Update on the state of the blogger

Hi all, it's been a while. Much has been going on, and I just couldn't seem to get it together. Anyway, let's give a synopsis of the current state of affairs.

We got back from a much needed vacation in Margate. Had been a yukky week on the basis that it was miserable, raining, overcast, windy most of the time. Me and GMan went down to the Wild Coast casino almost every night, and made an average of ZAR1000 every night on the poker table. Not Texas Hold'em, but 3 card poker. LIU! Paid for most of the costs for the vacation!

Got back the Friday, and GMan asks if he can use my car to go see his girlfriend.
On his way back the car broke down. I went to tow him in. After much trying, I realised this thing was dead, and needed a mechanic. Monday I towed it in to a shop near Westgate (LIU). The next day they called to inform me that the motor was stuffed, and would need a rebuild. By Thursday they confirmed that the motor was irreparable and they would have to source a second hand motor from a scrap yard. They found one from a similar car, with 75000km on the clock (so they say). Mine was just touching on 200k km.

Anyway, it seems the doos (LIU) who has been servicing my car for the last 6 years has not been a good boy. Either he never changed the oil, or just topped it up, or he has been using some suspect form of additive. Check the pics. Anyway the black stuff could not even be removed after 4 days in an acid bath. Not sure what it is, but it did block up the oil pump causing this to fail, which then caused all the knock on damage to the motor. Oh well, from now on I take the car to the official dealers for it's services. Lesson well learned. The down side for the "mechanic" is he has lost 3 clients, me, GMan, and Queenie (mom-in-law). Luckily he has only serviced GMan's car once, and Queenies a couple of times. I will be doing an oil change on Queenies car this coming weekend, and will mind to flush the motor first.

Anyway, after 2.5 weeks, I get the car back. On the way home it felt, well, kind of funny. But I thought it was due to me not having driven an auto box for a while. That night, DMDad gives me a call, says he's up here in bobejaansberg with Brutherofanothermother, and we should meet for drinks. No problem. I'm on my way. Yea right.
I made about 25km, and the gearbox died! What?!? No gears. WTF!!!

So, next day I get it in to the gearbox specialist, who took 4 days to get around to working on the car. Confirms that there is much dead stuff in the box. Not sure what the cause was, but can repair. Go ahead, get it done.

Monday this week, 2 weeks later, I get it back. Drive 6 km, and realise that whenever I stop, and pull away again, it's in 2nd gear. Not selecting 1st. So, back to the shop. It's now 2 days later, something about dirt in the selector thingy, who knows, but I should get it back today.
So, ZAR 8250 for the motor, and ZAR 6750 for the gearbox. Done.

In the meantime, LuckyL's Aprilia RS125, 2004, decided to die on him. (This was just before we went on vacation) I took it to the shop, and left it with them. it needed piston, rings, barrel redone, crank machining, the usual shit you get with High revving 2 stroke race bikes! Quote was ZAR10k.
It's still not ready! Can you believe this shit. Yea, I know they not sitting there waiting for me to bring a bike in so they can work on it, but if they planned better..... Whilst i was there they stripped down the head. We saw the barrel needed to be done, so we got that in to the relevant shop. Then they did nothing till the barrel came back. Then, once the finished what the were working on, the stripped down the rest of the motor, and found the crank needed to be done. Now another wait for 5 - 8 days. FFS!
Anyway, I'm hoping that we will get this by the end of this week, early next week. In the meantime, LuckyL is going to school on one of the Honda XR200's. No lights, no flickers, no hooter.... Eish.

As reported earlier, LuckyL has bought the 2009 RS 125, to rebuild and sell. Ordered parts from the Aprilia dealer, and has a 4-5 week wait for delivery. No problem.The parts arrived, and one was wrong, matt black finish instead of gloss black. I took it back to be replaced, and after 3 days, the clown in the spares dept. says that this has been discontinued, and I must take 2 x matt black so that they will match. Match what? Doos! I get onto the email to Aprilia SA, and after much discussion, they confirm they have the correct part in stock, locally, and will swop it out. Seems that there was an error with the stock numbers. I don't frigging care! Why must I get pissed off, and piss everyone off to get what I paid for!?!?! Anyway, at the same time as I ordered the parts, I gave the tank dummy, and tail piece to a guy to repair. the tank thingy needed a small repair on a bolt hole, and a scratch needed to be touched up. The tail piece also has a small scratch he said he could mask / hide / touch up. I didn't want a complete respray, cause it costs more, and would then mean having to get new stickers made. Anyway, he just stuffed around, didn't return my calls, never made one deadline. Eventually, he gave me the name of the guy who had them, and I went to see him. Man, was I pissed off. The guy I gave them to had fucked both pieces up completely! Anyway, this guy has a way to repair / salvage what has been done. So, should get this back in a day or two, and probably a grand or so later, and then we can finish the bike. Looks like we can sell it for about ZAR40k, but I'm not sure LuckyL will want to. It's a beaut. (That reminds me, I need to get the bike's papers....)

On the home front, GMan is now in his final stage of high school. Prelims are done, matric finals started yesterday, although he only writes his first paper in Nov sometime. He has applied at Wits, Pretoria, and Stellenbosch universities. All have given him conditional acceptance, subject to his final results. Let's hold thumbs. I think this is the first time I have seen him make some effort to study, if that is what he's doing. He wants to be a CA.

LuckyL seems to be coming to his peak about now. His marks have, for the past 3 terms been steadily improving. It's great. If he keeps going like this, he should do very well next year, and then in matric as well. Not sure what he wants to do, but might follow GMan into the world of money......

The Princess is really enjoying her new (not so new) job. She hasn't had this much fun in years. Lots to do, on days, but she's upto it. They just moved to new offices, which she helped refurbish. Nice to be able to do something like that, with someone else's check book. And no limit!!!
Will go check them out sometime.

Witness - my gardner, is not well. In fact, I dont think he's coming back to work. Discussed it with the Princess, and we going to pension him off. I'll pay him but he can stay at home. We never going to get his ID book replaced, the corrupt Home Affairs will never come through for him, so he will never get his state pension. And at 73 years, he shouldn't be working anymore. So, I'm getting a garden service in to do the lawns once a week, and will get casual labour once every 3 weeks to weed the garden, turn over the flower beds and stuff. And, I'll have to put in a sprinkler system as well. But Witness probably wont be back. It's a pity, cause he;s a great old man. Reliable, gets on with his work. Knows what needs to be done. But then, he's now got some chest problem, he's old, and cant do this anymore. No matter, I told him I would pension him off, and will. Last week I went down to his home, and took a couple of packets of groceries for him. And paid him for the day. No smokes though. I told him, if his chest hurts, he shouldn't be smoking. he agreed.

We haven't replaced Kaiser yet (the family dog we had to have put down). The family are still keen to get 2 x Boer Bull pups. We probably will, but I just want to get all this other crap sorted. Cars, bikes, gardners..... eish.

Nuff for now. More later

Salagatle!

IM STILL LAUGHING, PLEASE READ TO THE END .

SUBJECT: NATAL CURRY CONTEST


NATAL CURRY CONTEST If you can read this whole story without laughing I would be surprised.I was crying by the end. Note: Please take time to read this slowly.For those of you who have lived in Natal, you know how typical this is.They actually have a Curry Cook-off about June/July. It takes up a major portion of a parking lot at the Royal Show in PMB.

Judge #3 was an inexperienced food critic named Frank, who was visiting from America.Frank: 'Recently, I was honored to be selected as a judge at a Curry Cook-off. The original person called in sick at the last moment and I happened to be standing there at the judge's table asking for directions to the Beer Garden when the call came in. I was assured by the other two judges (Natal Indians) that the curry wouldn't be all that spicy and, besides, they told me I could have free beer during the tasting, so I accepted'.Here are the scorecard notes from the event:

CURRY # 1 - SEELAN'S MANIAC MONSTER TOMATO CURRY...
Judge # 1 -- A little too heavy on the tomato. Amusing kick
Judge # 2 -- Nice smooth tomato flavor. Very mild.
Judge # 3 (Frank) -- Holy shit, what the hell is this stuff? You could remove dried paint from your driveway. Took me two beers to put the flames out. I hope that's the worst one. These people are crazy.

CURRY #2 - PHOENIX BBQ CHICKEN CURRY.
Judge # 1 -- Smoky, with a hint of chicken. Slight chilli tang.
Judge # 2 -- Exciting BBQ flavour, needs more peppers to be taken seriously.
Judge # 3 -- Keep this out of the reach of children. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to taste besides pain. I had to wave off two people who wanted to give me the Heimlich manoeuvre! They had to rush in more beer when they saw the look on my face.

CURRY # 3 - SHAMILA'S FAMOUS 'BURN DOWN THE GARAGE' CURRY...
Judge # 1 -- Excellent firehouse curry. Great kick.
Judge # 2 -- A bit salty, good use of chilli peppers.
Judge # 3 -- Call 911. I've located a uranium pill. My nose feels like I have been snorting Drain Cleaner. Everyone knows the routine by now; get me more beer before I ignite. Barmaid pounded me on the back, now my backbone is in the front part of my chest. I'm getting pissed from all the beer.

CURRY # 4 - BABOO'S BLACK MAGIC BEAN CURRY...
Judge # 1 -- Black bean curry with almost no spice. Disappointing.
Judge # 2 -- Hint of lime in the black beans. Good side dish for fish or other mild foods, not much of a curry
Judge # 3 -- I felt something scraping across my tongue, but was unable to taste it. Is it possible to burn out taste buds? Shareen, the beer maid, was standing behind me with fresh refills. That 200kg woman is starting to look HOT...just like this nuclear waste I'm eating! Is chilli an aphrodisiac?

CURRY # 5 LALL'S LEGAL LIP REMOVER...
Judge # 1 -- Meaty, strong curry. Cayenne peppers freshly ground, adding considerable kick. Very impressive.
Judge # 2 -- Average beef curry, could use more tomato. Must admit the chilli peppers make a strong statement.
Judge # 3 -- My ears are ringing, sweat is pouring off my forehead and I can no longer focus my eyes. I farted and four people behind me needed paramedics. The contestant seemed offended when I told her that her curry had given me brain damage, Shareen saved my tongue from bleeding by pouring beer directly on it from the pitcher. I wonder if I'm burning my lips off. It really pisses me off that the other judges asked me to stop screaming. Screw them.

CURRY # 6 - VERISHNEE'S VEGETARIAN VARIETY...
Judge # 1 -- Thin yet bold vegetarian variety curry. Good balance of spices and peppers.
Judge # 2 -- The best yet. Aggressive use of peppers, onions, and garlic. Superb.
Judge # 3 -- My intestines are now a straight pipe filled with gaseous, sulphuric flames. I am definitely going to shit myself if I fart and I'm worried it will eat through the chair. No one seems inclined to stand behind me except that Shareen. Can't feel my lips anymore. I need to wipe my ass with a snow cone.

CURRY # 7 - SELINA'S 'MOTHER-IN-LAW'S-TONGUE' CURRY...
Judge # 1 -- A mediocre curry with too much reliance on canned peppers.
Judge # 2 -- Ho hum, tastes as if the chef literally threw in a can of chilli peppers at the last moment. (I should take note at this stage that I am worried about Judge # 3. He appears to be in a bit of distress as he is cursing uncontrollably).
Judge # 3 -- You could put a grenade in my mouth, pull the pin, and I wouldn't feel a thing. I've lost sight in one eye, and the world sounds like it is made of rushing water. My shirt is covered with curry which slid unnoticed out of my mouth. My pants are full of lava to match my shirt. At least, during the autopsy, they'll know what killed me. I've decided to stop breathing- it's too painful. Screw it; I'm not getting any oxygen anyway. If I need air I'll just suck it in through the 4-inch hole in my stomach.

CURRY # 8 - NAIDOO'S TOENAIL CURLING CURRY...
Judge # 1 -- The perfect ending. This is a nice blend curry. Not too bold but spicy enough to declare its existence.
Judge # 2 -- This final entry is a good, balanced curry. Neither mild nor hot. Sorry to see that most of it was lost when Judge #3 farted, passed out, fell over and pulled the curry pot down on top of himself. Not sure if he's going to make it. Poor man, wonder how he'd have reacted to really hot curry?
Judge # 3 - No Report

Salagatle!

Action Photo

Surely this must rate as the best ever action / motorcycling photo of all time. And the "pilot" in this case, Mr. Valentino Rossi himself, must rate as the best ever motorcyclist.

Enlarge the above pic, and look at how low down he is. Elbow is riding hard into the curb, knee is scraping, and probably not much more than 2 postage stamp sized rubber of the tyre in contact with the road. There can never be anything to better this. A millimeter or two lower, and you lose the bike.

Salagatle!

I've been Thinking

A lot since I took some days off work. In fact, maybe too much. However,

I was born into an institution which I have admired all of my life. I have resisted the draw to get involved, to take up my place, so to speak. But no more.

I have decided that for the short / medium term I will persue this avenue, and see if it delivers all that it's made out to be.

So, for the next short while, I won't be posting much here, but keep checking back, every 14 dyas or so.

Salagatle!

Just cause I can

Two 5 yr old boys playing outside in the sand pit, and it starts to rain. Says the visiting friend, "What we gonna do now? It's starting to rain?"
"No problem" says the other boy, "we can go play with condoms on the patio!"
"What's a patio?" says the visitor.......

Salagatle!

This email was begging to get posted at this site!

As you will recall, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Harvard professor who got arrested by Cambridge Police a few weeks ago.

Fred Reed was a police reporter for one of the large Washington newspapers. He now writes a column which can be googled ~ "Fred on Everything."

Fred published a weekly online column in which he got to say the things his editors would never, ever have let him write in the paper. His stuff is iconoclastic and various articles have probably offended everyone, regardless of political orientation.

The following is an essay regarding the failings of a system and a culture.
Please note that he elegantly describes the mood of many Americans and he does so without prejudice.


Slavery Reparations
by Fred Reed

On the Web, I find that Henry Louis Gates Jr., the chairman of Afro-American Studies at Harvard, is demanding that whites pay reparations to blacks. It's because of slavery, see. He is joined in this endeavor by a gaggle of other professional blacks. I guess he'll send me a bill, huh?

I feel like saying, "Let me get this straight, Hank. I'm slow. Be patient.
You want free money because of slavery, right? I don't blame you." I'd like free money, too. Tell you what. I believe in justice. I'll give you a million dollars for every slave I own, and another million for every year you were a slave. Fair enough? But, tell me, how many slaves do you suppose I have? In round numbers, I mean...say to the nearest dozen. And how long were you a slave?

Oh. In other words, I owe you reparations for something that I didn't do and didn't happen to you. That makes sense. Like lug nuts on a birthday cake.
Personally, I think you owe me reparations for things you didn't do and never happened to me. I've never been coated in Dutch chocolate and thrown from the Eiffel Tower. I'll bet you've never done it to anyone. I want reparations. Kind of silly, isn't it?

But if we're going to talk about reparations, that's a street that runs in two directions. You want money from me for what some other whites did to some other blacks in another century?
How about you guys paying whites reparations for current expenses caused by blacks? Not long ago, blacks burned down half of Los Angeles, a city in my country. Cities are expensive, Hank. Build one sometime and you'll see what I mean. Whites had to pay taxes to repair Los Angeles for you. You can send me a check.

Now, yes, I know you burned LA because you didn't like the verdict in the trial of those police officers. Well, I didn't like the verdict in the Simpson trial. But I didn't burn my house and loot Korean grocers, or burn down a city.
Over the years, blacks have burned a lot of American cities: Newark, Detroit, Watts, on and on. Now add in the fantastic cost over the years of welfare in all its forms, the cost of all of those police calls people had to make, for cells and jails and security systems in department stores.

I can't live in the capital city of my own country because of crime committed by blacks. Toss in the cultural cost of lowering standards in everything for the benefit of blacks. See what I mean?
Now, I'd view things differently if you said to me, "Fred, blacks can't get anywhere in a modern country without education. We know that. We need better schools, smarter teachers, harder courses, books with smaller pictures and bigger words. Can you help us?"

I'd say, "Hallelujah! Hoo-ahh! Not just yes, but hell yes. Let's sell an aircraft carrier and get these folks some real schools and get them into the economic main-stream.' I'd say It partly because it would be the right thing to do, and partly because I'd like to add you guys to the tax base.
The current custodial state is expensive. I'd just love for blacks to study and learn to compete and stop burning places. But is it going to happen? You may not believe it, but I, and most whites, don't like seeing blacks as miserable and screwed up as they are.

I spend a fair amount of time in the projects. Those places are ugly. It's no fun watching perfectly good kids turn into semi-literate dope dealers who barely speak English. It just plain ain't right. But, Hank, what am I supposed to do about it? I can't do your children's homework. At some point, people have to do things for themselves, or they don't get done. Maybe it's time.
I'll tell you what I see out in the world, Hank... I think blacks are too accustomed to getting anything they want by just demanding it. True, it has worked for over half a century. Get a few hundred people in the street, implicitly threaten to loot and burn, holler about slavery, and sadly the Great White Cash Spigot turns on.

Thing is, whites don't much buy it any longer. Most recognize that what once was a civil-rights movement has become a shakedown game. Few people
still feel responsible for the failings and inadequacies of blacks. Political correctness keeps the lid on -- but everyone knows the score. Which
scares me, Hank.
On one hand, blacks hate whites and incline toward looting and burning. (The whites you hate are the ones who marched in the civil-rights movement.
Ever think about that?)

On the other hand, whites quietly grow wearier and wearier of it. Not good, Hank. On the third hand (allow me three hands, for rhetorical convenience), blacks keep demanding things. As I write, you demand reparations for slavery. Blacks in Oklahoma (I think it was) want money for some ancient race riot.

Other blacks reject the Declaration of Independence. Blacks in New York hint broadly at burning and looting over a trial, yet more demand the elimination of the Confederate flag, and the federal equal opportunity apparatus, which means blacks want to sue Silicon Valley for not hiring nonexistent black engineers. That's a lot of demanding for one month, Hank.

What happens if whites ever say, "No"?

Now, how about you? You've got a cushy job up there at Harvard, and you can hoot and holler about what swine and bandits whites are. I guess it's lots of fun, and you get a salary for it to boot. But don't you think you might do blacks more good if you told them to complain less and study more?

For example, if you want blacks to work in Silicon Gulch, the best approach might be to find some really smart black guys, and get them to study digital
design ~ not Black Studies (as you teach). That's how everybody else does it. It works. Then, blacks wouldn't feel left out, and racial tensions would decline. Sound like a plan?

Just out of curiosity, how many hours a week do professors of Afro-American Studies spend in the projects, encouraging poor black kids to study real-
life sho-nuf subjects?

Pass this one across America !!!

Salagatle!

PS - Want to subscribe to this guys stuff!

Yamaha XJR 1200

The bike before GMan crashed it in January. Been standing since then, as I could not afford the repairs. However, have since ordered the spares from Japan, 6 weeks ago!!! and still not here.
Took the rest in for respray - this took 4 weeks +, and although it's as I wanted, the sticker guy fucked up, so there are small imperfections in them, the were not stuck on properly, but hey, that's life.

It looks damn fine!!

You will notice that the black lower parts have now given the bike a completely different, sleeker look. In fact, it looks a lot less bulky, and more sporty.
The Yamaha name tag on the tank is now replaced with a Yamaha logo, including flames.
On the tailpiece, on either side, is a seriously mean warthog. The Side panels now sport big XJR stickers, and the 1200 sizing. This was non-existing before. Not sure why.

Previous post shows the detail!


Salagatle!