Due to the escalating bombardment of useless comments from "Anonypoes"!! I have changed the access to only those who have a proper email address.
Salagatle!
LIU - Look It Up!
Monday, October 29, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Phosa: BEE not working
I found this on News 24, and thought it was quite interesting:- (Comments will follow below)
Johannesburg -
Black economic empowerment (BEE) is not helping to reduce poverty and
inequality, ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa said on Thursday.
"Marikana
taught us that... our [BEE] model is dysfunctional, and that we need to
be creative when old order models of negotiation are discarded by the
disenfranchised," Phosa said in a speech prepared for delivery in
Johannesburg.
"If
the miners at Marikana, and elsewhere, had a meaningful stake in the
assets that they create, my view is that we would have had different and
more positive outcomes."
He was referring to the shooting dead of 34 striking Lonmin platinum mine workers by the police in Marikana on August 16.
BEE had not made any meaningful contribution towards alleviating poverty and unemployment.
"What
it did do is create an upper class of wealthy black investors who
initially funded their wealth with debt through the acquisition of
shareholding in successful white or international businesses."
Successful economic transformation needed black entrepreneurs who were not the beneficiaries of wealth created by others.
"The
simple fact is, whether we are white or black, there is a dire need for
broader participation in the wealth of this country in a way different
from the current model," he said.
Wealth
was never given away or successfully redistributed through force. The
country's circumstances however showed that the wealth and ownership gap
needed to be closed.
"If we hesitate in doing so, we will be the architects of our own demise."
He said South Africa's current policy drift and the public's opinion on these matters were not helping.
The time that elapsed between the crisis, the policy solution and its implementation did not contribute to social stability.
So,after 18 years of so called democratic government, this poes now realises that BEE has not worked - it has not added any value to the masses it was supposed to be benefiting. Only the top brass in the ANC, and them who are "connected"to decision makers and procurement officers have made any money. In fact, some of them made so much money they are now in the top 100 richest in the world, and probably make up 90% of the top richest in Africa. But the guy who sits at the end of the road every day looking for piece work has been doing that forever, and will never benefit from any BEE regulations.
Even more bewildering is that he felt he needed to make this statement -does he really think then around him are not aware of the fact that BEE has not worked?
Salagatle!
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Some pics from the Hippo rally in Richards Bay
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| LuckyL's bike parked on the pier |
 |
| View of the rally site down the left of this street- was very empty |
 |
| Some of the tents and bikers |
 |
| Waiting for the mass ride to start - approx. 84 riders |
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| One bike I will trade my XJR1200 for - a Lawson replica 1200 muscle bike |
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| Now, in my eyes,this is not a bike... aircon, heaters, radio / cd player, built in garmin, boot..... |
Rhino Rally -South Africa
So, continuing on my previous post about the road trip myself and LuckyL undertook:-
We arrived in Harrismith around lunchtime, Friday 28th Sept. Paid our entrance fee, made our way down to the Rally Office, got our badges, and then drove around the very extensive camp site, looking for the ideal place to set up camp.
Some places were too far from the "events" center, some too near, some too close to the water (dams and stream), but eventually we found a spot which we liked. It happened to be right next door to a section cordoned off for sole use by the Roadhogs, a bike club I used to ride for many, many years ago.
So, we set up camp. Put up the tent and gazebo, unloaded the bikes, and took a ride around. Not long, and we saw the weather start to come up, so we went back to the car, got in, and decided to have a nap while the rain fell. Rain, hail, and incredible wind!
With the wind blowing later, we moved the trailer next to the tent, and tied the gazebo down onto it with ropes. However, with the storm that came over, the gazebo "lost" two of its legs, so we had to make a different plan.
This was now, in effect, a caravan! We put our
bags with clothing into the tent, and slept in the back of the car -
double bed mattress and all! No way I was going to risk being blown
away, rained on in another freak storm. This configuration held up well,
and drew many comments from passing bikers!
The storm that came up suddenly was so bad that it blew a tree down, crushing 2 tents (luckily uninhabited at the time), and and crushed some poor sods motorbike!!!
As soon as it was over, we went back down to the events area. Pretty soon the wind came up again. At some point it blew away a few gazebos. Then it destroyed the tent of one of the stalls. I quickly ripped the back panels off of the next rent, as this was also going to take a flight, and let the wind blow through it. LuckyL and I spent some time helping the guys salvage what they could, and then left them to rebuild their stand best they could.
We made our way around, checking out the damage to the various stalls, and some of the private tents. Eventually we ended up at the bar counter, inside a massive marquis. Just outside,some guys were trying to better secure the tent poles / ropes, with some of the 1m and 2 m long rope pegs having pulled out of the ground!
I bought a sheet of tickets, so that we could get some drinks. The wind was, by now, challenging the massive ropes and long tent poles. I went inside, much to LuckyL's dismay, to get some drinks. I bought a sheet of tickets (they can't trust their barmen with cash) and at that point the first main tent pole lifted off the ground, and gave way! He went outside - calling me. I demanded a round of drinks. The barman and lady were shocked and stunned - well, was I really going to spend who knows how much time without a drink if this tent collapsed? The second pole lifted off the ground. LuckyL came running back in :
"Dad, lets get out of here man, before it comes down on you head!" Coming, I said, picking up our drinks and following him out. Outside I realized this tent was in trouble. We stood to one side while the wind lashed at it - people were running into the tent to get the bikes out that someone had parked inside - cause they can!
LuckyL did the honorable thing - opened a beer and filmed the tent collapsing! I will get the video from him and post it here.
And then just as suddenly, the wind died down, and the rain fell softly. Simon Fourie - he of Bike SA owner and organiser of this rally walked past. I stopped him and commented "Think you have a problem", to which he responded - Already sorted - the guys are on their way from Durban as we speak! Now that's impressive organising! I offered my assistance if he needed it for anything - he replied - can you put up this tent? Smiled, and went on his way!
That night at about 8.30 pm, a truck arrived out of which climbed about 10 - 15 guys. They couldn't believe what they saw. By 3 am the next morning, the tent had been rebuilt, with new rope pegs, and all clean and sorted. They left off the side sheets, and that would have been the answer the day before, to remove them, and allow the wind to blow through. Anyway, they got it fixed.
Anyway, Saturday was a nice clear day.
More to follow.
Salagatle!
We arrived in Harrismith around lunchtime, Friday 28th Sept. Paid our entrance fee, made our way down to the Rally Office, got our badges, and then drove around the very extensive camp site, looking for the ideal place to set up camp.
Some places were too far from the "events" center, some too near, some too close to the water (dams and stream), but eventually we found a spot which we liked. It happened to be right next door to a section cordoned off for sole use by the Roadhogs, a bike club I used to ride for many, many years ago.
 |
| WE DECIDED TO PITCH THE TENT UNDER A SMALL TREE - FOR SHADE |
With the wind blowing later, we moved the trailer next to the tent, and tied the gazebo down onto it with ropes. However, with the storm that came over, the gazebo "lost" two of its legs, so we had to make a different plan.
 |
| This was plan B. Relocate the tent on top of the trailer, and the gazebo, with 2 long legs, 2 broken legs over the trailer, ans tie the whole thing down onto thew trailer. |
 |
| Fallen tree..... |
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| Smashed bike..... |
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| The remains of the structure of some poor sods gazebo - or 2! |
I bought a sheet of tickets, so that we could get some drinks. The wind was, by now, challenging the massive ropes and long tent poles. I went inside, much to LuckyL's dismay, to get some drinks. I bought a sheet of tickets (they can't trust their barmen with cash) and at that point the first main tent pole lifted off the ground, and gave way! He went outside - calling me. I demanded a round of drinks. The barman and lady were shocked and stunned - well, was I really going to spend who knows how much time without a drink if this tent collapsed? The second pole lifted off the ground. LuckyL came running back in :
"Dad, lets get out of here man, before it comes down on you head!" Coming, I said, picking up our drinks and following him out. Outside I realized this tent was in trouble. We stood to one side while the wind lashed at it - people were running into the tent to get the bikes out that someone had parked inside - cause they can!
LuckyL did the honorable thing - opened a beer and filmed the tent collapsing! I will get the video from him and post it here.
 |
| The collapsed marquis tent - that's the end with the bar - the other end housed the stage and music / sound equipment. Check the water around it - 4 - 6 inches deep!!! |
 |
| The next morning...... |
That night at about 8.30 pm, a truck arrived out of which climbed about 10 - 15 guys. They couldn't believe what they saw. By 3 am the next morning, the tent had been rebuilt, with new rope pegs, and all clean and sorted. They left off the side sheets, and that would have been the answer the day before, to remove them, and allow the wind to blow through. Anyway, they got it fixed.
 |
| Stalls - or rather what was stalls. |
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| Simon Fourie -we got him to wheelie that scooter |
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| There were some crazy stunt riders doing some shows, and they came through the camp sites,and decided out braai was a good obstacle... |
More to follow.
Salagatle!
Assault GBH
So, finally this issue has gone away.
For them who don't know the detail, scroll down and you will find the whole story. The summary is as follows:-
I went shopping for a TV and some associated stuff.. The salesman got abusive, threatened my son with "I will fuck you up"! When I confronted him, he made the same threat to me. After a bit of a to and fro, I landed a solid klap on his face.
He laid a charge of assault - Grievous Bodily Harm against me after getting some concocted doctors note re his injuries. Said I hit him with an unknown object! Yea right - my right hand is now a weapon of mass destruction!!!!
When the cops eventually came round to look for me, I wasn't home. Went down to the cop shop to see what they wanted and got myself arrested. Spent 13 hours in various cells, until GMan manged to pay some one ZAR3500 to get me bail, which cost another ZAR1000.
Appeared in court 2 days later.
Then got an attorney involved. Another court appearance cause the dumb arse public prosecutor didn't let us have the docket. Then a visit to the advocate for advice. The attorney had a few rounds with the public prosecutor, and showed him a copy of the CCTV recording from the incident. They agreed that there was no evidence of me ever actually hitting the guy, but there was visible evidence of the security guys shoving me around, as well as him, and he could have got injured then. Not sure what transpired between the video viewing and the court date, between the PP and the plaintiff, but suffice to say, it's now closed. Today I appeared in the court with my attorney, and the public prosecutor withdrew the charges.
End of saga. But not the end of this story I think.
Salagatle!
For them who don't know the detail, scroll down and you will find the whole story. The summary is as follows:-
I went shopping for a TV and some associated stuff.. The salesman got abusive, threatened my son with "I will fuck you up"! When I confronted him, he made the same threat to me. After a bit of a to and fro, I landed a solid klap on his face.
He laid a charge of assault - Grievous Bodily Harm against me after getting some concocted doctors note re his injuries. Said I hit him with an unknown object! Yea right - my right hand is now a weapon of mass destruction!!!!
When the cops eventually came round to look for me, I wasn't home. Went down to the cop shop to see what they wanted and got myself arrested. Spent 13 hours in various cells, until GMan manged to pay some one ZAR3500 to get me bail, which cost another ZAR1000.
Appeared in court 2 days later.
Then got an attorney involved. Another court appearance cause the dumb arse public prosecutor didn't let us have the docket. Then a visit to the advocate for advice. The attorney had a few rounds with the public prosecutor, and showed him a copy of the CCTV recording from the incident. They agreed that there was no evidence of me ever actually hitting the guy, but there was visible evidence of the security guys shoving me around, as well as him, and he could have got injured then. Not sure what transpired between the video viewing and the court date, between the PP and the plaintiff, but suffice to say, it's now closed. Today I appeared in the court with my attorney, and the public prosecutor withdrew the charges.
End of saga. But not the end of this story I think.
Salagatle!
Monday, October 08, 2012
R.I.P Brother....
Biker president killed in accident
Mr 'Evil' Erik Edeling, a father of two, was killed
in a motorcyle accident on Sunday afternoon on the R25 on his way home
to Kempton Park.
"We were travelling home from the Classic Motorcyle Club. A truck that did not stop at the stop street crossed over from the right hand side as we were approaching from under the Zuurfontein bridge," said Mr Hilton Labuschagne, who had known Mr Edeling for more than 10 years.
Mr Labuschagne recalls that he saw his friend swerve to try and avoid the collision. He fell off his bike and slid under the left back wheel.
"There was a lot of smoke when he braked," he said.
According to ER 24 spokesman, André Visser, Edeling died on the scene.
An avid lover of Kawasaki motorcycles, he was the national president of the Tudor Rebels Motorcycle Association for the past 27 years and a well-known member of the biker community. He was the owner of the popular motorcyle shop, Motorcyle Magic, on Long Street.
"He loved bikes and even opened a bike hospital on End Street in Joburg that sold second hand motorcyles," recalled Mr Labuschagne.
Terrible way to die - and that because a PDI (Read kaffir) didn't stop, and that, because the cops don't do their jobs!!!
Salagatle!
"We were travelling home from the Classic Motorcyle Club. A truck that did not stop at the stop street crossed over from the right hand side as we were approaching from under the Zuurfontein bridge," said Mr Hilton Labuschagne, who had known Mr Edeling for more than 10 years.
Mr Labuschagne recalls that he saw his friend swerve to try and avoid the collision. He fell off his bike and slid under the left back wheel.
"There was a lot of smoke when he braked," he said.
According to ER 24 spokesman, André Visser, Edeling died on the scene.
An avid lover of Kawasaki motorcycles, he was the national president of the Tudor Rebels Motorcycle Association for the past 27 years and a well-known member of the biker community. He was the owner of the popular motorcyle shop, Motorcyle Magic, on Long Street.
"He loved bikes and even opened a bike hospital on End Street in Joburg that sold second hand motorcyles," recalled Mr Labuschagne.
Terrible way to die - and that because a PDI (Read kaffir) didn't stop, and that, because the cops don't do their jobs!!!
Salagatle!
Wednesday, October 03, 2012
Hectic.....
OK, so I have been unavailable for some time - and my site has been "Off-line" for some time too. Many reasons for both, but I'm not going to go into them for now, suffice to say, I'm back. However, by now, I probably have no more readers left - ah well, that's life!
So what have I been up to? Well, after finishing up at IBM, I came in to the new job offices for a week, to start getting into the new role. Did some work on a new deal, and sorted out what was a seriously questionable document (Quality was poor), it would seem that I have learned something at my previous employer after all, even if it's only to do a professional document - nah, I learned a lot there!
The next week I went in for one day. The Friday in court was short and sweet, postponed again, then me and LuckyL went home, packed the car, loaded the two bikes, and set off for Richards Bay, and the Hippo rally!
Hippo Rally - we had a reasonably good drive down to RB. Got there, and went straight to my brothers home. Unpacked the car, unloaded the bikes, and chilled. Decided we would go and register the next day.
Saturday morning a quick blitz down to the rally site, paid, collected our badges, then blitzed back to town to have breakfast with brother - Big Bear!
So, the Hippo rally was not very well attended. Seems like the previous 2 years were similar. In the past, the local cops were seriously full of shit, continuously harassing the bikers, making it difficult to get around without being stopped 2, 3, 4 times a day! The inland bikers had told the organizers this would happen. Also, due to problems with getting a venue approved by the organizers with the local municipal bodies, meant they had a late announcement, and most of the bikers had already made alternative plans. Be that as it may, we didn't care much either way, as we had the opportunity to attend the rally as the program showed events we wanted to be in / see, and leave to ride around at our leisure at other times.
The Sunday morning mass ride was attended by between 80 and 100 riders. Upfront was a SAPS / Highway police car (VW Golf GTI), followed by a local traffic police car (not sure what it was, then a massive Dodge double cab truck, then the bikers. The drive through town was slow, as expected, but once we got onto the highway to Empangeni, the SAPS car, driven by a policeman who is also a biker stepped up to 160 - 170km/h! And we,naturally, chased him! Highlight of the ride was the lights on top of the traffic officials car, which, at 160km/h decided to desert the vehicle, flew off the roof, and landed somewhere in the veld next to the highway! He had to pull off to recover the unit, and probably spent a lot of time trying to think of a good excuse to give to his boss back at the office!!!! Anyway, overall the cops were quite accommodating, a few roadblocks were set up around the area, mainly to check for drunken driving (I have no problem with that), and we managed to evade all of them, knowing the area as well as we do, and knowing the back-roads.
We hung around in RB for a few more days. Whilst we were there, I visited Alan P (He of the recent cancer operation) and his family, at their home several times. Was great to get together with them again, out of the hospital environment. He's doing much better, ans now has started his next round of chemo. We then made our way down to Durban, to another mates place, to await Friday morning when we were driving up to Harrismith for the Rhino Rally! This is the biggest bike rally in the country. Every year it gets bigger and better - 2012 was going to be no different. It would also be the first rally that LuckyL would attend, where he stayed on site for the duration of the rally, and would witness first hand the shenanigans that go on - throughout the weekend, 24x7! A real eye opener for him, and to boot, one that would start with a serious, destructive storm!
More to follow.
Salagatle!
So what have I been up to? Well, after finishing up at IBM, I came in to the new job offices for a week, to start getting into the new role. Did some work on a new deal, and sorted out what was a seriously questionable document (Quality was poor), it would seem that I have learned something at my previous employer after all, even if it's only to do a professional document - nah, I learned a lot there!
The next week I went in for one day. The Friday in court was short and sweet, postponed again, then me and LuckyL went home, packed the car, loaded the two bikes, and set off for Richards Bay, and the Hippo rally!
Hippo Rally - we had a reasonably good drive down to RB. Got there, and went straight to my brothers home. Unpacked the car, unloaded the bikes, and chilled. Decided we would go and register the next day.
Saturday morning a quick blitz down to the rally site, paid, collected our badges, then blitzed back to town to have breakfast with brother - Big Bear!
So, the Hippo rally was not very well attended. Seems like the previous 2 years were similar. In the past, the local cops were seriously full of shit, continuously harassing the bikers, making it difficult to get around without being stopped 2, 3, 4 times a day! The inland bikers had told the organizers this would happen. Also, due to problems with getting a venue approved by the organizers with the local municipal bodies, meant they had a late announcement, and most of the bikers had already made alternative plans. Be that as it may, we didn't care much either way, as we had the opportunity to attend the rally as the program showed events we wanted to be in / see, and leave to ride around at our leisure at other times.
The Sunday morning mass ride was attended by between 80 and 100 riders. Upfront was a SAPS / Highway police car (VW Golf GTI), followed by a local traffic police car (not sure what it was, then a massive Dodge double cab truck, then the bikers. The drive through town was slow, as expected, but once we got onto the highway to Empangeni, the SAPS car, driven by a policeman who is also a biker stepped up to 160 - 170km/h! And we,naturally, chased him! Highlight of the ride was the lights on top of the traffic officials car, which, at 160km/h decided to desert the vehicle, flew off the roof, and landed somewhere in the veld next to the highway! He had to pull off to recover the unit, and probably spent a lot of time trying to think of a good excuse to give to his boss back at the office!!!! Anyway, overall the cops were quite accommodating, a few roadblocks were set up around the area, mainly to check for drunken driving (I have no problem with that), and we managed to evade all of them, knowing the area as well as we do, and knowing the back-roads.
We hung around in RB for a few more days. Whilst we were there, I visited Alan P (He of the recent cancer operation) and his family, at their home several times. Was great to get together with them again, out of the hospital environment. He's doing much better, ans now has started his next round of chemo. We then made our way down to Durban, to another mates place, to await Friday morning when we were driving up to Harrismith for the Rhino Rally! This is the biggest bike rally in the country. Every year it gets bigger and better - 2012 was going to be no different. It would also be the first rally that LuckyL would attend, where he stayed on site for the duration of the rally, and would witness first hand the shenanigans that go on - throughout the weekend, 24x7! A real eye opener for him, and to boot, one that would start with a serious, destructive storm!
More to follow.
Salagatle!
Friday, September 14, 2012
Blissfully unemployed
So, as previously posted, my previous employer eventually made me a mutual separation offer, and I accepted. Monday 10 September was my last working day, and all I had to do was go in to the office to return my laptop, 3G card, and my access card. Done. By 11 am I was out of there.
I was employed by the big American International IT company - IBM for 16.5 years, and was now actually glad to be going.
The previous Friday we had gone for farewell drinks at a local pub with some of them who worked with me. Was a nice afternoon, but didn't go on too late. Monday I did the returns and left. So what was missing? Well, for 16.5 years every time someone was leaving, one of them who worked with him / her, or the department manager, would have a whip around for donations to get them who were leaving a parting gift. Well, didn't happen for me. No matter, it's the thought that counts!
Another thing that everyone who leaves does is send out a final farewell letter, usually 2 lines basically saying "It's my time for change / to go. It's been a pleasure working with most of you. thank you for everything. Maybe we will meet again." And sometimes they give their new / personal email address in case anyone wants to get in touch with them after they have left.
I decided to do it differently. Below is my farewell letter. I sent it to quite a few people, but mostly them who I got on with during my stay with the company.
To those who I missed out of the list above -
sorry...............................
I suppose the time for this email will come for all of us at some point.
Mine has arrived.
Dec.1995 I joined IBM as a contractor salesman for ITS. I had to have 2 interviews, the first with the person who would be my manager - Klaus Bohm, and the second with Ann Roberts! I was nervous for the interview with Klaus, I was scared sh*&less for the interview with Ann!!!! My foot into the door was that I had a mechanical engineering background, and a good relationship with, and knowledge of the mining industry and had successfully run my own sales company for 7 years. Needless to say, I never got the chance to "work" the mining groups, apart from a few calls when
they happened to be in my "space"!
I clearly remember the day I was called in after the 2 interviews, to be told my application had been successful, but I would have to cut my hair if I wanted to join IBM!! (I sported a thin pony tail at the time). By June 1996 I was made a permanent IBMer - another exciting milestone. I also
clearly remembering chatting to the other guys, and being shocked to hear that some of them had been with IBM for 15 and more years. Some of them from when they left school / varsity! My comment then was "Don't you know there's another world out there?" Little did I know I would become one of the long timers! Now, 16.5 years later, its time for me to take my leave.
So what has happened in this time:-
On average, 8 new white shirts a year = 128 white shirts - I have always kept to the original IBM dress code, smart, presentable, a good impression on the clients of a professional company (and person). I also worked my way through an average of 3 suits a year, and 4 pairs of smart pants a year!!
For the first 10 years, I only wore white socks (some of you will remember this) - that is 12 pairs a year - 120 pairs of white socks! (The wife was seriously glad when I stopped that!) - and I destroyed 2 - 3 pairs of shoes a year.
I have worn the same cufflinks, every working day, for all these years - "Gold" plated IBM, which I bought for myself, and have worn out 2 IBM gold tie pins in the same time. (REMEMBER TO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE ANNUAL CASUAL DAY!)
I signed my first deal in my first week with IBM! - and to think I still didn't have a "log on" name / password at the time. Back office support in those days was the read deal - and there is another story in my relationship with "back office" in those early years, when no-one wanted to be my support person - Adri van Tonder will remember that!
I started out on green screens, and as soon as I learned how to use them, we got laptops (those first one's were seriously heavy), and then cellphones came in (the first ones were large, heavy Nokia's, with pull out antennae, and a battery big enough to start a small motorbike!!!) I still have that cellphone number. All IBMers that have 082570.... were of the original first rollout for cellphones.
I made Hundred Percent club several times - Malta, Morocco, and Lisbon, and the last one was a pin and certificate (They stopped the trips - cost cutting) - I made Top achiever - a week in Avignon, France, with my spouse, for closing a big deal with Vodacom - at that time the biggest ITS deal ever!!!! The stories that I could share about those trips. Needless to day "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas"! Mark Harris will recall coming back to the Gala Dinner venue in Morocco, only to find that Yogesh Ranchod and myself had taken over the DJ desk, and were spinning disks, with a bottle of wine in each hand (who needs glasses) at 6 am!!!!
I closed the first and second biggest Cisco deals for IBM SA soon after IBM became a Cisco partner - Clover and Anglo Gold (Denis Charnock still suffers because of this!!)
I have been in ITS, as a salesman, for all of the time I have been with IBM. Maybe I should have moved around, into STG and or SWG. That might have made a difference in my career, but service is the hardest sell, and most challenging, and that is what kept me there. I have seen service offerings come and go, and reincarnations of some under different names! Probably the best "division" in ITS is BCRS - not because that is where I find myself now, but because it's a specialised field, and has it's own offices away from the Park, which is today a serious challenge to get to because of traffic!
I have survived several Country General Managers, including Sal Faso - "The Hatchet Man", probably my favorite CGM would be Mark Harris - as he had a big influence on many of the decisions I made, and because he truly had an "Open Door" policy! Best mentor - probably Pieter Kruger - I learned most of my stuff (IT related) from him, and lots of my "attitude" (as it has been called) is probably due to him. He has become a friend... Thank you Piet!
Best "out of country" executive - I have had the pleasure of working with many very professional people, and people like Dan Cohen, Allen Downs, and most notably, Mike Weston come to mind. Thank you guys for you support. One of the ITS managers used to threaten us with Mike Weston. She would say "if you don't do this, then maybe you should go on the call with Mike!" Until one day I did meet him, and realized that the demon that had been painted of him did not exist !! in fact, the total opposite - he's a very supportive executive, who you can call on late on a Friday, and get a fast track OMDT release done - and he does not mind! Thank you Mike!!!
Favorite international support person - Rosa Hofer - she's a real lady, very professional, and nothing was ever too much for her! Thank you!
I survived cancer - lost a kidney, but managed to save my bladder with 6 operations and chemo - (the alternative would have been a bag taped to my side.....), and have been clean for more than 10 years now. (REMEMBER TO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE ANNUAL SHAVE-A-THON!)
I survived a potentially deadly motor car accident in January this year - no thanks to the drugged out driver of the other car! Considering the mileage I have covered during my stay with IBM I have been luckier then most.
I survived multiple sales managers - none of which need to be named - none stand out really, each had their good and bad - no wait, some had only bad......, other than to say that good business AND people managers are a scarce breed in IBM, and my current manager, Chris Lucier, is the first I have had in the 16.5 years that is a good business AND people manager, apart maybe from Pieter Kruger, who, in those days, knew and understood that salespeople are motivated by reward!
Probably more incredible is the fact that my marriage has survived 16.5 years of IBM!!! Married 23 years this year, and still on honeymoon!
I have learned many valuable lessons, made some incredible friends, had some great people as mentors, and done some successful mentoring of my own. I've challenged the system, pushed back, led from the front.... In this company you get to play in all of the roles at some time or other. The main thing is to learn from each one of them, and put the learning to good use.
Finally, I now want to go into a field where I can add value to humanity. I want to be able to see the results of what I do, feel it, touch it, and know the impact on the lives of those people who will be directly positively affected by my actions. And I can make that happen - either via another company who does just this, or on my own, but the opportunity is out there, now. And, you don't have to be Bill Gates to do it!
So, to all of you who receive this email, thank you for the value you have brought to my life, and my time with IBM. I wish you good luck, and happy selling (or sales supporting).
We might meet again - somewhere, you never know.
And, as my colleague and buddy Nick Smith, my manager Chris Lucier, and my sidekick, Tshepo Masigo would say - "lets go walk and weigh the pig"!!!
Ciao
So, I got a couple of email responses, mainly from them who didn't know I was leaving. Not many. Probably the nicest one was this one:-
Hi Wreckless,
Can I wish you all the VERY best and EVERY success in any new endeavors that you undertake, I loved your farewell note and the way you personalized it ...good luck and take care, feel free to reach out ANYTIME - but not later Friday night :-)
Best Regards, Mike
Like I said in my note, he was a good person, and this can be seen in his response to me. Will definitely keep his cellphone number handy!
So, Tuesday I get up with the Princess, go downstairs, and paint the deck with a sealer! Then I get cleaned up, and make my way down to the offices of my next employer. Start date is actually 01 October, but I figure I can use some time to get to know the products better, look at some of the proposals / quotes that have gone out, etc. While I am there, I'm asked to look through a big proposal, the boss really is snowed under, and would appreciate the help. Speed read the document, mark it up for corrections, and then home.
Wednesday. seal the up stairs balcony. Then, back to the office. This time I recheck the document, ans make more change, and corrections. One thing I did learn at IBM is that the quality of the proposal is paramount! I cannot believe the poor quality that this "typist" passes on to her boss for review!!! No matter, I will train her to do things the right way. This is now a 64 pg + document. It becomes a bit messy reviewing, marking up, checking, and all the time I am adding to it, as I complete more annexures as per the requirements.
Thursday, LuckyL and I went to the Electo-mining show. (LIU). My new boss was also there, and we met up. He asked if I could go in to the office later,as he had left some notes on his desk for the typist to complete, and some stuff for me to check!?!?!?!?! Excuse me, I'm not employed yet!!! But I went in anyway, reviewed the work done, made her correct some of it, again, and then took the whole document apart! I cut it up into relevant sections, and saved each as a separate part. That way you can work on one section, complete it, and move on, without having to wade through 90 pages every time!
The boss - let's call him RB, get back to the office by 7pm. I was still there. I showed him what I had done, and told him that I had incorporated a whole lot of stuff from a previous proposal, which went a long way to answering more of the outstanding sections. Impressed! Then I was off home. By 11pm, I had reformatted all of the documents, so that they at least looked the same, had the same fonts, and font sizes.
Friday morning, took a drive through to the office again. Asked RB for a memory stick, and put all the docs on it for him.Done.
Went home, and then worked through the docs again, picking out the relevant pages where he still needed to add information, or where I had put in a comment where he needs to make a decision. Noted the page numbers and section numbers, put them into an email for him, and sent it off. Now he doesn't have to read through the whole document. He knows I have checked and corrected it. I have completed the required annexures, and can just go to the pages needing input, and do it! Another thing I need to teach his typist.
So why have I done all this? Well, I've proved a point here. I am capable. I can take some of the pressure of off RB. I will change the way he has been doing business! I will introduce a level of professionalism to his business! I will make him understand that he needs me! Done!! Also, I now have the basis for all of my future proposals and agreements that I will need for future business. Just, I want to get it into my preferred format, something I didn't have time to do this time round. I think I'm going to have fun!
Salagatle!
I was employed by the big American International IT company - IBM for 16.5 years, and was now actually glad to be going.
The previous Friday we had gone for farewell drinks at a local pub with some of them who worked with me. Was a nice afternoon, but didn't go on too late. Monday I did the returns and left. So what was missing? Well, for 16.5 years every time someone was leaving, one of them who worked with him / her, or the department manager, would have a whip around for donations to get them who were leaving a parting gift. Well, didn't happen for me. No matter, it's the thought that counts!
Another thing that everyone who leaves does is send out a final farewell letter, usually 2 lines basically saying "It's my time for change / to go. It's been a pleasure working with most of you. thank you for everything. Maybe we will meet again." And sometimes they give their new / personal email address in case anyone wants to get in touch with them after they have left.
I decided to do it differently. Below is my farewell letter. I sent it to quite a few people, but mostly them who I got on with during my stay with the company.
To those who I missed out of the list above -
sorry...............................
I suppose the time for this email will come for all of us at some point.
Mine has arrived.
Dec.1995 I joined IBM as a contractor salesman for ITS. I had to have 2 interviews, the first with the person who would be my manager - Klaus Bohm, and the second with Ann Roberts! I was nervous for the interview with Klaus, I was scared sh*&less for the interview with Ann!!!! My foot into the door was that I had a mechanical engineering background, and a good relationship with, and knowledge of the mining industry and had successfully run my own sales company for 7 years. Needless to say, I never got the chance to "work" the mining groups, apart from a few calls when
they happened to be in my "space"!
I clearly remember the day I was called in after the 2 interviews, to be told my application had been successful, but I would have to cut my hair if I wanted to join IBM!! (I sported a thin pony tail at the time). By June 1996 I was made a permanent IBMer - another exciting milestone. I also
clearly remembering chatting to the other guys, and being shocked to hear that some of them had been with IBM for 15 and more years. Some of them from when they left school / varsity! My comment then was "Don't you know there's another world out there?" Little did I know I would become one of the long timers! Now, 16.5 years later, its time for me to take my leave.
So what has happened in this time:-
On average, 8 new white shirts a year = 128 white shirts - I have always kept to the original IBM dress code, smart, presentable, a good impression on the clients of a professional company (and person). I also worked my way through an average of 3 suits a year, and 4 pairs of smart pants a year!!
For the first 10 years, I only wore white socks (some of you will remember this) - that is 12 pairs a year - 120 pairs of white socks! (The wife was seriously glad when I stopped that!) - and I destroyed 2 - 3 pairs of shoes a year.
I have worn the same cufflinks, every working day, for all these years - "Gold" plated IBM, which I bought for myself, and have worn out 2 IBM gold tie pins in the same time. (REMEMBER TO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE ANNUAL CASUAL DAY!)
I signed my first deal in my first week with IBM! - and to think I still didn't have a "log on" name / password at the time. Back office support in those days was the read deal - and there is another story in my relationship with "back office" in those early years, when no-one wanted to be my support person - Adri van Tonder will remember that!
I started out on green screens, and as soon as I learned how to use them, we got laptops (those first one's were seriously heavy), and then cellphones came in (the first ones were large, heavy Nokia's, with pull out antennae, and a battery big enough to start a small motorbike!!!) I still have that cellphone number. All IBMers that have 082570.... were of the original first rollout for cellphones.
I made Hundred Percent club several times - Malta, Morocco, and Lisbon, and the last one was a pin and certificate (They stopped the trips - cost cutting) - I made Top achiever - a week in Avignon, France, with my spouse, for closing a big deal with Vodacom - at that time the biggest ITS deal ever!!!! The stories that I could share about those trips. Needless to day "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas"! Mark Harris will recall coming back to the Gala Dinner venue in Morocco, only to find that Yogesh Ranchod and myself had taken over the DJ desk, and were spinning disks, with a bottle of wine in each hand (who needs glasses) at 6 am!!!!
I closed the first and second biggest Cisco deals for IBM SA soon after IBM became a Cisco partner - Clover and Anglo Gold (Denis Charnock still suffers because of this!!)
I have been in ITS, as a salesman, for all of the time I have been with IBM. Maybe I should have moved around, into STG and or SWG. That might have made a difference in my career, but service is the hardest sell, and most challenging, and that is what kept me there. I have seen service offerings come and go, and reincarnations of some under different names! Probably the best "division" in ITS is BCRS - not because that is where I find myself now, but because it's a specialised field, and has it's own offices away from the Park, which is today a serious challenge to get to because of traffic!
I have survived several Country General Managers, including Sal Faso - "The Hatchet Man", probably my favorite CGM would be Mark Harris - as he had a big influence on many of the decisions I made, and because he truly had an "Open Door" policy! Best mentor - probably Pieter Kruger - I learned most of my stuff (IT related) from him, and lots of my "attitude" (as it has been called) is probably due to him. He has become a friend... Thank you Piet!
Best "out of country" executive - I have had the pleasure of working with many very professional people, and people like Dan Cohen, Allen Downs, and most notably, Mike Weston come to mind. Thank you guys for you support. One of the ITS managers used to threaten us with Mike Weston. She would say "if you don't do this, then maybe you should go on the call with Mike!" Until one day I did meet him, and realized that the demon that had been painted of him did not exist !! in fact, the total opposite - he's a very supportive executive, who you can call on late on a Friday, and get a fast track OMDT release done - and he does not mind! Thank you Mike!!!
Favorite international support person - Rosa Hofer - she's a real lady, very professional, and nothing was ever too much for her! Thank you!
I survived cancer - lost a kidney, but managed to save my bladder with 6 operations and chemo - (the alternative would have been a bag taped to my side.....), and have been clean for more than 10 years now. (REMEMBER TO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE ANNUAL SHAVE-A-THON!)
I survived a potentially deadly motor car accident in January this year - no thanks to the drugged out driver of the other car! Considering the mileage I have covered during my stay with IBM I have been luckier then most.
I survived multiple sales managers - none of which need to be named - none stand out really, each had their good and bad - no wait, some had only bad......, other than to say that good business AND people managers are a scarce breed in IBM, and my current manager, Chris Lucier, is the first I have had in the 16.5 years that is a good business AND people manager, apart maybe from Pieter Kruger, who, in those days, knew and understood that salespeople are motivated by reward!
Probably more incredible is the fact that my marriage has survived 16.5 years of IBM!!! Married 23 years this year, and still on honeymoon!
I have learned many valuable lessons, made some incredible friends, had some great people as mentors, and done some successful mentoring of my own. I've challenged the system, pushed back, led from the front.... In this company you get to play in all of the roles at some time or other. The main thing is to learn from each one of them, and put the learning to good use.
Finally, I now want to go into a field where I can add value to humanity. I want to be able to see the results of what I do, feel it, touch it, and know the impact on the lives of those people who will be directly positively affected by my actions. And I can make that happen - either via another company who does just this, or on my own, but the opportunity is out there, now. And, you don't have to be Bill Gates to do it!
So, to all of you who receive this email, thank you for the value you have brought to my life, and my time with IBM. I wish you good luck, and happy selling (or sales supporting).
We might meet again - somewhere, you never know.
And, as my colleague and buddy Nick Smith, my manager Chris Lucier, and my sidekick, Tshepo Masigo would say - "lets go walk and weigh the pig"!!!
Ciao
So, I got a couple of email responses, mainly from them who didn't know I was leaving. Not many. Probably the nicest one was this one:-
Hi Wreckless,
Can I wish you all the VERY best and EVERY success in any new endeavors that you undertake, I loved your farewell note and the way you personalized it ...good luck and take care, feel free to reach out ANYTIME - but not later Friday night :-)
Best Regards, Mike
Like I said in my note, he was a good person, and this can be seen in his response to me. Will definitely keep his cellphone number handy!
So, Tuesday I get up with the Princess, go downstairs, and paint the deck with a sealer! Then I get cleaned up, and make my way down to the offices of my next employer. Start date is actually 01 October, but I figure I can use some time to get to know the products better, look at some of the proposals / quotes that have gone out, etc. While I am there, I'm asked to look through a big proposal, the boss really is snowed under, and would appreciate the help. Speed read the document, mark it up for corrections, and then home.
Wednesday. seal the up stairs balcony. Then, back to the office. This time I recheck the document, ans make more change, and corrections. One thing I did learn at IBM is that the quality of the proposal is paramount! I cannot believe the poor quality that this "typist" passes on to her boss for review!!! No matter, I will train her to do things the right way. This is now a 64 pg + document. It becomes a bit messy reviewing, marking up, checking, and all the time I am adding to it, as I complete more annexures as per the requirements.
Thursday, LuckyL and I went to the Electo-mining show. (LIU). My new boss was also there, and we met up. He asked if I could go in to the office later,as he had left some notes on his desk for the typist to complete, and some stuff for me to check!?!?!?!?! Excuse me, I'm not employed yet!!! But I went in anyway, reviewed the work done, made her correct some of it, again, and then took the whole document apart! I cut it up into relevant sections, and saved each as a separate part. That way you can work on one section, complete it, and move on, without having to wade through 90 pages every time!
The boss - let's call him RB, get back to the office by 7pm. I was still there. I showed him what I had done, and told him that I had incorporated a whole lot of stuff from a previous proposal, which went a long way to answering more of the outstanding sections. Impressed! Then I was off home. By 11pm, I had reformatted all of the documents, so that they at least looked the same, had the same fonts, and font sizes.
Friday morning, took a drive through to the office again. Asked RB for a memory stick, and put all the docs on it for him.Done.
Went home, and then worked through the docs again, picking out the relevant pages where he still needed to add information, or where I had put in a comment where he needs to make a decision. Noted the page numbers and section numbers, put them into an email for him, and sent it off. Now he doesn't have to read through the whole document. He knows I have checked and corrected it. I have completed the required annexures, and can just go to the pages needing input, and do it! Another thing I need to teach his typist.
So why have I done all this? Well, I've proved a point here. I am capable. I can take some of the pressure of off RB. I will change the way he has been doing business! I will introduce a level of professionalism to his business! I will make him understand that he needs me! Done!! Also, I now have the basis for all of my future proposals and agreements that I will need for future business. Just, I want to get it into my preferred format, something I didn't have time to do this time round. I think I'm going to have fun!
Salagatle!
Update 3 - the hearing
Following my release, I got hold of another attorney, a friend of mine in fact, who I trust to look after my interests. He was not available the previous day, and that was why I called on the other "no show" lawyer.
Anyway, he was still in Cape Town. All he said was to appear in court, and tell the magistrate that my council was attending to matters in Cape Town, and respectfully requests a postponement for 3 weeks for "discovery". LuckyL and I arrived at the court before 8am. The doors / gates only open at 8.30 or 9! The lawyer who was involved with arranging my release turned up, as I had requested his attendance to do the request for postponement. Anyway, he said the roll would only come up around 11.30, and he had something to attend to in Randburg, so would be back. I said that he didn't have to worry, as I was confident enough to address the magistrate with the request myself. Done, he left, and we waited. And we waited a long, longtime. These clowns have fuckall else to do other then collect the dockets for hearing, and enter them onto a list to put up on the board, so that everyone knows which court they need to appear in. That came out at 11.30. It's no wonder our courts are overflowing with cases, they work a fucking half day. As it was, I heard that there was a braai arranged for the afternoon, so the courts would close by 1pm! WTF! Start after 11.30, and stop by 1!!!!
Anyway, we found my name, went to the relevant court room, and sat and waited to be called up. Eventually it was my turn, I went up onto the dock, made my statement, and he agreed to postpone for 3 weeks - next court date is the 21 September.
Next Tuesday I had a meeting with my attorney. I gave him the whole run down, information, contact names, and the authority to gather information. His opinion is that with the video evidence, this could probably be withdrawn. I sure hope so.
He copied me in on an email he sent to the Risk Manager at the store, the guy who gave me his card, asking for any / all information he might have. The response came back - with their internal investigation, he was unable to get even one statement. Not one - with all those morons who can be seen on the video actually being involved? Well, obviously none of them want to confirm that their colleague threatened me, so they rather say nothing. Which is great as far as I can see. If they couldn't give their employers a statement, then how can they be called as witnesses in the court? And if they cant, then it's his word against mine and LuckyL's! If anyone does come to be a witness, I am going to advise my attorney to ask them for a copy of the statement they gave to their employers. Thing is, if they "didn't" see anything then, they cant testify now, or, they were lying to their employer, so, whats to say they not lying now??
So, first prize will be if the advocate that we are going to chat to, who has a very good relationship with the Chief Public Prosecutor, can get them to withdraw the charges. If that does notwork, the video footage, and the fact that he has no witnesses basically means he has no case. So, we will see where this goes.
Salagatle!
Anyway, he was still in Cape Town. All he said was to appear in court, and tell the magistrate that my council was attending to matters in Cape Town, and respectfully requests a postponement for 3 weeks for "discovery". LuckyL and I arrived at the court before 8am. The doors / gates only open at 8.30 or 9! The lawyer who was involved with arranging my release turned up, as I had requested his attendance to do the request for postponement. Anyway, he said the roll would only come up around 11.30, and he had something to attend to in Randburg, so would be back. I said that he didn't have to worry, as I was confident enough to address the magistrate with the request myself. Done, he left, and we waited. And we waited a long, longtime. These clowns have fuckall else to do other then collect the dockets for hearing, and enter them onto a list to put up on the board, so that everyone knows which court they need to appear in. That came out at 11.30. It's no wonder our courts are overflowing with cases, they work a fucking half day. As it was, I heard that there was a braai arranged for the afternoon, so the courts would close by 1pm! WTF! Start after 11.30, and stop by 1!!!!
Anyway, we found my name, went to the relevant court room, and sat and waited to be called up. Eventually it was my turn, I went up onto the dock, made my statement, and he agreed to postpone for 3 weeks - next court date is the 21 September.
Next Tuesday I had a meeting with my attorney. I gave him the whole run down, information, contact names, and the authority to gather information. His opinion is that with the video evidence, this could probably be withdrawn. I sure hope so.
He copied me in on an email he sent to the Risk Manager at the store, the guy who gave me his card, asking for any / all information he might have. The response came back - with their internal investigation, he was unable to get even one statement. Not one - with all those morons who can be seen on the video actually being involved? Well, obviously none of them want to confirm that their colleague threatened me, so they rather say nothing. Which is great as far as I can see. If they couldn't give their employers a statement, then how can they be called as witnesses in the court? And if they cant, then it's his word against mine and LuckyL's! If anyone does come to be a witness, I am going to advise my attorney to ask them for a copy of the statement they gave to their employers. Thing is, if they "didn't" see anything then, they cant testify now, or, they were lying to their employer, so, whats to say they not lying now??
So, first prize will be if the advocate that we are going to chat to, who has a very good relationship with the Chief Public Prosecutor, can get them to withdraw the charges. If that does notwork, the video footage, and the fact that he has no witnesses basically means he has no case. So, we will see where this goes.
Salagatle!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Update - Continued
So, further to my incarceration:-
The first "holding cell" was a 2.5m x 2.5m cell, in the middle of the police building. It had a toilet of sorts in one corner, as running tap on a seriously diseased basin in another. No light, and an excuse for a mattress (about 25mm thick) in one corner. And urine covered the floor. Needless to say I didn't sit down, at all, for 6 hours. I had nothing to eat nor drink, between 9 am, and what was eventually 11 pm. I wasn't allowed to smoke either. At 2 pm they said they would move me to the overnight cells in Roodepoort by 2.30. At 4 they said by 4.30, and eventually they arrived at 5pm to move me. In this time I had had 3 cell mates. All of them in for common assault - they beat the crap out of their wives / girlfriends. They then spent a few hours trying to convince their respective other halves to not lay charges. A few short, fat (obese) female cops came round to abuse them, but one by one they went out, and never came back - loads of money changes hands in that environment.
Anyway, when they took me out to move me in the back of a van, I lit a smoke. Got in the van, and had 2 more in the next 25 minutes drive. Got out on the other side, got "booked" in, and promptly had my smokes confiscated! FUCK!
Anyway, went through the doors down a passage, where a sign read "holds a maximum of 174 prisoners". Fuck, that's a load of people in such small confines. Anyway, the dude says to me, "Go in that room, take one mattress, and 3 blankets". No thanx I sed, I'm out of this fucking shit-hole tonight! Yea right. They let me into a cell with another 6 guys already there. It's wall to wall mattresses (read 25mm thick, plastic covered piece of foam rubber).
I sit down on the cold floor. The only other white guy tells me the mattress next to him is free, I should sit there. I do. Beats getting piles! There is an Indian guy, and 5 black guys in the cell. All youngsters. The Indian is most outspoken and does the introductions:-
He's in cause they did a roadblock, searched his car, and found "hijacking" and "House breaking tools". He's a known repeat offender. The first black dude in the corner - Robbery, the second one, stealing a geyser - OK, so he didn't actually. He broke into an unoccupied house, got into the ceiling to steal the geyser, slipped, fell through the ceiling, and got himself arrested for trespassing, and damage to private property! Repeat offender. Next black dude - housebreaking. Then it's the Indian, and then another black dude, who was in the car with the Indian, so he's basically fucked due to his mate's record! An accomplice by association.
The white guys is there for Animal cruelty - there was a little stray that kept running into his yard, he took a couple of shots in it's general direction with an air rifle, and one of the pellets ricocheted off the concrete and hit the dog. No serious damage, but some Baby Seal Hugger saw him, laid a charge, and he got his arse attested. He was in for 24 hours already, and no sign of bail as yet!
Then they asked what I was in for. Assault - GBH, I replied. What the fuck did you hit the guy with? they asked. I show my open right hand, and confirm "One fuckslap with this". And that was me sorted. The next comment was "Fuck - we won't be looking for any shit with you then!" (but it was said in jest)!
I mentioned that the cops had taken my smokes, and out came a full pack, and an offer of as many as I wanted! You can get anything inside, as long as you can afford it. I declined, on the basis that a) I wasn't planning to be there long, b) I know I can go without a smoke for a few hours, and c) some of these guys can ill afford to give away cigarettes, some were there for 10 days already, with no hope for bail (can't afford it).
As the hours passed by, I kind of came to the conclusion that I was going to spend the night. The Indian fellow explained how this "after hours" bail works, and confirmed that th cost would be ZAR3500.00, plus the bail!
By 8.30 pm, still nothing to eat or drink since 9am, I decided that I would try to sleep, so that my stomach, swollen tongue, and by now uncomfortable bladder would not bother me anymore. Let me tell you, the cells are not made to be comfortable. The wind blows in through the front gate, sand across the 4x4 room, and out of the grates (where the windows would be) And it was fucking cold! The white guy offered me one of his blankets. I took it, rolled it up for a pillow. The black dude in the corner, in for robbery, offered me one of his, and I took thar to cover myself, and tried to sleep.
10.20 pm. We hear the outer cell door open. Then the doors leading to our cell is opened, and the clown who took my smokes away sticks his head in and calls me out. And the "Animal Cruelty" suspect! I know it's home time! A quick goodbye, and good luck to the other guys, and we out of there. I takes this clown nearly 30 minutes to process us out of there. And, he tried to steal my smokes and lighter, but decided this white guy was in no mood to fuck around, so opened his bag, and got them out, and returned them to me. Poes!!
GMan was there, as well as a lawyer for the dog shooter. My lawyer had come and gone. He paid the ZAR1000 bail, go the receipt, and we left. In the car he had a Coke Zero, and a box of biscuits for me. All I wanted was a smoke. On the way he updated me on the days events, and said he had traveled 500km between the police stations during the day! Hesaid the lawyer was a cop selection, and they had to go to Randfontein to finda public proscecutor who would sign off the bail approval. Anyway, I was on my way home, to a very stressed out Princess, and LuckyL who had had a seriously bad day!
Thank you family! More to follow
Salagatle!
The first "holding cell" was a 2.5m x 2.5m cell, in the middle of the police building. It had a toilet of sorts in one corner, as running tap on a seriously diseased basin in another. No light, and an excuse for a mattress (about 25mm thick) in one corner. And urine covered the floor. Needless to say I didn't sit down, at all, for 6 hours. I had nothing to eat nor drink, between 9 am, and what was eventually 11 pm. I wasn't allowed to smoke either. At 2 pm they said they would move me to the overnight cells in Roodepoort by 2.30. At 4 they said by 4.30, and eventually they arrived at 5pm to move me. In this time I had had 3 cell mates. All of them in for common assault - they beat the crap out of their wives / girlfriends. They then spent a few hours trying to convince their respective other halves to not lay charges. A few short, fat (obese) female cops came round to abuse them, but one by one they went out, and never came back - loads of money changes hands in that environment.
Anyway, when they took me out to move me in the back of a van, I lit a smoke. Got in the van, and had 2 more in the next 25 minutes drive. Got out on the other side, got "booked" in, and promptly had my smokes confiscated! FUCK!
Anyway, went through the doors down a passage, where a sign read "holds a maximum of 174 prisoners". Fuck, that's a load of people in such small confines. Anyway, the dude says to me, "Go in that room, take one mattress, and 3 blankets". No thanx I sed, I'm out of this fucking shit-hole tonight! Yea right. They let me into a cell with another 6 guys already there. It's wall to wall mattresses (read 25mm thick, plastic covered piece of foam rubber).
I sit down on the cold floor. The only other white guy tells me the mattress next to him is free, I should sit there. I do. Beats getting piles! There is an Indian guy, and 5 black guys in the cell. All youngsters. The Indian is most outspoken and does the introductions:-
He's in cause they did a roadblock, searched his car, and found "hijacking" and "House breaking tools". He's a known repeat offender. The first black dude in the corner - Robbery, the second one, stealing a geyser - OK, so he didn't actually. He broke into an unoccupied house, got into the ceiling to steal the geyser, slipped, fell through the ceiling, and got himself arrested for trespassing, and damage to private property! Repeat offender. Next black dude - housebreaking. Then it's the Indian, and then another black dude, who was in the car with the Indian, so he's basically fucked due to his mate's record! An accomplice by association.
The white guys is there for Animal cruelty - there was a little stray that kept running into his yard, he took a couple of shots in it's general direction with an air rifle, and one of the pellets ricocheted off the concrete and hit the dog. No serious damage, but some Baby Seal Hugger saw him, laid a charge, and he got his arse attested. He was in for 24 hours already, and no sign of bail as yet!
Then they asked what I was in for. Assault - GBH, I replied. What the fuck did you hit the guy with? they asked. I show my open right hand, and confirm "One fuckslap with this". And that was me sorted. The next comment was "Fuck - we won't be looking for any shit with you then!" (but it was said in jest)!
I mentioned that the cops had taken my smokes, and out came a full pack, and an offer of as many as I wanted! You can get anything inside, as long as you can afford it. I declined, on the basis that a) I wasn't planning to be there long, b) I know I can go without a smoke for a few hours, and c) some of these guys can ill afford to give away cigarettes, some were there for 10 days already, with no hope for bail (can't afford it).
As the hours passed by, I kind of came to the conclusion that I was going to spend the night. The Indian fellow explained how this "after hours" bail works, and confirmed that th cost would be ZAR3500.00, plus the bail!
By 8.30 pm, still nothing to eat or drink since 9am, I decided that I would try to sleep, so that my stomach, swollen tongue, and by now uncomfortable bladder would not bother me anymore. Let me tell you, the cells are not made to be comfortable. The wind blows in through the front gate, sand across the 4x4 room, and out of the grates (where the windows would be) And it was fucking cold! The white guy offered me one of his blankets. I took it, rolled it up for a pillow. The black dude in the corner, in for robbery, offered me one of his, and I took thar to cover myself, and tried to sleep.
10.20 pm. We hear the outer cell door open. Then the doors leading to our cell is opened, and the clown who took my smokes away sticks his head in and calls me out. And the "Animal Cruelty" suspect! I know it's home time! A quick goodbye, and good luck to the other guys, and we out of there. I takes this clown nearly 30 minutes to process us out of there. And, he tried to steal my smokes and lighter, but decided this white guy was in no mood to fuck around, so opened his bag, and got them out, and returned them to me. Poes!!
GMan was there, as well as a lawyer for the dog shooter. My lawyer had come and gone. He paid the ZAR1000 bail, go the receipt, and we left. In the car he had a Coke Zero, and a box of biscuits for me. All I wanted was a smoke. On the way he updated me on the days events, and said he had traveled 500km between the police stations during the day! Hesaid the lawyer was a cop selection, and they had to go to Randfontein to finda public proscecutor who would sign off the bail approval. Anyway, I was on my way home, to a very stressed out Princess, and LuckyL who had had a seriously bad day!
Thank you family! More to follow
Salagatle!
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Update - long overdue
I will have to post this update in a few posts, otherwise you could lose interest, and stop reading.
So, whats been going on with me?
Well, most of my 5 regular readers soon found out that my blog was no longer available for viewing. This was because I decided to "hide" it till I had worked my last day with my employer - 10 September 2012. I had posted quite a lot of "stuff" about my employer, and conditions here, and my dissatisfaction, and I didn't want to compromise my severance pay because of it. Basically, my offer for separation says something about not sharing the information of the offer, and not saying bad stuff about the employer, etc., and I probably have been. Anyway, that was my reasoning for blocking the page.
So here is an update on various previous posts:-
AlanP - so my mate AlanP had his operation, and went home - after about 2 weeks, give or take a few days. There he seemed OK, until about 2 weeks later, he started to run extremely high fevers. After 2 days, he decided to contact the doctor who had operated on him, and was advised to see his local doctor, and get a bed in the local hospital for assessment, and to get the fever under control. As luck would have it, there were no beds in the local hospital, so at 9 at night, I got a call from him to say he and his wife were going to drive the 160km (give or take) to Durban, to the hospital where he had been operated on. They got there, spent a few hours in the casualty ward till a doctor signed him in. After an assessment, they put a tube into him, through his back, into the "space" left by the removal of spleen and cancer tumor, and drained nearly half a liter of old, blood! this is what had caused the infection, and thus the high fevers. Anyway, after 10 days (today in fact 06 Sept,) he was sent home again. Lets hope this is done now, apart from the next chemo sessions which are due to start in a week or two.
Service please - So I posted about a situation I had at the local Makro store (the one in Clearwater). Anyway, I had put it behind me. My mistake. Last week Wednesday, I'm sitting in the office at about 8.30am, and I get a call from LuckyL, saying there are 4 (four) cops (plainclothes) at the house looking for me. Said it had something to do with the assault at Makro. I asked which station they were from, and arranged, through him, to meet them there. Damn, I can be seriously stupid sometimes! Anyway, by 9.30 I'm at the station. Takes me about 20 minutes to find the detective in charge of my case. She says it's a charge of Assault - Common, so as soon as the does the paper work, takes my finger prints, etc. I can go. Just need to appear in court then next day. At no time to I admit to the charge, nor offer any statement / comment, other than to ask how they got to me. Seems the guys at the store took note of my vehicle's number plate! Well then, could have been another car with same plates as mine, or, someone else driving my car?!? Not that she cared. Anyway, as we finishing off the paperwork and stuff, the goons who were at my house turn up, drop the files on her desk, and leave. She pulls my docket, and says "Sorry, I have to arrest you, it's Assault - GBH (Grievous Bodily Harm!) What the FUCK??? I check, sure as hell, there's a doctors note in the file, as well as his statement - the only part I get to dread before she closes the file is " and he hit me with an unknown object"! I have since renamed my right hand "Weapon of Mass destruction!" Anyway, now this was serious, she had to arrest me, and it was too late (according to Africa time) to get me in front of a magistrate to arrange for bail. I got hold of the Princess, LuckyL and GMan. And my lawyer.
Cut to the details - I spent 6 hours in lockup, no water, food or smoking. The floor was covered in urine. I stood for 6 hours. At 5 pm they came to move me to another police station, which has overnight holding cells. In the meantime, I assumed, my lawyer was working through the detective, and after hours Public Prosecutor, to get me bail, so I could at least sleep at home! Yea right, the cunt didn't even bother to follow the advise / instructions given to him by the arresting detective, and basically did fuckall! GMan, and LuckyL had come to the station just before I was "arrested", and took away all my personal belongings, as well as my car. They also worked tirelessly to try and get the dots connected to get me out. After fuckall had been done by 4pm, GMan decided he knew just what had to be done to get his dad home.
After being shown from pillar to post, and everyone in-between, he eventually got hold of the person who had taken over the docket after the previous shift knocked off for the day. He approached the African Detective in the charge office, and asked if there was an office they could meet in, as he was not comfortable to talk in a noisy public place. I don't have the details (well, not for public consumption anyway), but suffice to say that with the right motivation, a lawyer, and a public prosecutor were found, a bail applied for and granted, and by 11 pm I was on my way home with GMan, cigarettes, 500ml Coke Zero, and a receipt for ZAR1000.00 bail. Oh, and instructions to appear before a magistrate on Friday 31 August in the same town that I was held in for "overnight"!
To be continued.
Salagatle!
So, whats been going on with me?
Well, most of my 5 regular readers soon found out that my blog was no longer available for viewing. This was because I decided to "hide" it till I had worked my last day with my employer - 10 September 2012. I had posted quite a lot of "stuff" about my employer, and conditions here, and my dissatisfaction, and I didn't want to compromise my severance pay because of it. Basically, my offer for separation says something about not sharing the information of the offer, and not saying bad stuff about the employer, etc., and I probably have been. Anyway, that was my reasoning for blocking the page.
So here is an update on various previous posts:-
AlanP - so my mate AlanP had his operation, and went home - after about 2 weeks, give or take a few days. There he seemed OK, until about 2 weeks later, he started to run extremely high fevers. After 2 days, he decided to contact the doctor who had operated on him, and was advised to see his local doctor, and get a bed in the local hospital for assessment, and to get the fever under control. As luck would have it, there were no beds in the local hospital, so at 9 at night, I got a call from him to say he and his wife were going to drive the 160km (give or take) to Durban, to the hospital where he had been operated on. They got there, spent a few hours in the casualty ward till a doctor signed him in. After an assessment, they put a tube into him, through his back, into the "space" left by the removal of spleen and cancer tumor, and drained nearly half a liter of old, blood! this is what had caused the infection, and thus the high fevers. Anyway, after 10 days (today in fact 06 Sept,) he was sent home again. Lets hope this is done now, apart from the next chemo sessions which are due to start in a week or two.
Service please - So I posted about a situation I had at the local Makro store (the one in Clearwater). Anyway, I had put it behind me. My mistake. Last week Wednesday, I'm sitting in the office at about 8.30am, and I get a call from LuckyL, saying there are 4 (four) cops (plainclothes) at the house looking for me. Said it had something to do with the assault at Makro. I asked which station they were from, and arranged, through him, to meet them there. Damn, I can be seriously stupid sometimes! Anyway, by 9.30 I'm at the station. Takes me about 20 minutes to find the detective in charge of my case. She says it's a charge of Assault - Common, so as soon as the does the paper work, takes my finger prints, etc. I can go. Just need to appear in court then next day. At no time to I admit to the charge, nor offer any statement / comment, other than to ask how they got to me. Seems the guys at the store took note of my vehicle's number plate! Well then, could have been another car with same plates as mine, or, someone else driving my car?!? Not that she cared. Anyway, as we finishing off the paperwork and stuff, the goons who were at my house turn up, drop the files on her desk, and leave. She pulls my docket, and says "Sorry, I have to arrest you, it's Assault - GBH (Grievous Bodily Harm!) What the FUCK??? I check, sure as hell, there's a doctors note in the file, as well as his statement - the only part I get to dread before she closes the file is " and he hit me with an unknown object"! I have since renamed my right hand "Weapon of Mass destruction!" Anyway, now this was serious, she had to arrest me, and it was too late (according to Africa time) to get me in front of a magistrate to arrange for bail. I got hold of the Princess, LuckyL and GMan. And my lawyer.
Cut to the details - I spent 6 hours in lockup, no water, food or smoking. The floor was covered in urine. I stood for 6 hours. At 5 pm they came to move me to another police station, which has overnight holding cells. In the meantime, I assumed, my lawyer was working through the detective, and after hours Public Prosecutor, to get me bail, so I could at least sleep at home! Yea right, the cunt didn't even bother to follow the advise / instructions given to him by the arresting detective, and basically did fuckall! GMan, and LuckyL had come to the station just before I was "arrested", and took away all my personal belongings, as well as my car. They also worked tirelessly to try and get the dots connected to get me out. After fuckall had been done by 4pm, GMan decided he knew just what had to be done to get his dad home.
After being shown from pillar to post, and everyone in-between, he eventually got hold of the person who had taken over the docket after the previous shift knocked off for the day. He approached the African Detective in the charge office, and asked if there was an office they could meet in, as he was not comfortable to talk in a noisy public place. I don't have the details (well, not for public consumption anyway), but suffice to say that with the right motivation, a lawyer, and a public prosecutor were found, a bail applied for and granted, and by 11 pm I was on my way home with GMan, cigarettes, 500ml Coke Zero, and a receipt for ZAR1000.00 bail. Oh, and instructions to appear before a magistrate on Friday 31 August in the same town that I was held in for "overnight"!
To be continued.
Salagatle!
Friday, August 17, 2012
So, fire me - oh wait, you can't, I have resigned! Poes!
Letter to my managers, managers manager.......
Good day W,
My call on you now is as a last resort.
There was a big manual out of my signings achieved number for Q1&2.
After much forward and backward emails, and asking about it, I now know that MK made the decision not to leave the signing in my number.
It refers to the ICA increase for 2012 for the xxxx WAR contract.
I have several problems with this, not least of which is that I was never consulted on the decision, or made aware that it would happen, till I didn't get a commission payment earlier this month.
I am concerned that this decision was made solely because I believe MK has a personal problem with me, and would do this just because she can.
My motivation is based on the fact that the claim is I was not involved in the signing, so should not get any credit for it (as it is I did do the QA), however, I am also completely sure that the ITSM on the same account did get the benefit of the signing. He would not even have been aware of the opportunity, never mind have been involved.
Annual ICA signings have always been allocated to the responsible sales person, even though they are always process in the main, by either the SM on the account, or, in the xxx case, by VL, as the contract manager. But it seems that in just this instance a decision was made to manual out, and it's because it's a big number, and, I now, because I would be the beneficiary.
This problem is not isolated.
Last year, MK decided, after end Q1, that my percentage payment based on revenue was too high, and so initiated a task to "recover" overpayment of commissions, and there was a manipulation of the results, retrospectively so as to show an "overpayment" and my IPL was never changed or reissued! Basically, I earned too much commission, so it was manually recovered with no written agreement, discussion, change in the IPL. It was just done.
I consider the above issues as very serious, I see them as a violation as my rights as an employee, and in fact, can see a basis for BCG violation. I need you to intervene, and resolve for me soonest.
Attached below is some of the email trail, as well as some attachments with regards the numbers.
And below were some attachments showing the FMS statement, the reversal, and my actual achievement calculations - none of which match each other.
Will see how this shit goes down! Damn sure i'm going to face the wrath of Satan's Daughter, but hey, I have resigned! What's the worst that can happen - they ask me to leave with immediate effect?
Salagatle!
Good day W,
My call on you now is as a last resort.
There was a big manual out of my signings achieved number for Q1&2.
After much forward and backward emails, and asking about it, I now know that MK made the decision not to leave the signing in my number.
It refers to the ICA increase for 2012 for the xxxx WAR contract.
I have several problems with this, not least of which is that I was never consulted on the decision, or made aware that it would happen, till I didn't get a commission payment earlier this month.
I am concerned that this decision was made solely because I believe MK has a personal problem with me, and would do this just because she can.
My motivation is based on the fact that the claim is I was not involved in the signing, so should not get any credit for it (as it is I did do the QA), however, I am also completely sure that the ITSM on the same account did get the benefit of the signing. He would not even have been aware of the opportunity, never mind have been involved.
Annual ICA signings have always been allocated to the responsible sales person, even though they are always process in the main, by either the SM on the account, or, in the xxx case, by VL, as the contract manager. But it seems that in just this instance a decision was made to manual out, and it's because it's a big number, and, I now, because I would be the beneficiary.
This problem is not isolated.
Last year, MK decided, after end Q1, that my percentage payment based on revenue was too high, and so initiated a task to "recover" overpayment of commissions, and there was a manipulation of the results, retrospectively so as to show an "overpayment" and my IPL was never changed or reissued! Basically, I earned too much commission, so it was manually recovered with no written agreement, discussion, change in the IPL. It was just done.
I consider the above issues as very serious, I see them as a violation as my rights as an employee, and in fact, can see a basis for BCG violation. I need you to intervene, and resolve for me soonest.
Attached below is some of the email trail, as well as some attachments with regards the numbers.
And below were some attachments showing the FMS statement, the reversal, and my actual achievement calculations - none of which match each other.
Will see how this shit goes down! Damn sure i'm going to face the wrath of Satan's Daughter, but hey, I have resigned! What's the worst that can happen - they ask me to leave with immediate effect?
Salagatle!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
I have resigned!
I apologize, to all 4 my regular readers. I have been neglecting my blog, but only because I have been really busy.
So, whats the latest developments/ Well, as you all know, it's been some time that the management here have been trying to get rid of me (my opinion), and some time that I have been telling them "Give me a package, and I will go quietly".... So, about a month ago I sat my manager down, and asked him what the official process was to request a separation package. He said it was through him. We discussed the pro's and con's, and the risk, and agreed to delay it for a quarter, for two reasons - a) The prospects of closing some big deals in the next 3 months was good, so I could benefit from some good commissions, and then leave, and b) If the corporation decided not to give me a separation package, they would make a concerted effort to get me to resign. Point noted.
I had a discussion with the Princess, and we agreed that we would wait one more quarter. A week later the boss calls me at home. Says that our division has been mandated by the corporation to cut at least 15 heads. These would have come out of our overstaffed and inefficient outsourcing department. Seems like the executive said he could drop 60 heads (this is not confirmed). Anyway, so they identified at least 20 retrenchments, a whole bunch of early retirement candidates, and then asked various managers for names of people who might consider a separation package. Did I want my name on the list! Damn right I said! And so he put my name on the list.
We were not sure I would get through the process, as his manager - she who shall not be named - suffice to say she has earned the nickname "Satan's Daughter", knows that I am wanting out, have plans for another job, and could probably save the company the separation moneys. Anyway, 2 weeks ago, I got the letter. They offered exactly what I have been asking for for the past 12 months, so they could have saved themselves some money, and hassles, 12 months ago. I took it home, discussed it with the Princess, and accepted it. Date of resignation - 10 August 2012. Last date of employment with this company - 10 September 2012. That's 16. 5 years done and dusted.
Now the challenge is to get the other job sorted. I did receive an offer, but I was not happy with it, and am talking to the guy about some options. I'm sure we can come to a mutual agreement, and I can then get going with running his company (one of them) and showing him how to do good, profitable business.
So, the short term plan is to get all of this behind me, take the Princess away on a well deserved holiday at the coast. Go and visit my mate AlanP (he of the recent cancer operation), and then get started in my new venture, and earn copious amount of money.
More on this later.
Salagatle!
So, whats the latest developments/ Well, as you all know, it's been some time that the management here have been trying to get rid of me (my opinion), and some time that I have been telling them "Give me a package, and I will go quietly".... So, about a month ago I sat my manager down, and asked him what the official process was to request a separation package. He said it was through him. We discussed the pro's and con's, and the risk, and agreed to delay it for a quarter, for two reasons - a) The prospects of closing some big deals in the next 3 months was good, so I could benefit from some good commissions, and then leave, and b) If the corporation decided not to give me a separation package, they would make a concerted effort to get me to resign. Point noted.
I had a discussion with the Princess, and we agreed that we would wait one more quarter. A week later the boss calls me at home. Says that our division has been mandated by the corporation to cut at least 15 heads. These would have come out of our overstaffed and inefficient outsourcing department. Seems like the executive said he could drop 60 heads (this is not confirmed). Anyway, so they identified at least 20 retrenchments, a whole bunch of early retirement candidates, and then asked various managers for names of people who might consider a separation package. Did I want my name on the list! Damn right I said! And so he put my name on the list.
We were not sure I would get through the process, as his manager - she who shall not be named - suffice to say she has earned the nickname "Satan's Daughter", knows that I am wanting out, have plans for another job, and could probably save the company the separation moneys. Anyway, 2 weeks ago, I got the letter. They offered exactly what I have been asking for for the past 12 months, so they could have saved themselves some money, and hassles, 12 months ago. I took it home, discussed it with the Princess, and accepted it. Date of resignation - 10 August 2012. Last date of employment with this company - 10 September 2012. That's 16. 5 years done and dusted.
Now the challenge is to get the other job sorted. I did receive an offer, but I was not happy with it, and am talking to the guy about some options. I'm sure we can come to a mutual agreement, and I can then get going with running his company (one of them) and showing him how to do good, profitable business.
So, the short term plan is to get all of this behind me, take the Princess away on a well deserved holiday at the coast. Go and visit my mate AlanP (he of the recent cancer operation), and then get started in my new venture, and earn copious amount of money.
Salagatle!
Friday, August 03, 2012
I stumbled upon....
an interesting blog.
here is an excerpt from there _ copied without permission - so sue me?
For those of you interested in the following:-
go to :- Tea and Skeletons
Salagatle!
here is an excerpt from there _ copied without permission - so sue me?
Top 10 most bizarre experiments
- Elephant receives massive dose of LSD to see if it induces temporary madness. Conclusion: LSD is fatal to elephants
- Aircraft passengers told they are about to die in crash make more mistakes in written test. Conclusion: Extreme stress harms cognitive ability
- Two-headed dogs created by Soviet surgeon, above, but die within a month. Conclusion: Tissue rejection makes animals incompatible
- Psychologist begins experiments on son to test if laughing is spontaneous when tickled. Conclusion: Laughing is an innate response to tickling
- A room of nail-biting boys is played a recording or spoken announcements to break the habit while they sleep. Conclusion: Sleep learning is possible. Others prove otherwise
- To test if people can sleep through anything, volunteers have their eyes taped open and bright lights shone in their eyes. Conclusion: The men dozed off in 12 minutes
- People asked to smell ammonia, put hands in a bucket of frogs and watch porn. Conclusion: Disgust has no single expression.
- Doctor rubs vomit from yellow fever patients into open wounds and drinks it. Conclusion: Mistakenly claims it is not infectious
- Animal corpses placed on seesaw to restart circulation and bring them back to life. Conclusion: Two animals survive with blindness and brain damage
- Fake female turkey dismantled limb by limb to find minimum that a male will mate with. Conclusion: Male turkeys aroused by a head on a stick, but not a headless body
For those of you interested in the following:-
Salagatle!
Friday Smiles
Don't feel like posting anything right now, so decided to post these pics for your amusement - or not!
I have not requested permission to repost these - I figure a they are readily available on the internet, they in the public domain already!
OK, so now I can dump these from my "To Post" box......
Salagatle!
I have not requested permission to repost these - I figure a they are readily available on the internet, they in the public domain already!
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| The Carlton center, and Hotel was "THE PLACE" to go in it's hey day. Today, the Carlton center is a snake pit of Nigerian drug lords, and I don't know if the Carlton Hotel still exists. Check out those prices! |
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| Seen this one before - but thought it was worth a re-post. My theory - the one on the left is "natural", the one on the right has probably had extensive work done! |
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| Selfless Struggle! Yea right - pity the car that's being driven was bought with corrupt funds! |
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| The comment that came with this pic was regarding the "boarders" - specifically our illegal aliens from the north and east of RSA! |
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| Not sure where I got this one - but it must be a shop in the East somewhere - and the unfortunate name is as a result of direct translation! |
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| OK, so this is not funny - and by no means the way to treat a Ferrari! Probably belonged to some drug trader who had "tested" some of his own goods..... Moron! |
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| This si great - probably staged, but neat! |
Salagatle!
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Update on AlanP
AlanP - in hospital for a major cancer operation
Following on my previous post re friends:-
I went back to the hospital the next day, before his operation, and got past the nursing station by claiming to be the assistant anesthetist! They bought that one too! Amazing, what if I was a suicidal bomber / killer / pervert? Anyhow.... Maybe I'm a better salesman than my current employer believes!!!!
I then spent many hours in reception / waiting room / hospital restaurant, waiting for him to come out . The operation was due to start at 8.30am, he eventually came out at 10 past 1 pm! A nurse confirmed that he had been in theater for 3 hours 45 minutes!
AlanP was diagnosed in November last year with a cancerous mass on his pancreas, and spleen. He also had cancerous lesions on his liver. The first point of attack was a rigorous administration of chemo - which ended well, successive tests showed his liver was clear! The mass on his pancreas though was still there. So an operation was required, and that's how we ended up in Durban, together.
After the operation the surgeon confirmed he had removed the whole cancer mas, as well as the spleen, and half of the pancreas. He was happy that they had got it all. They also found and removed 2 x 1mm cancer nodes on the liver - whilst they were in they decided to have a good look around and clean up! He also added that AlanP would need a few more rounds of chemo, just to make sure the cancer was all sorted.
Visiting hours in ICU are limited to 3-4pm and 7.15-8pm. I managed to get in most days at around 9.30am as well for a short visit! Me and my charm!
Then the other official visiting hours were split between me, AlanP's wife, his mother-in-law, his sister. We all got to see him, just that time was less. Oh, and as he was in ICU - only family can visit - I was the brother! Either that, or I was going to be his personal physician!
Anyway, he was doing well, and on Friday I decided to book my ticket back home for early Saturday Morning. I spent an hour with him Friday, and said we would meet up again soon.
Subsequently, I have been keeping in touch with his wife, and he had a bad night Friday, a bad Saturday, Not too good by Sunday. The only thing he wanted in the time I saw him was a sip of water, but the "nil per mouth" clause stood for at least 4 days!
by Sunday he was allowed water, and then he was moved to a general ward. Monday they started him on soft foods, and his wife says he's much better. I think there was a short period that he suffered from what is called "post op depression", probably caused by a combination of ICU, the major operation, taking him off of the morphine drip and replacing this with not strong enough pain meds, and of course, his driving need for water! And food. So now that he's out of ICU, getting water and food, and they have a stronger pain med, he's doing better.
In fact, she says he might be allowed to go home by the end of the week. if he was still not improving, the Princess and I were going to fly to Durban for the weekend.
If he is allowed to go home, we might still go to Richards Bay to visit hi m in Empangeni, or maybe wait a week or two till he's settled.
be blessed brother - see you soon!
Salagatle!
Following on my previous post re friends:-
I went back to the hospital the next day, before his operation, and got past the nursing station by claiming to be the assistant anesthetist! They bought that one too! Amazing, what if I was a suicidal bomber / killer / pervert? Anyhow.... Maybe I'm a better salesman than my current employer believes!!!!
I then spent many hours in reception / waiting room / hospital restaurant, waiting for him to come out . The operation was due to start at 8.30am, he eventually came out at 10 past 1 pm! A nurse confirmed that he had been in theater for 3 hours 45 minutes!
AlanP was diagnosed in November last year with a cancerous mass on his pancreas, and spleen. He also had cancerous lesions on his liver. The first point of attack was a rigorous administration of chemo - which ended well, successive tests showed his liver was clear! The mass on his pancreas though was still there. So an operation was required, and that's how we ended up in Durban, together.
After the operation the surgeon confirmed he had removed the whole cancer mas, as well as the spleen, and half of the pancreas. He was happy that they had got it all. They also found and removed 2 x 1mm cancer nodes on the liver - whilst they were in they decided to have a good look around and clean up! He also added that AlanP would need a few more rounds of chemo, just to make sure the cancer was all sorted.
Visiting hours in ICU are limited to 3-4pm and 7.15-8pm. I managed to get in most days at around 9.30am as well for a short visit! Me and my charm!
Then the other official visiting hours were split between me, AlanP's wife, his mother-in-law, his sister. We all got to see him, just that time was less. Oh, and as he was in ICU - only family can visit - I was the brother! Either that, or I was going to be his personal physician!
Anyway, he was doing well, and on Friday I decided to book my ticket back home for early Saturday Morning. I spent an hour with him Friday, and said we would meet up again soon.
Subsequently, I have been keeping in touch with his wife, and he had a bad night Friday, a bad Saturday, Not too good by Sunday. The only thing he wanted in the time I saw him was a sip of water, but the "nil per mouth" clause stood for at least 4 days!
by Sunday he was allowed water, and then he was moved to a general ward. Monday they started him on soft foods, and his wife says he's much better. I think there was a short period that he suffered from what is called "post op depression", probably caused by a combination of ICU, the major operation, taking him off of the morphine drip and replacing this with not strong enough pain meds, and of course, his driving need for water! And food. So now that he's out of ICU, getting water and food, and they have a stronger pain med, he's doing better.
In fact, she says he might be allowed to go home by the end of the week. if he was still not improving, the Princess and I were going to fly to Durban for the weekend.
If he is allowed to go home, we might still go to Richards Bay to visit hi m in Empangeni, or maybe wait a week or two till he's settled.
be blessed brother - see you soon!
Salagatle!
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
AlanP - in hospital for a major cancer operation
Following on my previous post re friends:-
I went back to the hospital the next day, before his operation, and got past the nursing station by claiming to be the assistant anesthetist! They bought that one too! Amazing, what if I was a suicidal bomber / killer / pervert? Anyhow.... Maybe I'm a better salesman than my current employer believes!!!!
I then spent many hours in reception / waiting room / hospital restaurant, waiting for him to come out . The operation was due to start at 8.30am, he eventually came out at 10 past 1 pm! A nurse confirmed that he had been in theatre for 3 hours 45 minutes!
AlanP was diagnosed in November last year with a cancerous mass on his pancreas, and spleen. He also had cancerous lesions on his liver. The first point of attack was a rigorous administration of chemo - which ended well, successive tests showed his liver was clear! The mass on his pancreas though was still there. So an operation was required, and that's how we ended up in Durban, together.
After the operation the surgeon confirmed he had removed the whole cancer mas, as well as the spleen, and half of the pancreas. He was happy that they had got it all. They also found and removed 2 x 1mm cancer nodes on the liver - whilst they were in they decided to have a good look around and clean up! He also added that AlanP would need a few more rounds of chemo, just to make sure the cancer was all sorted.
Visiting hours in ICU are limited to 3-4pm and 7.15-8pm. I managed to get in most days at around 9.30am as well for a short visit! Me and my charm!
Then the other official visiting hours were split between me, AlanP's wife, his mother-in-law, his sister. We all got to see him, just that time was less. Oh, and as he was in ICU - only family can visit - I was the brother! Either that, or I was going to be his personal physician!
Anyway, he was doing well, and on Friday I decided to book my ticket back home for early Saturday Morning. I spent an hour with him Friday, and said we would meet up again soon.
Subsequently, I have been keeping in touch with his wife, and he had a bad night Friday, a bad Saturday, Not too good by Sunday. The only thing he wanted in the time I saw him was a sip of water, but the "nil per mouth" clause stood for at least 4 days!
by Sunday he was allowed water, and then he was moved to a general ward. Monday they started him on soft foods, and his wife says he's much better. I think there was a short period that he suffered from what is called "post op depression", probably caused by a combination of ICU, the major operation, taking him off of the morphine drip and replacing this with not strong enough pain meds, and of course, his driving need for water! And food. So now that he's out of ICU, getting water and food, and they have a stronger pain med, he's doing better.
In fact, she says he might be allowed to go home by the end of the week. if he was still not improving, the Princess and I were going to fly to Durban for the weekend.
If he is allowed to go home, we might still go to Richards Bay to visit hi m in Empangeni, or maybe wait a week or two till he's settled.
be blessed brother - see you soon!
Salagatle!
I went back to the hospital the next day, before his operation, and got past the nursing station by claiming to be the assistant anesthetist! They bought that one too! Amazing, what if I was a suicidal bomber / killer / pervert? Anyhow.... Maybe I'm a better salesman than my current employer believes!!!!
I then spent many hours in reception / waiting room / hospital restaurant, waiting for him to come out . The operation was due to start at 8.30am, he eventually came out at 10 past 1 pm! A nurse confirmed that he had been in theatre for 3 hours 45 minutes!
AlanP was diagnosed in November last year with a cancerous mass on his pancreas, and spleen. He also had cancerous lesions on his liver. The first point of attack was a rigorous administration of chemo - which ended well, successive tests showed his liver was clear! The mass on his pancreas though was still there. So an operation was required, and that's how we ended up in Durban, together.
After the operation the surgeon confirmed he had removed the whole cancer mas, as well as the spleen, and half of the pancreas. He was happy that they had got it all. They also found and removed 2 x 1mm cancer nodes on the liver - whilst they were in they decided to have a good look around and clean up! He also added that AlanP would need a few more rounds of chemo, just to make sure the cancer was all sorted.
Visiting hours in ICU are limited to 3-4pm and 7.15-8pm. I managed to get in most days at around 9.30am as well for a short visit! Me and my charm!
Then the other official visiting hours were split between me, AlanP's wife, his mother-in-law, his sister. We all got to see him, just that time was less. Oh, and as he was in ICU - only family can visit - I was the brother! Either that, or I was going to be his personal physician!
Anyway, he was doing well, and on Friday I decided to book my ticket back home for early Saturday Morning. I spent an hour with him Friday, and said we would meet up again soon.
Subsequently, I have been keeping in touch with his wife, and he had a bad night Friday, a bad Saturday, Not too good by Sunday. The only thing he wanted in the time I saw him was a sip of water, but the "nil per mouth" clause stood for at least 4 days!
by Sunday he was allowed water, and then he was moved to a general ward. Monday they started him on soft foods, and his wife says he's much better. I think there was a short period that he suffered from what is called "post op depression", probably caused by a combination of ICU, the major operation, taking him off of the morphine drip and replacing this with not strong enough pain meds, and of course, his driving need for water! And food. So now that he's out of ICU, getting water and food, and they have a stronger pain med, he's doing better.
In fact, she says he might be allowed to go home by the end of the week. if he was still not improving, the Princess and I were going to fly to Durban for the weekend.
If he is allowed to go home, we might still go to Richards Bay to visit hi m in Empangeni, or maybe wait a week or two till he's settled.
be blessed brother - see you soon!
Salagatle!
Friends - Best friends - questionable acquaintances.
A while ago I posted a comment about a friend of mine who had called me to say that due to the lack of communication between us (from my side) he was downgrading our friendship to "acquaintances" status! I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but accepted it for what it was worth.
We had been good (best?) friends for a long, long time. I met him when I was about 16 years old, he had met my sister, and decided that to get closer to her - date her, he should make friends with her brother. No problem. We became good mates, and spent a lot of time together, having fun. Met our spouses, shared experiences with having our respective kids, etc. In fact, he got me the job at my current place of employment.
Stuff happened, he got divorced, remarried, had 2 kids.... and after much happenings, left the West Rand, and went to settle, and start over, in Jeffrey's Bay.
Now, I have never been a telephone person. Not sure if it's cause I spend so much time on the phone to clients, but that's how it is. We kept in touch, some phone calls (mainly him calling me) the occasional SMS, some interaction on Facebook.. the usual "social" chatter. But it would seem that this did not suffice - so? He's also become very, very religious, to the point where he was getting pushy. OK, so that's how some people are, I had no problem with it. I then became his "cause". Kind of like he felt it was his mission to "save" me. I appreciated the effort, his calls, input, advice, guidance - in fact at one point I referred to MikeB as my personal spiritual mentor!
A few weeks ago we had another "fallout". Over the past few years, he has also been my bouncing board with regards me complaining about my current status at work. he would have ideas for me to leave and stuff I could do after, and I always took them into consideration - BUT, the decision to leave would be mine, and mine alone, and on my terms. This is the part he "struggled" with. Truth be told, he does not really understand my situation, as he has been "absent" for too long. Anyway, he called a few weeks ago, and was rather upset - again. Ranting on about how I say things, but don't do them (talking about leaving my current employer - so, what part of it's my decision does he not understand?), and then brought up a whole lot of stuff that happened a long time ago, which at the time I didn't see as an issue, but he must have cause he still
remembers them, and felt he needed to throw them into my face!
And so our friendship, as such, is basically terminated - I prefer the word Fucked - but that's just me. I mean, I think he has more issues to work through than I have. He just happened to also have been the MC at my wedding.
Where am I going with this?
OK, so 23 years ago, when I got married, AlanP was my best man. We had been best mates for some time, and he was the obvious choice. Along with my brother. We stayed friends for some time thereafter. Eventually his work moved him to Empangeni, where he started up a new branch for them, and did very well. In the early 2000's probably around 2002 / 3 time frame, we stopped communicating. It wasn't a specific effort, nothing happened, nothing was said. I didn't visit my brother in Richards Bay very often anymore, so didn't get round to visiting him either. And phone calls stopped, etc. No bad blood. Just happened.
2 Weeks ago the Princess (who is friends with him on Facebook - I have no idea why I didn't have him as a friend) told me that it seemed he had got very sick, and only now had posted something about it. I had a look, and saw he was posting about having come through a bad session of Chemo, and was due to go to hospital for an operation. I went onto his face book, and sent him a personal message of support. I then got his email, and sent him a message via email.
He came back with some special words, and I decided to call him. Driving home after work, I dialed his number, which I still had after all this time, and we spoke for over 40 minutes. We kind of touched on why we had stopped communication, but no blame was apportioned - suffice to say that these things happen. But then me told me something which was a real eye opener. I was still his best friend. In all his life he had only had 3! Me, Mr. Van, (a mutual friend we had that passed in 2000), and a guy from his church who had proven his friendship beyond a doubt recently during AlanP's chemo treatment, and the challenges that are associated with having cancer. Me! After so long, I was still his best friend.
That brought home to me the real meaning of friendship. A connection that surpasses every challenge that might come up. Something that just endures, because it really is a special relationship. Thank you AlanP!
So, he was due to go into hospital on Tues 24 Jul, and be operated on on Wed 25th. I had a chat with the Princess, went to work Monday 23rd, had a chat with the boss, and took 3 days leave (Wed - Fri). Booked a flight - one way - to Durban, booked a car hire, and Tuesday afternoon flew down to see my friend!
Unannounced!
I found out where he was in the hospital. Went to the nursing station and said "I know it's not visiting hours, but you have a Mr. AlanP here, and I have just flown in from JHB." One of the nurses asked "Are you his brother?" - "Do I look like his brother" I asked. "Yes" she said (seems like us whiteys all look alike to the Indians!) - and on that basis they allowed me to go and see him! "5 Minutes" she said. "OK". I stayed for about 40! When I walked into his room, his first reaction was "What the fuck are you doing here?" Big eyes, great smile, surprised, and so, so happy to see me. In the 40 minutes I was there we managed to catch up on a load of lost time - swapping information, etc. Suffice to say, we have loads more to discuss and catch up on - the reason for becoming friends in the first place was still there!
I was there for him, and he knew and appreciated it. No expectations, no finger pointing - no accusations, no shit! He told me the events that led up to him being in hospital, I caught up on where his kids were and what they were doing, and gave him a summary of our situation, family wise. Done!
The point I want to make is that "best friends" means different things to different people I suppose. The expectations are tailored by the people involved, and what they feel they want out of the relationship.
Of the above two scenarios, I must conclude that AlanP is a real best friend, and that MikeB, although a very good friend at the time, can't be classified as a best friend, because of the expectations he puts on a relationship.
My decision to go and visit, and be with AlanP at this time was based on two things:- a) I am a cancer survivor, and felt I could add value to him by reinforcing his mental state around his situation by giving him a pep talk, and b) His statement to me that I am still his best friend - if he didn't deserve my visit, no one would!
Salagatle!
We had been good (best?) friends for a long, long time. I met him when I was about 16 years old, he had met my sister, and decided that to get closer to her - date her, he should make friends with her brother. No problem. We became good mates, and spent a lot of time together, having fun. Met our spouses, shared experiences with having our respective kids, etc. In fact, he got me the job at my current place of employment.
Stuff happened, he got divorced, remarried, had 2 kids.... and after much happenings, left the West Rand, and went to settle, and start over, in Jeffrey's Bay.
Now, I have never been a telephone person. Not sure if it's cause I spend so much time on the phone to clients, but that's how it is. We kept in touch, some phone calls (mainly him calling me) the occasional SMS, some interaction on Facebook.. the usual "social" chatter. But it would seem that this did not suffice - so? He's also become very, very religious, to the point where he was getting pushy. OK, so that's how some people are, I had no problem with it. I then became his "cause". Kind of like he felt it was his mission to "save" me. I appreciated the effort, his calls, input, advice, guidance - in fact at one point I referred to MikeB as my personal spiritual mentor!
A few weeks ago we had another "fallout". Over the past few years, he has also been my bouncing board with regards me complaining about my current status at work. he would have ideas for me to leave and stuff I could do after, and I always took them into consideration - BUT, the decision to leave would be mine, and mine alone, and on my terms. This is the part he "struggled" with. Truth be told, he does not really understand my situation, as he has been "absent" for too long. Anyway, he called a few weeks ago, and was rather upset - again. Ranting on about how I say things, but don't do them (talking about leaving my current employer - so, what part of it's my decision does he not understand?), and then brought up a whole lot of stuff that happened a long time ago, which at the time I didn't see as an issue, but he must have cause he still
remembers them, and felt he needed to throw them into my face!
And so our friendship, as such, is basically terminated - I prefer the word Fucked - but that's just me. I mean, I think he has more issues to work through than I have. He just happened to also have been the MC at my wedding.
Where am I going with this?
OK, so 23 years ago, when I got married, AlanP was my best man. We had been best mates for some time, and he was the obvious choice. Along with my brother. We stayed friends for some time thereafter. Eventually his work moved him to Empangeni, where he started up a new branch for them, and did very well. In the early 2000's probably around 2002 / 3 time frame, we stopped communicating. It wasn't a specific effort, nothing happened, nothing was said. I didn't visit my brother in Richards Bay very often anymore, so didn't get round to visiting him either. And phone calls stopped, etc. No bad blood. Just happened.
2 Weeks ago the Princess (who is friends with him on Facebook - I have no idea why I didn't have him as a friend) told me that it seemed he had got very sick, and only now had posted something about it. I had a look, and saw he was posting about having come through a bad session of Chemo, and was due to go to hospital for an operation. I went onto his face book, and sent him a personal message of support. I then got his email, and sent him a message via email.
He came back with some special words, and I decided to call him. Driving home after work, I dialed his number, which I still had after all this time, and we spoke for over 40 minutes. We kind of touched on why we had stopped communication, but no blame was apportioned - suffice to say that these things happen. But then me told me something which was a real eye opener. I was still his best friend. In all his life he had only had 3! Me, Mr. Van, (a mutual friend we had that passed in 2000), and a guy from his church who had proven his friendship beyond a doubt recently during AlanP's chemo treatment, and the challenges that are associated with having cancer. Me! After so long, I was still his best friend.
That brought home to me the real meaning of friendship. A connection that surpasses every challenge that might come up. Something that just endures, because it really is a special relationship. Thank you AlanP!
So, he was due to go into hospital on Tues 24 Jul, and be operated on on Wed 25th. I had a chat with the Princess, went to work Monday 23rd, had a chat with the boss, and took 3 days leave (Wed - Fri). Booked a flight - one way - to Durban, booked a car hire, and Tuesday afternoon flew down to see my friend!
Unannounced!
I found out where he was in the hospital. Went to the nursing station and said "I know it's not visiting hours, but you have a Mr. AlanP here, and I have just flown in from JHB." One of the nurses asked "Are you his brother?" - "Do I look like his brother" I asked. "Yes" she said (seems like us whiteys all look alike to the Indians!) - and on that basis they allowed me to go and see him! "5 Minutes" she said. "OK". I stayed for about 40! When I walked into his room, his first reaction was "What the fuck are you doing here?" Big eyes, great smile, surprised, and so, so happy to see me. In the 40 minutes I was there we managed to catch up on a load of lost time - swapping information, etc. Suffice to say, we have loads more to discuss and catch up on - the reason for becoming friends in the first place was still there!
I was there for him, and he knew and appreciated it. No expectations, no finger pointing - no accusations, no shit! He told me the events that led up to him being in hospital, I caught up on where his kids were and what they were doing, and gave him a summary of our situation, family wise. Done!
The point I want to make is that "best friends" means different things to different people I suppose. The expectations are tailored by the people involved, and what they feel they want out of the relationship.
Of the above two scenarios, I must conclude that AlanP is a real best friend, and that MikeB, although a very good friend at the time, can't be classified as a best friend, because of the expectations he puts on a relationship.
My decision to go and visit, and be with AlanP at this time was based on two things:- a) I am a cancer survivor, and felt I could add value to him by reinforcing his mental state around his situation by giving him a pep talk, and b) His statement to me that I am still his best friend - if he didn't deserve my visit, no one would!
Salagatle!
Monday, July 30, 2012
Lack of posts
Not that anyone would notice, but I have been a bit slack with posts - needless to say things have been a bit hectic - will explain in a post soon.
Salagatle!
Salagatle!
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