Gust v1.2 go-live week…

• Monday, gym, Mia went to gym holiday camp and did some kids yoga, dropped Mia at Naulene’s house, coffee with Dirk, water pipe burst, lots of wet towels and mopping, supper at The Slug and Lettuce with Werner and Janette.
• Tuesday, gym, work, work, work – mostly polish for v1.2 release.

• “We was always taking long walks, and we was always looking for a guy named ‘Charlie’.” — Forrest Gump… about our friend in payments which we can never find.

• Wednesday, Cape Town post office visit – had to get a new key, it’s been about 18 months since I collected snail mail, lunch at Zucchini, Cape Chamber of Commerce Luxembourg ICT workshop – very impressive, a glass of wine at Stomme Jonge with Werner, burger at Apres.

• “Intelligence is the ability to avoid doing work, yet getting the work done.” – Linus Torvalds

• Thursday, up at 4:30, almost inbox zero, big day, Gust go-live day, gym, Blue Crane dev meeting, design session at Mill House with Nico, Mia and Francis went to watch Epic, Col’caccio’s with Mia and Francis, we released Gust Pay v1.2.0 on the iTunes and play stores.
• Gust v1.2: only one week late, we migrated about 475 Gust v1.1 user accounts. A bit of an uneventful launch and migration day (a very good thing). Real artists ship… followed by long afternoon naps.

• “What’s the biggest motivator?… Progress.”

• Looks like Gust will be at a well known festival this year. Rock ‘n Roll.
• Friday, took Mia and Francis to gym camp, gym, Stellenbosch PayPoint upgrade day, Gusted a coffee at Mill House, used Gust for lunch at Simply Asia and a Fizzer at the Mxit Gust Snoepie, upgraded the Ster-Kinekor PayPoint, Friday drinks at Brampton, a burger at Apres, Trumpet Tree, dead tired.

• “Sitting is the new smoking.”

• “Seek simplicity, and distrust it.” — Alfred North Whitehead

• Saturday, bachelor weekend, R&R day, watched Cocktail again.. great movie, watched Jack Reacher.. good, nap, watched the rugby at Jan Kats, gelato, babies don’t sleep this well.
• Sunday, watched Superman with Dirk.. good movie, did some Gust PayTag debugging.
• Dirk asked me if I played rugby at school. Yeah, I played 8th man for the 5th team. Similar game strategy to Pierre Spies. Cautious.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

Rushmore week, kinda founded two clubs…

• Let’s get this blog post out on time.
• Monday, public holiday, omelette at Basic with Georg, had to go buy an ironing board, coffee with Pieter mostly chatting about Bitcoin, Skype chat with Jacques, some late night Gust testing and debugging.
• I finally have a regular housekeeper again (it’s been about 2 years),
• Tuesday, gym, not the best Gust demo in Cape Town (v1.2 backend not happy yet), a late lunch at Apres with Werner, watched two Netprophet videos, broccoli soup, Skype chat with the Seedstars guys in Geneva.
• Thinking about payment systems… I don’t think your average merchant is too unhappy paying 3% per transaction, so paying 1% is not going change much… but, if their had a payment partner which generated new business for them and gave them tools to build loyalty and recurring business, they would probably love it.
• Not entirely sure it’s a good idea to have all these screensavers with family photos around. The photos are great, but the memories can trip you up.
• Wednesday, mostly app testing, first Founders Club meeting at The Dogs Bollocks at the Yard – big burgers, a real challenge to eat, moar late night app testing.
• Thursday, gym, weekly Gust dev meeting at The Blue Crane, more meetings, a sunset walk around Stellenbosch.
• Winter solstice. On our way to summertime…

• “Nigerians skryf nou al in Afrikaans ook.” — Georg, about my Bitcoin investment email.

• “that sounds adequately vague” — about iTunes store app changelog.

• Friday, last day of the school term, gym, leg day, company doc signing session, made some Gust Events presentation notes with Luke at Jan Kats, first BTC Club meeting at Brampton, ribs and pizza with Mia at Apres.
• Gust 1.2.0 was approved by the Itunes store and we finished our new voucher demo system. v1.2.1 is almost ready.
• Some days I think building a payments business in SA is like playing the startup game on level 9.
• Saturday, plotting and pottering around the house, a late lunch with Mia at Decameron.. calamari and Tiramisu.. the closest thing we have to a family tradition I guess, gelato, rugby and a braai at Casa Dirk.

• “Every startup ecosystem needs a Paul Carr book.”

• “As dit pap reen moet jy skep.”

• Mia seems to be enjoying her new watch and sense of time.
• Sunday, up early – mostly pre-release Gust app testing and tweaks, blogging, grapefruit and omelettes, Cape Town day, gym, swim – great chill time, a sentimental pizza at Knead in Wembley Sq, Beta Beach visit, we watched Monsters University in Stellenbosch, (in 2D – as movies should be watched) – pretty good, not the best Pixar movie ever, but entertaining. Not as good as the 1st one.
• This week, two years ago… It’s my birthday soon. Need to plan something.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

The League of Emotionally Unavailable Gentlemen…

• Week of 10-16 June.
• Monday, early school run because Naulene forgot to pack school clothes for Mia and we had to let her get dressed at her mom’s house, skipped gym, I think I caught Francis’s bug, nap, shopping while Mia went to Judo, had soup and generally felt sorry for myself.
• Mia’s 3rd gum guard in one season, because her hockey bag is at her mom’s house. Mia started making checklists, to remember packing all the things she needs for school.

• “Courage is contagious.” — About WikiLeaks.

• “The League of Emotionally Unavailable Gentlemen.” — Pete

• Tuesday, feeling much better, school run, Cape Town office strategy day, got three iPad mini’s to play with, got Mia a Monsters Inc watch, sunset walk around Stellenbosch with Mia, steamed veg.
• Wednesday, made omelettes, school run, Mia scored all three her netball team’s goals, Gust IP paperwork signing, pizza with Mia and Georg at Col’caccios.
• Mia’s new regular drink seems to be Passion Fruit and Soda.
• Mia scored all three her netball team’s goals today. This is after she refused to play this morning and a thread of emails between me and her teacher. “Rockstar behaviour.” — Nick
• Thursday, school run, gym, one rep max day, Gust weekly dev meeting, fetched Mia from school, played photographer while Mia scored three goals for her hockey teams, she played for both the A and B teams, took Mia to art class, Mia’s 4th tooth came out.
• One rep max stats… Bench Press 95kg, Dumbbell shoulder press 30kg, Dumbbell bench press 44kg, Leg press 260kg. Body weight 87kg.
• Gust v1.2.0 RC1. Living dangerously, submitting an app for iTunes store review pointing at a production server which has not been configured yet.
• Friday, gym, core day, omelette, after work drinks at Brampton, a steak at Hussar with Georg, Carlyle’s, Bill’s birthday at El Burro with Georg, Aiden, Chris, The Power and the Glory.

• “A week is a lifetime for startups. We’ve lost our funding and found new funding in a week.” — Werner

• Mia scored 10/10 for her first test, three letter word spelling test.
• Saturday, woke up in Fresnaye, drove back to Stellenbosch, Open Kitchen with Georg, watched Warm Bodies.. entertaining, nap (slept like a baby), Georg woke me up to go watch the rugby at Jan Kats, 5 Reyneveld.. had the Millionaire’s Milkshake – pretty good, Stomme Jonge, Bohemia, Mystic, Akker, Trumpet with Georg, 12hour sleep.
• Planet Stellenbosch, where 1/2 the bar sings along when Oasis / Wonderwall starts playing.
• Sunday, father’s day, phoned Naulene a few times to take Mia for lunch but no-answer – as usual, wine tasting at Waterkloof, calamari at The Tavern in Gordons Bay harbour, nap, watched The Change-Up.. some good laughs.
• This week two years ago… seems my S95 is two years old.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

My third Wacky Wine Weekend…

• Week of 3-9 June.
• This post is very late, had to process a lot of notes on my phone before I could publish this. Easy to figure out when I’m busy right? No blogging.
• Monday, gym, email scrubbing, pretty good lunch deal at Jan Kats, more email scrubbing, sunset walk around Stellenbosch, moar email scrubbing, played some poker (not the card game type).
• Lessons in negotiations this week: 1) stfu. 2) use what gets said. 3) hold all the card 4) be nice even if you hold all the cards.
• Tuesday, gym, moar negotiations, omelette at Dimi’s Bistro – very good, Mxit visit, wrapped up the recent negotiations, fetched my Polar watch with new strap and battery, Stomme Jonge.
• We agreed on an official slogan for Gust: The journey begins. The thinking goes… every payment is just a gate, the next step in the journey / adventure.
• Wednesday, early Gust v1.2 app testing, 11 egg white breakfast, Cape Town meeting day, Wembley Sq, Gust office, Wembley Sq, De Stomme Jonge with Werner and Ben, installed an Airport Express at De Stomme Jonge so we can select the music.
• I figure it’s a good thing to test apps first thing in the morning. Gives you a bit more lateral thinking space.
• Thursday, gym, looked at two office options around Stellenbosch, haircut at Lize’s, weekly Gust dev meeting, we designed a new workflow for a demo, Gino’s, email scrubbing, inbox zero before Wacky Wine Weekend.
• Friday, gym, fetched Mia and Francis, fetched Jan, road trip to Tulbagh, took some photos around the house, Mia’s first taste of condensed milk – she didn’t like it, braai.
• A few things Naulene neglected to communicate this week: Mia’s iPad screen is cracked, Francis is sick and has a bad cough but she went along to Wacky Wine coughed all night and ended up with a fever, Mia has head lice and nothing has been done about it for the last week other than spraying tea tree oil in her hair, Mia did not pack any school clothes for following week. This is my life.
• Saturday, drove to Robertson for Wacky Wine Weekend with Jan, Mia and Francis, Werner, Janette, Susan, Ronette and Yolandi, bubbly at Graham Beck, Chardonnay tasting at De Wetshof, Don Courage, Springfield, Rugby and Chardonnay shopping at Rietvalley.. very nice farm. Great day.
• Turns out Chardonnay is influenced by soil not climate.
• The only industry where it’s ok to call the customer a consumer – the wine business.
• Vodacom mobile data coverage at Wacky Wine: as bad as last year. Don’t bother.
• Sunday, woke up in Tulbagh, lice combing session, made bacon and eggs, lunch at Mama Cucina in Riebeek Kasteel.. very good, Naulene fetched Francis – she had a fever, Mia watched Flash Gordon again, photo processing, sunset walk around Stellenbosch, ribs, gelato, in bed just after 20:00.
• I asked Mia about Wacky Wine, she liked Rietvalley the most.
• Nice to spend time with Mia and Francis, but the two of them together can be pretty hard work.
• I think I’m getting pretty good at this packing for a weekend away business.
• This week two years ago… the origin of Mia’s first iPad it seems.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

Cederberg weekend…

• Monday, school run – listening to Queen, gym with Werner, office shopping, finally sent my Polar watch off to get a new strap, Mia went to Judo, Mia watched Flash Gordon again, I cooked steamed spinach and broccoli and Mia actually ate it (not that it was bad, in fact it was really good).
• Ernst started blogging (again).

• “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.”

• Tuesday, early term sheet editing, school run, gym, ex-investor meeting,
  lawyer meeting, design session with Nico, Mia and I fetched Andrew from the airport, burger at Apres, gelato.
• In the 4th year of our overnight success.
• Wednesday, school run, meeting day in Cape Town, we met at Gust’s new office – The Icon building, Quicket meeting at Truth, insightful AfrikaBurn related meeting at Neighbourhood, pizza with Mia, a celebratory drink at De Stomme Jonge with Werner.

• “Fortune favours the brave.”

• We’re almost ready to release Gust v1.2. Many an early morning of Gust app testing.
• Mia’s third tooth came out this week.
• Thursday, school run, gym (read: sona), long day of negotiations, fetched Mia from school to find out that their hockey game got cancelled, saw Naulene for the first time in a few weeks, more negotiations, De Stomme Jonge, 5 Reyneveld.
• Friday, off to the Cederberg with Anton, Ollie and Kloppies, breakfast in Porterville, walked some repair supplies up to the Namtap mountain hut, drove to Anton’s farm.

• “Strawpedo Tuesdays.” — Anton about memories of Daft Punk and the Garage beer special.

• Saturday, bacon and eggs, chilled around the house reading old copies of Scientific American and National Geographic, afternoon nap, Ossobuco and fresh brussel sprouts, late afternoon nap, sipped some Olof Bergh in front of the fire.
• Sunday, bacon and eggs, played poker for match sticks, 8deg C in the house, probably 2 deg outside, almost got trapped on the farm with rivers filling up, drove back to Stellenbosch, stopped to stock up on Rooibos tea.
• Pro tip: unplug, without mobile phone reception, as often as you can.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.