trot. Only the 5km mind you. 2 Years ago we were going to do the 15km Run, but less than a kilometre into the race I started having severe chest pains, and Terry and I withdrew.

Last year we did the 5km, and had a load of fun, so, this year it's the 5km again. And then a few frosties, a chill-out on the school field, and just generally see where the evening goes.

Our preparation for the Tomato Trot? Nothing!

We have kinda sorta, in a manner of speaking, been sorta training for the Surfers Marathon next week, but there is no way the two can be compared.

The Tomato Trot is generally all on hard surface, gravel and tar roads, with a few places going through farms, but still on fairly hard surfaces. And its dusty. And soon after the start there is one mean mother of a hill. I don't like hills. Hills beat up on me. hills are mean, nasty, ugly, and should be declared illegal. If it were not for hills I would enjoy running more.

Halfway up that first hill it levels a tad, just enough for you to get your breath back, and to allow you to start thinking consciously again. Generally the thoughts I have are not nice round about here. And then the sodding road goes around to the right a bit, and MORE uphill!

At the top of that uphill you get to turn right, and its a long road ahead, with an ever so slight climb, probably about 2m over 500m. Bear around th the left, slightly steeper, and a mean bank on the road. At this spot its better to stay at the top of the bank, even though cutting the corner is way shorter.

Then the road levels off, bears off to the right, and reaches the tar. At this point the 15km heroes go straight, and the 5km wimps take a sharp right!

Down the nice new flat tarred road, maybe 100m, left into Oribi Lawns, and then follow the circuit road through Oribi Lawns. At the bottom of the Oribi Lawns circuit is a watering point, and then another sodding uphill. And this is a long demented nasty one. I don't like uphills. About 400m before leaving Oribi Lawns, the road levels off, for about 300m, and then a little slope up to the entrance/exit, a sharp left onto the tar, and for the first time since starting it feels that finishing is possible. Just a little way further and there is another hill, but this time going in the right direction, DOWN!

Shamble and shuffle down the hill, turn right, and crawl up the track to the the finish.

The poor 15km heroes that were left to go straight on before Oribi Lawns will follow the road, down a long hill, and then up a long hill, until they reach the Brakfontein Road. A left turn onto the tar there will take them to the Tomato Packers sheds, where they will hang left onto a gravel road. By now they should be looking for passing Public Transport, because not too far away is probably the ugliest nastiest hill ever to be left standing. This thing is steep, and goes on forever. Should the heroes get beyond this point they will do a right at the top, and then mostly downhill before being diverted through another farm. It's downhill, and then its another mean , but thankully not too long uphill before they get to turn left, and run, cycle, walk down an easy slope until about 300 metres before turning right and going back uphill to the finish.

The 15km heroes are just that, heroes. One day maybe I'll try it again, and then I'll also be a hero.

Sitting in the office here, with doors and windows open, and a fan pushing the miserable hot air around there seems to be only a tiny little breeze out there. The temperature is in the early 30's, and humidity is relatively high.

This means hydration is going to be very important, and we have been drinking quite a bit already today. Just drinking is not going to be quite enough due to the loss of important minerals etc when we sweat, so we will be having an Energade or few, Coke, and water, pretty much as much as we can get into ourselves. The Coke will have to stop about an hour before the start, because running with Coke bloat is not fun. this past week we have been pretty good. Breakfast every day, small meals, and we actually have smoked less this week than we usually do.

But yeah, its time to get packed up and ready to go. I don't wanna do this, but I do wanna do it. I'm blond. And this will be my last Run as a youngster.

Fire at Ashmel Spar in Berea

2010-12-31T06:02:00.000-08:00

A devastating fire swept through a portion of Ashmel Spar in East London suburb Berea last night.

Speaking to Staff members, we found out that the fire may have started in the Bakery area, after 9 pm in the evening of 30 December 2010.

The exact cause of the fire is not yet known, and the extent of the damage is still being assessed. It does seem though that the fire at Ashmel Spar has caused extensive flame and smoke damage.

When we arrived at the Spar Supermarket in Berea, all seemed to normal, until we noticed that what we thought were just loiterers, were in fact Staff members from Ashmel Spar. Again, first impressions indicated that they were on a break, but, there were too many of them...

Then we noticed that goods were being removed from the Supermarket, via a back entrance, and being loaded into a container. This was unusual, and we looked around some more, and noticed the black smoke stains on the parapets.

We decided to go into Ashmel Spar supermarket, as it appeared there were people using the supermarket. Once inside the Shopping Centre we found that it was only the Spar that had been affected by the fire.

Unfortunately we were unable to speak to any of the management staff, although we would probably have gotten less information from them.

Fire damage at Ashmel Spar will affect not only the stock that was in the store, but also the overall profitability of the store. It must be assumed that Ashmel Spar does have insurance, but it is common knowledge that insurance never covers everything.

The Ashmel Spar fire will also impact on the staff. It would be interesting to find out if the owners and management of the supermaket will be paying the staff for down-time. Will they also honor their commitments to the casual staff employed for the Festive Season?

We are sure they will, but until then:

Christmas Salad Days Potato Salad

2010-12-25T13:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas celebrations, especially in families with several generations, can extend for two or three days, while all the family get to visit everyone.

In the household here, the big Christmas thing is on Christmas eve, and rather than the habitual braai of the previous 3 years, it was decided that the Christmas 2010 repast be a simple collection of chips, dips, and drinks.

Together with a chicken offering from the Colonel.

As is usual even the best laid plans etc etc etc...

We found ourselves to be the proud owners of half a turkey. And of course, because I am arrogant, and full of nonsense, and because I was asked to, I made a few salads, while the turkey was going about its business.

The first salad was good old fashioned Potato Salad.

Please understand, I cook cos its fun, and because it doesn't involve a lot of maths.

Phase 1

For the potato salad, cook up a whole collection of potatoes. 1 for each person expected, and then another 1 for half the people expected, and then add another 2.

Peel the potatoes, and cut them into little pieces. I like to cut them so that about 2 pieces will fit into tablespoon. Kind of.

Chuck them into water, to which you've added some salt. I always add salt to potatoes, about 1 level teaspoon of salt for 8 medium potatoes.

The stove should be on, and the plate under the potato pot on high. Let it cook.

When the little bits are cooked, drain off all the excess water right away. Run some cold water over the potatoes, and drain again.

Now, half a cup of mayonnaise, and then some milk, just to make the cup 3/4 full. Mix the hell out of it, so that it mixes all up. Pour this all over the potatoes.

Now add lashings of mayonnaise, and turn it in a bit.

Chop an onion or two finely, and chuck it onto the potatoes.

Mix it all up, so that the mayonnaise is covering all the potatoes.

Phase Two begins.

Boil a few eggs. I used 6, cos it sounded like a nice number at the time. You want the little guys hard boiled.

When boiled, separate eggs from their shells.

At this point you could do one of two things. Slice the eggs in half length-ways, and then mash the egg yolk. Add some tomato sauce, and a touch of worcester sauce. just a sprinkle of cayenne pepper is also good.

Scoop some of the filling into the half egg white shell thingies. Make it mound a bit. If there is any egg white things left, mash it and toss it in with the potatoes.

Arrange the stuffed half eggs on the potato salad. A grating of cheese, a grind of black pepper, a toss of parsley, and your potato salad is good to go.

The other option, which I often use, because I have problems with boiling eggs long enough, is to take the semi soft yolks, and flatten them a bit, and then nuke them in the microwave for a minute. COVER the yolks, cos they probably will explode a bit.

The yolks will come out quite hard. Mash them till they quite fluffy and powdery. Mash the semi solid egg whites, and mix them into the potato salad.

A sprinkle of cayenne pepper, a touch of garlic every here and there, cover the pepper and garlic with crumbled egg yolk. To finish it off, a grind of black pepper, a toss of parsley, and your potato salad is good to go.

Let's talk turkey

2010-12-25T05:56:00.000-08:00

So there we were, Terry and me and Sandy.

Sharing a bit of social time, and a drink or two.

Sandy gets the words out of her face:" You can cook can't you?"

I look at Terry, Terry looks at me, I look at Sandy, whose eyes are also pointed in my general direction. I say: "HUH?'.

Sandy says she wants a turkey. Not just any old turkey, but a turkey roast!
For Christmas. I say an un-christian thing. I don't dig turkey. It tastes funny, it's dry, and I don't like it. Based on my dislike I've never taken the trouble to take a raw turkey and make it edible, because turkey, by the nature of the beast, and because past experience bears it out, turkey is inedible!

However, being the nice person I am, and 'cos Sandy was in a state of distress, a lady, and she desperately needed a turkey, I did agree to toss a turkey through the oven for her. Expressly no guarantees as to resultant offerring.

So, 2 days before Christmas we track down and acquire a turkey. The day before Christmas, we go out looking for all the bits and pieces that get added onto, hammered and nailed to, glued to and used to make raw turkey into not-raw roast turkey.

This, in East London, on Christmas Eve, is not possible. We eventually settled for a bucketfull of non-listed accessories, 'cos they were kinda closely related (in the dark) to what we needed.

Back home, it was:

Turkey out of its bag.
Guts and giblets out of turkey.
Wash turkey. No soap.
Dry turkey.
Plaxo Sage and Onion stuffing gets boiling water, and stands till I'm ready for it.
Start oven pre-heating to 180C
Line oven tray with foil.
Put rack onto oven tray.
Cook stuffing in microwave.
Take turkey, and liberally powder the beast with chicken spice, and cayenne pepper. Most of it comes off, but sfw?
Now pour oil (preferably olive) into hands, and wipe all over turkey.
Remember stuffing.
Check the stuffing out, looks a bit little, so add two slices of dampened bread, and work it into the mixture.
Stuffing still seems to be a bit few. Add fresh apricots. Looks okayish now.
Stuff turkey stuffing into the convenient stuffing thing all turkeys have.
Not enough stuffing!
Take onion, peel, test for size.
Need to remove 2 layers of onion to get the onion to fit into the space provided.
Score onion across top and bottom, and rub in oil juice that came off the turkey.
Push back into turkey.
Put the newly accessorised turkey onto the rack.
Drop a large dollop of margarine into a jug, and then add herbs. I used rosemary, mixed herbs, a touch of mint, and some parsley. Oh yes, and just a smidgin of garlic.
Pour boiling water into the jug, get everything either melted, or in suspension, and pour it into the oven tray. About half full is okay.
Now you need a bunch of small potatoes, score them with a fork, and rub some of the turkey oil juice stuff (thats the oil juice that has chicken spice and cayenne pepper in it) all over them, then pack the potatoes around the outsides of the turkey.
Now take foil, and cover the turkey. Shiny side inside. Don't enclose the thing completely, just kinda fold the ends down a bit.
Toss (carefully) the turkey into the oven. Close oven door. Reset the oven's thermometer to 160C, and if you have a timer, set it for 3 hrs.

While that is happening, make a potato salad, a carrot salad, and a green salad.

This is Potato Salad

This is Carrot Salad

This is a Green Salad, with sliced Gammon centre-piece

When the salads are done, have a smoke and coffee break.

Open oven.

Remove oven tray with turkey on.

Remove foil tenty domey thing.

Put turkey back into oven

Go shower.

Switch oven off, but leave door closed.

When all is said and done, and the roast turkey was tossed onto the table along with its poorer cousins from the Colonel, and flanked as it was with a nice selection of salads and bread rolls, the roast turkey actually looked good enough to eat!

Okay, so I did carve some of the turkey, and I did try a piece...

All I have to say on this matter is that for anybody to make inedible turkey, they gotta be dense. My procedure is exactly as I laid it out, and the turkey was excellent!

The flesh was not tough or stringy, and anything but dry. The flavour? Absolutely delicious.

2011 Surfers Marathon, East London

2010-12-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

The Event

Every year in February the highlight of the East London athletics season takes place.

The highlight is called a marathon, but it isn't really, because it is too short. However, many marathon athletes who have participated say that they would rather stick to marathons, as they are easier. South Africa's Ultra-marathon legend Bruce Fordyce, after the 2008 Surfers Marathon, voiced his opinion that this little jaunt along the beach is pretty tough.

It's not just a beach outing. It's a race between canoeists and runners, from the mouth of the Kwelera river north of East London South Africa, and then due south-ish, along the East London coast-line to the Lifesavers Shack at Nahoon Beach.

The Surfers Marathon
It is the Surfers Marathon. 16 km of East London Coast, with all it has to throw at competitors. Surfers Marathon entrants who decide to run or race-walk can expect a pot-holed gravel road at the start, followed by soft sand and rocky outcrops. Near the end of the first stretch of the coastline that Surfers Marathon competitors need to get through there are enormous boulders that need to be crossed, and directly after that is a section of cannon ball sized rocks, running from the vertical bush covered dunes on the right, into the crashing surf on the left. This stretch is not too long, but it is steeply banked, and treacherously loose, waiting to twist ankles, bruise shins, and bloody knees.

Past the cannonbal run is the first river that needs to be crossed. The Gonubie river crossing, about 200m from the river mouth is made by hanging onto a rope, and dragging an already aching body across the river. After a hard long first stretch, this crossing is chilling, refreshing, and therapeutic.

The river can be in any mood. From rough and fast flowing, to slow and languid. Possibly the worst mood is flat and fast flowing, on a receding tide.

Surfers Marathon competitors who abide by the organizers arrangements, and heed the instructions of the many life savers on duty at the river crossing will get across, quickly, and safely.

Once out of the river, and depending on the state of the tide, competitors will be sent either along the coastline, below the Gonubie Boardwalk, or, if the tide is high, along a detour through the Gonubie suburbs. Whichever route is taken, the Gonubie Hotel is passed, and then the long flat section of tar to German Bay begins. Plenty of watering points, and loads of public support along this stretch will help even the most exhausted athlete onward.

A quick dart from the tarred road, along a narrow dirt path, takes the runners back down to the beach. For a while there is more loose sand and rock, but, with 3 or 4 km's to the end, the sand hardens, and the coastline takes a long flat left sweep to the distantly visible Lifesavers Shack on Nahoon Beach.

200m from the finish the runners need to cross the Nahoon River. Not as rough or wide as the Gonubie, but equally well managed, with ropes and life savers, it is generally quicker to cross, as the field will have spread out by now, this river crossing is the second last hurdle to the finish line.

Once across, and back on the churned pathway leading to the finish, and with spectators lining the final part of the course, the final challenge is to catch and pass the runner just ahead.

Surfers Marathon Weather
The weather conditions for the Surfers Marathon have a definite influence on times. The Surfers Marathon is run at the height of summer, and runners start at 14h30. At this time of day it is still hot, but starts cooling off from then. It is likely that it will be overcast, as the clouds come in off the ocean in the afternoon, especially if the day time temperature has been warm. A light breeze from the East, preceding the oncoming cloud cover, is equally possible. The breeze, as long as it stays in the Eastern quadrant, won't hamper the runners, but will be a gently refreshing aid to hot, tiring, sweaty bodies.

on the day runners can expect a light wind of about 11 knots, from East North East, meaning it will be pushing runners from behind. The day time high temperature will have peaked at about 25 degrees celsius, before starting the afternoon cool-off. Rain during the Surfers Marathon is not impossible, as this is the rainy season, it is however unlikely.

Weather prediction for the 2011 Surfers Marathon
The 2011 Surfers Marathon will start 2 hours before low tide. This means low river levels, with an outward flow. Most runners will complete the race before the start of the high tide flow. Temperatures will be high in the morning, bringing overcast and cool conditions for the late afternoon. A late afternoon ocean haze will cool slower runners, and help them along from German Bay, if they have made it beyond the Cut-off time in Gonubie.

Recommendations for the 12th February 2011 Surfers Marathon
As always, wear shoes. It may be tempting to do the Surfers Marathon barefoot, but the Gonubie tar, especially if it is hot, will cause feet to blister, with a high likelihood of the blisters breaking before reaching sand again. Wear light clothing, and lashings of sunblock. Hydrate yourself. Starting two or three days before the race, increase your water intake, reduce your coffe, reduce your fizzy drink intake. The evening before, treat yourself to a good solid pasta meal. On the day, have a light breakfast, and snack on energy bars and bananas. Drink loads of water. There are usually no water points before Gonubie, so, after your last visit to the toilet just before the start, have another water, or energy drink.

Have a great race, and even if you don't win, enjoy the scenery along the route.

Car insurance re-visited

2010-10-31T00:43:00.000-07:00

Some time back I wrote an article about car insurance.

Insurance would appear to be a great thing to have, especially if you yourself are less than honorable.

My sister was on her way to Langebaan a month or two back, and at an intersection controlled by traffic lights, a lady in a flashy new car jumped the red light and tried to cross the road. The result is that my sister's car was totalled, and a lot of money was spent on medical costs.

My sister is, with all due respect Sis, a bit of an innocent, and when the owner admitted to having jumped the light my sister accepted that all would be good. I heard of the motor car accident, and phoned my sister.

My advice to her was to collect her medical bills, and consult a lawyer. But, she didn't do it.

At length, she received an offer from Outsurance, in full and final settlement, of just over R6000, for the loss of her car, and any other expenses that may arise from the accident. The letter from Outsurance, which was incredibly intimidating in tone, quoted some case study, pointing liability toward my sister! FFS! There was a vehicle obscuring her vision on the left hand side, and the first time she saw the 4X4 is when it landed in her lap!

In my opinion, this is downright pathetic.
A wealthy individual has motor car insurance, breaks the law, admits to having broken the law, and then gets away with it. The uninsured innocent individual is penalized!

What makes this worse is that this kind of intimidation is encouraged by South African Law! Our judicial system is incredibly fkt-up, loaded with inept unqualified individuals who know they are unable to make a ruling, and therefore encourage others to make rulings for them. Obviously the guys with the bucks will win.

The average man in the street doesn't have the time or resources to compete with them.

Outsuarance, my message to you: "You should be ashamed of yourselves. Your ethics, morals, and conduct suck" I am hoping to get loads of traffic through this page, and I am hoping that Outsurance ads are displayed here, so that people can see who you are, and identify you as being less than honest!

http://tonyflanigan.blogspot.com/2010/05/motor-car-insurance-in-south-africa.html

Medical Aid in South Africa

2010-10-31T00:21:00.000-07:00

Some time ago we were approached to write website content for a Medical Aid brokerage firm.

The requested content was written, and delivered to the client. Part payment was made, pending revisions.

No revisions were requested, and to cut a long story short, I have decided to sell that part of the medical aid brokerage content that was not paid for. Should the buyer want the other content, well, I'll refund the original client his money, and let the content go.

We created a blogger blog for the content, which can be seen here.

A wake up call for parents and matriculants!

2010-07-06T04:23:00.000-07:00

It is common knowledge that the Dept of Education had to "adjust" the 2009 Matric results in order to increase the pass rate.

According to Stats SA, the unemployment figures for South Africa have decreased in the first quarter of 2010.
In 2009, there were 208 000 unemployed people in SA.
In 2010, there were only 171 000 people without work.

What they don't tell us is that the FIFA spin-off created about 50 000 jobs which are now going to become redundant. This will raise the number ot unemployed to 221 000, which means an extra 13 000 jobs will have been lost.

A factor to bear in mind are that the figures they quote are based on the 2001 population census.
Another factor that will severely skew their figures is the fact that they use their unemployment figures based on numbers from the UIF. Conservatively, add 10% to the unemployment figure.

Not a pretty picture. For now or the future.

Economists are advising matriculants to study further. That is all fine and well, but for three factors.

One. South Africa has a toilet load of graduates who, if they have a job, are working outside of their field, as they are unable to find employment in their chosen field.
Two. As a nation, we need more technicians, and people with technical skills. Schools have neglected technical subjects, and apprenticeships in technical fields seem to be almost impossible to secure, as most technical colleges have disappeared!
Three. Two thirds of first year students never finish their studies!

School leavers, you need to know that the possibility of not finding work is very real. The South African economy and the South African Education system are ensuring that survival beyond school is a matter of survival.

Surviving a poor economy is not a matter of being stronger than the rest, but about being smarter.

Rather than planning to study further for a job that you will probably not get, plan your own home business.

Parents. Calculate the costs of:
Sending your child to Varsity for 10 months.
Sending your child to Varsity for 4 years.
Maintaining your child, at home, while they are job hunting, for, lets say one year.
And finally, the cost of helping your child start up their own little business.

Every person has at least one skill, talent, or ability that they can utilize to serve another person. This rendering of a service is obviously linked to a financial reward. Just walking dogs twice a day is a service, and will attract a financial gain. This is a business. Now, obviously one will never get rich walking dogs, but, if the dog walker were to recommend a particular collar, leash, or doggie jacket to their existing clients, the chances are good a sale can be made, on which the walker will receive either a commisiion, or the profit.

Parents and pupils, wake up. Work is available, lots of it, but don't expect to find it anywhere except within yourself. Just to give your creative juices a bit of a running start, have a look at this list of small business ideas that can be run from home

Good Luck!

Resources:
http://www.statssa.gov.za/ (PDF Download)
http://www.statssa.gov.za/
http:/www.news24.com/

Presentation Content

2010-07-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

First of all, the things I can talk to you, your school, and your class mates about are actually pretty limited.

I will only speak about topics in which I am, or have been involved. In the past 40 years I have covered a bit of ground.

For the one hour interactive presentations I am able to cover:

The world out there is gonna eat you up!
Online business, and money making as a career
Micro business entrepreneurship
Real world affiliate marketing.

Half hour interactive presentations, at a cost of R180, plus R15 per person attending:
A career in:

Website design
Retailing
Fresh Produce
Panel beating
Access Control

Having me talk to your school won't cost a fortune, 'cos I'm a nice guy.

072 381 4208, or mail me at tnt@1pic4twenty.co.za

Me, at your school.

2010-07-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

Just a few quick notes.

I speak in English, and may, from time to time, switch to Afrikaans.

I speak colloquially, so everyone can follow what I have to say. I do know a few big words, but only use them to impress people I don't care much for.

I believe I have a wicked sense of humour. Personally, I don't think I have a sense of humour at all. I can't even remember jokes I heard an hour ago.

In and around East London, my rates for a 1 hour interactive presentation will be R250-00, plus a fee of R25 per person attending. This is immaterial of the Presentation content. If I feel like it, I may just decide to donate some of my fee back to the School, but I do want it first.

Depending on the location of the School, and the budget available will affect other costs, so, If you want me, I need to know what you can afford.

Bear in mind I don't really want to travel... ;)

I wear very casual clothes.

I smoke

I drink on occassion.

I swear.

I'm from the real world. Not from the Ra-Ra Glitzy Ball your School promises to you, or the Great Orb resting on a turtles shell.

I come from where most of middle class South Africa does, and I can tell you about where you're headed.

Damn. I should charge more, but then, I'm a nice guy...

Are you ready for the real world!

2010-07-05T11:49:00.000-07:00

I have just decided to become a motivational speaker!

I have lived in 4 cities in South Africa.

I have adult children.

I have been involved in business management all my life.

My first attempt as an entrepreneur was at 10 years old, selling semi-precious stones.

My first bicycle I bought with my savings from packing bread at a local shop.

I'm not rich. In fact, I'm pretty well broke most of the time.

I don't have a car, or designer clothing. But I am happy!

Being an adult is not about what you do with your choices, although it does help, but rather about being aware of the choices and challenges that will be coming your way. I wasn't as prepared as I should have been, and made a few lousy choices, but, that has not stopped me from moving on. It has not stopped me from learning.

My current life-style, and you can hear about it if you hire me, is my choice. it is not what it could have been, if it were what it could have been, I wouldn't be happy.

So, to prepare yourself for the big bad world, give me a shout. Having me talk to your school won't cost a fortune, 'cos I'm a nice guy.

072 381 4208, or mail me at tnt@1pic4twenty.co.za

If you're not into motivational speaking, I can talk to you about any of a number of other topics.

Just ask.

Search Engine Bait, a.k.a. Crap Content!

2010-07-03T12:31:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I was browsing through the 'Most Popular' articles on My Scoop, a blog aggregating service.

I spotted an article about search Evaluating a Search Engine optimisation Specialist, and being in the field decided to check it out.

Landing on the article, and reading ( well, trying to anyway),my reaction was something like: WTF!

My question: How the hell can any reasonable English speaking person allow crap like that on their website? I won't publish the name of the article here, but it is available if you ask me for it.

The article was written in extremely poor english, either by a person with a very poor grasp of the language, or it was thrown into a third world article spinner, and the 17th regurgitated version was eventually used.

No, it was actually an article that came from an article directory, copied and pasted.

Any SEO specialist, especially someone who is TRYING to convince you of their credentials MUST know about the duplicate content penalties. It is my opinion that this absolute sh1t was plastered onto the website merely to attract visitors, and once the visitors had arrived, to so disgust them, that they leave the site via a Google ad.

Way to go dude! You don't have friends to click your ads, so you use other shady techniques to create traffic and an income.

This is the first time I have been back to My Scoop since seeing the article in question on the 28th June.

From this, I feel that perhaps My Scoop should introduce a flagging system, to eliminate this sort of crap. To build a reputation is tough. To lose it is easy. Keep the crap out, and My Scoop will be better for it.

The second thing I take away from this episode is that I won't be bookmarking the marketing articles website, but io will remember the name.

It was sun, it was sea, but sadly, still school for me...

2010-07-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

School SUCKED! I wanted as little to do with it as possible.

Early in 1975 I bought a Dabchick hull from John Kriel, and then slowly but surely went about turning it into a real live sailing dinghy. Owning my own dinghy had been a long time dream, well, since 1972, at any rate.

With loads of help from my dad, and tons of impatience, by October, the 5th to be exact, I launched my Dabchick, Nkululeko.

Against all academic odds I managed to pass Standard 8 at Bosmansdam High, the only High school serving the Bothasig area, but that was irrelevant, The end of year vacation was for sailing, sailing, sailing. We went to Silversands out at Robertson for 2 weeks, and took my parents' dinghy with, a little thing called a Tack. Not in the same performance league as the Dabchick, but good enough for the narrow river.

It wasn't practical to take a radio out on the boat, but sound carries well over water, so, turn radio on, and turn volume up!

The music of 1975, as relayed to the music lovers in the Springbok Radio reception area, featured
You ain't seen nothin yet, by Bachman Turner Overdrive coming in as 1975's Top Hit, with The Sweet's Fox in the Run coming in as runner-up, and Love Hurts from Nazareth was the final podium filler.

They may have been the Top 3 Hits of 1975, but LADY from Styx, and Don't you Know, by the incredible Della Reese will always be with us!

Of course my two favourite songs of all time were released in 1975. Need I mention the song of millenium? Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody? And of course Sailing by Rod Stewart.

I recall sailing at Silverstrand, late one Friday evening. It was calm, it was awesome! I don't remember the dj presenting the show, but I do remember his playing Sailing.

Oops. Before I forget the international Top Hit, have you heard of Love Will Keep Us Together, by Captain and Tennille? That was in '75!

Closing off the International hits for 1975, K.C. and The Sunshine Band with That's The Way I Like It were number 1 on the 28th december 1975, with 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover by Paul Simon somewhere there, and then, Sailing, at number 9!

Barbados, Typically Tropical,
the 9th most popular song in 1975 in South Africa

Ladies and gentlemen
this is Captain Tobias Willcock
Welcoming you aboard Coconut Airways Flight 372 to
Bridgetown Barbados.
We will be flying at a height of 32.000 feet
and at an air speed of approximately
600 miles per hour.
Refreshments will be served after take-off.
Kindly fasten you safety belts and refrain
From smoking until the aircraft is airborne.

Woh
I'm going to Barbados
woh
backa to the palm trees.
Woh
I'm going to see my girl friend
Woh
in the sunny Caribean sea.

Photograph Give Away!

2010-06-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

Prize Winning Photographer of East London, South Africa, Teresa Schultz, is giving away ready to print images, as school book covers.

Get one, or all 8 at her School and Stuff website

These are just two of the covers in the collection.

Get them now, to make sure your childs school books are unique!

Kyocera malpractice? You decide.

2010-06-20T14:11:00.001-07:00

The case against an office automation supplier

My daughter lives in another city. She was employed at the subsidiary offices of a leading office automation supplier.

A recent investigation by the owning company led to an investigation, which indicated that the branh manager and one other staff member had been involved in defrauding the company. As part of the investigation, my daughter was interviewed, and found to have no knowledge of the fraud.

During the interview she raised a few matters that had been troubling her for some time. One such item was the lack of an Employment Contract, and another, the lack of a job description. she also raised her concern about office protocols and systems, and the non-adherence to them.

The Owners Representative assured her that these matters would be attended to.

The replacement management team, consisting of one of the remaining staff members, and this member's brother in law, called my daughter into the office on the Monday morning, and asked her to resign, citing possible future conflict as the reason. An argument ensued, my daughter did resign, walked out of the office, then returned immediately to retrieve the resignation, which she did. A further argument ensued, and she was informed that she was fired, with immediate eefect.

She first went to the Police to lay charges of verbal assault, then went to the department of Labour. within a month, her case was heard at the CCMA, and she was re-instated, but in another office.

The company representative at the hearing apologised on behalf of the company.

The travelling time from home to the office was about 3 and a half hours. My daughter returned to the CCMA, but was informed that she had unfortunately agreed to the proposition.

I am prepared to take up the axe against Kyocera. for a company that maintains that their staff are valuable assets, it is unacceptable that they treat any person like this.

The entire approach from the Kyocera side is fuck you chickie, we're looking after our own. Almost a governmental approach. Do what you like, because if you apologise, you will be okay.

I will start off by encouraging anyone who needs office equipment to not purchase Kyocera. There are other better manufacturers, with better deals. And they do treat their staff better.

In a way kyocera did her a favour. She starts at her new job tomorrow, at almost 3 times the salary.

1974 came, and 1974 went, and I didn't even notice...

2010-06-19T05:54:00.000-07:00

1974 was totally unremarkable, but for Ms Dreyer, our Accountancy teacher telling me that if I didn't feel like doing my homework, she didn't feel like teaching me.

She did ask me why my homework wasn't done, and I did tell her that I hadn't felt like doing it.
I ended up sitting in the furthest corner of the class, and somehow managed to pass Accountancy as well.

Other than that, 1974 was a blank year.
Had anyone asked me to name just one song from 1974 half an hour ago, I would have embarrassed myself. I didn't have the foggiest.

Now, having done a bit of checking and snooping, its pretty obvious that it was only me that was blank then. I mean, who could forget "The Loco-Motion" from Grand Funk Railroad? Or Blue Swede's "Hooked on a feeling"?

1974 is the year Eric Clapton "Shot The Sheriff', and John Denver sang "Annie's Song".

Olivia Newton-John had a big hit with I Honestly Love You, and Crocodile Harris had the hots for Miss Eva Goodnight

On the South African Springbok Radio Top Twenty Charts, in 1974, the most popular song in South Africa was Kris Kristofferson's "Why me?" and Carl Douglas had every kid in Bothasig "Kung Fu Fighting". Albert Hammond, appropriately, followed on with 'the Peacemaker'.

Terry Jacks brought us "Seasons in the Sun', and in the same year, 'heaven is my woman's love', was twisted into "Heaven is my motorbike" by Sad Tyre. You must also remember "Have you seen her" by the Settlement. I do.

"The Air That I Breathe" was the Hollies major contribution to 1974

Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe
And to love you
All I need is the air that I breathe
Yes to love you
All I need is the air that I breathe

Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe
And to love you
All I need is the air that I breathe
Yes to love you
All I need is the air that I breathe
And to love you
All I need is the air that I breathe
Yes to love you

Click here to get the full lyrics

Father's Day 2010

2010-06-19T04:23:00.000-07:00

So I'm getting old and foolish

After about 50 false starts, I think I'm on the right track now.

I'm glad the annual Commercial Holiday known commonly as Father's Day is in fact called Father's Day, and not Daddy's Day.

You see, any guy can be a Father, all that's needed there is a sperm with running shoes, and an egg cell that's a little lonely.

A daddy however is a totally different thing.

A daddy is the guy who's there to throw the baby up in the air until it cries, gurgles with delight, or up-chucks.

A daddy is the guy who is there to take the kids out for a while while mom has a nap

A daddy is the guy who will kiss a grazed knee while cringeing inside cos there is a speck of blood

A daddy is the guy who takes over from mom at 4 am cos she can't stay awake to look after the child with a howling temperature

A daddy will always do his best to ensure his children grow up to be sensible, responsible people

A daddy is a friend, a mentor, a role model

A daddy is a lot things. Daddy's share their children's lives, and together they make memories. The sort of memories that, in later years, the now adult child can recall with joy, and share with their children.

I am a father, but only my children will know if I was a daddy....

~~hm. update. I may be a father, but not a dad~~ :) My Muffa phoned me!

A letter to my Dad.

2010-06-19T04:10:00.000-07:00

I was a little angry with you for leaving when you did.

It was annoying that you had to wait for me to be out of town to have a stroke, but yes, you did wait for me to get back before you started your final journey.

At your funeral, it was expected of me, as the eldest son present, to say a few words. I struggled with that, as the lies didn't come easily. When I decided that I would just tell the truth, it all came together. And I'm glad.

You were difficult. You were obstinate and headstrong.

But you had a streak of tenderness running though you a mile wide.

I recall how you would pick wild flowers for mom in the field opposite us. I still chuckle when I remember you bringing her stones, because you hadn't seen one 'quite like this one', even though it was just a stone.

Your happiness when I gave you a bottle of soil from the garden of the house we had lived in in Port Elizabeth was almost overwhelming.

You rode a motor-bike, and you had to have surgery to fix your nose after a wrestling match. You spent months in hospital recovering from a motor-cycle racing accident, and lost a finger in a work related accident.You played with Nico Carstens in his Skoppelmaai band, and you were a regular feature at the Paarl Wine Festival, keeping Dennis Souma out of trouble. You told a surgeon, minutes before undergoing major surgery, that you weren't at all concerned, as he was the one who would have a problem if you died during the procedure.

As a child I don't remember much of you. You were the guy I was so shit scared of. You were in the house only at night time.The rest of the time you were working. I realise now that you worked as hard as you did in order to give us as much as possible.

You gave me my love for wood, and taught me all I know of working with wood. You encouraged my sailing.

The last I saw you was just after you passed away. I did two things I had never done before.

I kissed you, and told you I love you.

Thank you for my being my father, and for being my dad.

An SEO Case study.

2010-06-17T03:50:00.000-07:00

We design websites, and we optimize them for good organic findability on Search engines.

All our clients receive the same treatment, as part of their website design package.

We do not use, and do not advocate the use of Google's, or any other Pay per Click advertising, as we find that businesses that do use PPC generally offer less valuable content and information.

The Scenario:

Two similar businesses, geographically very close to each other, have us re-design their websites, at roughly the same time. Two month time difference.

Client 1 wanted the content in a particular way, and would not have it any other way. This client had a PPC campaign in place with a third party provider.

Client 2 gave us carte blanche. We took the existing content, tweaked it, added to it, and used that.

When doing our relevancy checks, client 1 did not do at all well.

Client 2, scored in the upper 90% for all the basic SEO factors we utilize.

Ten days after submission to the Search Engines, client 2 was ranking well, and later checks showed them to be climbing in the ranks. Slowly, but climbing nevertheless.

Client 1 was slipping away. Client 1 approached us about the Search Engine positioning, and we basically put it on the line. Let us do what needs to be done, undisturbed, or we won't do anything.

Around the same time, client 2, who wanted more traffic, decided to change to a host who offerred PPC campaigns.

What we did:

The content on Client 1's home page was overhauled, thrown around, beaten and pummelled, and given a good shaking. Testing showed good results, with upper 90 to 100%'s.

Client 2, we let go.

The results:

Client 1 now comes up on page 1 or 2 for several seach phrases, none of which contain the business name.

Client 2, well, unless you know the name of the business, you won't find it.

Conclusion:

Sound basic SEO needs to be in place, verified, and monitored. Too many website owners neglect the basics, or overlook the necessity for basic SEO, and see PPC as a silver bullet for increased business

Our message:

So called SEO experts who sell their PPC 'skills', need to be put up against a wall at dawn and shot. All they are doing is taking advantage of desperation and gullibility.

To the alleged SEO experts, my message is: instead of bull-shitting your clients into PPC, recommend that the basics be fixed first, and monitored.

A website is not just a pretty picture on the internet. There is a lot that can, and will go wrong. Have your site analyzed, and use the site analysis to systematically fix your site, and increase your organic findability.

SEO in the news

News content from Fresh Content.net

Red Red Wine

2010-06-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

In keeping with this evenings theme of winter and booze, I want to close my daily offering of crud with something anyone over the age of 6 will know.

The song is Red Red wine.

Originally written by Neil Diamond in 1968, it became an immense hit for him, taking him to number sixty-three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1968.

The power and timeless, ageless appeal of the song was obvious, as it was released by several artists, all trying to better the original version.

Jimmy James and The Vagabonds
Tony Tribe reached number forty-six in the UK Singles Chart in 1969
Also in 1969, Charles Mann.
1970, Vic Dana
In 1972, Roy Drusky

The song was left alone, until UB40 reached number one in the UK chart in August 1983, and number thirty-four in the U.S. in 1984.

A 1988 UB40's re-release as a single saw it reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100

The Hobos did a cover of this song on their 2004 double album
It was also performed by Peter Tetteroo, former singer of Tee Set,
and was performed by Cas Haley on America's Got Talent.

Sadly, the version everyone remembers is not the original by Neil Diamond, but the '80's reggae style version of UB40's. But then, is that sad?

Red, red wine
Go to my head
Make me forget that I
Still need her so

Red, red wine
It's up to you
All I can do, I've done
But mem'ries won't go
No, mem'ries won't go

I'd have thought
That with time
Thoughts of her
Would leave my head
I was wrong
And I find
Just one thing makes me forget

Red, red wine
Stay close to me
Don't let me be alone
It's tearin' apart
My blue, blue heart

Red red wine you make me feel so fine
You keep me rocking all of the time

Red red wine you make me feel so grand
I feel a million dollars when your just in my hand

Red red wine you make me feel so sad
Any time I see you go it makes me feel bad

Red red wine you make me feel so fine
Monkey pack him rizla pon the sweet dep line

Red red wine you give me whole heap of zing
Whole heap of zing mek me do me own thing

Redred wine you really know how fi love
Your kind of loving like a blessing from above

Red red wine I love you right from the start
Right from the start with all of my heart

Red red wine in a 80's style
Red red wine in a modern beat style, yeah

Thanks to Lyricsfreak for the lyrics

Winter Warmers

2010-06-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

Generally I go through any given year from day to day.

If it's cold, I add clothes.

If its warm, I remove clothes.

I mean, what's the point in getting hung up over the temperature outside?

Since moving to East London from Bloemfontein, I must admit that the winter cold here was pretty much hardly worth noticing. Until I got what is now my favourite jacket.

Now, in order to wear the jacket, more of a coat really, I need to fel the cold, and I have been doing just that very conscientiously.

This evening, rather than go on a musical mind blast into the past, I dredged up a few memories from years gone by. What I found surprising is that it appears that when people get married and start having CHILDREN, they forget to live!

There is nothing I used to do that I would not do again, with my children present. Okay, okay, maybe a little less boozing.

I remember, in no particular order, or rank of preference:

Beach braais, complete with guitars, tape decks, Beach Boys, Old Brown Sherry and Tassenberg.

I remember the Chelsea Arms, their amazing Shepherds Pie, with a tankard of beer, and the Riverboat Jazz Band. The early afternoon would rapidly become night, and many OBS's would be lost in action.

I remember coffe at the Wimpy, on the way home from sailing.

I remember the very first time I had alcohol! It was Roger Bartholomew who poured a coffee mug of tassies for me, out at Voelvlei.

I remember going for a hike in Bainskloof with 2 friends, also students, and because it was pouring with rain we couldn't braai, so we Tassenberged instead.

I remember walking to the hotel in Greyton, before Greyton had street lights, and only the main road was tarred. At the hotel we would watch the Saturday night movie through the bottom of a glass.

I remember 'camping out' in the lounge during power failures, playing cards in front of a roaring fire, with a bottle of Old brown Sherry very close by.

I remember going to a church 'bring your own' fellowship lunch, and once the minister had left, joining the rest of the guys to collect the drinks from the cars. On that occassion, sadly, no Tassenberg, although OBS was present, along with a Nederburg Cab and a Pinotage of sorts.

At college I remember several of us ducking into a Licenced Wimpy on a Sunday, and sharing a plate of chips (between 6 of us. Guys and gals.) So that we could have a few drinks while the rain poured down outside.

I remember several very decent Old Browns at the Alaska in Bellville, and then 'space-walking' up D'Urban Street to go to soundwave.

Ah yes, the memories.

Those were the days, and my kids will never have those experiences....

:(

Are you old enough to have memories such as I have? Share them with us.

I thought of something...

2010-06-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

I was in the kitchen a few minutes ago, and had a thought. It does happen from time to time, and no, it doesn't always hurt. Only when I breathe.

The thought was something along the lines of: "Mom always called Dad Manny". This started a process second to none in my poor mind. probably because process is virtually impossible in a vacuum.

Or so I've been told.

What do people call other people if not using the other person's name as it would appear on their ID Document?

I call Terry Noenoes. Dunno what the hell a Noenoes is, but Terry is one.

She calls me a shit. Well, not exactly, I'm her po*pholpie!

When Gilly, our jack russell is cute, she is a munchy munchkin. When in front of her best friend the heater, she is a slut!

Her parents call each other Buck.

My dad always called my mom Tits.

As far back as I can remember my brother's girlfriends and wives' pet name has been Spook.

Taxi drivers are generally MothaF**ker!

What pet names do you use? Or have you heard being used?

Free website Design for you

2010-06-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

Vry, gratis, mahala, free, as in no payment due, expected, or to be invoiced for, etc etc etc.

Until 26 June 2010, we, the blondes at TnT Unleashed, will design a 3 page website for you, for free.

There is a condition though.....

We want to register your domain and host your site. cost? R480, once off, for a year. Hm...

Not much of a condition....

For more info click here.

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WHO ARE NO DOUBT BEING ADVERSELY AFFECTED BY FIFA,

THE COLD AND VU VU ZELA'S

Yot Hot Pot

2010-06-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

FIFA 2010 did nothing to raise temperatures in South Africa. It seemed to do just the opposite, with temperatures all around the country falling like a sky diver without a parachute.

East London may be the gatkant of nerens, but we also got smacked silly by the miserable weather as it passed by en route to the rest of the country.

In the kitchen I created a hot pot (not real pot, its a term that is used to describe a kind of meal). The theory behind a hot pot is that one uses only one pot in which to cook the meal, and similar to a traditional hairyback potjie, it doesn't get stirred.

The hot pot can be cooked on any cooking tool, from a paraffin stove to a full on Russell-Hobbs range.

For 4 of us, I used about 500g tenderised steak, 4 onions, 4 potates, and a packet of bacon. The other bits and pieces, the herbs (not pot, only what went into the pot) and spices, went in as I found them.

By the way, use shoulder bacon, you get less fat on this particular bacon cut.

In order now, braise onions until they're glassy. I don't know what that means, but I read it somewhere and it sounds intelligent. Then add the steak. Cut it into smallish chunks first. Add the potatoes now too.

The picture should give you some idea of how big the bitty pieces should be. Add water to the pot, level with the potatoes. Now add the other pot stuff, such as aromat, pepper, a touch of curry, some chilli sauce, mustard, mixed herbs, whatever.

Leave the lot to cook. Go have a coffee. Just as it starts catching, you will smell the pot burning. The pot on the stove. The pot on the stove with the food in it. Now dash in a glass of water, let it boil, and switch the stove off.

Prepare the plates. All you need is a decent slab of buttered home made bread.

Now add some of the hot pot. from the pot that was on the stove, not the pot you're growing at the back of the yard.

Serve hot, with a decent sized glass of Old Brown.

And why Yot Hot Pot? My nickname on Mxit was Yot(tie). And it rhymes with Hot Pot.

Lekker Vreet!

Old Brown decanter pic from Bid or Buy:liz2steel

The Song of the Milennium

2010-06-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

At the age of only 4, the British Pop Rock Group Queen undertook their "Night at the Opera" tour.

Single Cover from Wikipedia

The lead track, which was revolutionary for its time, featured several divergent styles, and this masterful combining of a ballad segment, an operatic passage, and a heavy rock solo portion helped the song become popular.

Written by Freddie Mercury, most of the song was born in the studio.

Starting rehearsals in August 1975, for between 10 and 12 hours a day, Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor would practice their parts in the song. The recording session of the operatic passage only was a phenomonal 3 weeks long! Due to the limits of the technology in 1975, special techniques were used to render the massive effects.

Special techniques, and 5 recording studios!

In one part of the song, there is an apparrent 'mass choir' of 600 people. Not so. The tracks were recorded, and overdubbed to create the effect. In many places it was necessary to join parts of the sound track. This was done with razor blades and adhesive tape.

It was, at the time, the single most expensive single recording ever made.
It is one of the most elaborate recordings in all musical history.

It was 'leaked' to radio stations in the UK and USA, to test the public's response, as the band's recording agents felt that at almost 6 minutes, it was too long for general release. The response from the public was overwhelming, so much so that the single had to be rushed into production unedited!

Released on the 31st of October 1975, the song rocketed to the top of the BBC top Twenty, where it stayed for 9 weeks. The very same (unedited) version went back to the top of the BBC top Twenty 16 years later, in 1991 when Freddie Mercury died!

35 Years after being released, the Song of the Milennium is still going strong, and still on playlists all over the world.

The Song is Bohemian Rhapsody.

Bohemian Rhapsody lyrics

Song Lyrics | Queen lyrics

A meal without the basics.

2010-06-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

When in the kitchen, performing my random kitchenary functions, I like to have at least two staples ready and waiting to get used as a vital part of the meal.

The two items? Potatoes and onions. With potatoes and onions, a meal is waiting to happen. In my opinion these two items are everyday necessities in a kitchen, especially if one has to feed a horde, and one is subject to following a budget.

Sunday I drew kitchenary duty. I was a bit miff, but yeah, I went for my badge.

I set a challenge to myself to prepare a filling 'traditional' sunday lunch, that wouldn't leave anyone bloated, but would be yummy and filling.

Without any boring detail, the result, as delivered to the table was: Grilled Pork Chops, rice, cauliflower with white sauce, and caramel carrots.

The verdict?

I wasn't as miff as I had been when I started.

Make food, or prepare a meal?

2010-06-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

What, if any, is the difference between making food, and preparing a meal?

First of all, I'm probably the least qualified person to talk about this, as I am not a professional chef, not even an amateur chef. In fact, I'm not even a cook. I just enjoy messing around in the kitchen from time to time.

The past while I haven't really done anything exciting in the kitchen, although I have been there a bit more regularly than ususal.

What I have noticed, is that when food is just thrown together, slapped onto a plate, and pushed under the victims nose, it gets treated as, well, just food. Eat it and get done.

On the other hand, when the meal is prepared with just a little attention, such as not letting the bacon get cremated, keeping the eggs on the right side of sunny, the meal will be more enjoyable. Of course, adding a slice of tomato, a block of cheese, and a celery stick to the plate will add just that little touch to slow the feeding animals down just a bit, so they can appreciate the effort, and by eating slower, enjoy the meal more.

What I'm trying to say is that no matter what your level of expertise in the kitchen is, a few extra touches to the meal make the meal look better, and 99% of the time, if it looks better, it tastes better!

1973: Sorrow, but not really.

2010-06-12T04:25:00.000-07:00

1973 dawned fresh and clear one sunny Summer morning. It fell over Tygerberg Koppie, and rolled over Bothasig, quietly.

The Bothasig Primary Schooling system had had enough of me, and tossed me onward to the tender mercies of the High School system. Had they sent me back to Kindergarten, which I am sure is an option several teachers did entertain, it would have meant coming through their classes again. A prospect they did not relish, so, High School it was.

It was a new adventure, the beginning of great things.

Our Standard 6 teacher at Bosmansdam High in 1973 was Mr La Grange. He was La Grange senior, as his younger brother also taught at Bosmansdam High.

Brylcremed short back and sides, highly polished black shoes with grey flannels, pale blue shirt and buttoned up navy blue blazers enveloped the boys. The girls wore white socks, and Navy gyms. All faces freshly scrubbed. And so went off to meet Mr La Grangr Snr.

Our introductions, initially were cordial, and I'm sure many of the kids in my class were quite relieved that our new teacher seemed to be such a nice guy.

And then it happened!

Peter Fortune, suffering from a momentary lapse of sorts responded to a question La Grange asked with a "Yes miss"!

And a quick correction, "er no sir, yes sir", just didn't quite save the situation enough.

La Grange exploded.

" I am NOT your BLOODY MISS!" was thrown out at poor Peter, in a bellow that would have done any Regimental Sergeant-Major proud.

Peter cringed.

The whole class cringed.

I saw my last years of school in being equally as miserable as my first had been.

Thank heavens for the music. 1973 was ushered in by Michael Jackson and "Ben", with the late great king of Rock, Elvis releasing "Burning Love" early in the year.

The year started well, and got better, with notable releases being Nights In White Satin - Moody Blues; You're So Vain - Carly Simon; Papa Was A Rolling Stone - The Temptations;

In fact, here in South Africa, the whole year was filled with good music. I have to include the entire Top Twenty for 1973!

   1. I DON'T WANNA PLAY HOUSE - Barbara Ray
   2. HEAVEN IS MY WOMAN'S LOVE - Tommy Overstreet
   3. SORROW - David Bowie
   4. I'D LOVE YOU TO WANT ME - Lobo
   5. WE BELIEVE IN TOMORROW - Freddy Breck
   6. CAN'T KEEP IT IN - Cat Stevens
   7. KENTUCKY BLUES - Lauren Copley
   8. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER - Shirley Bassey
   9. CLAP YOUR HANDS AND STAMP YOUR FEET - Maria
10. TIE A YELLOW RIBBON ROUND THE OLD OAK TREE - Tony Orlando & Dawn
11. BABY BLUE - George Baker Selection
12. TAKE ME TO THE MARDI GRAS - Paul Simon
13. I NEED YOUR LOVE - Letta Mbulu
14. WOMAN, BEAUTIFUL WOMAN - Don Gibson
15. THE LOVE IN YOUR EYES - Vicky Leandros
16. I'M ON FIRE - Maria
17. AND I LOVE YOU SO - Perry Como
18. THAT'S WHY I LOVE YOU - Richard Jon Smith
19. MAORI LOVE SONG - Double Vision
20. I WANNA LIVE - Tommy Oliver

My video pick for the year of 1973? With great difficulty, I eventually decided on:

The Lyrics selection for 1973 was equally taxing, and I settled for this:

I'm comin' home, I've done my time
Now I've got to know what is and isn't mine
If you received my letter telling you I'd soon be free
Then you'll know just what to do
If you still want me
If you still want me

Whoa, tie a yellow ribbon 'round the old oak tree
It's been three long years
Do ya still want me (still want me)
If I don't see a ribbon 'round the old oak tree
I'll stay on the bus
Forget about us
Put the blame on me
If I don't see a yellow ribbon 'round the old oak tree

Bus driver, please look for me
'cause I couldn't bear to see what I might see
I'm really still in prison
And my love, she holds the key
A simple yellow ribbon's what I need to set me free
I wrote and told her please

Whoa, tie a yellow ribbon 'round the old oak tree
It's been three long years
Do ya still want me (still want me)
If I don't see a ribbon 'round the old oak tree
I'll stay on the bus
Forget about us
Put the blame on me
If I don't see a yellow ribbon 'round the old oak tree

Now the whole damned bus is cheerin'
And I can't believe I see
A hundred yellow ribbons 'round the old oak tree

I'm comin' home, mmm, mmm

(Tie a ribbon 'round the old oak tree)
...

Tony Orlando & Dawn

If you don't that song, you don't know nothin'....

Top Twenty from:http://www.rock.co.za
and the lyrics from http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gary.hart

FIFA 2010 South African SOkka SuPPohta

2010-06-11T07:31:00.000-07:00

This arrived in my e-mail box a few minutes ago.

I have no idea where it originated, but I do need to share it with all.

Could this really be a typical Proudly South African Soccer Supporter, or is it merely indicative of the wide support Bafana Banana enjoy?

What is a Banana Republic?

2010-06-11T02:13:00.000-07:00

Is South Africa a Banana Republic?

Exhaustive research into the Banana Republic and South African qualification as such, came about after a conversation with my brother in the U.K.. In my humble, twisted and totally objective opinion regarding this somewhat subjective topic, my answer must be:

dunno....

yes

no

not yet

wait and see

who cares

Or, none of the above.

Alternately, based on the evidence I am about to provide, and using your own cognisant powers of observation, and logic, you decide for yourself!

Generally, when researching, my first stop is Wikipedia. I can find anything there to substantiate my arguments. I also used another reference source, viz. Wisegeek

Below are features common to Banana Republics:
politically unstable,
dependent on limited agriculture
ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy, and corrupt clique
sham democracies
Corruption at all levels
a system rife with bribes
black markets
Increasing privatization of basic social services

From the list we can extract several features common to South Africa, although we do not yet have all, they will get here.

The question that arises from these observations, is what colour will the headband on bra Jules Malmoers hat be?

Now having written this, my opinion regarding South Africa and its qualification for entry into the International Association of Misunderstood Democracies becomes clear.

Before final admission into aforementioned society of Banana Republics can be finalized, PLEASE change the name of the country. Sorry bra Jakes, but I am proudly South African. I am NOT proud of what the ANC have turned it into. South Africa has the potential to be a major international force, in all fields, if managed properly.

So okay, I didn't, won't, and don't support the ANC. I also don't eat jelly or hug trees. That's my choice in life. But if South Africa is going to take the final little toddler steps to becoming a Full Blown Banana Republic, let it not be as South Africa.

Oh yes, the picture up top? It's the official Banana Republic flag...

website design price crap

2010-06-10T04:35:00.000-07:00

So yeah, right now I'm a tad not very jolly.

Another possible title for this post could be "I'm glad we're not on page 1 of Google anymore", but that's not as dramatic. Or, how about this: "We design your dream website FREE of charge!". Maybe even (sung to the tune of Queen's 'We will rock you'): "We will con you!"

Why are website designers so scared of putting their REAL prices on their advertising? I saw this one, and had to have a look:

The top line should, or could say: R150pm. That is the actual truth. For only 5 pages, limited functionality and no choice of layout.

The next one is a touch more honest:

You need to go to their website to actually find out that (a) You MUST host with them to qualify for that price, and once again, you have NO choice as regards layout and design.

Well. We're probably the same, inasmuch we don't advertise our true costs.

What we do do is put ALL our prices on our website, and direct potential clients there. If the client finds that to be too much trouble, or cannot find the solution they want, we ascertain their requirements, and based on that put together a customised proposal.

And have a look at this post on our blog.

Oh yes, why I'm glad we're not on page 1 of Google for the term "web design" anymore? Two reasons. The enquiries we were getting were mostly unqualified and not from serious buyers. Curious citizens from another planet. The other reason? We no longer have ads like the two above next to our listings.

Our business is primarily word of mouth, and that means any enquiry is already 95% qualified, and committed.

Learning to design a website

2010-06-10T03:31:00.000-07:00

I may have mentioned this before, but if not, I will do so again, if you want to learn to design a website, the best way is to hand code.

There are many open source and paid website design software options available, but, they all have their problems. Serious professional website designers don't use Dreamweaver, Coffee Cup, or, possibly the greatest sin against website design ever, the Microsoft FrontPage and Microsoft Publisher options.

I won't go into the Microsoft issue any more except to say that if you want a website to have thousands of lines of crappy code, take forever to load, and just be a total stuff up in anything except Internet Explorer, use them.

I learnt to code the log hard way, and developed several bad habits along the way. It's only in the past year or so that I have been getting these things out of my system.

First of all, if you want to design a website, you need to know, at minimum, HTML and CSS. Just enough to get by is not enough, a bit more than that is dangerous. So, your first task will be to familirize yourself with these two coding practices.

I'm going to give you links to sites that offer good learning material.

I'm going to give you a link to a wonderful tutorial. It is a bit dated, but working through the tutorial, step by step, will do more for you than any other software or tutorial resource I have found.

While scratching around in Google, I typed in:
"how to design a website for free"

The results were less than encouraging. The site that heads the list, is, in my opinion, and apologies to the owner, a bit of a waste of time. Apart from offering FrontPage tutorials, you really have to scratch around to find anything useful.

Further down, well, not good. 'nuff said.

I changed my search term slightly to:
"learn how to design a website for free"
and the only site of note, and one I would recommend is the w3schools site. I often use it to check things. Not as good as w3c.org, but not as technical, and easier to navigate.

At this point I stopped. I had spent over 2 hours browsing, and didn't find what I was looking for. At this point, let's not waste time, go straight to the Subcide website.

This is the tutorial I mentioned earlier.

The tutorial is a bit old, but remains a gold nugget. Using the tutorial assumes you have some knowledge of HTML and CSS. This you will get from w3schools.

My recommendation is to concentrate on HTML4, and CSS2. XHTML, from what I can glean, will be dying when HTML5 is introduced as a w3c supported standard. CSS3 is, as yet also not fully supported.

How much does a website cost?

2010-06-07T03:02:00.000-07:00

How much does a website cost is something we don't often get asked, probably because we're so darn inexpensive. Or is the term cost effective? Or maybe even cost ignorant?

Whatever the term may be, at the end of the day, how much a website costs boils down to only 2 factors.

Factor one.
How much the client is prepared to pay.

Factor two.
How much you think you can get away with charging.

Cost is a double edged sword, with no handle. It can make or break a sale.

It is vital that the client is confident of receiving good value for money.

Good value for money is a potential problem for many website designers, as most of the added value is really in the background.

Too many designers place the emphasis of their offerings on the flash and razzmatazz, neglecting to tell their clients that the website is doomed to failure from the moment it launches.
Why?
It is amazing how often we are asked to look at a website because there is no traffic, no enquiries, or the owner is just plain bored with it.
Using our checklist, which is the result of amalgamating several such lists, we go to the site and evaluate it. This is a free service if the client has us re-design the site. somewhere along the line we look at what is happening behind the scenes, in the coding.

Much too often, professional website design companies do not even bother to insert even halfway relevant meta coding. 3 years ago, had you typed Tin Soldier into Google, you would have seen one of East London's leading horse-riding businesses in the results page.

Relevancy? 0%

Responsible coding? 0%

Sensitivity to the clients' needs? 0%

The list could go on and on, and I feel that I should, in due course, highlight some of the crimes against clients (cac) perpetrated by website designers. Not only by the school-kids with microsoft Publisher, but also by the high profile "cutting edge" website designers.

I do know that technically I may not be the best.
I do know that my graphic ability is not the best.
I do know our hosting is not the cheapest.

BUT, what I do know is that I am honest, and I tell my clients if their work is within my ability sphere or not. If not, I will find someone who can provide the particular thing I cannot.

What I do know, is that if there is a server problem, and a client reports it, attention is given to the problem immediately. Our hosting control panels are one of the most sophisticated available, providing stats, features, and flexibility second to none.

What I also know is that right now, our clients get damn good value for money.

Why, you ask? And how?

Well, if you start looking at what we include in our price, and compare apples with apples, our offering versus another deigners', it will be pretty obvious.

WIMPY COFFEE, not on special: 12cent!

2010-06-07T00:49:00.000-07:00

1971 disappeared into history, taking with it bad memories of school. 1972 didn't seem to hold out any hope for much better, but, I was to be surprised. Mrs Joppich was Cool! The strict discipline of the previous 2 years were nothing but a memory.

It's amazing how some things will stay with you forever. For me, a perpetual reminder of those better days, when we had no cares or problems, is in the music of the time.

1972 was the year of:

Compulsory National Service for all white males in South Africa went from 9 to 12 months
Volkswagen Beetle number 15,007,000 rolled off the production line
Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky and becomes the first American chess champion
And lets not forget, for Facebooks junk food expert, Angela Brace, Wimpy Coffee:- only 12c a cup!

1972 was the year of Lieutenant Pigeon's Mouldy Old Dough.

Another Big song in South Africa at the time was "I can see clearly now" from Johnny Nash, and I must not forget to include the song that EVERY kid in Bothasig knew off by heart. The Song?

"I rode my bicycle past your window last night...."

Yes. Brand new key, by the still going strong Melanie Kafka.

Of course we all knew "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" from Joan Baez and the song Madonna repopularised a few years back: "American Pie", originally by Don McLean.

Softly Whispering I Love You, the Congregation

I can feel your warm face
ever close to my lips
and the scent of you invades
the cool evening air
I can close my eyes and you're there in my arms
still and I know your soft kiss turning into music ev'ry beat
of my heart
when I hold you close to my heart

and I hear your voice whispering
I love you.

Learn how to design a website for free

2010-06-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, well, about a week ago, Terry suggested I write a series of articles dedicated to those people who want to learn to design websites.

I have thought about this long, and I have thought about this hard. The idea has merit, as we constantly get enquiries from people who want to learn to design websites. The idea has merit, as we see this as a way to repay those folk who have helped us along the way.

I designed my first website a few years back, when WordPress was still a little puppy, and when a really hot PC had Windows 2000 or even better still, Windows XP. Internet Explorer 5.5 and 6 were the browser to use, in South Africa at any rate.

My first site was built with Microsoft frontPage. And it looked really great on my PC. Then I loaded it to a server. Then it looked shit. I didn't understand frontPage extensions (still don't. and don't care). My server didn't support FrontPage extensions.

Not to be put off, I re-designed the site, using some or other WYSIWYG editor. I don't remember the name. It kinda did the trick, but there were things I couldn't do. I spoke to my Web host, Collin, and asked him how he designed his website. I wanted the same editor he used. His reply? Hand coding! I was stunned! Who on earth would be able to remember all the coding that went into a website?

Damn. In the meantime, I made use of blogger.com (I still do, in case you hadn't noticed). I investigated. I scratched around, searched around, downloaded Gigs of software, and spent hours studying whatever I could find.

It wasn't that long ago, but resources then were pretty shoddy by current standards.

Now here comes the crunch. If I am typical of all or most people, then a Quick Fix is being looked for. So many people seem to have the idea that designing a website is a simple matter of making a pretty picture and loading it to the Internet. That simple.

Well it's not. It is not rocket science or applied Physics, but it is a damn site more than just "plakking a pritty picher onna internet".

I'll tell you why.

Next time...

Vu Vu Zela- the Voice of South Africa ( Die Stem van Suid Afrika)

2010-06-05T04:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, I didn't see it coming, but it has.

South Africa has a new National Animal.

bye bye springbokkie, you were no match for your replacement.

South Africa has a new National Anthem.

bye bye nkosi soek 'n leplek, you were no match for your replacement.

In recent weeks I have been hearing a mournful lonely trumpetting on occasion, and eventually decided some investigation was needed.

I was unable to find anything. It seemed the wailing was from something as elusive as the tooth fairy. Some claim to have seen it, but none can accurately describe it.

As time progressed, the wailing became more regular, and stronger. I was alarmed. It seemed that the numbers of the wailing beasts were increasing, but I had, as yet, not seen one.

My persistence and curiosity have not abated, and I have still not seen the origin of the strange wail. I have however learned, from reliable sources I may add (actually from yottie, the indigent car-guard down at Prestons), that the beast is in fact a Vu Vu Zela.

My source reported to me that the VuVuZela is now approaching its mating season, hence the upsurge in activity. The climax of the pre-mating season will occur in a few days time, in far off SoccaSitti. Those specimens of the VuVuZela that are not able to be at SoccaSitti will be found in taverns, shebeens and pubs, screaming raucously at the Television screens. Strange behaviour one may think, but not quite as strange as the pre-mating season activities of the VuVuZela.

Before the actual mating begins, the VuVuZela will be found, not only in pubs,taverns, and shebeens, but also at football matches, schools, and hanging from the windows of mini bus taxis.

Identification of the VuVuZela is, I believe, fairly straightforward. It is a long plastic-cy looking beast of many varying bright colours. It is semi parasitic, inasmuch it relies on a host for transportation. It is symbiotic, inasmuch it allows the host to experience a state of euphoria, akin to short-windedness whilst experiencing what seems to be the affects of either alcohol or illegal smoking substances.

It is reported that although the VuVuZela on its own is not threatening, the behaviour of the host is definitely questionable.

In closing, my source claims that although the VuVuZela is not as much of a burden as is a case of severe piles, or a severe bloutrein hangover, it is best to avoid contact with this beast, especially if accompanied by a host.

The vuvuzela, or a stadium horn, is a blowing horn, approximately one metre in length, commonly blown by fans at soccer matches in South Africa.

DROUGHT IN EASTERN CAPE!!!!!! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!!

2010-06-05T03:58:00.000-07:00

My title may seem a tad dramatic, but given that the local municipalities are doing little or squat about it, maybe, just maybe, we can draw some attention to the serious water shortage in the Amathole region.

First, some quick history and background. In 1988 water restrictions were introduced in Port Elizabeth. In 1989 an extension of the Orange River/Sundays River scheme was launched to provide water to Port Elizabeth where supplies were limited due to the severe drought. In East London, water restrictions were last experienced in 2002. Nothing was done to alleviate a similar problem in the future.

Yesterday afternoon while browsing through a free local newspaper of limited distribution, we came across an article that just happened to mention that Water restrictions had been in place in the Amathole District since 1 MAY 2010!

This morning, a bit of research took place.

We found that the Buffalo City Municipality is a part of the Amathole District, and is therefore also affected by the water restrictions.

So, we looked further. First stop was the Dispatch, where we typed in "water restrictions in East London". This took us to the archives, which go through until 2007. And no mention of water restrictions.

Next stop was ectourism.co.za, but as expected, there was nothing there. The authorities would not want potential tourists to know of any prolems until they got here.

So, it was off to Amathole's website, where we used our same search phrase and found...

NOTHING!

There had to be something there, so we scratched around a bit, and eventually found an article, possibly about 250 words, that referred to the water shortage, and sugested that we all try to conserve water, use it sparingly etc, and a link that said 'read more'. We wanted to read more, so clicked the link, and were blessed with a pdf, in English and Xhosa.

Great Stuff!

So now, everyone in the Easter Cape, Amathole District can link to the website and download the pdf.

DUH!

Only 10% of the region's poulation have access to the internet. Think again Amathole District.

Just to prove a point, we headed over to the East London Municipality website where we found more of the same official non-recognition of the problem. However, on the BCM website we found a link to Amatolawater.

PAYDIRT! Or so we thought...

We found the "Latest News", and went there. Nada, zip, nothing, bugger-all, squat, niks.

So, at the end of it all there is a question that needs answering. Are there, or are there not, water restrictions?

Taking it a bit further, if there are not water restrictions, how on earth can Amathole Disricts' Gail Pullen and Sakhumzi Somyo be allowed to spread rumours?

If there are water restrictions, should the POPULATION, those people that use the water, and those people who will ultimately pay fines and levies for excessive useage; should they not have been informed?

Sakhumzi Somyo, Gail Pullen, Hellen Neal-May, of Amathole District,
our Mayor, Zukisa Faku,
and
Nothemba Mlonzi and Nomonde Mnukwa of Amathole Water
must be held accountable.

These people are to be forced to pay the fines and levies they will try to extract from the residents who were kept uninformed.

Of course, taking the stance that a South African politician be held accountable is ludicrous.

For more, read about the 2010 Water restrictions in East London South Africa

Web Design Concepts

2010-06-04T14:39:00.000-07:00

So I'm a bit arrogant.

I did a test at Brainbench yesterday as part of my oDesk sign-up process.

Web Design Concepts was the test, and I reckon I did okay. The test covers several fields that are relevant to website design, and I scored an 82% percentile. This does not mean I got 82%. It means I beat 82% of all the others that have taken the test.

What I'm particularly pleased about is that this test is international. It's not a local product, and has many been attempted by many 1000's of web designers. I am largely self taught, and many 'qualified' designers scoff at the idea of independent testing.

I find this interesting, as we go to great lengths to ensure that our base code, of any site, before script insertion, is w3c valid html and css. Why do 'qualified' designers scoff at these tests? Many of their sites, and we have re-designed several of them, do not validate, they break apart in different browsers, or, which happens so often, has a little notice saying something like:"This site is best viewed in IE6 on a 1024 x 768 screen".

It is ant web designers responsibility to their client to ensure maximum viewability, and if that means making sure the site looks equally good in 3 or 4 browsers, it needs to be done, not fobbed off with a lame excuse.

Here is my Test Result, click on the badge below:

For my Baby... :)

2010-06-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

I Just Called To Say I Love You

verse 1:

No New Years Day to celebrate,
No chocolate covered candy hearts to give away,
No first of spring, no song to sing,
In fact, here's just another ordinary day.

chorus:
I just called to say I love you;
I just called to say how much I care;
I just called to say I love you,
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart.

verse 2:
No April rain, no flowers' bloom,
No wedding Saturday within the month of June.
But what it is is something true
Made up of these three words that I must say to you.

verse 3:
No summer's high, no warm July,
No harvest moon to light one tender August night,
No autumn breeze, no falling leaves,
Not even time for birds to fly to southern skies.

verse 4:
No Libra sun, no Hallowe'en,
No giving thanks for all the Christmas joy you bring,
But what it is, tho' old, so new,
To fill your heart like no three words could ever do.

Slugs and Earthworms for dinner

2010-06-02T12:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, this was never meant to be here, this is purely random, and totally spontaneous. I'm being spontaneous.

This evening was nothing fancy, just 2 minute noodles. The Beef noodles being sold at OK Foods for R2-79.

As things go, Terry suggested we add something to the noodles to make them something a bit more interesting than noodles. I would have suggested steak, but if we could afford steak we wouldn't have bought noodles.

In any case I didn't feel like spending too much time on kitchenary functioning.

We eventually settled on mushrooms. it had to be tinned, 'cos I couldn't get fresh. Once in the kitchen, it was, as usual, a few onions.

(Onions are healthy and good for you. If they aren't, too bad, they are really nice on a sandwich.)

Slice onions kinda thin, and fry them up. I used just enough Holsum to coat the bottom of the pan. Done like this the onions don't get oily, but you do need to keep them moving or they catch and caremelise. When the onions are done, a teaspoonish sized lump of marmite goes in, and is mixed into the onion mess. Then add the mushrooms, juice and all.

The pan is going to steam and sizzle, ignore it, or shout right back. If you can't sing in Chinese, pretend the noodles are pasta, and sing in Italian. If you can't sing in Italian, well, anything will actually do.

While the mushroom juice is steaming away, boil the kettle for the noodles. Pour boiled water over noodles. Sing the Macaroni song. Or even Bridge over troubled waters if you remember the words. Those were the days, is also a good choice, just remember, mama aint gonna cook no more no more no more no more...

Noodles are soft, tender, and unravelled, mushroom and onion stuff is almost dry. Scoop some mushroom stuff onto the noodles and tuck in. If, at any time during the preparation of this meal you sang Sayonara, you get to use chopsticks. If you sang an English song, you get to use a fork. If you went really ethnic, and rocked along with Mama Thembu, use your hands. If you sang Italian, cut a horses head off...

What you now have in your plate is a bit of a mess, but get a loaded fork full into your mouth, and close your eyes....

Feel the worms (noodles) and slugs (mushrooms) wriggle and wiggle...

Lekker Vreet!
Cheers!

The Tools of the Trade: - website design

2010-06-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, some years ago, a guy was asked to organise a website for his club. This poor guy could not find anyone who would donate a website to the club. Luckily, or so he thought at the time, his computer had Microsoft FrontPage on it. Using FrontPage, he went about designing a website for his club.

Being totally ignorant, and extremely blonde, he arranged a domain name, and hosting, and after many phone calls to the website hosts, and in spite of a dialup connection, he managed to get the website loaded to the servers.

He, and many of the club members were unable to see the website, as it took so very long to open, and the members were all very upset. Out of desperation, he started pursuing the reason the website would not appear on the Internet.

That, in brief, is where my career as a website designer started. One of the very first things I was told to do was to toss FrontPage, as far as I could. FrontPage is very cool and attractive, but produces extreme code bloat, and teaches bad coding habits. After getting rid of FrontPage, I started using Toni Arts EasyHtml, which served well enough in the beginning. I started dabbling in CSS, and realised that EasyHtml was not the best editor to use. I cast about, scratched around, Googled, and asked questions, I downloaded so many text editors, and CSS editors that I didn’t know what I had or had not used.

Eventually I set myself a test. I outlined a basic page, and then, one by one I worked my way through the folder of editors I had. Those that I found I just could not use, or were even just a tad awkward to use, I deleted from my system.

At this point in time I use Topstyle3 for my CSS and Notepad++ for my Html. I will, sometime in the future get around to using Topstyle4, which I already have, but I find I prefer working with Topstyle3.

In my opinion, for Html coding, there is nothing to beat Notepad++. With all its plug-ins, there is little it cannot work with. Being Open source, it is constantly being improved, and I find myself going to Notepad++ regularly, not to get patches, but rather to find what new plug-ins are available, that will make my life easier. The one feature I cannot function without is the syntax highlighting.

Oh yes, I do have a few other things I use. I have Internet Explorer 8, with the Developer’s Toolbar, I have Google Chrome, and I have Firefox. Firefox, and the plug-ins I use, I update regularly, as I find them indispensable when confronted with cross browser issues. In recent times I have not had too many browser issues, because of a work pattern that I have developed, whereby I largely bypass the Internet Explorer margin issues.

My everyday toolbox is therefore the 3 Browsers, Topstyle3, and Notepad++.

No fancy WYSIWYG editors and no code bloat means fast loading sites.

Isn’t that what websites are all about?

Sleek, slim, trim, lean and mean code.

Oh Yeah!

Wordpress:Step by Step for beginners, part 9

2010-05-30T12:54:00.000-07:00

If this is your first time here, you may want to go to the Wordpress tutorial list , which will provide a convenient starting point for you to follow through from.

In this post, I'll take you through the steps of adding a widget to your Wordpress website.

The first thing we need to clarify is that a widget and a plug-in are the same thing. They are system add-ons, to increase and improve the useability of a Wordpress website. There are no doubt those purists out there who will argue this point, but for our purposes, and for many of millions of other Wordpress users the following equation is valid:

widget=plugin

If you've had your Wordpress site for more than a day or two, and you've been playing around with it, you will probably want your website to do just a bit more than it does out of the box.

Wordpress can do everything and anything, except feed the cat. To get this extended functionality we use widgets, a.k.a. plugins.

To get a plug in, go to your dashboard.

Where it says "Appearance" on the left hand side, click.

Now click "Add new".

Your screen will now look like this:

It is not as bad as it looks. Nor is it as confusing as it seems. All that it is, is Wordpress trying to help you find the plugin you're looking for.

Wordpress has, right now, as I write this, 9,788 plugins, with more than 93 million downloadeds! I doubt anybody knows all the plugins that are available, and I personally first browse through the available plug ins for a particular function before I download and test a few. I'm fortunate inasmuch I test plugins on my computer, and other than downloading them, I don't need to do anything online. The other advantage is that if a plugin breaks something, it is quick and easy to toss it, create a new Wordpress site, and test the next widget in line. I'm also able to tweak the plugin if necesssary.

My advice to you, check the plugins at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ before you download just anything.

On the plugin page, look down the right side of the page, and see:

the compatibility check;
star rating;
and what others are saying about the plugin.

Do Not select the first plug-in you see. CHECK IT OUT first. There are many excellent WordPress plug-ins, but there are also many really shoddy plug-ins.

A major problem that I have with many plug-ins is that the plug-in author's description makes it very obvious that the plug-in is exactly what is needed, but when you download, or try to use the plug-in, you find that you need to register somewhere else, or that you need to purchase a licence to gain full usage of the plug-in.

Read all you can about a plug-in, to ensure that you will be getting what you want.

When you have located the plugin you want, and downloaded it, follow the prompts, its really very very easy.

Although extended functions are only a few clicks away, there is a penalty. Your page opening time will be increased with every plugin you have, so be careful of adding too many bells and whistles.

For Wordpress users we do have a plugin find and test service. Tell us what you need, and we will track down what you need, test it, and then forward it to you with full useage instructions. This is a time based service, and is charged accordingly.

There is a growing Wordpress tutorial list , which will provide a convenient starting point for you to start from if you're new to Wordpress.

Springbok Radio! For your FM listening pleasure!

2010-05-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

1970 died, and 1971 was born.

I was shunted through to Standard 4, having survived Miss de Villiers for just on 9 months, and heading toward a year with Mrs Dawson. I thought she would be easy after De Villiers, but then, I was still very young and optimistic.
Back in those days corporal punishment for was the rule of the day. I was corporal, or so it seemed.

1971 was also the year I was soundly thrashed by: (in sequence):
My mother;
Mr Botes;
Mrs Dawson;
my mother;
my father.

The reason? I forgot to go to school for a few days....
I bunked school, probably cos I didn't do homework, and when I got caught, It was open season on my hide. I must add that I never did bunk again...

Back in those days we were called scholars, or pupils, probably because we were too stupid to be learners. Well, I was at any rate. Learning was not popular with me, and it was about then that I populated that part of the class that made the top half possible.

Were it not for Springbok Radios daily music line-up, and the Hit Parade on Saturday afternoons, my life would have been really miserable.

It was standard practice to run home from the Saturday afternoon movies at the old Scout Hall (which used to serve as the Methodist and Anglican Church as well), and get home just in time for the start of the hit Parade.

I had a look through the hit songs of 1971, and for the life of me cannot make up my mind which was my favourite song of 1971.

The South African Top 20 in 1971 was:

MAMMY BLUE - Charisma
CO CO - The Sweet
KNOCK THREE TIMES - Dawn
FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet
PUT YOUR HAND IN THE HAND - Alan Garrity
LOOKY LOOKY - Giorgio
JOY TO THE WORLD - Three Dog Night
LOOK OUT HERE COMES TOMORROW - The Dealians
YOU - Peter Maffay
A SUMMER PRAYER FOR PEACE - The Archies
I HEAR YOU KNOCKING - Dave Edmunds
NO MATTER WHAT - Badfinger
IF NOT FOR YOU - Olivia Newton-John
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN - Creedence Clearwater Revival
GET ME SOME HELP - Neville Whitmill
BUTTERFLY - Danyel Gerard
DAAR'S NIKS SOOS WARE LIEFDE - Groep Twee
NEVER ENDING SONG OF LOVE - New Seekers
I DID WHAT I DID FOR MARIA - Tony Christie
HOME - Dave Mills

and from the rest of the world we got:

One Man Band - Three Dog Night
Baby I'm A Want You - Bread
How Can You Mend A Broken Heart- Bee Gees
Joy To The World- Three Dog Night
Rose Garden- Lynn Anderson
My Sweet Lord- George Harrison
I Think I Love You- Partridge Family

After much deliberation, I will have to go with the following as my 3 Top Hits for the year of 1971. If you disagree, tell me, but try to remember that music is subjective, and what may be good for you now, may be replaced by something else tomorrow.

In order of my current preference then, 1971 was the year of:
CO CO - The Sweet
NEVER ENDING SONG OF LOVE - New Seekers
JOY TO THE WORLD - Three Dog Night

Yeah yeah yeah

2010-05-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

I know I've been slow and pathetic with new posts.

I do have an excuse though. I've been working.

Believe it or not, I do work from time to time. We have two website presentations to get ready for Monday 30th May, and I'm trying to wrap up the auction site.

Apart from that, I do try to put in at least an hour each day for learning something new, and then I also try to spend some time each day trying new things with coding.

At the moment my learning involves advanced CSS styling, very basic .php, and I want to get into Photoshop a tad more. I have mastered a few techniques, but really need to get a few more under control.

So, at the end of the day, my blogging pretty much has to take a back seat, although I shall, as previously promised, maintain at least my Wordpress for beginners tutorials and my Music through the years postings.

Solving unemployment problems, from the GO!Express

2010-05-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, well, about a month ago, Peter Martin came a-visiting.

We had met with him a while back, and he asked if we would mind his doing a little article about us, not for a mainstream newspaper, but for East London's own little freebie paper, the GO!Express.

Of course we said yes, as any exposure is good exposure. The result of the interview can be seen here.

So yeah, we were a tad miff that we weren't on the first page. But then, busting illegal liquor outlets is socially more moral than a businessy type write up. Page 4 or 5 would have worked too, but Peter van Kets, the greatest thing to come from East London since the coelecanth was there. What he was doing on pg 4 is beyond me, he should have been on the cover.

We were close-ish to the back-ish of the paper, but so what? We made it there, and we hope the article will inspire at least one person to make a positive move in the right direction.

You can if you want to, but first, you have to want to.

Thanks to Sven Herselmann, the editor at the Go!Express, and to Peter Martin.

Tomato and onion relish

2010-05-25T13:51:00.000-07:00

Tomato and Relish, with Boerewors

Last week when I told you about the boerewors rolls we had, I was supposed to make tomato and onion relish to go with it. I didn't. Last night I did though.

Again, I was a tad disappointed with the sausage we got. The sausage was from our local Spar, and looked good, however, we should have gone to OK foods, for Vernon's Spekwors.

Oh well, so we learn.

I'm not here to tell you about the sausage, but rather, about the tomato and onion relish I sometimes make to go with it. The mob here think it's quite yummy, so I'll tell you about it.

A gang of onions, I used 5 medium onions.
A collection of tomatoes. I had 6.

The celery is there just to make the photo look good, and because I nibble on it.

Cut onions into ringy slicey things, and toss them into a thin layer of hot oil. Put the oil into a pot hey!

While the onions do their thing, break a bit off celery off, and munch it. And then start cutting the tomatoes into circly ringy chunky pieces. Rough cut is good.

Chances are the onions are not yet at that soft transparent stage yet, so munch more celery, and start preparing the rolls.

When the onions are ready, soft, almost transparent, and just brown on the edges, toss the tomato in. Let it moan a bit, then give it a stir. If it feels a tad sticky, add a small glass of water, put a lid on the pot, and munch more celery.

By now the sausage should be on its way to cooked as well. The tomato and onion relish is almost ready when the tomato is cooked up. A bit of skin showing here and there is okay. Now add a generous pinch of dried mixed herbs. And a touch more water.

Cooked tomato is actuallt pretty boring, so add a little of whatever you have handy. Pepper, a touch of curry, some garlic, a little sugar. A dash of vinegar even. Just play around, adding a little of whatever and tast testing.

When you add something, mix well, and taste the juice.

When you're happy, introduce two tablespoonfuls into each roll, and slap a sausage onto it.

It may not look good, but it tastes really great! Almost makes an inferior sausage worth something.

Lekker vreet!

Until 1970, where was the music?

2010-05-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

I sort of remember a few songs from before 1970, not many though.

On my 10th birthday, internationally, the most popular song in the world was Winter World Of Love by Engelbert Humperdinck. Other notable international hits then were the King, Elvis Presley's rolling from 1969 into 1970 Suspicious Minds, Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel, and Diana Ross & The Supremes sang Someday We'll Be Together.

In South Africa, the top 3 songs of the year of 1970 were Pretty Belinda from Chris Andrews, In the summertime came from Mungo Jerry, and South Africa's own Dave Mills took Love is a Beatiful Song to popularity (Love is a Beatiful Song was to be an organ exam for me a few years later).

I recall walking home, in Bothasig, with Tian Foshaugen singing Brown Eyes, another of Chris Andrews 3 Springbok Radio Top 20 hits for the year.

For those of us fortunate enough to get to a 'proper bioscope', (not the Saturday afternoon fillum at the Anglican/ Methodist church/ Scout hall), the movie to have seen would have been Kelly's Heroes, and then, the song, Burning Bridges, from the movie. Great stuff.

1970 was the year Neil Diamond released Cracklin' Rosie, a hit that is still popular, and still heard on the radio.

Percy Sledge came to South Africa, and performed at the 3 Arts theatre. Before he came, he let us have Come Softly to me. His on-stage performance of this song left many of the 'verkrampte boere tannies' who went to see him, weak at the knees, or crying, or both.

1970: Number1 in South Africa!

Chris Andrews

Pretty Belinda

1970: number 2 in South Africa!

Mungo Jerry

In the Summertime

In the summer time when the weather is high
You can chase right up and touch the sky,
When the weather's fine
You got women, you got women on your mind.
Have a drink, have a drive
Go out and see what you can find.

If her Daddy's rich, take her out for a meal,
If her Daddy's poor, just do what you feel.
Scoot along the lake, do a town an' then return her twenty five.
When the sun goes down
You can make it, make it good and really fine.

1970: number 2 in South Africa!

Dave Mills

Love is a beautiful Song

Love is a new way of living
A new way of starting each day
Millions of people all over the world
Know that love is a beautiful so-ong

It's so good to see you now
Looking as lovely as ever
It's so good to be alive
Knowing that we are together

Lyrics from LyricDownload

Website design scope.

2010-05-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

Website design scope.

An alternative heading could be: Clients who will not read!

A large problem with not only us, but with most website designers, are clients who either will not, do not, or cannot read.

We offer a service to clients that when designing a custom site, we offer several templates for them to choose from. Once the template is chosen, we offer our clients three rounds of alterations, and when the site is live, another week in which to finalise and fix other little niggles.

We feel this is particularly generous, as most problems are sorted out at template stage. However, there are still those clients who think that a round of alterations ends when they say so. What the client does not understand is that to alter a background colour by a simple nuance of a shade involves opening a minimum of two files, and a browser. This takes time. And then of course my idea of a slightly lighter tangerine shade may look like like dark peach to the client, which adds more confusion.

We do go out of our way to ensure our clients get what they want, but we, as does any other person in the design field, expect a degree of responsibility from the client.

To the client:

We do not read minds
We do not see the same colours you do. Find, and send a color sample.
Move left just a touch, is that 1cm, 1mm, or 1pixel?
You run your business, you know it, and I will never tell you how to do it.
Just because you won a bronze in Gr3 for your picture of a moon does not mean you understand the complexities of layout and design
Yours is not the only job I am busy with. I divide my time equally between my clients. I do not work on more than I can handle. Don't you have more than 1 client right now?
Please read my e-mails when you get them, NOT only when I remind you of what I said in it 3 weeks later.
If you have a specific design idea in mind, draw it for me. Don't try to explain it, I am blonde.

Of course, this list could be longer, but the bottom line really, is that we cannot, and you cannot expect us to, keep altering your design because your cousin's nephew's girlfriend says the website doesn't suit her toe nail color.

Quantify, and be specific.

Send your family to your test site (that we host for you, free of charge) before the site goes live.

Have a brilliant day!

Wordpress:Step by Step for beginners, part 8

2010-05-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

The other Wordpress, step by step for beginners, tutorials are here

In this tutorial we're going to do the Settings on your Wordpress website.

Most of the settings are pretty easy, and straightforward, with very little that needs special mention.

For starters, go to your dashboard, and down the left hand side, at the bottom, or very close to the bottom, find, and click on the settings tab.

Once open, it will look something like this:

The first thing you may need help with is permalinks. click on permalinks. On the Permalimk page, go down to where it says Custom Structure. In the block type: /%postname%/

Exactly like that. That is the structure we use, and it works great. For alternatives, go to the Wordpress.org Support site, and type "permalink structure" into the search bar.

With that out of the way, work your way through the settings menu, one item at a time. A few things need to be mentioned now. On the general settings page, the two fields that refer to your website address, and your blog address (they both have (URL) after them), leave that alone. Now, today, tomorrow, forever. It will cost you to have us fix it.

The final point at this stage, at 'Before a comment appears', make sure that the only ticked box is the one that says: 'An administrator must always approve the comment '. Before allowing comments to appear automatically, you will need to build a database of undesireable IP's.

So there you go. Take your time over your settings. (Almost) Nothing you change now will break your website, and you can (almost) always go back and fix it. The almosts refer to the things we have told you not to touch.

To check the other Wordpress, step by step for beginners, tutorials out, click here

Spaghetti, linguine,tagliatelle Bolognaise

2010-05-22T07:01:00.000-07:00

We had a birthday here yesterday. It was Terry's dad's 78'th. Because it was a family only dinner, non family guests were expected to pay. I got around that by preparing the supper.

Thankfully the Bosch family are into real food, so it wasn't necesary for me to stretch my imagination, and then too, the 'menu' had already been requested.

Originally destined to be Spaghetti Bolognaise, with a salad and garlic bread, I left out the garlic bread. Terry's dad don't do garlic, 'cos garlic does him.

5 kind of size medium type onions, sliced and braised until almost see-through was my first step. When they were done, I put them off to one side, until later.

About 1.5 kg of lean beef mince. If you use anything but lean, it becomes very oily and kinda yech. More or less 2 cups of water into a pot, and I tossed the still frozen mince into the water. As the water heats, it warms the mince up, and you can scrape mince off the frozen chunk. Doing it like this you avoid getting those big annoying lumps of mince.

Right after introducing the water and mince, I started preparing the bolognaise sauce.

4 dinky tins of tomato paste, 1 tin of tomato and onion braai relish. A solid squirt of mustard sauce, and a not so solid squirt of sweet chili sauce. Liberal sprinkle of worcester sauce. Then, some syrup, just to sweeten the concoction a bit. Ah what the hell, splash in some vinegar as well. Mix. mix some more. Spread it around.

Taste the sauce. The tomato paste makes it very bland, and a bit tart, that's why I add all the rest of the kitchen stuff. I do taste and tweak as it goes along. Last night I had to add about 2 teaspoons of sugar to get it just right. A big pinch of dried mixed herbs will help everything along. You'll only taste the herbs later though, once everything has cooked. Smoking herbs while performing kitchenary fuctions is not advised.

With the sauce done, play with the mince. Help it get to that stage that there are no great big lumps left. Your mince needs to have fluid just just covering it.

Now add your sauce. Just tip the whole lot in. And then stir it all up.

I was fortunate in that I was able to leave the bolognaise, that's the mince and sauce mixture, a few hours. Spaghetti Bolognaise is like curry, it gets better with age. When it gets too old, it goes into pies. Or is it dogs?

When I got around to the pasta making, I was originally a bit peeved, annoyed, that I didn't have spaghetti! There was a packet of linguine, and a packet of taglietelle.

I'm not Italian, so, whatta the hella, letsa makea da pasta eh?!

For the pasta I used a mother great pot, probably about 8 or 10 litres. It was big enough that i wouldn't need to break the pasta. Third to half fill with water. A splash of cooking oil. Lid on, and leave to boil.

While the boiling is trying to happen, start with the salads. I made two, one in the morning when I made the bolognaise, and then another while I was busy with the pasta.

In the first salad I used: lettuce, cucumber, yellow pepper, a small packet of peanuts and raisins (smashed the peanuts up a bit), and tomato.

The second salad had celery, olives, tomato, cherry tomatoes, and cheddar cheese. I would have preferred a nice piece of crumbly feta though.

With the pasta water boiling honnerd bedonnerd, I quickly threw the linguine and the taglietelle in, and turned the heat on under the bolognaise.

Now things started getting interesting. I stirred the bolognaise, which although nice and moist, does tend to stick. I was lifting the pasta from time to time to make sure it wasn't sticking. I also put the final touches to the salads, and grated some cheese.

And then all was ready!

Drain the pasta, through a colander preferably, and chuck the bolognaise into it.

Mix it up.

Pour the mess into a serving dish. I used two, as there was enough Spaghetti Bolognaise to feed a lot of people.

Serve.

This photo of the pasta dish was taken at lunch time today.

It's leftover from last night, and Terry fed it to the boys.

Let the hordes sort themselves out.

I don't add salt to food when I'm cooking. I like lots of salt, most people don't, so I leave it out, and let them add their own.

If you're going to try spaghetti Bolognaise tonight, or any of the other recipes I have on my blog,
Lekker vreet!

I are delinquent...

2010-05-22T05:24:00.000-07:00

So, okay, my posting has been somewhat tardy recently.

I was originally going to do at least 3 posts a day, covering things like the Wordpress step by step for beginners series, some website design insight and information, and my newest non political rant/ rave/ bitch/moan.

Of course, I have also undertaken to do a collection of music based posts, going back to the days when I was (a lot) younger, and kids could play in streets safely.

So. What I need to do now, is either get my ass in gear, or, just scrap the whole blogging thing, or, go out and get drunk, or, try a new career path.

Looking at the options, and because I'm actually incredibly lazy, I think I'll just try to catch up.

So, in no specific order, lets just do it!

Those were the days.. or so says Mary Hopkins

2010-05-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

Wow!

Just done an article for one of our other blogs, and got caught up in music.

Not just any old music, but that really great music that took me from childhood through to adulthood.

This gave me some food for thought, and so, for myself, and for everyone from my era, I'm going to take us all on a nostalgic trip, from the late '60's through to the mid '80's

I'm going to find the top songs of that year, see if I can get the lyrics, and hopefully, for the older songs especially, try to find a place we can go to see, listen and experience the great days in our lives.

If there is something you're looking for in particular, let me know, I'll see if I can find it.

And yes, if it's something that brings back memories, give us the story behind it, and I'll tribute that post as a single posting to the person(s) concerned.

As the great David Gresham used to tell us, "keep your feet on the ground, and reach for the stars!"

Wordpress. Step by step for beginners, part 7

2010-05-19T04:56:00.000-07:00

Today's post will cover a Wordpress post. If you have been following this series, you will know to find the rest of our Wordpress tutorial list by clicking on the Wordpress page link at the top of the page, just below the banner.

The number one difference between a Page and a Post, is that a Post is current. A Post is now. A Page is static, and will always be there. A Page will not get lost into the archives. In due course we'll give you some tips on keeping your (more) important posts easily accessible.

The screenshot above is of my Wordpress blog, opened on my dashboard, with the Posts tab open.

You will see that it is somewhat similar to the Pages tab, inasmuch it has an 'edit' link, and an 'Add New' link. It also has a link to 'Post Tags' and 'Categories'.

Right now you want to add a new (your first) post. click on 'Add New'.

Your dashboard will now look like this:

All you need to do now is fill in the blank spaces.

Give your post a catchy title.

Type in the content of your post.

If your theme supports excerpts, type that in.

If you want to link to another blog or website, type, or even better, copy and paste their URL in in the 'send Trackbacks' block.

Skip 'Custom Fields', and go to just below it to 'Discussion'. In the 'Discussion' block make sure both blocks have a green tick in them. Don't worry about the comments just yet, that is the topic of the next tutorial. for now, scroll up again, and on the right hand side of your dashboard find 'Post Tags'.

Post tags are the words that summarise what your post is all about. Try to use words that appear at least 3 times in your post. In due course, as you have more posts on similar topics, you will be able to select your tags from the most used tags in your Post Tags.

Just below this is your categories block. 'Uncategorized' is a Wordpress default, and I personally think it's ugly. At the bottom of the block click on 'Add new Category'. Type in your new category, click on 'Add', and it will appear in the Category list, already ticked.

Now scroll up again. At the top of the right column is a block called 'Publish', with several options. You may want to explore the options, but for now, just click the blue 'Publish' button.

There it is. All done. Your first Post on your brand new Wordpress website!

Don't forget, our other Wordpress tutorials can be found by on this site, by clicking here.

Our next tutorial will tell you about your settings, including comments, then we're going to look at adding pictures to your posts and Pages.

After that it's fun-time. We are going to look at all those great widgets we can use.

Till then, cheers!

Wordpress. Step by step for beginners, part 6

2010-05-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

Create your Wordpress website credibility by setting up a good base. This base will be your static pages, that is, those pages that describe what your website is about. It’s your introduction to your visitors. Your static pages will let your visitors know who you are, and what you do.

After logging in to your Wordpress dashboard go down the list of link buttons on the left of the dashboard. In position 5 is the link to pages. When you hover your cursor over the button, a little down pointing triangle shows. Click on it.

You now have two options. You can edit a page, or you can write a new page. In the beginning is ‘About’, so use the edit option.

The window you will now see shows you the pages that already exist, with the text in that page. Wordpress put it there to help you.

If you’re happy with the title, leave it, you need to change the text though. Replace it with your own text. Most Wordpress fundis will tell you to preview your page when it’s done. I don’t bother; I publish and check it online. If it needs any tweaking, I edit the post. Generally I work with two tabs on my browser. One tab is my Wordpress dashboard, and the other is the live site. It is just easier, for me anyway, to edit in one tab, save, then open the other tab and refresh the page.

When you’re happy with your page, scroll down to discussion, and make sure there is no tick in the ‘Allow comments ‘box. You want comments on posts, not pages. You do want to allow trackbacks and pingbacks.

On the right is a box called ‘Attributes’. As this is a main page and not part of, or an extension of another page, the ‘Attributes’ are not altered.

Should you decide to add a page about your dog, create it, and then set your main About page as the parent page. Your dog’s page will now appear as a dropdown option of your About page.

I have yet to find a Wordpress blogger who uses the ‘Custom fields’ facility. I don’t, and generally disregard it.

Adding a new page to your Wordpress website is just as easy. From your Dashboard, select ‘Pages’, and then select ‘Add new’. Fill in the spaces you need to, using the guidelines above, publish, check, tweak, publish, and you’re done.

The pictures below show you what your screen will look like at various stages in the process. It’s not really intimidating.

The full, growing list of Wordpress, step by step for beginners, tutorials is here

VIVA WC 2010!

2010-05-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

I created this Prahdly Sarff Effrikin flag as an overlay to a few photos I took recently. The photos were taken 40 metres from a hospital. The refuse photographed is only the tip of the current South African service delivery problem. Service delivery has deteriorated in the past 16 years, yet the powers that be are of the opinion that we will be able to cope with the expected influx of tourists. Well, with that said, it would seem that we won’t be seeing as many tourists as we originally thought.

No doubt all the matches will be played, but without local spectators, as they will be holed up at home, with emergency supplies for the duration of the World Cup.

It does in fact seem as though the only signs of life out in the streets will be child-snatchers, and the SAP who will later brag about effective policing and crime prevention in the ‘preceding period’, during which time all the reported FIFA related crime incidents were rapidly resolved.

Of course there won’t be any FIFA related incidents; it’ll all be tagged as domestic violence. Whoopee for the SAP!

We do also need to bear in mind that the aforementioned preceding period does not, will not, and cannot ever include the following:
·   morning tea,
·   afternoon tea,
·   lunch time,
·   a quick visit to the shebeen,
·   grocery shopping,
·   That period of time needed to moonlight as a Texi driver before and after work.

It also does not include the period extending from 3 hours before kick-off to 3 hours after the stadium gates have been closed.

We’re looking forward to a great World Cup.

An afterthought. The Soccah City okes reckon they can evacuate almost 95 000 people in 11 minutes. Does this take into account that 95000 people will be in a state of high agitation, extremely emotional, with probably half of them drunk, and the other half stoned. Also, are they taking into account that the duly designated and appointed custodians and officials will be in a similar state to that of the spectators?

Wordpress on Blogger?

2010-05-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

Round about the time I started with my Wordpress for beginners, step by step tutorials, Terry asked me why I use BlogSpot instead of Wordpress.com as a platform to rave on about Wordpress. To say that the question floored me would be an understatement. I mean, surely everyone knows that Wordpress is the best base on which to build a blog or content management system, so it’s natural to rave on about it. The ‘valid ‘part of the question is why I use Blogger as a platform, and not a Wordpress platform?

This actually had me thinking a bit, as my decisions regarding the platform had been made so deeply in my sub-conscious that I had to dredge them out of the dark and gloomy depths of what may have been a promising intellect 50 years ago. After some dusting and shining, a good wash and a steam clean, I was able to fully understand my now sanitised reasoning process.

And it’s actually very simple.

Wordpress is recognized internationally as the best blog/cms platform system.
Between Terry and me we have 9 websites/blogs to look after. 7 Are ours, Terry has a personal (free) blog, and I have a personal (free) blog.
Our main website has two blogs. With the exception of the ‘personal’ blogs, all our blogs are Wordpress. The remaining 3 are BlogSpot.

We don’t have really enough time to spend blogging.
Due to the fact that Wordpress is so powerful (although easy to use), it takes a bit longer to post on Wordpress than it does on BlogSpot. Time is an issue for us.

Wordpress is great for search engines. BlogSpot is okayish.

We earn a living on the internet. For that reason we need to monetize, or be able to monetize on every word we publish to the internet. We could get free blogs from Wordpress.com, but as I have just mentioned, we need to monetize. On wordpress.com we cannot. On BlogSpot we can.

This is my personal blog; Terry’s personal blog is also on BlogSpot. When we get our own hosted (Wordpress) blogs we will move together, but for now, we stay here.

If you want an internet presence, think about your options carefully. For personal use, or for a club, consider using a free service. If monetizing is a factor, BlogSpot is the way to go. If (somewhat limited) flexibility is what you want, with an awesome collection of themes, Wordpress.com is your choice.

For a business of any sort, and I cannot stress this enough, your own hosted domain is the only option. Free options are cool, and don’t cost much, but you and your business will lose credibility, and that will cost a packet.

Credits:
Wordpress logo:Design by Rohman Abdul Manap (http://www.blogspottutorial.com/)
Blogger logo: Mysitemyway ETC Network (http://icons.mysitemyway.com)

Wordpress for beginners, step by step, Part 5

2010-05-14T15:51:00.000-07:00

Work pressure is still pretty heavy, but I do need a break, and I will have one.

For your convenience, click here to go to the Wordpress tutorial list , which will provide a convenient starting point for you to follow through from.

The image below will show you where to find the access points to Posts and pages on your dashboard. Note that the Posts button is placed second from the top, and the Pages button is the fifth button.

This particular post is about the one thing that upset me most about Wordpress, and which, once it fell into place, made so much sense. In the Wordpress world not much importance is given to Pages. Pages are like the poor cousins in a family, they're there, everyone knows they are, but no-one talks about them.

Posts are what makes a blog go around. Posts are what bloggers add to their Wordpress website to get their current most important earth shattering news out to the world. The image shows you where to find the access points to your Posts options.

When writing your first post, relax, it is easier to do than it is to describe. If you're able to read this, you will be able to post a Post.

You click on 'Add New', and when it opens, just fill in the fields. Thats it. I'll tell you what else needs doing in a separate post about Wordpress 'Posts'.

**************************

A wordpress Page is pretty important to your website. Create your pages to tell your visitors about yourself, your business, your cat, whatever. Your Wordpress pages need to be viewed as being the backbone of the rest of your wordpress website, as it needs to be there to support everything else you say. Your Pages add solidity, as they very seldom change.

A cautionary word about the Pages. By the very design of the Wordpress system, it does kind of discriminate against Pages. Typically, pages are in a horizontal navigation bar mear the top of the page.

This does not allow for too many pages, so it is essential to plan your pages very well. I have found several themes that won't wrap (go to a new line) the navigation bar, but push the navigation bar so far off to the right that the website is lost.

It is possible to add a pages widget to a sidebar, but this too has its drawbacks, and we will look at that later when talking about widgets and plugins. For now, use your pages, but be conservative.

The image above will show you where to find the access points to both Pages options.

A full list of Wordpress step by step tutorials for beginners is here: Wordpress tutorial list

And so I lay it down to rest...

2010-05-13T02:05:00.000-07:00

Being a website designer is something like being a mechanic, or a shrink. You never know just what the hell is going to come into your life next. Obviously you do try to cover all the posibilities, but sure as apples fall from trees and the sun is going to rise, somewhere out there, is a dreaded lurgie..

In the web design world, possibly the greatest lurgie is the question:"Which effing browser?".

Microsoft had the browser market sewn up with the Internet Explorer range, but, and there is always a but, the earlier versions of IE were not fully W3c standards compliant. This means that IE interpreted rules either not at all, incorrectly, or differently.

Now, just because they were the most popular browser, they did not try to convince the world that they were in fact correct. IE tried to correct their problems by releasing newer versions of Internet Explorer. For many it was too little, too late, and support for IE started waning.

Firefox is the great new flavour amongst internet browsers, and is widely supported, actively maintained and updated, as well as being faster and more stable than any of the IE browsers. Google chrome is growing nicely, and may be worth watching.

In my day to day activities as a website designer I work between the crappiest currently supported IE browser, and Firefox. What i tell my coding to display, and how it is interpreted is not always the same amongst the browsers, so I spend a lot of time checking, checking checking.

Possibly the easiest route would be to scrap IE or Firefox, but, we want to give our clients the best, so, we put in the time.

Sadly(?), this morning, I had to have IE6 put down. When I started work this morning, IE6 crashed. I tried to revive it, and after some thought decided that it was now time to get out of the past and start moving forward. I went online with my default browser, Firefox, and downloaded IE8.

I would encourage internet users to move away from IE6 now. It is old, cranky, buggy, slow, and although it can still be downloaded, won't be supported for much longer.

For dedicated Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer users, go to the Microsoft website and upgrade to IE8.

For a great experience with useability and user friendliness, with tons of extras and loads of features, get Firefox from this site

If you like slick, lean, fast browsing, get Google Chrome

TnT Unlwashed website design, photography, and writing services will no longer be supporting any IE browser supported prior to IE7. Should any of our sites have display problems please be aware that it is probably because you are using an old browser.

I haven't forgotten about Wordpress step by step for beginners.

2010-05-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

Hi All. I do apologise for the silence and lack of activity here.

We are close to the final stages with an auction website. It was loaded to the server a while back, and modifications and upgrades have been happening, all of which take up precious time.

This post is to introduce a feature that will continue throughout the Wordpress for beginners tutorial series.

I will be creating a wordpress page, the link will be in the top bar, just below the banner, and the will have a list of the articles on it. This can be used as a reference later.

For your convenience, click here to go to the Wordpress tutorial list .

Quick, simple, and tasty Boerewors rolls

2010-05-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

It was me in the kitchen this evening, and due to a last minute errand I was unable to start my kitchenary exploits on time.

When we got back it was pretty much straight to pot and pan duty.

Due to the time restraints, I did not do all I was going to, but was still pretty impressed with the results. It was destined to be Boerewors rolls all along, but I was going to create some of my tomato and onion relish to go with it.
Guess what?
No tomato and onion relish!

If you're trying to get ahead of me, and you have your pan and your oil ready, rather than carry on, go shoot yourself through the head.

Cooking oil, and any other fat, do not get used with sausage. Ever. Period!

About 6mm of water into the pan, pan onto the stove, and stove turned up high.

I bought Vincent Spar's farm style boerewors, and their plain beef sausage. I usually get Vernon's Braaiwors, but we had no reason to go to OK foods today. The sausages were divided into 4, twisted, and cut on the twist.

Sausages were dumped into the pan, and then re-arranged a bit.

I chased the rolls (still in the plastic packet) throught he microwave for about 15 seconds, and then left them to recover a bit after the ordeal. While the rolls recovered and the sausage cooked, I got the plates out, got a knife or several ready, and then scrounged through the grocery cupboard, looking for suitable condiments.

I try to mentally 'taste' a meal while I'm preparing it, to see how various things will complement each other, or, bring out various flavours I want highlighted. This is what I was now doing, looking for complementary flavours.

Tomato sauce, chutney, mustard sauce, and then finally, a sweet chilli sauce. With all this ready, and the sausage just starting to catch, I first added a touch of water to the pan. as the water spread around, I wiggled the sausage closest to the boiling bubbling water loose from the pan, and turned it over.

With all the sausages turned, a few more mm of water, and then to the rolls.

Serrated knife, slice the top of the roll. Marge into the roll. Chutney, about a tablespoon full. Mustard the same. Then the same of tomato sauce. Only 2 people get chilli, and then its not too much.

Sausages are ready, that is, starting to catch again. Same as before, a little water, and a little wiggle. Get all the sausages loose, and then dive into action.

Each person gets a piece of boerewors, and a piece of beef sausage. The sausages are introduced to the rolls, and the rolls are introduced to the consumers.

All done. What you should do, is pour the pan 'juice' over your Gilly's food. She will totally dig you for it.

Anyway, cheers, its eating time,
Lekker vreet!

To my Mother, who died in January 2007

2010-05-08T03:23:00.000-07:00

To Mom.

I took this photo with my cell phone camera in Deptember 2006. It was the last time I saw my Mom

This is a letter long unwritten, and that should have been written many, many years ago.

Thinking back, I'm sure that the last time I wrote to you was during my National Service. After that it was a matter of picking up a telephone, or popping around to visit when I had nothing else to do. As time went by, contact between us, from my side, became more infrequent.

Your children had moved on with our lives, and you were'nt getting younger. I invited you to come live with us. You would have your own cottage, and could live independently, yet know that at any time I would be there.

Still, I went my own way, although I did pop in for a quick tea and chat in between everything else. Spending time with you was not vital, because after all, you were right there.

After Dad passed on, you moved back to Cape Town, and although I regularly promised to visit, even if just for a weekend, I never had the time, although there was plenty of it.

I did eventually get to visit you. But it was only because you had fallen, and were bed-ridden. The likelihood of your ever walking again was minute, and it was a certainty that you would not return home.

4 months later you moved again, to join Dad. Your last move.

Mom, I just want to tell you, that just knowing you were there was an anchor in my life.

I want to tell you, that all those times, as a growing child, a young adult, and even as a not so young parent, every time I told you I love you, I didn't mean it.

I was just repeating a phrase that i had been taught.

Now only, now that i cannot pop in for tea and a chat, that I cannot phone you, ask for advice, tell you about my week, offer a little help, do I realize how important you are to me. Now only, when I tell you I love you do I know what I mean.

I haven't seen you since September 2006, but you are with me every day. Thank you for that. I love you Mom!

Motor car insurance in South Africa

2010-05-08T02:26:00.000-07:00

The past while we have had a few niggly little problems with the red car. The cherry on top came yesterday afternoon, when the little red car developed a painful accellaration hiccup. I checked it out this morning and I'm sure I solved the problem.

The entire episode brought insurance cover to mind. The red car does have insurance cover, but, as with any insurance cover policy, it is unclear exactly what your cars cheap insurance covers. Hm? Does medical aid come to mind?

Finding a suitable policy for your cars cheap insurance is not difficult, and is not a rocket science. Using Google, type in "car insurance", and you will have a myriad of choices to explore to find your cars cheap insurance.

While researching this article I was obviously looking for low insurance quotes, and for that purpose I selected three websites at random, and visited them, to see how each of the businesses would be able to accommodate my quest for low insurance quotes.

The results of my queries are personal, but here is my commentary about the 3 sites I visited for my low insurance quotes.

cheapinsurance.co.za
This is, without a doubt, a high level marketing tool, optimised for Search engine findability, and linking to several car insurance companies. My problem with this site only really came about when I clicked the button to get a quote. I was re-directed to another website. Not good. Although this is the first site I comment on, I personally don't like underhand tactics, and I do not recommend using this site.

get-insured.co.za
Get insured, if I am correct, is part of a grouping of similar sites where a consumer can get several quotes for a particular product or service. I especially like the short form you fill in, to generate 12 (or so they claim) quotes from different companies. What I am not too keen on, is that my info can be shared with anyone get-insured feels like. I have no control over that. However, if they're serious, and conscientious, my info should be safe enough.
I do have one active link to get-insured.

dialdirect.co.za
My favourite of the 3. The website opens fast, it is clean, and easy to use. This is obviously a business site, and the aim is to deliver quotations based on information provided. The site is attractive, and uncluttered. It is almost natural that you just start filling in your details. What is especially nice, is that although dialdirect are brokers, you car insurance policy is with them, not a third party whom you have never heard of.
Definitely linked to.

Other sites to look at are:

www.autogen.co.za
www.aainsured.co.za
www.miway.co.za

UPDATE (3 December 2011)
I went and had a quick look at http://insuredeal.co.za. Fast loading, and clearly designed to get your quote to you as quickly as possible. My only problem is that they are obviously brokers, which raises concerns about my privacy, and the confidentiality of my personal details.

I sincerely hope this article helps you find the low insurance quotes you need, to keep your car healthy and alive.

Good Luck!

-- caveat emptor --

Wordpress. Step by step for beginners, part 4

2010-05-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

Hi again.

So far you're still waiting for money to pay me for a new Wordpress website, and to pay for the new domain name that you have almost decided on. At this point you need to remember the hosting also needs to be paid, so, right after this, e-mail your aunt and let her know how much more you will need. For a year it will be R780-00, and you get the best Wordpress hosting anyone could want.

I did miss writing Wordpress. Step by step for beginners, part 4 last night due to real work commitments, so this lesson had to be postponed.

Wordpress purist wannabes will try to involve you in adding widgets, and activating Akismet, but I really don't see the point. Akismet is an anti-spam plug-in, and for a site that has no traffic yet, and even less content, Akismet is just not necessary.

Anyway, we activate it for you, and adding other Wordpress widgets comes later. In point of fact, when we first start talking to you, we find out exactly what it is you want your website to do, and we will load up to two widgets for you. In addition to that, we will send you to look at themes.

Themes dictate what your site will look like. You tell us what you like, and we load and activate your first free Wordpress theme for you.

If you want slight alterations made to the appearance of your theme, our generosity disappears. You will have to pay for that.

Please understand, we do try to give as much as we can, but we do also need to make a living, as this is our business. We do make some money on the hosting, and we do take a handling fee on the domain registration. These fees cover our costs. On top of that we charge R120-00 to load Wordpress, a theme, and two Wordpress widgets. We don't make much, so please, don't ask for discount.

People are just people, and their likes and dislikes change. Wordpress know this, and to keep you happy they provide, free of charge, 1193 (and counting) themes for you to choose from.

To change a theme, go to your dashboard. A little way down the left is a button that says:"Appearance". Click it.

It will open, and look something like this:

Click on "Add new themes".

Click on the image above to enlarge it, and you will see that this page is an extremely comprehensive search filter. My problem with it is that very often the designer's tags, on which the search is based, and my kinda english are not the same. So, what I do, is I start my search with just a single color. You can do the same. Click in the box next to the colour, scroll down, and click "find themes".

Once you have found the free Wordpress theme you want, it is plain sailing.

Preview the theme, click install, and let Wordpress do its magic. When the theme has been loaded to your server, you get a message that says "Activate". Click on the word "Activate".

Now go to the top left of your monitor where it says "visit site", and go visit your now re-themed site.

I may have mentioned it before, but if I have not, Wordpress is Awesome!

In the next Wordpress:Step by Step for beginners we're going to take a look at the difference between a Wordpress Page and a Wordpress Post. This is probably the one area that most confuses new Wordpress users.

Until then, rest well...

The full, growing list of Wordpress, step by step for beginners, tutorials is here

Liver Steak with onions

2010-05-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

As a one time bachelor, I had to learn to feed myself. That was easy, a tin of something heated in the kettle that was boiling water for coffee did the trick. Then I aged a bit, settled down, and started playing around in the kitchen.

I found that cooking good wholesome meals is actually not that difficult. I have no clue about kilojoules and cholestrol and dietary fibre. My cooking is based on consumer reaction. YUM!, is where good food will be found.

One of my favourite meals, because it is so easy, is liver. There are probably millions of ways to prepare liver. This evening I did Liver Steak, and liver is not liver without onion, so, onion is there too.

Getting everything ready at the right time is an art, especially with liver, as it is so easy to overcook.

I selected 4 potatoes, scrubbed them, and put them on to boil.

Then, onto the onions. 6 of these indispensable kitchen veg were peeled, and reduced to slices. Somewhere about slicing onion 4 I switched the stove plate on, and dashed a promise of oil onto the bottom. Just enough to leave a layer of about 2 mm of oil in the bottom of the pot. The a slice of onion went in. I use that slice to gauge when the rest of the onion goes in.

When the onion slice in the pot is really hissing and spitting, with slightly burnty looking edges, the rest of the onions go in. The oil needs to be really hot. Stir the onions every now and then.

Now start getting everything else ready.

You will need:

The liver
Topping for the potato.

I used live culture yoghurt, real butter, a touch of grated carrot (for colour), and a pinch of dried parsley. At the end I decided to use black pepper as well.

I decided to thicken the onion mess, so it was 2 largeish tablespoons of Maizena into a large glass of water.

The liver on its own can be a bit bland, so I got some Worcester sauce, and some mustard ready for that.

By now the onions were nearly done, so I started the liver Steaks for Terry's folks. They prefer their meat very dead, so a bit longer on the stove was not a problem.

To do the liver, a lump of heart friendly margarine was tossed into a hot pan, and as soon as it was melted, the liver went in. What I have found is that if the liver is turned too soon, it takes longer to cook, and consequently the outsides go hard. To get away from this, I leave the liver on the side it went in. Then I add water to the pan, about 75ml at a time. I don't want to cool the pan down, I want to cook the liver. Quickly.

Between liver watching, I add the maizena stuff to the onions, and turn the heat right down. There is enough residual heat to keep the onions happy till the end.

You will see the liver cooking, it changes colour on the outside edges, and when the edges have changed colour all the way to the top, you can turn the liver.

Sear the liver on the previously raw side, and keep the liver moist. Now, splash worcester sauce into the pan, and over the liver. Turn the liver, and slap a touch of mustard onto it. Keep it moist. Add water. Turn every so often.

Fish a potato out of the spud pot, cut a groove into it, introduce it to a teaspoon or so of yoghurt, and a teaspoon or so of heart unfriendly butter, scatter carrot, and then grate some black pepper over.

Decide a garnish is needed.
Quickly raid the fridge, yes, a tomato, and an apple. Great! Slice,slice, slice, slice!

Do another potato, and add the garnish to the prepared plates.

Plates to the stove, and ladle some onion onto it. Finally, the liver, on top of the onion.
Serve now!

Sod bon apetit, lekka vreet! Cheers!

Wordpress. Step by step for beginners, part 3

2010-05-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

This evening I'm going to tell you how to go about changing your password in Wordpress.

I have no idea how other website hosts, or website designers do it, but this is how TnT Unleashed do it.

After loading the Wordpress website, during which we use our e-mail address, we get an e-mail, generated from within the system, with our username and password.

The password generated by Wordpress is an ugly thing, and no normal person can be expected to remember it. What we do is, we log in using the generated info.

A grungy redddy pinky message at the top of the control panel, just above "Dashboard", suggets you go change your password.

It even provides you with a link to click on that will take you the right page!
When you land on the page, you need to scroll down quite a way, as the password change section is very close to the bottom.

If at a later stage you need to alter the password, on the left of your screen, find the "Users" tab. Click on it. This will take you to a users list.

Let your cursor hover just below the user name, and a little red "edit" appears. Click it. This will take you to your profile page, and you can change your password.

This, for some reason, is a step that eludes many people, and is, in our opinion, extremely important, for website security reasons.

It is also an easy introduction to the Wordpress dashboard.

As website designers and website domain hosts, we are serious about the security of our clients websites, and safe passwords are the first step in website security.

Wordpress is loaded with 2 default themes. Are you, as a new Wordpress user, aware of how many Wordpress themes there are? At the time of writing, there are 1193 themes available, for FREE, on the Wordpress website. There are many thousands of other themes available, also free. That is what tomorrow is about. Theming your Wordpress website.

Till then, keep your domain name bubbling around, and start visualizing your new Wordpress website.

The full, growing list of Wordpress, step by step for beginners, tutorials is here

Wordpress. Step by step for beginners. part 2

2010-05-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

After posting Wordpress. Step by step for beginners last night, I got to thinking about the whole thing, and realized this is actually an almost incredibly large topic.

However, it is aimed at the new owners of brand new Wordpress blogs, and the aim is to go through the initial learning stages, step by tiny detailed step.

Before going near your blog, you need to get online first. To do this, you will need a domain name, and hosting. I did discuss this in Wordpress. Step by step for beginners. Before aranging hosting, you will need a domain name.

As mentioned previously, TnT Unleashed are Proudly South African, and because we are Proudly South African we support ~~fifa 2010,~~ ~~Malema~~, ~~vuvuzela~~ .co.za wholeheartedly!

In conversation, late in the evening, you mention to a fellow imbiber that you have a website all about the mating habits of amoeba called http:www.weareheretohelpugetabargainbe4yourneighbordoes.co.za .

WHOA!
You have lost a visitor, and a potential client. Your fellow sipping mate will NEVER remember the website address, and will NEVER get near it because he will NEVER get the spelling right! He, in all likelihood won't even remember the conversation, but that is not under discussion now.

4 Very Important Points arise:
Keep your domain name as short as you can.
Keep your domain name relevant
Your domain must reflect the brand you're trying to build
Don't use funny spelling in your domain name

The Movement for Global Co-Operation Wordpress

website went live today (04/05/2010)

Here at TnT Unleashed we are able to register your .co.za domain name for only R120-00. Send us a list of 3 domains, in order of preference, and we will do what needs doing for you!

This is a short contribution in itself, but we will be tackling a few of the most important pointers for maximising the use of your wordpress website very soon.

As the series grows I will be re-arranging the numbering to make it more logical, and I will (hopefully) soon be posting the planned curriculum, to help not only you, but help keep me more focussed.

Your overnight task? Start a list of domain names you think will suit you, your business, and your wordpress website. It will seem daunting, but without any conscious thought the right name will come to you.

Good Luck!

The full, growing list of Wordpress, step by step for beginners, tutorials is here

Wordpress. Step by step for beginners.

2010-05-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

I dig Wordpress. It's FREE, it's really cool, and it's a great bit of software that deserves a base price increase of at least R2500 to R3000 per installation. It does tons more than custom software that costs twice that!

What is not that cool about Wordpress is the often ridiculous amount of time we spend getting clients going with their brand new Wordpress blogs. For that reason, I'm slowly but surely going to compile a set of online notes for wannabe Wordpress users. We're pretty sure that even web designers will find these notes useful.

The scenario we will use is that of a client calling on a a web design company with the simple request:"I want a website that I can upload to myself".

A while back I for one would have tried to steer the conversation in another direction. Now? Eita, Wordpress is Gud, ya!

All the setting up of the domain name and the domain hosting is not the client's problem. Don't make it theirs.

Web designer, if you don't do domain registrations, or hosting, talk to TnT. We will give you an excellent re-seller package. Note, not price, package. We won't host you if you don't register with us. If you do go with us, you'll get a full on control panel with possibly the easiest Wordpress install you can imagine. NO knowledge of .php or MySql needed! Not only that, our servers support Wordpress, meaning no hassles with .php and sql databases.

For clients, why go to somebody else when we're right here to help you? We are confident that you will NOT get a similar Wordpress package anywhere for up to double what we will charge you.

UPDATE: MARCH 2011

PLEASE NOTE:

PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE, AND HAVE BEEN.
Those that did not go down, stayed the same or went up!
Please check with us.

What do we charge? For your .co.za domain, which we really like, because we at TNT are proudly South African, you will pay R120-00.

The domain needs to be renewed every year, and that is currently also R120-00.

To be seen on the Internet, you need to have your Wordpress hosted on a reliable fast server, with unlimited traffic. There is nothing worse than having your website suddenly disappear because you have reached your traffic limit. This often happens late Friday afternoon, which means you're screwed until Monday. Another thing you need is enough space. We could give you less, but we have decided to give you more, so that you can comfortably grow into your space without having to worry about ~~shitty~~ (censored) ugly "YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR LIMIT!" messsages. Also usually Friday afternoons.

And then of course, hiccups. you want to know that you can contact your host, and get a response within a reasonable time frame, even over a weekend. That's us. We check e-mails constantly. We don't mind phone calls, but prefer e-mails. Speaking for myself, my memory is lousy, and I walk when I'm on the phone. So, what happens is that before the phone is cool, I have forgotten 80% of what I promised I would do!

For all this, R75-00 per month, or, if you would prefer it, R780-00 for the year. This is incredibly good value for your money.

Tomorrow I'm going to look at domain names, and how to choose the best name for your business.

Don't forget to:

comment
link to this post
share to facebook
share to Twitter
come back tomorrow
arrange the finance for your new Wordpress website

The full, growing list of Wordpress, step by step for beginners, tutorials is here

You will be punished!

2010-05-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

History is a bitch!

Anyone who knows me from way back when, like back at Bosmansdam primary school, will know that I had a major problem with homework.

Not that i couldn't do it, I just didn't want to do it. In fact, and this I remember so very very clearly, in standard 7at (Bosmansdam High) Accountancy, mrs Greeff (or was she still miss Dreyer?) chased me out of the class.

Why? Because I told her I didn't feel like doing my homework! Hm. She stretched her neck, lifted her arm, pointed at the door and informed me that if that were the case, she didn't feel like teaching me...

I'm going off topic here.

Because i didn't dig homework, it is now being visited on me with a vengeance! Basti, in Gr7, the old standard 5, had me up and down and jumping through hoops with his bloody school project.

When I'm re-incarnated, I'm going to be so damn diligent with my homework, that once I leave school it will become a memory, not the life threatening curse it is now!

Real meals, and real people.

2010-05-01T04:13:00.000-07:00

I am not a chef. I do however enjoy cooking.

I am not a gastronome, nor am I an epicurean. I do however enjoy food, and eating good food.

Now, and this is a question I often ask myself, why the f^@k do these self appointed food fundis publish recipes, as being quick and easy and economical, with ingredients that "are already in your kitchen', when in fact, nothing that is needed can be bought outside of an upmarket deli, it is easy enough for a fourth year cordon bleu chef, quick if spending hours in a kitchen is not a long time, and economical only if you ~~and another family member are employed by the government~~ are filthy rich!

Who the hell makes, and then eats food that has dribbles of syrup on a lone boiled half fig, garnished with truffles and green caviar?

That is not food. That is an excuse to fill a magazine in order to impress upon normal real people how "out of touch with reality" they are. Bullshit. Its the same as trying to make a woman feel guilty because she has a figure. Real women don't go and shove their sleek pointy red fingernails down their throat .

My bottom line?

Magazines and their "real" food are in the same league as their "sexy" models.

They exist in a highly exploitative environment.

When last did you serve hottie cuzzin at dinner time?

When last did you fit into a size 6?

On Being a Winner!

2010-05-01T03:01:00.000-07:00

Ever since I first touched a real-life Hobie 14 in December 1972, i've had this long standing passion for sailing.

So much so, that in March 1975 I was able to buy my own dinghy, a very battered and neglected Dabchick, and then re-vamp it, so that it could be sailed. Along the way I learnt much about boats, sailing, and myself.

By 1977, I wasn't spending much time sailing my own boat, as I was involved in school rugby, and sailing Mosquito catamarans. At that stage I had progressed to a Sprog, and my folks had bought a Tack, which later made way for an Extra. By the end of 1977, a career in sailing seemed a good idea to me. The only problem with that is that back then professional sailing was, as now, in South Africa, not really a good career move.

I had the technical building skills, and although I am NOT a natural sailor, I worked hard at it, and in my opinion, I was pretty good.

The years progressed, I didn't go near a sailing dinghy for a long time. For a short while I did have a little dinghy, but sold it just before moving to Bloemfontein. Just before moving to Bloem I acquired a Marblehead radio controlled model racing yacht, to the 247 design.

In Bloem was a very active radio controlled model racing yacht club, and I joined up with them. Club politics, and members moving away pretty much killed the club, and I contributed to the near extinction by becoming unemployed. At the time I had been playing around with a very crude IOM class yacht, which was not well received at the club.

Ten years, and a lot of lonely sailing later, I reconnected with Shaun Carroll, who had started sailing again, and slowly but surely, together with Kobus de Beer and Marcelle Keyser we got the club going again.

For a very minor sport we showed good growth, and it was eventually not unusual to have ten or eleven boats on the water.

And here is where I tie in with the title to this post.

Although I sailed reasonably well at club level, I would come apart at any other level, generally being the guy who made sure that nobody would have to embarrass themself by admitting to have come last.

Did this bug me? No. I enjoyed the competition, getting new members, the promotion of the sport, and yes, even sailing my heart out, just to come last.

Winning is not everything. I know winners who were miserable about their performance. Winning is having that good feel, just because you were there!

I'm sailing RSA79, at the Free State Provincial Champs in 2005.

Pig and Pea Soup

2010-04-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

It's my turn in the Kitchen today. Well, this afternoon actually, and because it's a bit miserable outside, it seems a good idea to assemble a soup. Of course not any old soup will do. The packet variety are okay if you're in a hurry, but a good gut filling warming soup needs a bit of attention.

My favourite , is Pig and Pea Soup, and so, that is what everybody is getting for supper.

I made my pig and pea soup a while back, but it seemed just a tad plainish, so, a few minor alterations are in progress...
I used about two thirds of a packet (340g) of split peas, and about half a packet(250g) of soup mix. I put those on to soak in water this morning. On our way to school we need to stop off at OK in Cambridge, to see if there is any smoked eisbein. There had better be, or I'm in deep shit.

Bit later: okay, I did get a chunk of the smoked eisbein. The butcher at the OK, Vernon, smokes it himself, and it’s always been very good.

Back home, it was pot time. Three biggish onions were peeled and sliced, and tossed into the pot. I had pre-heated about 2 teaspoons of oil, just to stop the onions from catching. While the onions were hissing and spluttering (like a herd of REALLY pist off geese), I sharpened Hog (my favourite knife), and then attacked the eisbein. It was just under a kilogram and once most of the meat was cut off the bone, the larger pieces of meat were cut into bite size pieces.

While cutting the meat I stirred the onions around every now and then. I wanted them soft and just just brown on some edges. Not caramelized. I did move the pot off the stove for a few minutes.

With the meat cut and ready, I put the pot back onto the plate to get the onions annoyed again, and washed a few dishes quickly.

Meat was tossed in and swooshed around with the onions. I left the onions and smoked pork while I drained the water off the split peas and soup veg.

Back at the pot, the onion pork stuff was stirred up again, and then the drained peas and soup veg were tossed in! Stir, stir, stir. Throw in the bone. Add about 750ml water, and wait for it to boil. As soon as it starts boiling, add 750ml water, and turn the stove plate down to mark 4. I wanted it to boil, but not boil dry, as I had to leave it unattended for a while.

When I got back, I squeezed some of the pea and veg stuff through a sieve, to help thicken the soup. I added another cup of water, and turned the temperature right down. The soup was now on its own until supper time.

To serve.
We were in a hurry at the OK, so I didn’t grab a loaf of their freshly baked crusty bread. Dammit.
Anyway, 2 slices of normal bread each, on a plate.
Then, soup into mug.
Then, add a generous dollop of fresh live culture Bulgarian yoghurt, and a splash or several of Worcester sauce.
Soup mug onto plate, spoon onto plate, and serve.

Even if I say so myself, damn good!

Maybe next time I’ll take a photo, it looks good enough to eat, and tastes good enough to gorge on!

Lekka vreet!

A new auction site for South Africa

2010-04-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks we've been quite busy with the re-design of a new online auction website.

Our client has been busy with this project for about 4 years now, and it just doesn't seem to get done. Until now.

After spending a small fortune to date, finances were becoming an issue, and rather than start from scratch with a totally new design approach in .php (instead of the existing half-hearted .asp), we scratched around a bit, and came across WeBid, amongst a few others which are not getting mentioned. A fair amount of time went into the script selection, as it is imperative that whatever is used, needs to work properly. What tilted the scales for us in favour of WeBid is the fact that although still in Beta, there are several sites running with no hassles, and then of course, the support forum is active, and helpful.

We took a screenshot of the existing site, which was designed for 800px width monitors, and widened it to 990px, in line with the major auction sites. Some surgery to the basic design followed, chopping and widening, importing graphics to the new theme, creating graphics for the new theme, and then the painful bit started.

The WeBid default theme was the starting point, as it has all the pages needed. There are 61 files there that need to be tarted and tittivated, and bent out of and into shape to fit into the design parameters of the new theme. A major part of the website design process was in converting the original table based design into a css based design, for forward browser compatability, smaller file load sizes, and to keep the hidden parts of the design lean, mean, and Search Engine Friendly.

The bulk of the work is done, and we need to add one or three items into the website coding. We'll be loading the test site to our servers later this evening, so, if you have any comments or ideas, please feel free to let us know.

First Post!

2010-04-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

Boooring!

So I have to tell you what this blog is about? Read the description.

My pet hates currently are local politics, laziness, and people who don't like chocolate.

My passions? Bitching about local politics, which I won't do here (I think), bitching about laziness, and bitching about peple who don't like chocolate. I also enjoy website design and learning more about it, writing is cool, watersport, excepting anything that involves swimming, is great.

Pretty much I want to use this blog as a stress relief, and to get my thoughts together, as I generally tend to either focus too intently, or go off on a wild far-ranging tangent that will never find its way back to where it started.

Daily life, duh, like I'm going to post every day, not...

Lots of website design shit. I'm always trying to improve what I do, and I have founds tons of solutions to website design problems that I reckon would help many people. I also enjoy using little known alternative website design related software packages.

We're, okay, Terry, is constantly adding to everything we do, and maybe I should help a bit. :) This blog is gonna increase her workload...

Some of the shit we cover, apart from our main website and blog, is small business ideas, working from home, and trying to get around to working on Sunburst International, and Claybrick Trust. The latter are severely neglected.

Just to play around a bit, this post is now closed so I can do another one!