The winner of the best birthday venue has to be the  JHB Botanical Gardens. What a stunning day out and at no cost!! (Apart from the @Woolworths_SA nibbles of course). We were very lucky to have a nice warmish sunny afternoon with not a cloud in the sky to enjoy celebrating the end of Sheena’s first quarter. The botanical gardens (both of them) are definetly one of the forgotten gems of Johannesburg, along with Zoo lake and the zoo. Visiting any of these makes for a wonderfull inexpensive day out that makes you forget you are in the middle of the hustle and bustle of such a busy city.  

From the best to the wierdest. The winner of the wierdest birthday venue is Hooters. I hope that @shauncusters had an awesome 30th and enjoyed the views (what limited views there were).

The most recent course I attended was a one day workshop on Networking  (faciliated by: Juliette Jenner – very energetic lady). Whilst most of the content wasn’t something I didn’t know before nor was it something that isn’t common sense it did point out rather bluntly how easy it is to fall into the trap of working from day to day and losing sight of the big picture.

So off the back of the inspiring day on Networking I’m going to attempt to look at the big picture!

Wish me luck!!

1) Leave work early (4pm) the day before your birthday
2) Do not open e-mail for the entire evening – just say no!!
3) On the morning of your Birthday – organise to not be in the office (a visit to a vendor perhaps?)
4) Ensure that you arrange a decent lunch (preferrably with someone else paying)
5) Make sure you arrange to leave work early (don’t forget to pick up all the chocolates before though!!)
6) Relax.. Go Out/Stay In… but most importantly.. RELAX!!

Thanks to all who phoned/smsed/said

Ok so it’s official – my twin (by everything else other then genes), the other pea in the pod is moving to Quirkier pastures …

Admitedly she is the more creative spontaneous pea of the two of us and big corporate was never going to be a perfect fit – that still doesnt mean I am going to be 100% unselfish about it all…

*stamps feet on the floor like a 2 year old* Who am I going to have gossip sandwiches with now?…

To Ms. Snowgoose (because farewell cards are so last century):
You will be missed and Quirk are very lucky to have you. I’m sure you will have an absolute blast!

Not really sure it was the best of ideas – but if I didn’t do it now .. I doubt I would have ever done it and I do actually like using my brain expanding my knowledge. Really hoping that the studying experience will be better this time around (3 year degree..taking 5 years to complete… yaaah).

If all goes to plan I will be doing Honours Business Management (General) with Cybermarketing, Information Management and Strategic Management as my first 3 modules…..

It was a mildly successfull resolution … It was a happy year but (as life always is), filled with a generous sprinkling of lows.

So resolutions for 2009 …

1) Balance – Something that was severely lacking in 2008
2) Happyness – Always important to keep this on the list
3) Fun – Part of Balance but important enough to have it’s own place on the list

2009… Bring it on!

I work in the JHB CBD in a building on Simmonds street… and if you spend enough time in the building you realise that the building is alive…

My parking lot opens at 05:30am, before then you have to press a buzzer which sets off what can be best described as a doomsday siren.. the kind of thing you hear in World War 2 movies….the siren leads to a very grumpy looking security guard stumbling out and opening the gate..but that is a whole story in itself…

The revolving doors on the side entrances open at 6am…and believe me you want to wait for 6am or you will be faced with a very very long walk around to the main entrance….Walking in at 6am has some other perks you get to see the fountains come on…(Im a sucker for fountains, they somehow seem very peacefull evenin the middle of a chaotic building). Last but not least are the lights which also switch on with clockwork prescision at 6am.

Of course for the true and honorable members of “The Losers Club” … nothing beats the moment when the white noise stops

My Building has what I can best describe as white-noise-generating-machines, I guess during the day it helps keep things quieter, you would never know it’s there unless you are there once it switches off – very creepy yet odly relaxing!

Now all that is really required are some bunkbeds…or maybe those new leather couches on the newly renovated floor… they are probably a better idea especially when the lights go out…

I have officially found a new obsession … art .. specifically art by an artist called Ann Gadd (www.anngadd.co.za, www.artforewe.co.za)

I am obsessed with Art for Ewe .. unfortunetly I am not rich as all hell (which is a requirement if you like art) so my collection is rather small at this point. I am hoping to be able to get some more 20 x 20 prints around bonus time though.. the prints are really really well done and they are on a board backing thing which makes them look really nice.

The art for ewe stuff is good for geeky appeal or corporate boardrooms ..geeky boardrooms? To me it has a real Google office quality.

At the moment my collection consists of 15 x 15 paintings and one 20 x 20 print. I kind of like the 15 x 15′s it’s the perfect size to make arrangement on the wall with.

So my collection so far:

Ewe-Tube
Logon
F-Ewe
R.T.F.M.
Zero Tasking
Deleting Cookies (Print..in red/white)

Im looking forward to hopefully getting ..

Phishing
Booting Up
and of course some general ones
Passing the buck
Cooking the Books
etc..etc……

Ok Ok Im going to stop now … lest I get myself to spend money I truly do not have…

I’ve always been a fan of the music from Chess (“One Night in Bangkok” is the song that most people will recognise), so we made sure that we got tickets for the South African production of Chess @ Pieter Torien’s Theatre. It was absolutely amazing… so amazing in fact we went to watch it twice!!

Sooo after the second time we went to watch the show, we decided that it was about time to get a proper CD with the music from the show. After waiting a few weeks to get the CD from Amazon, I was super excited to pick it up from the post this week… What a let down… The South African production had much better vocals then what by all appearences is a recording from the original broadway shows…

So damnit.. can we have a recording of the SA version of the show …kk thanks!

Gamer Wisdom:
Life is “gl, hf, no re”

At a very tumultious point in the relationship between my parents and me, “gl hf” seemed like a very appropriate goodbye from my boyfriend at the time.  Well things with the parental unit have gotten much better but “gl hf”  is still one of my favourite “Motto for the Day” sayings.

 Anyways… Lou… Well Said nice post