Xmas, Star Wars and Rooftop Bars...

• Week of 23 to 29 December.
• Monday, woke up in Franschhoek, full english hotel breakfast with Mia, walked around town, tea and wifi at Schoon, emergency house hunting, Marilyn's, Gelato, nap, sunset walk, Riverside Cafe.
• Our hotel went 3 days without internet. Outdoor wireless internet is not great.
• Why Creativity Is a Numbers Game
• Tuesday, earl grey tea, caught up on some blogging, hotel breakfast with Mia, tea and wifi at Schoon, more last minute house hunting - found one nice place on the planned Frogfoot fibre map, Haute Cabriere, Babylonstoren - which was too crazy busy so we left, Dalewood Fromage cheese shopping, xmas eve picanha braai at Jacques' with a few solid red wines - heated debate about optimal picanha braaiing, opened some xmas presents, played with a drone.

• "Is this the Vergelegen of Franschhoek?" -- Mia, about Babylonstoren.

• Podcast queue over 100. Oh bother.
• Wednesday, configured Mia's new bluetooth instant printer, played with the drone, xmas braai at Elise and Rossouw's, watched Star Wars episode VII and VIII again.
• Thursday, played with openvswitch, popcorn for breakfast - watched Star Wars episode IX at the 3D IMAX with Mia, Charlotte and Jacques - Mia cried at the end - I cried a tiny bit, paintball shop with Jacques, Ocean Basket lunch, shopping for Mia's holiday plans, afternoon at Rossouw's, braai at Jacques'.
• Episode 9 was much better than 7 and 8.
• Friday, La Vie, lunch with Anton at Utopia rooftop restaurant in De Waterkant (used to be The Vue Sky Bar) followed by The Grand Beach Bar and Modular - Killer Robot party.
• Saturday, lunch with Stefan, Pierre and Cici at Den Anker, Vicious Virgin Bar on Wale Street, a cocktail at Gorgeous George rooftop bar, Dark Horse rooftop bar in Kloof Street, Rumbullion at the Roundhouse, good fun.
• The Mandalorian takes place about five years after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi - so Baby Yoda can't be Master Yoda, but of the same species as Yoda. The Jedi Master Yoda was the best-known member of a species whose true name is not recorded.
• Sunday, mega relaxed day, saganaki salad routine, moar Star Wars watching, brain food at the Mojo Market.

Have a fun decade, crazy kids.

New adventures...

• Week of 16-22 December.
• Monday, public holiday, woke up in Scarborough, drove back to Cape Town with Stefan, saganaki chicken salad at Mykonos - always good, watched Pirate Radio - rad movie, epic nap, sunset walk, brain food and tempura mussels at the Mojo Market, in bed early.
• Tuesday, work, nap, sunset podcast promenade walk, bumped into Georg and walked with him for a stretch, dinner with Wouter and Zander.
• Wednesday, office, dev catch-up - last one for the year, meeting, brunch at Kleinsky's with Michael, gym - for the first time in way too long, nap, promenade walk, dinner at Make in Sea Point with Wouter followed by a nice bottle of Monro Merlot.
• Thursday, work, gym, sauna, set up a router for Al, drinks (bubbly) with Al, Wouter, Paul and Adrian, Den Anker and Panama Jacks with Adrian, a Talisker nightcap.
• Make before you manage. Stretch before you make.
• Friday, booked Star Wars IMAX tickets, office, my last day at Octotel, last bit of admin and handover/training, a farewell drink at the Raddisson with Trevor and Koos, haircut at the Waterfront, found an Apple Watch Series 5 - early xmas present from me to me, early supper at La Vie, a glass of wine with Jacques.
• Apple Watch 5 mini review - much more responsive, new screen size is great, always-on screen feature works well, sound level monitoring is amusing, UV index is cool. Setting up the perfect watch face layout is not a trivial problem. Keeps you busy for hours.
• People who have the latest iPhone - but send voice notes like students. I don't get it.
• Saturday, Jacques and I we cooked a big brunch, start of the Star Wars movie marathon, we braaied a picanha steak with a nice Ernie Els red - phoned Pierre to get instructions, finished watching Star Wars episode II, time well spent.
• Sunday, extended last minute xmas shopping with Mia - good fun, Franschhoek Boutique Hotel, somehow I managed to get a complimentary bottle of Chardonnay at Dieu Donne - nice views, early dinner at Chamonix / Arkeste restaurant with Mia - great Chardonnay, a Chivas nightcap at Allora, time well spent.
• I hope you had a productive and meaningful 2019, and you are enjoying a bit of downtime before the adventures in 2020.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

Bakoven, Scarborough, Campari...

• Week of 9-15 December.
• This post is very late. I've been busy. End of the year stuff. End of decade stuff.
• Monday, woke up in Bakoven, Mia and I took the dogs for a Camps Bay beach walk, work, braai with Mia - and some Chimichurri sauce, nap, Sea Point.

• "Great entrepreneurship is artistry."

• Charl wrote a cool post about Starship GOU #1, taxiing on the runway. Mia also finished primary school recently.
• Tuesday, office, dev catch-up, meeting, breakfast for lunch with Mia at the new Caffe Neo, The Creamery, nap, work, walked to the Waterfront with Mia, Den Anker for a Belgian waffle and Tarte aux Pommes with cream.
• 80% of businesses fail within the first 18 months.
• Wednesday, work, Waterfront, SIM swap for Mia's phone, we watched Knives Out at the VIP cinema - good movie, fish and chips, promenade walk, braai with Mia, Wouter and Zander.

• "Why do men instinctively tamper with their parachute strings?" -- Knives Out

• I gave Mia two Philip K. Dick books to read, she said they were a bit weird. She says she has read more than 100 books in 2019 (thanks Nikki).
• Thursday, work, Teraco visit, sushi at Izakaya Matsury with Mia - try it, nap, sunset promenade walk to Lili's for a Campari.
• Friday, work, office, dev catch up, brunch with Mia at Knead, dropped Mia off, drove to Scarborough with Stefan and Ina, Picanha braai, midnight LED frisbee session.
• Saturday, Scarborough beach, walked to the local pub, more than one Campari with Stefan, rainy afternoon, xmas dinner, midnight LED frisbee session.
• Sunday, Boulders beach, Windmill beach, lunch at Black Marlin, Risk board game afternoon.
• Thank you for an epic weekend, Pierre, Stefan, Stefan, Kieran and co.

• "Mag julle voorspoed julle verveel." -- D.S.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

Bakoven, dogs, 5 braais...

• Week of 2-8 December.
• This post is late.
• Monday, pet and house sitting in Bakoven, work, took the dogs for a Camps Bay beach walk, braai with Georg.
• The Grate Dane is pretty big now, after only 6 months.
• Tuesday, fed the pets, work, the one cat went to the vet and sadly did not return, I visited the Frogfoot office in Mowbray - for the first time in years - 240 people there now, Cavendish Square, meeting in Newlands, Workshop 17, a beer at Ferrymans with Anton, Heavy Chef Cape Town Startup Week event, a beer at Den Anker with Anton.
• I lost my favourite sunglasses, because of strong wind.
• Wednesday, work, nap, Clifton 1st beach walk with the dogs, braai, watched The Irishman - good movie.
• Thursday, fed the pets, wrote a proposal, office, dev meeting, found new sunglasses, Strolla, processed some paperwork, dropped off a tile cutter, mediator session in Obs, 1890 Sushi House with Mia, we watched Shaun of the Dead again with some frozen blueberries.
• The Grate Dane destroyed some shoes I bought this week.
• Friday, work, brunch with Mia, admin and paperwork, braai gas bottle refill, Gardens Centre, Waterfront - the new 16inch Macbook Pro seems pretty cool - keyboard feels useful, added some 'cord collars' to charging cables, loadshedding braai with Mia, we watched National Lampoon's Vacation - rad movie, time well spent.
• Pet hate: planned obsolescence. Stop charging cable wear and tear (phone, laptop etc) - look for something called CordCollar at Cape Union mart, and Heat Shrinkable Tubing at a hardware store.
• Saturday, fed the pets, Mia woke up from a 12h sleep, braai, we watched Talladega Nights and The Other Guys.
• Sunday, we reviewed Mia's school report, book shopping, I made some Chimichurri sauce (for the first time in years) braai with Al, Pierre, Georg, Wouter, Stefan and Stefan, time well spent.
• Tunes of the week: No Code, Pearl Jam. Great album.
• The decade ends in a few days.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.

Simplicate and add lightness...

• Week of 25 November to 1 December.
• This post is late.
• Monday, tea, last school run for primary school years, gym, sauna, work, attended an ISPA telecon - because I'm an ISPA Fellow now and I was interested in the WOAN topic, nap, sunset podcast promenade walk.
• It's been an antihistamine kinda week.
• Tuesday, work, walked to the office, dev meeting, nap, sunset promenade walk - without podcasts - shock horror, braai with Wouter.
• I realised that we're going to have to watch Star Wars Ep I to VIII again before IX in December. Important business.
• Wednesday, work, Strolla, game steaks at Hussar, nap, sunset podcast promenade walk, brain food at Mojo Market, in bed early.
• I remember getting an Intel 100Mbps network card around 1997. Now 100Gbps seems to be the new standard.
• Thursday, work, gym, walk, work, sunset walk, catch up with Wouter, random tinkering.

• "Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient." -- JP

• Is there such a thing as too much freedom?
• Friday, tea, work, website tinkering, lunch at Rockpool, catch up with Giles, nap, random tinkering, watched Terminator Salvation again.
• Saturday, Lily's - tech startup chats Adrian, a Hoegaanden at La Vie with Wouter and Adrian, Cape Town festival of beer, braai with Wouter, Al and Adrian, Stephan Bodzin @ Piz Gloria for Cercle video - good use of a 4k TV.
• My desktop Instagram app stopped working for a while, in case you follow that feed.
• Sunday, braai at Anton's, pet and house sitting in Bakoven, time well spent.

Have a fun week, crazy kids.