Thursday, June 29, 2006

Jobfinder links

DP connect: I-Profile: http://www.iprofilecentral.com/
DP connect : dpconnect.co.uk
http://www.jobserve.com/
http://www.jobsite.co.uk/
http://www.cwjobs.co.uk/

planetrecruit post my CV onto hotonline where agents seem to find it most often.

Z

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Arrived in UK

Flying with little boys is no fun. Age 2 and 4 is probably not the easiest. The tiny babas we saw on the plane were probably all dosed up, and just slept like ouy boys did, well mostly. At least babies can be shut up in the loo for a moment while they howl away? There were 2 little girls a few rows back, good as gold.

It was not too bad, but then again, I never sleep on the plane. rowan tried to, but I think she did not get any real rest, because when we arrived in the morning, we just made it home, and Rowan was bushed. Flying by day is not much better either, although I would have liked to try it. Rhys was very dis-oriented, and fought with Rowan quite a bit whenever he woke up. But both boys were fine in the morning, even Greg who is normallly a grouch when he wakes. Greg even caught some more kip on the taxi home. i must say for all the things that really stink when flying long distance, there are some that make up for it. The emigration queues at Heathrow were quite long, but we managed to skip some of the Queue, and all just in time, because Rhys was really acting up by then. Oh well got to find some work, enough surfing for one day.

Z

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Orfline

OK, so I lied, East London does have internet, proves that IS and MWEB actually have far too much money made off the cafes. They do not advertise.

My good buddy Stuart Adkins is stuck, how is this, he is stiting getting bored waiting, so he arranges a 10-day holiday. Just in the middle of the holiday, the train he was waiting for actually does arrive.

almost gone, Adeau.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Offline

Going on a little holiday in east London, offline if you like. I am sure they do not have internet there yet :-)

I remember the time when the internet had not come to us in SA, I suppose it was all much simpler then. We did not know what we were missing. Right now I am missing Rhys, Rowan and Gregory. Just a long driver down stands between JHB and East London, so I get going in the morning.

Z

Friday, June 09, 2006

excitement + [lesson part 2]

Moneys should be in the bank this morning. Change of plan.

  1. clean up loose ends for modbus gateway contract. Finalize tickets to Heathrow, clean up medical aid oweing?
  2. Conrad will drive to EL on the week-end.
  3. Draw cheque while in EL, get haircut :-)
  4. Sell car in EL (rust-free) Barry to sell as time allows.
  5. get tickets back to Jhb, and 1 nite only at Town lodge.

The car will still be insured (must fetch needed forms), checked visas, no extra paperwork there,
do our TB X-rays in East London. Wheeeee. Strangely 450K in ZAR does not feel like a lot of money.
Not like I could run off now could I?
Meanwhile...

Gran said, that when she got to East London, it looked quite drab, the shops in looked like second-hand outlets,
nothing like what she was used to in the Netherlands. Perhaps like jumbled, I think we understand the african
accent that must have pervaded everything?
Max worked for Premier Timbers at the time, and he is the one in our family who knows wood. I think he
managed to convey a bit of that love to his sons and grandsons. Myself I am not that handy, but my brother
has built much of his own home himself, with a lot of emphasis on tiles and timber. As long as I remember, I
remember Grandpa (I called him Oupa at the time) doing things with wood. I did inherit some traits from my
gran as well, I call it the 'stick-in-the-mud' outlook. I prefer very much to be staying at home in my
comfort zone.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

History Lesson

As the day draws closer, it gets harder to remain sure of things, so many little details end up not
getting the attention you wanted to give them, and you wonder if the losses are worth it all. So I draw a little
courage from the story of how my father (Rudy) came over to South Africa from the Netherlands.

The journey for Max and Geisje started in Bussem (near Amsterdam) around 1948. Max was a carpenter, and Geisje
was working as a child-minder and then latter as a sick-aid, all the while with their first son Rudy
(Rudolf Fritz) in tow. There were many people comming to SA from the Neterland at the time, and even after
you got a permit (valid for 1 year) you had to have work already over here, you then had to raise a lot of money
for the passage.
It was much more difficult to travel at that time too, and they were delayed a whole year because they could
not get transport.
The employment situation in Holland was not good around then, and the young couple had eventually sold pretty
much everything for the fare. By this time, the permits they had been issued had expired, and had to be renewed.
Rudy was 3 already when Max sailed to East London directly on the Sterling Catle in 1951.
Sailing time was probably 2-3 weeks, and once Max got started, he had to lend money from his employer for the
fare, so Rudy and Geisje could come over.
The whole move must have been quite a strain; you get ready by getting rid of all un-necessary goods, and just after
you have sold off all of your possesions, you get delayed.
And then you are stuck without a teapot, so you
buy another, knowing you will have to sell it off again at a loss latter.

Gran came through on the emigrants ship 9 months latter. Rudy was seasick every day, (and we thought children
did not get sea sick :-)
Gran said the trip was very
beautifull, (probably boring latter), looking at the huge green waves all around the ship. The bay
of Biscay was rough and when rounding the cape things also got a bit rough, but otherwise a pleasant journey. The young mother
and child landed in Cape Town, they then had to make their way for 2 days by train through the Karoo and on to East London.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Here we come

Money transfers start today, so now the priorities shift up a little. Yipeeeeeeeeee. Now there is really nothing standing in the way of us landing in the UK nExt week-end. Scarry, I suppose if you did this whole trip by sea 45 years ago, you had a bit of time on the boat to considder and make all your plans perhaps? I suspect some things were simpler 2 generations back when my grand-parents came out. But they did not have the internet, and movies, phone-calls and all we have today to re-assure that in fact the shift is not that great (LOL). Africa was wild, but it must have ben frightening. Suppose I should go visit one last time. Matbe they wil never ever see me before they make an exit....

Enough sad
This is a happy day, now just got to sell the car!

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Moving along

Said goodbye to Elna and Henry Mackenzie today. At least they looked after and fed me very very well, considdering I am not in a place where I am probably lookign after myself as best possible. only 3 goals right now.
  1. Get house money>
  2. Finnish yellow-box project
  3. Family happy in East London

After all these things, an airplane ticket to the UK is all I need. Wireless at News cafe works well enough, on credit0card right now, so time is money all the way. go go go.

Z

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Trying to become a christian

"Going to church so you can become a christian is just as likely as living in a garage is going to turn you into a motor car"
Worse still the oil stains on the seat of your pants will make people think you are a mechanic, and that may help you get into someone else's car. but i'll bet it will not qualify you to fix it.

Why is the internet very lumpy in some places, and then like totally void (LOL) or just thin in the areas that really count. Of course the thickest places in the internet are the most frequented and also the nastiest places to be.

Well still stuck in Johannesburg, for a week or so more at least. But while trying to stay invisible or out of the way (I need no more excitement in my life right now thanks). I am going to move on again tuesday, hopping from one friend to the next for a bed at the moment. Which is OK if you are alone.

My linux project is really sticking a little, battling with the LXRT RTAI part not likking something in the structure of C++ programs, much the same C code crashes if wrapped into objects. So now I am unwinding/unwrapping the objects into flat C, and using structs as a parameter. So far so good, amy finnish monday, not leaving me with much time. I just with there was a place for Linux noobs, because my questions must sound daft to all the gurus out there, perhaps I will try post someplace latter tonight; and then just cross the thumbs for a blasting.
Z

Friday, June 02, 2006

Brighter pic?


Some neat post-processing, see if you can see what the real differences are, from a distance this pic looks friendlier somehow.


well, since you are wondering what changed, and why they look so different, here goes.
The brightness is a bit increased :-) clever trick from my buddy Jan-Rust. I have named Jan number 3 Jan-Rust, it makes things easier for me somehow, with Jan-senior/Jan-junior and all :-)

Z