New office…

• Monday, car service day, got an A3 Sportsback 1.4T courtesy car.. not bad for a 1400, watched Heat with some cous cous salad and Chardonnay.. I did not really want to watch the end, but I’m happy I did.

• “It’s like you said, in the end, all I am is who I’m going after.” — Al Pacino, Heat

• “Ons oe is vervang met skerms en ons siele met prentjies van die see.” — FPK

• I’ve started closing Tweetdeck and only opening it twice a day.
• Tuesday, morning walk to Lazerac, moved offices from Andmar to La Gratitude, fetched my car, Mia visit, Mia’s school parents evening.
• Antihistamine makes me sleep like a baby, but I feel like a zombie the next morning.
• I now have to walk about 5 minutes to get to the office – used to be about 1 minute.
• Wednesday, morning walk to Lazerac, nice lunch at Simply Asia, put different books on Mia’s Tag reader, photo processing, left my phone at home and took a sunset walk around Stellenbosch, beer at De Akker with Izak and the Python user group, beer at Trumpet tree, bumped into Susan, randomly met Ben the heavy metal guitarist.
• Thursday, MXit Thursday drinks, housewarming and first braai at my place, walked around Stellenbosch for Vensters.
• I have to say Vensters sucked a bit – the three shows we saw were pretty lame. They wanted R10 for an arm band to let you into the shows but even after asking the security guys we could not find the place that sold the arm bands.
• Friday, braai broodjie for breakfast, some mobile payments planning, Mia visit, Manuka, Helderberg Nature reserve, Mia and I kicked a rugby ball around the rugby fields at Kirstenbosch, watched Stardust, slept like a baby.
• The new office is crazy and busy and buzzing. Lots of new ideas and optimism. Good fun. Reminds me a bit of..

• “You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning… And that, I think, was the handle — that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting — on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave.” — HST

• Saturday, we built some pirate Lego, AgriMart visit.. they have cheaper diesel, wine tour with Mia, Paul and Victoria, Simonsig, Thelema, lunch at Bodega, fetched Francis.

• “I’m Vulcan you know.” — Victoria

• Sunday, Stardust, photo processing, picnic shopping, Mia, Francis and I went to Kirstenbosch to go see Foto na Dans and Flash Republic with Cath, Brooke and LKB.
• Kirstenbosch never disappoints – there is usually a moment as you leave the garden after a sunset concert that really fills you with awe.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

Which features would you like to see in the new MXit app?

Or, which new features would make you use MXit?

I’m guessing most of the people who read my blog don’t currently use MXit, but I bump into MXit people fairly often and I have some ideas for features. I’m not looking for a long detailed list – I’m more looking for things that are cool and exciting and fun and useful – big impact ideas. Mini disclaimer: I don’t work for MXit, but TrustFabric is part of the same group of companies.

A bit more context: I’m thinking iPhone or Android app here. I guess I’m trying to get the perspective of other geeks like me more than the current MXit user. The following are a few of my ideas – some of them may not be that realistic. Please let me know if you like these ideas and if you would add something to the list.

The Basics
All the things you would expect from a smart phone app: A convenient replacement for SMS. Easy install. Easy way to get started and find your friends. Push notifications, so you can leave the app active in the background. Nice view of past conversations. The only new thing I’d add to this list is end to end encrypted (client-to-client) messages.

Money
A wallet and a payment system in the real world. Read: be able to buy a coffee or movie ticket. Easy payment based on my location would be cool – just a name and a swipe, no reading six digit codes to the person at the till.

Inner Circle
I’d like the app to know which of my contacts are close friends (strong ties) – people I would invite to a braai. It might figure this out from my call and SMS log to start – I’ll tweak it, but I don’t want to work hard at maintaining my inner circle list.

Events
When I arrive at a big event/party, I want the app to be able to show me which of my close friends are there, which of my connections are there and maybe how many of my connection’s connections. It should also help me plan a small event, like an ad-hoc after work drink or a Saturday afternoon braai.

Again, maybe not all of this is useful, but if I had this I might start using MXit, get my friends to use it and even get an iPhone (I like my Nokia E5).

Ideas?

Midgets dancing on the bar..

• Number of nights I slept at home this week: 2.
• Monday, raw green smoothie, dropped Mia off at school, visit to Will’s house to stitch a panoramic image, took a walk around Stellenbosch, watched The Other Guys.. brilliant.

• “I was so drunk, I thought a tube of toothpaste was astronaut food.” — Will Ferrell, The Other Guys

• 500 Twitter followers and 400 LinkedIn connections this week.
• Tuesday, morning walk to Lazerac, lunch with Theo, Mia visit.
• Wednesday, took Mia to school, nurse visit.. Discovery Vitality thing, vitB shot, got a USB3 compact flash reader.. my 2nd USB3 device, 180deg dental xray, fresh chilli juice with Max at Wembley Square, gym, a beer at Carlyle’s with Georg, early supper at Sidewalk Cafe, Wakami, a Guinness at Twankey Bar.
• Thursday, woke up in Cape Town, ScaleConf at Kirstenbosch, Hout Bay beach walk, sushi at Tukami (old Kink).. very good, watched Sherlock Holmes 2 at the Labia – very good.

• “Broken gets fixed, but shitty lasts forever.” — from ScaleConf

• Friday, Scaleconf, a walk around Stellenbosch, Beluga, Dom Perignon Luminous Experience at The Reserve with Georg, Aiden, Rob and LKB.. The Reserve is a bit over the top (the midgets dancing on the bar for example), but I think Dr. Ernst would love it.

• “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist.” – Oscar Wilde, via Dave

• Saturady, woke up in Cape Town, Mia visit and swimming, fish and chips at Trawlers in Gordons bay, photo processing.
• Only 2500 unprocessed photos to go.
• Mia can swim the length of her gran’s pool underwater now.
• Sunday, family day, Johnn’s 3rd birthday party.
• January was a busy month, I think February should have more routine.
• Just a tiny bit sad I missed Origin.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

Dad and daughter weekend..

• Monday, morning walk around Stellenbosch, walked past the places I lived in 1996, 1997, 1998-2000, haircut – with clippers – which were connected to a wall socket – I guess I’m just a short-back-and-sides kinda guy, tea with Izak, chili juice with Cath at Wembley Square, swim, Lions Head walk with Andrew and Camila – carried up a tripod and took a series of photos for a panoramic photo project, nerd gathering at Hudsons in Green Point with Cath, a glass of wine at Georg’s house and fetched the last of the stuff I left there in September.
• I think I’m getting used to living in Pleasantville.
• Tuesday, omelette with Naulene in Stellenbosch, rock shandy with Alex, made a panoramic of Table Mountain, a walk around Stellenbosch, cooked my first meal at home – couscous salad, photo processing.
• Looking at some photos – 2008-2011 was a pretty fun ride – going to have to work to keep up the pace.
• Wednesday, office, got home and had no electricity, Mia visit.
• I think this heat is affecting my sleeping patterns.
• Thursday, woke up in Somerset West, took Mia to school, car service day, visited Will, sunset bubbly on Paul’s lawn, pizza at Morituri Stellenbosch with Paul and Victoria.
• I’ve managed to process all my pre-2011 photos and archive the masters – saved a fair bit of space.
• Friday, late lunch at Cuvee – Simonsig with the family, Kanonkop, De Oewer, a walk along the river in Mostertsdrif.
• Saturday, watched Stardust with Mia, lunch at Delicat – Tokara with Mia, Nikki and Andrew.. very nice ice cream, dress shopping for Mia, wine farm tour – Dornier, Hidden Valley, Uva Mira, Rust en Vrede, went to go kick a rugby ball on the Coetzenburg rugby fields.

• “No, seriously, don’t mention it. Reputations, you know – a lifetime to build, seconds to destroy.” — Captain Shakespeare, Stardust

• Sunday, raw green smoothie, we built Lego while listening to Hootie and the Blowfish, Dan Patlansky at Kirstenbosch with Mia, Paul, Claus, Jani and Philippa, pretty awesome bottle of Danie De Wet 2006 Reserve Chardonnay.
• Paul tells me Danie De Wet smuggled the first Chardonnay vine cuttings into SA.
• There is a special kind of happiness from finding Mia’s hat which I was pretty sure had been forgotten at Kirstenbosch the previous day.
• You know Mia has been visiting when there are little bits of blue feathers all over the place, from playing with her feather boa.
• Tune of the week: Die Illusie Van Veiligheid – FPK

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

A quick venting session..

I bought an Audi from Audi Centre Somerset West in December – yeah, I moved to Stellenbosch – it’s the closest one. I soon discovered the wiper fluid bottle was leaking. Nothing major, but early January I got tired of the car telling me to fill up the wiper fluid.

I made a booking to have the bottle replaced. They had already ordered the part in December. So I arrive there one morning pretty early only to discover that the plastic bottle had not arrived – mildly annoyed – surely they could have phoned me and delayed the service date.

Two weeks go by. I phone three times to try and figure out if this all singing and dancing bottle had arrived yet. I end up leaving three messages and nobody phones me back.

I phone the guy who sold me the car. He tells me that the bottle had arrived and he’ll sort it out – by making a service booking. I phone again – no service booking had been made. Really classy.

I took the car to them again this morning. I confirm that it’s only a one day job to replace this very special plastic bottle. “Yeah, should have it back by 16:00.” Cool.

I get a phone call at 15:30 saying that they are not going to be able to finish installing this plastic bottle. They need the car for another day. There is no way I can get a courtesy car. They are going to stop the work – put the car back together and give it back to me. I have to make another booking and hope that next time they can complete this super complex plastic bottle open heart surgery process in one day.

FFS!

I’m going to have to go back a third time to have a plastic bottle replaced.

UPDATE Mon, 6 Feb 2012:

Turns out the bottle was not leaking, but there was a problem with a pipe to/from the bottle. Well, that’s their story. The week after I wrote the original post they arranged a courtesy car for me. The service department people were very friendly. My car spent two full days with them (30 and 31 Jan).

The sales person and the top brass at the dealership stopped responding to my emails at some point (around 18 Jan) – this was a bit strange. I guess they studied at the “ignore the customer until he is happy” school of customer service.

The bad news is that over the weekend I got a wiper fluid warning message again. My car is still not able to hold any wiper fluid. I took it back this morning. Seems it needs to go back for another two days.

ps. Coincidentally, and I guess this makes me feel a mild bit better about this experience, one of my long term blog readers was going to buy a car from these Muppets, but has decided to go somewhere else after reading this post.

Monday, the start of a whole new week..

• Monday, first working day of 2012, Werner’s first day at the office, beer and pizza with the family in Stellenbosch.
• Tuesday, office, afternoon walk up Coetzenburg Mountain with Andrew followed by Chinese food and Chardonnay.
• Wednesday, Mia’s first school day of 2012 – Naulene was a bit emotional so we had tea at Dipped in Stellenbosch, went to go install Mia’s PC and internet, afternoon walk with Andrew in Helderberg Nature reserve and a swim followed by some Koelfontein Chardonnay 2009 and Springbok pie.
• I’m in GQ.
• Thursday, office, Paul visit, finished reading my car manual, pizza at Gino’s with Debby, Romek and Eugene.
• Friday, early morning walk to Lanzerac, a walk around Stellenbosch with Alan, late afternoon walk with Andrew in Parydyskloof, a beer at La Romantica.
• Book of the week: Oh, the places you’ll go – by Dr. Seuss
• Two days without using a car this week.
• Saturday, Love & Light near Paarl with Andrew, Paul and Claus.
• My new cooler box has a bit of a dent, but no other permanent damage.
• Sunday, photo processing, Mia visit, more photo processing – processed about 1100 photos – 4k to go – mostly Mia photos – seems about 60% of my photos are Mia/family related photos.
• Handy buzzing mosquito survival trick – get under the duvet with only your head sticking out – wait for mosquito to get really close to your face – lift up the duvet quickly to create a vacuum and suck her in – wrap her up and hug her.
• Tunes of the week: Soundboy Rock by Groove Armada.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

TrustFabric, MXit and World of Avatar mentioned in GQ…

SA GQ Page 86 January 2012

Last week of holiday time..

• Another week without Twitter.. kinda seemed like work.
• Monday, Rezonance, Tai’s house.

• What’s the parrot called? “Mugabe – he destroys everything.” — Tai

• Tuesday, watched Puss in Boots with Mia and Francis.
• Dr. Ernst figures you can get your child into pretty much any school. Just offer to donate a sensory deprivation tank for the problem kids.
• Wednesday, Paul visit, Betty’s Bay braai with Mia and Francis.
• Thursday, family outing to Fairview.
• Friday, car admin, office visit, family haircut trip to Cape Town.
• Saturday, Francis’s 3rd birthday party.. I made up the Pinata, late lunch in Gordons Bay with Paul and Victoria, Bikini Beach swim.
• Sunday, early walk to Lanzerac, wine tasting at Simonsig with Paul, Clifton 2nd (beach meerkating) and Big Beta Beach with Paul and Claus, watermelon and a swim at Philippa’s house.
• Mia now pretty much has full 2N home/parenting redundancy. Not the most efficient way, but it works.
• Tunes of the week: Spanish Train and Other Stories by Chris De Burgh.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

A week without Twitter..

• Monday, got up early, walked to Lanzerac, brunch at Melissas with the family, took Mia and Francis to Spier, Paul’s house, bubbly at L’Avenir Country Lodge with Paul and two Dutch girls, carried sleeping kids to bed.
• Tuesday, we watched Surfs Up, first braai at my new place with Georg.
• Wednesday, Mia and I went to fetch the rest of the family and drove to Hermanus, brunch with Ernst and Lisa, rock pools, late lunch at Harbour Rock, took the coastal road back to Somerset West.
• Ernst got me a Paul Smith toothbrush for Christmas.
• Thursday, man down – caught some flu bug, watched Fight Club, The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.
• Disprin really is a miracle drug.
• 900 FB friends – growth has slowed a lot, I had 800 in March.
• Friday, had to get a new fridge, Johan’s at Longridge with the family, sunset walk around Stellenbosch with Mia.
• Saturday, lunch at Erinvale with Shannon and family, kicked a rugby ball around Coetzenburg with Georg, NYE braai at Andrew’s house.
• We woke up on the 31st and I said to Mia: do you know what day today is? Today is the last day of the… She answers “Holidays!” – very excited to go back to school.
• Sunday, Rezonance with Peter Pan (Paul) and Andrew.
• Tunes of the week: The Talking Heads.

Have a fun 2012, crazy kids.

Holiday time..

• Monday, day without using my car, unpacking while Mia and Francis watched a movie, family outing to the Stellenbosch botanical garden, I took a walk to Lanzerac, wedding photo processing with a few glasses of Hartenberg Chardonnay.
• I finally read my flash’s manual.
• Tuesday, migrated all my RAW (master) photos of 2010 to an external drive, some car admin, Mia visit, braai with Milk and Olwyn.
• Wednesday, woke up in Somerset West, more wedding photo processing, nap, 430GB backup, a walk around Stellenbosch.
• Ideas for technology in 2012
• 

• “The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of childhood into adulthood.”–Aldous Huxley

• My advice for 2012, don’t make a NY resolutions list, make a list of 10 people you are going to be spending quality time with 5yrs from now.
• Thursday, gym, massage, a beer at Georg’s house, Yellowtail at Sidewalk Cafe, Carlyles Xmas bash.
• Friday, hooked up my washing machine and did 4 batches of washing, supper with Paul in Stellenbosch.
• Saturday, family day, swimming, xmas dinner.
• Sunday, opened presents, set up a water slide for Mia and Francis, nap, took a walk around Stellenbosch.. ghost town, watched Igby Goes Down again.
• Tunes of the week, Shangri-La by Mark Knopfler.

Have a fun NYE, crazy kids.

I’m about 3/4 way unpacked…

• Monday, office, visited Andrew and Mia in SSW, slept like a baby.
• Tuesday, got a new Nokia C1-01 and got iSync to work, Mia visit and brunch at Manuka, A8 test drive, WoA end of year function at Gino’s.
• Wednesday, office, got two beds for the spare rooms, got a Nokia E5, haircut in SSW, Mia visit, watched Moneyball at the mall.. pretty good.
• Thursday, office, Izak visited the office, got a family car, Delheim and Uva Mira with Georg, Brampton bar and Genki (the other sushi spot) with Paul and Georg.
• Phones I’ve had this year: Nokia E72, Nokia E6, HTC Cha Cha, Nokia C3, Nokia C1, Nokia E5 – lost one, gave away two, returned one, broke one.

• “Reputation, reputation, reputation.” — Alan

• Friday, fetched the family, drove to The Baths near Citrusdal, we stopped at the Spur in Piketberg (Car Nav’s suggestion), rock pools and hot spring pool, drinks and potjiekos at the pre-wedding bash at Elephants Leisure, carried a few sleeping children to bed.
• Saturday, bacon and eggs, swimming at The Baths, filled up two compact flash cards with photos of Deborah and Harold’s wedding.. awesome wedding, carried a few sleeping children to bed.
• Sunday, drove back to SSW for Lily’s 3rd birthday party, Olwyn and Milk are back in town, nap, took Mia and Francis for a walk at Coetzenburg, fish and chips at Jimmy the Fish, bath read sleep.. Mia is getting pretty good at reading bed time stories.

Have a fun holiday, crazy kids.

I’m about 1/2 way unpacked…

• Monday, day without using my car, office, some more unpacking, power nap, a walk around Stellenbosch, sushi at Golden Wheat.
• Nice read about Africa
• Tuesday, got up at 5:00, walked to Lanzerac (my new Clifton 1st for morning walks), office, lunch at Neo, Heavy Chef, Georg made us supper.
• I watched Contagion this week.. pretty scary, but good.
• Wednesday, walked to Lanzerac, office, lunch with Theo and Paul at Greengate, MXit iPhone app design session, Mia visit, Will made an awesome Thai curry and we had a deep geek photography workflow session drinking red wine and eating dark chocolate.
• Thursday, walked to Lanzerac, office, unpacking, walked around Stellenbosch, burger at Binnehof, watched The Empire Strikes Back.
• Nokia C3 – the third world dog of mobile phones.
• Friday, met with Izak, Arksey Village Pub with Andrew, fetched Mia and Francis, Mooiberge, walk along the Eerste Rivier, we watched Despicable Me, bath, read, sleep.
• Saturday, Megamind, Megan’s 5th bday party at Waterworld in Strand, seared tuna at Long Table at Haskell Vineyards, took a walk around Stellenbosch, watched Gerald, Schalk and Dave Furgeson in Andringa Street, packing and photo processing.
• Mia weighs 24kg now, Francis 14kg.
• Sunday, fetched Andrew at 7:00, Flying Circus near Stanford with LKB, Hermanus, Buena Vista.
• I seem to have lost the 3rd world dog phone.

• “I think it’s time for a road soda.” — Andrew

• Mid-town Stellenbosch rocks.

Rock ‘n Roll, crazy kids.