In memorium

Harry has gone to the big house, along with Thomas the cat. We nearly did find a home for Harry, but a bit late. Have to cry again; this has been 2 wet days for me, and I am tired as all hell.

People tell us that animals go to heaven, well to be honest; I am not sure. Nothing in the bible points directly to that kind of thing. One day I will research this topic I suppose. I just know, God is not frivolous, in fact very serious about His love for us, so livestock cannot get in the way.

Either way, Harry is playing catch with a billtong frizbee, and Thomas is living on tuna!

The ugly bits of moving

Today is the last day in the house, after almost 6 years (June 2000) we are pulling out. A task not made any easier byt the memories that come to the fore.
I see the places on the doors, walls and yard where the boys have made their mark, and holding back the tears yesterday was just not possible. The teddy-bear shelf, the plastic motorbike still haunting me from the top of the yard, almost daring me to put it onto the street.
Some child will no doubt be made a little happier with second-hand toys. my boys never had to deal with that; and I feel sorry for those that have to all of the time. but right now, we try look after number one.

The ugliest
Have to put down a cat and dog today, good thing electronic media does not hold salt-water well. Sally is lucky, she will go to the SPCA, and hopefully find a home.
Rowan and the boys are probably having fun in East London with gran. The farm is always fun, and they have a little friend from up road about the same age; Aimee actually lives where my grandparents used to live many years before (on Bramble Hill they called it) then Mom&Barry co-incidentally baught a small-holding.
It's still a 10 minute walk, but close by compared to everything else. lots of work to do today, I just want to get the gritty bits out of the way asap.

Must pick up the visas this afternoon if possible, that will make me feel better. the sooner we are gone, the less my bank-account bleeds out. Living mobile is very expensive; but the boys are holding out well.
Rhys has his moments, which is a good thing. Things like where are all of my teddies, when are we going to aunt Claire's house. I can't wait to get out of here and onto the little island. The happy times will realy only start for me once I go through the boarding gate;

Regards
Z

Mugshot

This is one of a series taken after the beard was removed.

VISAs approved

At least we have a welcome, and it only took about 10 days (2-week). Now comes more work and more waiting. Sitting at the mug and bean in Clearwater Mall, Roodepoort; wireless. I need to find the batteries for my mouse, but for now I have only 3 hours before the battery on the machine dies, because I did not bring an adapter. I intend spending as much time here as needed to take advantage of my online hours, Mweb give us 5 hours wireless a month, pitty I could never utilize that before.

Setting up to pull the last of Rowan's e-mails. The coffee in the upper sitting-room at M&B is a little slower, no matter. I just need a snack to keep me going, and I can spend all day up here, the background noise is good, can audio-stream and the resident boffin is very friendly an knows how to get you connected. Visit www.themugg.com .

Posted my CV on the internet. Making business-cards, and so I can promote myself, I decided the simplest way to get a CV to fit onto a buziness card is to say google "Conrad Braam", and hopefully get a hit close to my CV. this means I have to hyperlink a few times from various places. But the end result will be better if I can get other people to point to my spaces.

To all New Harvest

The number of people we really need to say good bye to at New Harwast are numerous, and most importantly the invisible people or those who think they are. Some are sad, some happy. I say goodbye To Dennis Puttergill (sorry Babs), when he passed, I had seen it comming but could not believe it. He was a gentle power that reminded me with simple words, of what it really takes to serve. Babs, your strength at this time reminded me that crying must have a smile in it someplace.

Jeff with the rugby banter; I was embararrased, then tried to ignore, and finally understand it all. Little knowing that the humour Jeff brought was a key to much of life. I also realize now, that it was all in preperation for living in a football crazy country.

We decided to make the shift in October on our 9th aniversary dinner. I'd just paid for an electric fence, something I had been against, and never wanted to do. I never wanted to believe that crime or fear could sway me, But principals are broken without your knowledge every time. Now it was too late. In January 2006 we first told the family, and then friends, that the plan was already in motion.

I want to say thank you to Rodney Barron, Merle, and even to the daughters who we no longer see too often for their strength. It showed me that I was weak in comparison to most. I battled to listen to Rodney's sermons, but at around the same time my father-in law had a stroke, leaving him with a similar speech problem. It was really my job to hear them speak, and MY OWN loss if I did not make the needed effort from my side to learn how to listen to Rodney.

I met Rowan in the Methodist church on sunday afternoon service. Her car broke down about a week or so latter, and I offered to help out. Maybe I just had too much time on my hands or wanted to be the good samaritain, I do not remember, but we were married just over a year latter. When my boys were born I did not stop teaching sunday school. I enjoyed the challenge the young minds impose, they forced me to find many things hidden in the bible, as adults our reference frame within the word allows us to find stories that explain God's view on every situation. Children will always have questions that parents cannot really be made to answer. A thank you for inspiration goes to all of the teachers I have worked with.

Thanks to all the people who unwittingly have shared their lives with the church, in just being there week after week, I saw you. The people who play church, greet at the door; teaching; preaching; coffee; counting and finance; meals and outreaches; stacking chairs; washing up; musicians all have their place. But they all serve no purpose if the purpose of the body is not to serve. And the purpose of the church is only clear to everyone on monday morning when we all step out into the world again. The fellowship groups that provided us with a top-up are an anchor at times. And it is here that I really had my heart and motives tested by fire. I want to mention everyone, who invisibly played a part, because it is a real hope of mine to return someday succesfull, not in material but in the spiritual journey that New Harvest Christian Fellowship has been a large part of.

I have not yet found work in the UK, and only have good leads to go on right now, but the IT job-market is good there, and I have a lot of encouragement.
I had to learn that NETWORKING, a word I hated and only ever thought of as something people did on golf-courses. God had to show me why it is that I must treat every person with respect and friendliness. I only wish I had earnestly begun treating every person as a possible contact I may need in the future a long time ago already. Just like the way we have had to get rid of so many 'possesions' in the move, it has been a fun learning time.

Rowan has been a solid support for me thought this time, and as we jet off as a family I know I can rely on her judgement to get us there in one piece. As an organiser in this big move she has been invaluable. So when I lastly say, thank you to my Lord whom has made this road clear and sunny every step, from instantly finding us a house-buyer to His opening many doors. God has turned this move into a humbling and learning experience.
Amen.


Regards, Conrad, Rowan, Rhys and Gregory Braam.

Cops and robbers

Work cut out
Standing in the queue at the 'traffis' department trying to get the car I have been driving for the last 8 years into my name propper. Do these poeple not understand that to simple people (as live in africa) the people do not know the difference between title-holder and owner. I won the car, but the title is to a bank, because the bank does not bother to transfer title to me when the car is paid-up. I have to pay for that again, well I did not do so for 5 whole years. So what! Ask any Zimbabwean, title-holder means nothing. LOL.

Spare a thought for the workers
THis is the second time I have seen this (I hate going to nay officail places) but while I was in the Q, I witnessed abuse more than once by members of the public towards officers of the law behind the counter. This is not cool, I regain most of my cool just before I open my mouth, but the tense people in the traffic dept and police station queues is a bit too much for me. If it where me I would quit!

OK so I do need counselling, but who will pay, definitely not the reciever of revenue, they apparently got my transfer-duty cheque 11 April, but have taken a month to issue a reciept. I think not, the reciever of revenue (I used to call them reverser of revenue) are bloody efficient. And I have no complaint. I just hope we can all get a system working where we know what is happening.

Selling a home is not for pansies!
Linux Rocks
But the man-pages stink. Man-pages are a programmers manual started in 1991 when the system started, but it looks like everyone is scarred to update them for some reason. Full of vauge statements and airy 'if's they abound with things that should not appear in a technical reference, and even border on flaming at times.
RESOLVE:!!!! I hereby resolve to contribute to the linux documentation project in some way. After just 3 weeks I have a working socket implementation wrapper it may not be bulletproof, but I bet I can use what I learned to improve the man-pages. Once I get some holiday time I will have to re-write the relevant bits into english.
It's just plain plagerism copying the man-pages and not actually improving them at all.

Well the sale of the house is pretty much underway now with the banks doing their bit, it means we are still here for about 10 days more at least, but there will be snags. At least I am relaxed about it all at this stage, so if it does take forever, than it is at least God's will.
Still reading the 7 habits of highly effective people, started the 1st real chapter this week, I must say it makes sense to try kick the reactive habit, and be more pro-active, but it is a very long way from where I am right now; I sense that this is going to take lots of time.

Enjoying Linux
I am still totally noob at Linux (SUSE), but it is so awesome to download a O/S patch, and then re-compile and run your own core all for "free". Getting used to so much, and the prime thing is to get the actual paying work done without too much attention to 'learning'. Pity, because the best way to learn (IMHO) is through finding it yourself. OK so I do think that formal higher education is overrated. But it would not be if we had all been taught how to "learn" instead of being taught how to 'cram' when we were in school.

The home stretch

The home stretch, well should we call it home. We are nearly ready to go now, say good-bye to relatives, submit visa application, sell cars, get homes for dogs. And a good few tiny details like who will empty the mailbox? Oh well no-body is perfect. The biggies are the house money and visa, thanks to Jenny for helping with the house side.

We should be in the UK this time next month, God willing. It is hard to really relax fully at this point, but everything has run so smoothly to here, with no major obstacles. The fact that I have found some contract work to keep me busy does put a squeeze on things in terms of time to just relax and chill. But I am happy because I will get 2 things out of the contract work. I was wanting to buy a laptop and take it over with me, (so we can still e-mail once we get there) and now I have a good reason to. Second the contract involves Linux work, which is good experience for my CV. Rowan and the boys are going down to Petermaritzburg after next week, and I should be able to say hi and bye to my mom, my boet, and dad; by flying in the opposite direction. It is very exciting, and I just can't wait for the week to get underway.
Great-Grandma is a bit sick, we were going to have lunch together; must say I do worry about her more and more lately. Aargh, and the lawn needs a good mow, at least that has slowed down a bit.

Z

So long, and thanks for all the fish

Farewell to Adroit Technologies, South Africa.

It turns out that the humans are not the most intelligent life on earth, and when it came time for a hyperspace overpass to be built right through our system, that, well Earth was in the way.

The dolphins had know about this for quite some time, and had tried to warn us, but we would not listen. Plans for the project had been on public display in the basement offices of the construction company's Alpha Centauri offices for the pre-requisite 6 month period, and so the demolition of Earth was all above board. The dolphins are quite friendly to us, enduring captivity, entertaining us and more, just to get close enough to get the point across! It is really a sad pronunciation on the state of man, especially when the planet gets destroyed, leaving only 2 humans alive....
[Paraphrased from the book : Hitchikers guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams(deceased).]


But this story has a happy ending (just like the one above eventually does), but the middle bit is just sad. I am going to miss this place, and the security it gave this little stick in the mud. Just the other day, I was trying to coax my Gran to visit us for a change, when she got stuck, in the mud-so-to-speak, and it was there, that I realized that I must have caught the disease from her. At least she still has her mind, which is more than 'I' can say for Conrad. In a desperate attempt to get my mind straight recently I have uncovered some long-lost treasures, so instead of running 4 miles every day to add 10 years to my life, and I am going to put the time I would have wasted running to better use. I am already playing less computer games, and more with water, dirt, lego, bikes and miscellaneous animals, try it. I am also moving into a work environment that will include more time at home, funny how things turn out.

Hello UK

When is the time right

Looking back, I can see I should have made a move to the UK shortly after I visited on holiday in 2000. I really loved the poeple, and could forsee that given a layer of dark-gray I would still like the people. And since I am not a outdoor person anyway, the gray can stay out.

But I did not move back then, things are tightening up in terms of visas, and in reality I should have started ages ago with the visa, but work gets in the way when you really do haveto jump though hoops to prove who you are and why they thould let you into the UK. At least the system is fair, so I will get my chance. I know why I did no move 5 years ago, I had just baught a house, who buys a house and then sells it 3 months latter? Ah well, busy busy busy.

Linux. It is not half as daunting as it appears, turns out my exposure to UNIX servers while installing networks a decade back was not wasted. And it all works for the better. I Imagine I am going to get the hang of why Steven Covey says we need to move from dependence, to independence, and then get up to interdependence. Seeing all the mutual benefits possible if you just change your viewpoint to the other party is a bit unnerving. I still need to learn how to LISTEN!

Awesome feeling young again

I listen to Keith Green, Carman, Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W Smith... at the moment, got a new MP3 disc player in my car; crazy because I have to sell the car soon. Still figuring out how the play-list works on it, it just plays tracks in a random order at the moment, a bit annoying, but fun. Maybe if I read the manual (funny the wife was ragging me about that just yesterday?).

On the way home from a design meeting this afternoon, I got just the right random sequence building the mood I was feeling at the time. What to be young! Almost like the kid who suddenly finds, yea, I can do this! And then I can think of nothing else. Well I am talking about contracting work. It means dealing with people a bit more cleverly. Somthing Steven Covey talks about, getting to the interdependence level. Interdependence as a word has a bad rap, the connotation is of dependence, but my word would be co-opperation. but even co-opperation is weak in terms of what he is trying to really say. So the 7 habbits of highly effective people is turning into a monster book, which I am probably not ready for. Mainly because I suk at listening.

Well if you think I suk at listening, post me back your tips on how to become a good listener.

http://63.236.73.79/ & why log as zaphod?

I have had endless trouble with someone publishing a bad DNS record for the above IP which should point to codeguru.com. The fun part is that when one searches for anyone talking about a faulty site, the link usually points to the site. LOL.

So this topic is also a link http://63.236.73.79/, at least untill the IP changes. So why do I log? Is this a diary or is it art? Not art, Zaphod is an engineer. Engineers are creative, but not in a pretty kind of way. (Except when it comes to children.) Anyway, this engineer is trying out his creative side in getting some web-presence going, to establish a searchable name really.

What is Zaphod's real name? I suppose a book-link is in order here, let's google something up quickly. while that works, I will explain about a book-character that really appealed to me because he was funny, witty, and crazy in a benign kind of way (D&D non-lawfull good? like a rouge). Because zaphod has 2 heads and I only 1 (there are millions of people with duplicate personalities, did I mention that the book-character has a personality dissorder?. Well he does, if you want to bug the book, click http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/0345391802.html; To learn how fans of the series describe him, click http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/guide/zaphod.shtml .

Programmable duck

Quite surprised when I discovered that not all programmers know what a duck actually is. Well I offer my definition, and some duck-hunting tips.
duck noun : Debugging tool; A peer who can listen and perhaps even read code over your shoulder. The duck simply peers over your shoulder and listens intently nodding at intervals while you explain the places your think the bug is lurking. The duck forces the debugee to travers all of the code, and not just the area where the bug is. Clucking quitely is acceptable, but the duck need not actually say anything. Eventually you spot your own bug.

The best ducks are usually junior programmers or peers who are bored. The duck must never try to find the bug for themselves. The duck should enter the workspace of the debugee and anounce themselves with a quack, anything more may be counter-productive. Ducks may offer suggestions on other bugs they found only after the core bug is sorted-out.

Speaking of hunting tips, anyone have job-hunting tips for work in the UK?

Duplicate post below due to an outage, seems to be somthing to do with a fly flapping its wings down in Port Saint Johns and creating a storm over Honolulu Hawai.

E-mail hell

Once had a stretch at work where none of the mails we were sending got delivered, all blocked because of some spam rules. Well it happened to me when I set up a yahoo.co.uk mail account. Zaphod happily sends off mails trying to find anyone in the UK who is at least interrested in offering a professional 'hacker' from South Africa a job. To no avail, my messages either bounce or go into the bit-bucket.
bit-bucket? Too much of my life has been running into the bit-bucket, it is a plain old waterproof receptacle used to catch overflow punched-tape. Not so usefull these days I suppose, and even though I never used a punched-tape I feel cheated. We think that all the work we do is important, if it were not, why would we do it? And the prize little bits get thrown away like luke-warm swill.

At least I figured out a temporary respite while the folks at spamcop decide on how to not block all the free e-mail account domains out there and risk the kind of blocking trouble that existed with aol accounts a few centuries back. AOL had to exist as a totally seperate empire of users for a while, quite a laugh because of the unwarranted 'villification'. So now I got gmail, but do not bother asking me to give you an invite. I discovered that some folk were using invites to invite themselves, and then selling the extra invites off of each account on e-bay and the likes. I wonder if e-bay has e-sharks?

At least there is no permanent harm done, if we all understand that the fellow behind the hamburger stand is not actually out to give you food-poisoning, it can be the start of a beutifull relationship. After my forray into free mailboxes I am working on free FTP space, if only I could use the same people who do my mail, since I have only just started to actually trust them.

E-mail hell

Once had a stretch at work where none of the mails we were sending got delivered, all blocked because of some spam rules. Well it happened to me when I set up a yahoo.co.uk mail account. Zaphod happily sends off mails trying to find anyone in the UK who is at least interrested in offering a professional 'hacker' from South Africa a job. To no avail, my messages either bounce or go into the bit-bucket.
bit-bucket? Too much of my life has been running into the bit-bucket, it is a plain old waterproof receptacle used to catch overflow punched-tape. Not so usefull these days I suppose, and even though I never used a punched-tape I feel cheated. We think that all the work we do is important, if it were not, why would we do it? And the prize little bits get thrown away like luke-warm swill.

At least I figured out a temporary respite while the folks at spamcop decide on how to not block all the free e-mail account domains out there and risk the kind of blocking trouble that existed with aol accounts a few centuries back. AOL had to exist as a totally seperate empire of users for a while, quite a laugh because of the unwarranted 'villification'. So now I got gmail, but do not bother asking me to give you an invite. I discovered that some folk were using invites to invite themselves, and then selling the extra invites off of each account on e-bay and the likes. I wonder if e-bay has e-sharks?

At least there is no permanent harm done, if we all understand that the fellow behind the hamburger stand is not actually out to give you food-poisoning, it can be the start of a beutifull relationship. After my forray into free mailboxes I am working on free FTP space, if only I could use the same people who do my mail, since I have only just started to actually trust them.

Ugly critters change spots

The littlest critter in my picture below has tonsilitis, so we spend almost all night awake. This is not normally a bad thing if it was not accompanied by the anxiety I have surrounded myself with. But it's my own fault really.

You do not know how to say this, when you go on a LSD trip (not drug) it actually stands for Look See Decide. And leave your home country for a while and see how a move from Africa into the hubof thinkgs in England suits you. Maybe it does not, but maybe a leopard from Africa can change his spots and do well in the UK. But we will give it a try, for a while at least. It's not really called emigration either(that takes about a decade), it's really a long holiday. But a year-long holiday with lots of paperwork.
I first went to the UK (without children) in May 2000, and the weather was awesome (I latter learned someone had forgotten to turn on the rain-machines). Initially anyone who leaves home is branded a traitor or weak (we even called them chicken-runners a long time ago). But age has taught me otherwise, so I am going to at least satisfy my curiosity.

Hoe weet die afrikkanse boertjie dit is somer in Engeland?
Die reen is warm!

And this is not how I was taught afrikaans!
Wat beteeken agtermakaar soos in "'n klomp agtermakaar cowboys"?
Brokeback mountain showed me that it actuall means agter behind-makaar each other. Like rear-gunners.

WOW it's a rude world, and the sad thing is if you do not cheat on the slides, you never get a chance to go on the round-abouts latter. I always though it was unfair, but when I was in the army we had a saying as jy dom is moet jy maar kak, roughly translates to "If you are stupid, you are going to have to be strong enough to take the shit". Well I must say going on a long holiday from home involves a lot of leopard-like skills. Amongst them.
1. Get a VISA
2. Get a airplane ticket
3. Get a job
Now the fun part is you actually need item 3 to get number 1, but you also need item 1 to get number 2, which scres you around because item 2 costs less if you get it first; but it's not such a big deal anyway. But in terms of my own security I want number 3 first.

Catch-22 they call it

Zaphod + offspring
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Sticking: Logitech Extreme 3D Pro

Braam's second corollary to Electronic equipments: "Threaten the device with a large hammer."

OK, so I maybe skipped the first corollary, which goes around holding up one of your electronics text books and reciting Ohms law, that usually gets it working, but if it's an analog joystick (Yes USB does not mean that it is really digital at all), with a serious drift issue; then it needs love instead.



So I decided to disembowel the machine; something I have enjoyed doing since I was just a little boy. The premise is that if you open it up while it is still working, that when it breaks, you can remember the locations of all the parts, whatthey looked like, and repair it to what it was when you first opened the beastie up to peek inside. You also get to learn how to build one of your own if you happen to get marooned (not the color) on a deserted planet in the Frogstar 5 system. I could find nothing obvious on my first attempt, and only once I had some contact/electronic cleaner spray, did I try again.



This is why these sticks are so good, a solid base of steel, 2 plates in fact about 1.5 mil each. But my problem was a drifting to the right, the "dead-zone" on the stick was moving off to the left, and sometimes just to stay in a straight line, you got o rest your hand against it. The other problem was as the "dead-zone" moves, the stick response where it came from also dies, so turning to the right becomes almost like syrup.

Unscrey every screw in the base, (a smaller philips/star driver required here).


And while we are at it, clean out the throttle control potentiometer as well. I used a Philips head-cleaner spray. If you take the throttle appart, it is possible to recalibrate it, by pluging the stick in, setting the pot to min speed, (as on screen) then slotting the lever in at the min position again. Tighten up and away you go/

And viola, not only do I get no drift, but the dirty control (kind of like overshoot) I was getting every now and then because the slidder was lifting off/away from the potentiometer track, is also resolved as expected.

Zaphodikus Resumed

A bit of inspiration has prompted the resumption of this blog. Perhaps after doing some edits, I can redeem my use of thespace, I also have a digital cam now, anda bit of motivation; more on that latter.