OK, I know time is money, but this is absolutely ridiculous! And lazy!
I know that people type short abbreviations when texting on their mobiles, but I’ve noticed that people are starting to do it on emails too.
Clients (not mates or family) are signing their emails with rgrds instead of regards and today I even received knd rgrds! Wow, you saved a whole 3 letters! Vowels to be exact, poor fellas!
Where will it end?
Chat soon,
DelBoy
It’s Friday once again. A crazy busy week at work which just flew by in a complete blur.
Last night I finally got to see Transformers (The Movie). At the Melbourne IMAX which was eye-popping! I went with my sister-in-law who had never been to an IMAX theatre before. She was shell-shocked, not only by the size, but also by the 12 000 Watt sound system. After the 2-½ hour movie, my head was spinning.
Being the start of the weekend, we have all sorts of plans depending on the weather. Tomorrow we are catching up with friends for a braai. Ja, we actually found a butcher who makes real boerewors Now I just have to find some Castle Lager and we’ll be laughing. And yes, we’ll probably watch The Game again.
We are also going to check out our new home tomorrow. We need to measure up for curtains and furniture and things so that we will have everything ready when we move in. And you are invited to the house-warming party of course!
Chat soon,
DelBoy
More congratulations to the Boks.
World Champions: Bokke
IRB ranking: Number 1 in the world (finally)
Team of the year: Springboks
Coach of the year: Jake White
Player of the year: Bryan “Jet Shoes” Habana
Chat soon,
DelBoy
After a really early start (4am) to watch my beloved Boks lift the William Webb Ellis at the 2007 Rugby World Cup and then driving my in-laws to the airport, we decided that yesterday was just the day for a picnic.
The temperature was forecasted at 34 degrees C (it finally stopped climbing at 36!), so we packed our picnic baskets, loaded our bikes into Az’s Jeep and headed for Lysterfield, venue of the 2006 Commonwealth Games MTB race.
There weren’t many people around when we arrived at 11am, but by the time we got back from our 1-hour ride it was packed. The ride was good – a 4km climb up a firebreak then another 4.5km of singletrack through a bluegum forest with log obstacles and deep ruts. If I weren’t so unfit, I would have had a second go at it! Unfortunately, I didn’t take my helmet cam with me, so no video this time.
After a picnic lunch and a splash in Lysterfield Lake, we headed home to crash out in front of the TV.
Chat soon,
DelBoy
PS: I did say that if South Africa lifted the World Cup I would tell everyone if our baby was a boy or a girl. So, for those of you that don’t yet know, it is a … little girl!
Another week passes by and another weekend is upon us. It'll be the first weekend in a long while that we won't be out house-hunting, but instead we'll be window-shopping to furnish the new place. I don't mind that though, 'cos one of the things we'll be shopping for is a plasma TV.
Weekend also means the finals of the Rugby World Cup! And we all know who the favourites are. Not that that means a thing - we seen enough upsets to know that we need to be very careful ("we" being the Bokke, of course). I mean, England in the final? That alone is an upset!
It also looks like summer may finally be arriving in Melbourne with predicted temperatures of 25 and 31 degrees C for Saturday and Sunday. Might have to drag the old mountain bike out again...
Chat soon,
DelBoy
After weeks of searching for a home to call our own, we finally found something. We saw it on Saturday, put an offer in on Sunday morning that we had accepted by the vendor on Monday. Now we’re just waiting for the bank to hand over the cash!
It’s nothing flash: a three-bedroom place with en suite bathroom and a second bathroom, a laundry, large kitchen and open-plan lounge-dining area. It also has a double garage and a small garden out the back. Aussies call it a unit; there are 2 homes on one lot of about 800 square metres.
Anyway, we have about 6 weeks until we can move in ‘cos the place isn’t finished yet. That’s right, it’s brand spanking new and we’re still waiting for them to finish off the kitchen and install hydronic heating in the bedrooms.
So, six weeks of furniture hunting I guess. Too late for that wide screen plasma World Cup Final!
Chat soon,
DelBoy
With the weekend over, I’m finally starting to calm down a little. Again, the underdogs (England) beat the favorites making me very nervous for the SA v Argentina game. Needless to say, I needn’t have worried.
Now the big question is “Can we beat the Poms?” Or more importantly, can Schalk Burger take care of Johnny Wilkinson? He seems to be the only thing keeping Ye Olde English Steam Engine on track. Their rugby is boring to watch and yet it works for them. Ask the Aussies! And it keeps the English happy.
But hopefully Jet Shoes Habana can show them a thing or two and we can walk away with the prize: The Web Ellis Trophy!
Chat soon,
DelBoy
OK, I live here and I should probably stop complaining, but I feel the need to vent my frustration. Aussie rugby commentators are, well, crap!
Not only are (were!) they biased towards the Wallabies, but you think that they would learn to pronounce the players' names before the game. Or at least write them down phonetically to help themselves. You could easily write Skulk for Schalk Burger, but instead Schalk becomes Shelk, Jaques Fourie becomes Jack Foori, Danie Rossouw becomes Danny Russo, Steyn becomes Steeeen, Botha becomes Booter and Smit and Smith get mixed up!
And I sometimes wonder if these guys are even rugby fans when they call England the Lions!? Come on Channel Ten, spend some money on decent commentary!
Chat soon,
DelBoy
PS: How did the All Blacks reduce their carbon footprint after their trip to Europe? They dropped the Wallabies off on the way home!
Yes, it's that day of the week that we all love. 'Cos Friday means weekend! And weekend means rugby! It also means more house-hunting, mountain-biking (if the weather improves) and most of all, sleeping late!
I noticed this week that Melbournites aren't exactly fashion conscious. Now I'm no fashionista, but I can match a tie with my shirt and suit. This seems to be a major problem for most Melbourne men. And they can't use the excuse that they dress in the dark, 'cos it is light outside by 6am! The worst thing I've seen all week: Crocs with socks!! Let's be serious!
Getting back to the rugby, Go the Boks! Can we beat the Pumas? Who knows, but I know I'll be up by 4am on Monday morning to watch the game. Luckily my boss is a rugby fan, so he understands!
Chat soon,
DelBoy
I spent today at a search engine optimisation (SEO) /search engine marketing (SEM) seminar. It was quite interesting and I managed to stay awake through it all. Just when I thought I knew about marketing online, along come the professionals and you learn some more!
The seminar was run by Reed Business and sponsored by people like Yahoo Search Marketing and Netregistry, our company's site host. The useful stuff came mostly from the guest speakers who are in the online marketing business. They told us things about Google, Yahoo and MSN and how their spiders/bots work on the web, searching all the time.
I was so inspired that I came home and checked my Google rankings for various sites that I look after. It was quite fascinating to see what searches had taken people to my personal site! For example, a google search for '350d self portraits' took people to this picture. I also discovered that search terms like 'del cheeta' and 'raven girls' took people to my site. Go figure?
Anyway, I'm so inspired now that I might even start blogging about SEO! I'll keep you posted.
Chat soon,
DelBoy
Oh my God! What's going on at the Rugby World Cup? It's the onslaught of the underdog! Can South Africa survive the weekend? Or will Fiji make a laughing stock of us just like England did of Australia?
Let's wait and see.
Chat soon,
DelBoy
It's weekend again! And not a minute too soon! It's been a long week of marketing meeting after marketing meeting after meeting with marketers and designers. The owner of the company flew home this afternoon which signalled the start of the weekend for everyone in the office. Even our GM was relieved!
Of course, being Melbourne, weekend also means that its started raining again, so I'll be lucky to get out and ride my mountain bike. It also means that our trip to the races at Caulfield tomorrow will probably be cancelled.
Oh well, guess that means that I'll just have to laze around at home all weekend. Damn!
Chat soon,
DelBoy
