Overdue Update: Imogen, Danie Visits, Cornwall and Elme's Bday ....

 

Halloween concerts,  Trips to the beautiful Cornwall, Visits from old friends in SA and Birthday activities for E in London ...  a few things have happened.

But at the back of my mind the last 2 months?   Going home to Sunny, sweltering SA for Xmas.  I am pretty homesick ...

 

Fully pics up at http://xenophin.spaces.live.com/photos/

 

 

Technorati tags: Travel, England, Imogen Heap, Cornwall, Ice Bar, Wax museum

Geek Supreme: I have the biggest CPU fan you have EVER seen

I love my Windows Media Center (which is running Vista RTM build btw!)    2 big problems though:

• Adhering to my strict 'minimalist' look - I want the damn thing SILENT and hidden away.   I bought this awesome TV unit which is soundtight, etc.   but then the MCE overheated within 15 mins!
• It had 512mb RAM ... no can do for a sexy sleek AERO experience.

 

So I finally whipped out the Amex - and got the BIGGEST, MEANEST watercooling CPU solution I could.   OBSERVE my MCE metamorphosis from overheating,  crawling, pile of bits.   To my 2 GIG RAM,  SUPERCOOLED,  SNIPER-SILENT ... MONSTER! :)    Isn't she pretty :)

 

(BTW:   It's the Nautilus 500 ... and took my 2 hours to build into my casing which is smaller than standard casings.   I am becoming scarily proficient at drills and other brutely DIY stuffs.)

 

DIY Hell!

Ok.   DIY ...?  I totally need SEDIFU (Someone else do it for you!!)

Spent the ENTIRE freakin' Sunday trying to get these to rudding shelves mounted in my lounge.   3 trips to the hardware store later, blisters on my hands, and a GIANTAMOUS hole in the wall ... and the shelves are finally 'up'.   Lets just say:

a)  I would hate to be the book on the shelf risking my life waiting for my world to cave in under me...

b)  I should TOTALLY stick to IT.   If people were to revert to abacusses and ditch Pc's  ... I would be screwed.

 

Pics up here.

Laterz.

Canada Roadtrip

 

Just got back from the Microsoft SOA BPM conference in Seattle.    Took the opporunity to fly via Canada to meet up with Erin for yet another Roadtrip - this time through Canada!

Did Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara Falls and Montreal.   What did I think?  Mmm.   Well Canada is Nice, but not one of my favourite places so far (I apologise, but still prefer USA :) )

Pics are up here:

Exciting news!! I got myself a new camera.  This is my sweet sweet sweet new Canon 400d Rebel Xti Digital SLR cam!  w00t w00t!  Erin's pics always come out so well!  So I gave in and put the cash down to enter the world of professional photography :)

Now I am back in  the UK, sleepless - with my normal installment of Jetlag (been up since 4am).   Its so good to be back - especially since most of my new furniture (LEATHER SOFA!!) got delivered while I was gone.   Otherwise its freezing in UK;  and I have a cold ... darn.

"Driving down the 101" - Californian Roadtrip

 

A few weeks ago Erin (one of my buddies)  and myself flew to California to do a roadtrip.   Did approximately 1600 miles in this beauty (v6 Ford Mustang Convertible):

 

Did the whole shabang (Los Angeles, Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Morro Bay, Big Sur, San Fran, Napa Valley, Sonoma, (WINE WINE :D), Driving down the 101, I5, 1, etc ...)

Highlights?  mmm.  Well I love the whole of California - probably going to the filming locations [http://www.seeing-stars.com/OC/ThePier.shtml]  for the OC (which aint that easy to find, I will have you know).  

Universal Studios and Alcatrez are a must see ... but above all - if you are going to do this ... get the mustang!

Awesome trip!  Pics are here

Goodbye BlogSpot

Due to my recent career moves; AND problems with Hello.com, I have decided to suspend this journal.

I will continue with my new MSN Myspace @ http://spaces.msn.com/members/xenophin/

Do pop in there :) Cheers

Then there was Parys (Afrikaans for Paris). This little gem of a town is home to the old and largest Meteorite Impact site, wonderful little coffee/antique/art shops and of course: Abseiling :) (You can even spot a Baobab fruit in this one) 

Random snaps from along the road .... 

We booked into a private game ranch (Klein Bolayi of Dirk und Ingeborg Lempertz ;) ) Africa really has a mysterious beauty huh? 

Bella-bella (Warmbaths). This sign is distinctly South African :) 

Here are some of the animals we saw on the ranch during our private game drive. Now, I dont condone the fact that the owner keeps trophies - but this is Africa - you need to understand. 

Drove through Warmbaths, NaboomSpruit, Potgietersrus, Pietersburg (Polokwane), Louis Trichard and finally in Musina. Why Musina? I lived here 12 years ago. I found our old house despite how much the area had changed since I left there at the age of 11. 

So I left my previous employer; and took 1 month off before heading for the UK. Elme and myself decided to do a little South Africa exploration trip. (It's always embarrassing that the foreigners see more of one's own country that you do). We traveled all the way up to the North (Zimbabwe bored) and back, stopping at the quaintest little places along the way. Here I am, close to Musina - next to a Baobab tree. These beautiful trees grow all over the Limpopo province.