Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day.
— Anonymous
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Happy Mother's Day
Happy Mother's Day, Mom. Sorry I am not there to spend the day with you, but I am sending you these "virtual" flowers!
And to all the other Moms in my circle of friends - Happy Mother's Day to you as well. Kathy, Jane, Sherry, Melissa, Cheryl, Collen, Muffin, Debbie, Anne, Ann, Amy, Joanie, Kelly, Kim, Anita, Elise, Candi, Stephanie and Holly.... I hope you all have a wonderful day!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Black Out
Have I mentioned the power issues in South Africa??? Evidently, the greater Cape Town area (I am not sure exactly how widespread an issue this is in South Africa, but I am willing to bet it is huge) - outgrew its power grid in 2006. Mind you, they were warned that this would happen in 1998. But it seems someone thought they knew better. Uh huh.
As I sit here, in downtown Cape Town, I am typing in total and complete darkness - my only source of light is the screen of my laptop. I can hear the rather loud hum of generators outside my slider (remember the picture from last night? well, picture all that with no city lights).
Since we got here in February, we have become rather used to the scheduled, rolling blackouts at the office (usually on Thursdays), but they last for a minute or 2 and power is restored. Generally, the power will cut out 3-4 times and then you are safe for another week.
This is my second black out in my apartment in Cape Town. The first one was not so fun and I will simply tell you that the security guards at my building are quite nice and they seem to know me now as I was locked out of my apartment with no way to get in without power (security doors and elevators do not work without power - hmmmm - someone should have thought of that!). That power outage lasted at least 4 hours and came back on sometime in the night.
Since I can barely see the keyboard, I guess I will have to stop working for this evening. Darn.
PS - I think I am going to invest in a rather large flashlight tomorrow. Do you think that is a reimbursable business expense? Sue?????
As I sit here, in downtown Cape Town, I am typing in total and complete darkness - my only source of light is the screen of my laptop. I can hear the rather loud hum of generators outside my slider (remember the picture from last night? well, picture all that with no city lights).
Since we got here in February, we have become rather used to the scheduled, rolling blackouts at the office (usually on Thursdays), but they last for a minute or 2 and power is restored. Generally, the power will cut out 3-4 times and then you are safe for another week.
This is my second black out in my apartment in Cape Town. The first one was not so fun and I will simply tell you that the security guards at my building are quite nice and they seem to know me now as I was locked out of my apartment with no way to get in without power (security doors and elevators do not work without power - hmmmm - someone should have thought of that!). That power outage lasted at least 4 hours and came back on sometime in the night.
Since I can barely see the keyboard, I guess I will have to stop working for this evening. Darn.
PS - I think I am going to invest in a rather large flashlight tomorrow. Do you think that is a reimbursable business expense? Sue?????
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Pictures, pictures, pictures
I finally remembered to take a picture of the really cool vase I bought down here and promised a few people pictures of. Low and behold when I downloaded the picture to my laptop, along with it came a ton of pictures I had forgotten all about. Not sure why some of these have not downloaded before now, but here comes a virtual smorgasbord of pictures - in no particular order!
Here is the long awaited vase picture - isn't it cool???
This is the view from the slider in my living room at night. Sometimes I can see the port of Cape Town in between the 2 buildings on the left.
Here is a sample of some of the shells and sea glass I have found in Africa. Dan is convinced I don't leave an intact shell on any beach we stop at and he may be right. I brought a gallon-size Ziploc bag FULL of shells and sea glass when we came home a few weeks ago.
This signpost is in the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. As you can see, we are 12421 km from home. That means we are 7718.052 miles (approximately) from home. Somehow, the flight seems much longer!
The grow things BIG down here. This is a picture of a cricket - at least, they TELL me it's a cricket. I have my doubts. Now that it is cooler, I have not seen as many of these ugly things, but let me tell you - they are *everywhere* at Sh*prite. And on Monday mornings, it's the worst - I swear they manage to get inside the buildings just so they can commit suicide. Ick.
There is a display of statues on the V&A Waterfront called Nobel Square - Dan wanted his picture taken with Desmond Tutu.
Here is the long awaited vase picture - isn't it cool???
This is the view from the slider in my living room at night. Sometimes I can see the port of Cape Town in between the 2 buildings on the left.
Here is a sample of some of the shells and sea glass I have found in Africa. Dan is convinced I don't leave an intact shell on any beach we stop at and he may be right. I brought a gallon-size Ziploc bag FULL of shells and sea glass when we came home a few weeks ago.
This signpost is in the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. As you can see, we are 12421 km from home. That means we are 7718.052 miles (approximately) from home. Somehow, the flight seems much longer!
The grow things BIG down here. This is a picture of a cricket - at least, they TELL me it's a cricket. I have my doubts. Now that it is cooler, I have not seen as many of these ugly things, but let me tell you - they are *everywhere* at Sh*prite. And on Monday mornings, it's the worst - I swear they manage to get inside the buildings just so they can commit suicide. Ick.
There is a display of statues on the V&A Waterfront called Nobel Square - Dan wanted his picture taken with Desmond Tutu.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Time Flies...
when you are having fun or just when the time at home is too short and fleeting. It seems hard to believe that my 2-week visit home is over - there are still people I have not seen or had a chance to even call. There are still a few hours left, though, so I will be trying to squeeze in as much as possible. Of course, that is in between some lingering work tasks I still have to complete, shopping for supplies to bring back to Africa, some personal business that still needs to be attended to (maybe the tax return I still have to file?). All that and I seem to have acquired a nice chest cold. That should be *really* fun during 18+ hours of flight time.
I am charging up the batteries for my camera, though. Boston to Cape Town via Amsterdam. I hear Matt Lauer was in Amsterdam earlier this week on his "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" series. I was also informed that the tulips are still in bloom - maybe I can ship some back to Natick? Then I just need to make sure I am *home* next spring to enjoy them!
I am charging up the batteries for my camera, though. Boston to Cape Town via Amsterdam. I hear Matt Lauer was in Amsterdam earlier this week on his "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" series. I was also informed that the tulips are still in bloom - maybe I can ship some back to Natick? Then I just need to make sure I am *home* next spring to enjoy them!
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