Half a Death Star…

• Monday, gym with Werner, a walk around Stellenbosh with Alex, coffee with Jan, UK Skype meeting, a glass of wine with Parri at Brampton, inbox zero.
• Tuesday, gym, a meeting with Garth in the Stellenbosch Botanical, Blue Crane meeting, Gust v2.0 design session with Nico, inbox zero.
• With a bit of luck we will be launching Gust Pay v1.2 mid June.
• Wedensday, grapefruit and earl grey tea (the two pillars of civilization), breakfast with Cath at Wembley Square, coffee with Faheem, lunch with Jonathan at Hello Sailor in Obs, explainer video meeting at Truth Coffee in Buitenkant st, sunset walk around Stellenbosch, a glass of wine at De Stomme Jonge.
• Cath tells me Naulene once managed to be ten hours late for something – and there I was getting unhappy about her regular four hour lateness.
• Thursday, gym, weekly Gust dev meeting at The Blue Crane, catch up with Carinus and Pieter, email scrubbing, Mia was sick and skipped the hockey match, eat as much as you can sushi with Werner and Janette.
• Friday, gym, Big Concerts meeting, met with Kevin, coffee with Garth, a glass of wine at Brampton with friends, calamari with Mia at Decameron, gelato, in bed by 21:00.
• 15.7% body fat.
• Mia was named artist of the week in the school newsletter and she will also be wearing the Worker of the Week badge this coming week.
• Saturday, 11 egg breakfast, chilled around the house, braai at Jan and Adele’s house with Mia, Werner, Janette, Maia, Susan, Luke and Parri.
• This has to work.

• “He who faces himself, finds himself.” — Clone Wars

• Sunday, rainy day tea and tag-team Death Star Lego building – we’re a bit behind schedule, we added an extra floor, a walk around Stellenbosch, watched Flash Gordon with Mia.. she loved it, steamed spinach with lime juice, cream and nutmeg.
• The Death Star is now 1/2 way completed.
• Tune of the week, as chosen by Mia: Flash, Queen.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

An adventure of a week…

• This week started off with getting asked to leave our office, wrapped up an exit deal with our current investors and ended with a new investment deal.
• Monday, up early to make omelettes, school run singing along to The Lumineers, gym with Werner, moved office, product design session at Vida, a burger at Trumpet Tree, cooked supper for Mia, a glass of wine with Paul.
• Tuesday, early morning creative writing (PR), school run – listening to the Black Keys, Waterstone cardio, ex-investor meeting with Werner – making some changes, found some new office space, quick product design session (pivot #4 in 2 years), Gust UI design session with Nico, pizza and salad at Col’caccio with Mia, gelato.

• “Jy kannie die perd koop en hom nie wil voer nie.” — Johan

• Mia brought home a book about Mummies, so I told her about the Rosetta Stone.

• “The thing to judge in any jazz artist is, does the man project and does he have ideas.” — Miles Davis

• Wednesday, early morning email scrubbing, avo smoothie, school run, gym at Waterstone, Cape Town meeting day with Werner and Luke, Wembley Square, Butterfly Studio, La Bottega, Mxit office, a beer at De Stomme Jonge with Al, ribs with Mia at Apres, gelato.
• PR for the week… Bandwidth Blog, HumanIPO, VentureBurn, BizCommunity, ITWebAfrica.
• Thursday, school run – talking hockey tactics, gym with Werner, Gust dev meeting at The Blue Crane, took my 70-200 lens and watched Mia score 3 of her hockey team’s 5 goals, a good game to watch, we got Mia a new hockey stick… 35″.
• I’ve missed my 70-200, more than the engagement ring.
• Friday, early school run for reading buddy programme, Waterstone gym, a tour of Garth’s 1000sqm office, Wembley Knead, lunch with Luke and Polly at The Kitchen in Woodstock, Brampton Wine Studio, De Stomme Jonge.
• How to get startup ideas: “Live in the future and build what seems interesting”.. and pivot closer to the present a few times along the way.
• Did some market research for our new product. 5/5, looking good.
• The future is about building recurring income tech businesses.

• “You want to know how I did it? I never saved anything for the swim back.” — Gattaca

• Saturday, grapefruit and omelette, played with some NFC chips, nap, watched The Beach again, watched Brazil.
• Watching The Beach kinda made me wonder if I should have done the after school overseas adventure thing. Guess I’ll just have to have a few more adventures.

• “When you develop an infatuation for someone you always find a reason to believe that this is exactly the person for you. It doesn’t need to be a good reason.” — The Beach

• “I found my vocation: the pursuit of pleasure.” — Richard, The Beach

• I suspect I might have a minor obsession with grapefruit. List of things I currently eat at home: grapefruit, omelettes, smoothies, steamed veg. I may need to expand that list a bit.
• Sunday, grapefruit, Root44 market with Luke and Polly, Blauwklippen Market, finished watching Brazil, nap, sunset podcast walk around Stellenbosch.
• This week two years ago: Week 159.
• Tune of the week: Foals – My Number.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

Back to default life…

• Monday, woke up in Tankwa, about 2 hours of packing, road trip, dropped Paul off, soaked in the bath then had a shower, watched 40 year old virgin again – some good scenes.
• Tuesday, first bacon and eggs after 5 days in the desert at Melissa’s, afternoon walk around Stellenbosch with Alan, unpacked my car, watched The Intouchables – brilliant movie, caught up on some blogging.
• Wednesday, car wash – it was pretty next level dirty, rainy Cape Town meeting day, drove around the CBD listening to FMR, had lunch at Zucchinis on Loop, roosterkoek and a glass of wine at De Stomme Jonge, a G&T with Jan and Adele at Apres, babies don’t sleep this well.
• I think I’ve stopped reading Twitter for about a month now. Pintrest lasted all of 4 days.

• “Touch points.” — wtf?

• Thursday, Gusted a coffee at Mill House, weekly Gust dev meeting, fetched Mia from school, watched Mia play Hockey vs Beaumont – good fun, she made a few very good breaks, took Mia to art class, got Mia some A2 paper – for bigger and bolder art, more unpacking, photo processing and blogging.
• The last 13 years have been a pretty busy, bumpy and epic adventure. 10 companies and a few pivots, one Mia, 2 ~divorces, lived in 13 different houses, worked in 9 different offices, visited 15 countries.
• Friday, Werner drove us to the SeedstarsWorld startup pitch competition in Constantia while I made my presentation, we won SeedstarsWorld (R50k and a flight to Switzerland for the final), Apres with Mia and Georg, gelato, watched Intacto again.

• “It’s all about the jockey.” — Doug

• Finally felt really recovered after the burn. Note to self, take a few extra days off after the next one.
• Saturday, omelette at Basic Bistro with Mia and Georg, Stellenbosch Airshow with Andrew and Dirk, nap, last unpacking while listening to some Counting Crows.
• Mia’s 2nd front tooth came out. The tooth fairy had a bit more success.

• “If this was your first Burn and you maybe did not read the docs on the website (which you should, event now is a good time), I think I’m going to point out the first and maybe most important rule which evolved from Burning Man… “Don’t interfere with anyone else’s immediate experience”. — some post burn thinking.

• “You are the average of the 5 people you send the most time with.” — ~Ernst

• A little bit of failure never hurt anybody.

• “And finally Joe again – for your passion and love for life. Your ideas, your attitude and amazing respect.” — Ben

• “Alice in the Thunderdome.” — Ernst, about AfrikaBurn.

• Tune of the week: Ho Hey, The Lumineers. Mia loved this song.
• Sunday, we read Peter Pan, I made grapefruit and omelettes while Mia watched Peter Pan, lunch with Mia and Georg at Apres, gelato, sunset walk around Stellenbosch.
• Mother’s day: Naulene sends me a text message at 0:35 asking if she can fetch Mia at 11:30 on Mother’s day. I say yes. After being 4 hours late she insists on taking Mia to Somerset West. Then I get a phone call saying her parent’s plans have changed and Mia will not be back tonight, while Mia’s school books and clothes are still at my house. A few hours follow with no solution to the problem. I end up driving to Somerset West to fetch Mia.

• “Some people are just dicks.” — Adrian.

• Naulene gave my engagement ring back.

Have a fun week, cazy kids.

Inbox zero before AfrikaBurn 2013…

• Week of 29 April to 5 May.
• Monday, school run, gym, investor pitch, made supper for Mia, AfrikaBurn planning session with Paul.
• Have a look at the Burn Guide apps.. iOS, Android.
• Tuesday, school run, got a new car tyre fitted, car wash, Gust UI design session with Nico at Blue Crane, about 2h of packing, fetched Paul, road trip with Bert.
• Wednesday to Sunday, AfrikaBurn 2013… not your average adventure.
• Continuation of Ernst and my Campari and croquet game from Greyton.
• Pretty much all the people working on Gust went to AfrikaBurn.
• Good to unplug a bit.
• I’ll probably take Mia to AfrikaBurn 2014.
• I’m a but bummed that I did not take enough photos at the burn this year. Need to plan a bit better and get myself in the mood.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

Pre-Burn week…

• Week of 22 to 28 April.
• Monday, woke up in Sedgefield, N2 road trip with Paul, stopped for a Springbok pie at Peregrene farm stall in Grabouw, office, watched Dredd – pretty entertaining, spotted Tamer a few times in the movie, watched The Fifth Element again while processing some photos.
• Tuesday, early morning work catch up and creative writing for World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers thing, office, lunch at Mill House to demo Gust for Western Cape Government Tech Innovation Tour group.
• Wednesday, meeting day with Luke in Cape Town, Hout Bay, got some black light LEDs in Hout st, lunch at Zucchinis on Loop st – great food, Kloof st meeting, Luke’s house, a braai at Werner’s house.
• Seems Std bank’s mobile app counts pre-paid electricity purchases as part of your daily cash withdraw limit, went to bed early because of that.
• Thursday, office, boiler suit, buttons, shoulder pads and 9v battery shopping in Somerset West with Werner and Janette, braai at Werner’s house, completed the making of 13 suits.
• Mia scored 2 of the 4 goals at the first hockey match of the season. Those afternoons playing hockey with Mia seem to be paying off.
• Mia’s first tooth fell out this week.
• Can’t remember when last I was bored, not sure that’s such a good thing.
• Friday, a fun day, haircut at Lize’s, two Wembley Sq meetings with Luke and Werner, gave a talk about Gust at the 27 Dinner, ended up not going to the Space Ibiza party even though Georg got me a ticket.
• Refreshing to meet real businessmen, people who understand risk and passion.
• Saturday, fetched Mia, got Mia at Netball ball and a bigger gum guard, G&T with Andrew, watched Brave and fell asleep on the couch, supper, Porco Rosso.
• Mia takes my wallet, counts all the money in it and says, you have R390.40 in your wallet. Hmm. Ok. Then later when I put her to bed she says – “we’ll see if the tooth fairy exists.”
• Sunday, not the best Tooth Fairy experience, Mia came down stairs saying “I knew it was you.”, tea, watched Matilda again, listened to some Talking Heads and cleaned up the house, afternoon braai at my place with Georg and Dirk, nap, gelato, late afternoon walk around old town
  Stellenbosch with Mia.
• Mia seems to have taken a keen interest is Gary Larson books.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

Mini holiday in Sedgefield, Knysna and Plett…

• Week of 15 to 21 April.
• Monday, school run, boiler suit shopping at Mr Farmer, bit of a disruptive meeting, Mia went to Judo, a beer with Alan at Trumpet Tree, pizza with Werner and Mia, some proposal writing.

• “Everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn’t end.” — from Cocktail.

• Tuesday, got up at 3:00 to fight with my inbox, made omelettes, school run, gym, office, theme camp costume shopping with Werner, we made the first prototype Son of Man suit while Mia made clothes for a doll.
• Wednesday, school run, Waterstone gym, Stellenbosch gym, Mia watched Princess Diaries again and went to Judo, rainy day soup for supper.
• Thursday, school run, Mr Farmer, gym, Mia got her first filling at the dentist, investor meeting, suit making, spray painting and curry at Werner’s house.
• Friday, early school for the reading buddy programme, got a new car tyre and wheel alignment, visited the Builders Express braai area, we finally tracked down the 10sec Gust Android discovery issue, fetched Paul, N2 road trip, supper with Al at Pili Pili beach bar in Sedgefield.

• “What’s the core thing? Adventure.” — Al

• Saturday, beach walk, oysters and tapas at Tapas in Knysna, Buffelsbaai boot brandy, lamb steak braai in Sedgefield, Paul fell asleep in the car listening to The Dead Weather.
• Sunday, Lookout Deck in Plett, some Red Snapper at Enrico’s in Keurbooms, Pili Pili beach bar.
• Tune of the week: The Black Keys – Gold On The Ceiling
• Team (culture), product, business. In that order.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

Mostly busy with Gust v1.2 dev and some AfrikaBurn planning.

• Yes, I’m a bit behind with the weekly blog posts, been busy.
• Week of 8 to 14 April.
• Monday, first wintery morning, gym with Werner and Mia, legs day, Mia made good progress with Monkey Island 1 at the office, lunch at Melissa’s, SID meeting with Pieter and Marius, pizza at Col’caccio.
• Tuesday, rainy school run, Waterstone gym, Stellenbosch gym, office, mid-week braai at my house with Werner.
• Wednesday, gym, office, red wine (nice and wintery).
• Only noticed this week that my frogfoot.com email stopped working a while ago. End of an era.
• It’s going to be interesting to see how Mia’s memory of her childhood works out – I have thousands of photos of her childhood which she browses on iPads, screensavers on laptops and TVs. I worry that we will forget.
• Thursday, Hazz with Alex, Jan and Nico, meeting with Ruth, a beer with Marius and Pieter at Col’caccio.
• Friday, got up at 4:00 – mostly to trim my inbox down, we cleaned some AfrikaBurn location data (theme camps), Maia and Jan worked at our office – mostly mDNS bug fixes, Friday after-work Brampton session, Mia an I watched the end of How to Train your Dragon, Gino’s with Mia and friends, fell asleep on the couch, Mia fell asleep in the spare room.
• Mia did not order a ham and pineapple pizza for the first time, she had ham and artichoke.
• The Burn Guide 2013 (for AfrikaBurn) app is looking really good. Thanks Jan, Maia and Storm.
• Idea for an app, like Pocket, but with collaborative article summaries within a circle of friends. I just can’t keep up with all the reading, would be nice to share only the useful insights.
• Saturday, tea, grapefruit, showed Mia Google Earth – we visited the Pyramids and Porko Rosso’s Adriatic sea, Mia rediscovered her Leapfrog Tag World Map, Root44 market, dropped Mia with her mom at the nature reserve, watched the Stormers game at Jan Kats, watched the Bulls game at 5 Reyneveld, Stomme Jonge, watched 21 Jump Street – very entertaining, fell asleep on the couch again.
• Sometimes the centre of Stellenbosch feels like Monkey Island map – nice to be walking, but only so many places you can go.
• Sunday, housekeeping day, I think I need to get help with housekeeping – just taking too much time, copied about 40GB of photos to the media centre – just for the screensaver, Naulene dropped Mia off 4hours late again, some hockey lessons at Paul Roos, watched Tangled again, bath, reading, sleep.
• Not much progress with the Death Star this week sadly.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.