Monthly Archives: January 2012

Quick Update

Rants

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.

Quick Update

Rants

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.

Audi Centre Somerset West Muppets

Muppets, Rants

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 and my car spent two full days with them (30 and 31 Jan). The service department people were very friendly.

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 on Monday 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.

Quick Update

Rants

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.

Quick Update

Rants

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.

Quick Update

Rants

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.