Mish-mash

Reader, be warned. This blog post is about quite a variety of topics. The discerning reader will perhaps find it boring. But after 2 weeks without a post, I've got a backlog, and I'm not going to split it into multiple posts. So, one of the biggest reasons for the silence was that we moved house at the end of November. This was quite an adventure, since we needed to be out of our flat by the end of November, but the tenants in our new flat were only moving out on 1 December. So everything we owned had to be squeezed into a single garage at the new flat, until they had moved out. The place was left a pigsty - the rental agent said it was the worst condition flat she had ever encountered during her career. In with the professional cleaners, then in with the carpet cleaners, both under time pressure, and when we got in, there were still dust and cobwebs everywhere, not to mention the 2 page document listing breakages and damages. And then it took us more than another week to get a second set of keys for the flat. Our special thanks go to Douw and Adrian, who both were extremely kind to help us move and put in as much effort as they did. Our new flat is in the Oewersig complex in Stellenbosch, which is in a less-than-savoury part of town, and despite the electric fence, break-ins do happen (quite frequently, actually). Our place is pretty much done-up with burglar-bars and the works, though. However, on our second day in the flat, it was starting to look like rain, and one of the old tenants, who was still storing stuff in the laundry area, asked if he could put some stuff in the garage out of the rain. So we had to take our car out of the garage. And, lo and behold, the criminal element decided to break into our car that night. Little was stolen: an old torch containing rechargeable batteries, and an expired drivers licence, but they damaged the doors breaking in, and just enough to be irritating without making it worthwhile claiming insurance. Apparently, they caught the guy breaking into another car in the same complex later that night. So now we park in the garage. Last week Monday, we had cell at our place, amid the boxes and chaos. We finished off the Screwtape letters, and many people were glad to see the end of it. It is a challenging book, both from a confrontation and grammatical viewpoint. It was decided that instead of buying each other gifts, the next, closing-off meeting of cell at Werns and Esrie's place would be a Christmas Party. And it turned out to be quite a do: starters with smoked chicken, roast leg of lamb, potatoes, veg and salads for the main course, with a delicious Christmas pudding and cream dessert (made by Dalene). Everyone had a whale of a time, I believe, with The Corrs and Michael W. Smith DVDs providing the entertainment, and the evening ending with prayer and reminiscing. We were thinking about our housewarming, with everything as busy as it was, but an idea finally presented itself, in the guise of the old tenants deciding to leave their fancy braai at our flat, along with us returning from Stillbay just before New Years for George and Minette's wedding. As a result, we're combining our housewarming with a New Year's Braai. If you know me, and haven't been invited, and want to come, email me ;) As for Stillbay, we are pleased that Kathy and my parents will be there as well. Hopefully Ted, Joy, Dylan and Philip will be able to make it as well, but they are busy building at their house in Bloemfontein, so things are still unclear. Seeing all the family means Christmas shopping, and that meant a visit to Tyger Valley on Saturday. It was a 6-hour marathon, but afterwards, we basically had gifts for everyone, and.... a new washing machine! Well, actually, they only delivered the washing machine on Monday, and we haven't used it yet. It can take a load of 13kg, so our kitchen, where it's standing is now substantially full. This washing machine was one of the reasons we moved. Monday's installation was quite a mission though. The wheels seem to be adjustable, but getting the thing level is difficult, since there are only wheels on the front. There is a spirit level built in, and the tolerance for skewness is only one degree. To get it that level in front, makes the machine wobbly from front-to-back though. In any case, after some loud words, we seem to have got it going. But it must still be tested. Last Thursday was Go, and I managed to win 3 games. Two large handicap games were sealed by a large group dying, but my 2 handi game against Jaco was headed for disaster until he lost track of time, and I won on time in a sure losing position. In any case, I'm pretty close to 1 kyu now, even though I still feel I don't really deserve to be 2k yet. We'll have to see what this Thursday brings. After Saturday's shopping, we went to visit Wynand in Parklands. He was having a potjie for his 30th birthday celebrations. This was a great time to catch up - I was good friends with many people there, while I hadn't seen any of them since our wedding. Also, Louis was down from England again, this time bringing his girlfriend Sara along, and he also popped by. A good time was had by all, I believe, and we left close to midnight, tired, but full and satisfied. Sunday was more good eating: Esta and Charlie had decided to subsidise a family Christmas meal for us, Esta's parents and Esta's grandparents, as a Christmas gift. So we popped down to Wellington, where we visited Dalene's grandparents for a while before heading out to Die Koffiehuis, for a fantastic Sunday lunch. This, by the way, is the same venue where the reception was held for Dalene's cousin, Christine's wedding to Willie. And the next day was the cell Christmas party. And then yesterday... Louis and Sara came through to Stellenbosch, and we went out for lunch, to Col'Cacchios. Louis tried the Parma and Rocket pizza, while I opted for the Morituri, and Sara went for pasta with mushrooms, just to gross Louis out. Afterwards, we went to Lecca Il Gelato for some ice cream, before I said goodbye. The rest of yesterday, and most of today, was involved in setting up a CV and preparing an application for a scholarship for next year, which I somehow missed the internal deadline for, since it hadn't been advertised. So, in half an hour, I should be finalising the paperwork, and then I can squeeze it in in time. Now to saving the world: I think "terms of use" for websites are rather absurd. As with software packages and the like. Particularly when you have to check that you have read them to be able to use the site, rather than just recommending you read them, and stating that you agree to bind yourself to them. A recent example was facebook.com, a social networking site (like orkut, hi5, linkedin, etc) that came highly recommended. But I couldn't register without checking the box "I have read the Terms of Use", or something like that. Clicking on the Terms of Use yielded a document which would make a phone book blush. I wasn't going to read it. And, I decided, I wasn't going to lie and say I had. So facebook wouldn't let me register. Tough luck to them. What if everyone started being difficult about stupid TOS requirements? Is it too hopeful that some smart guy somewhere will come up with a way to provide a (real) short version that you can read, and keep the legalese out of the way and non-compulsory?