Penguin Biltong

Wacky Wednesday

2010-11-18T10:19:00.000+02:00

Yellow, yellow everywhere. Beautiful Harley Davidson's. Delicious dripping meat juices. Throbbing vuvuzelas. Sour taste of defeat.

Last night, my dad took my brother, myself and my father-in-law, Rick, to Cape Town Stadium to watch South Africa play ~~football~~ soccer against the US of A. Cape Town even opened up the Fan Walk for the event, which was a huge success during the World Cup earlier this year. And it was a huge success again even 4 months later.

We were all very keen to go and watch an international fixture at the "new" stadium, since none of us were able to attend any of the World Cup games, or even the one (more?) international rugby game that was hosted there.

I must just add, that the whole infrastructure of the Fan Walk and getting to the stadium was very well organised, and virtually hassle free from arriving to getting to your seat in the stadium (Which was Green Area, Block 206, Row 10, Seat 29)

We started by parking our car at UCT's Upper Campus, where a special Stadium Shuttle Bus picks you up and drops you off near the train station in the CBD. From the station you have a choice of catching another shuttle bus to the stadium, or you can start walking the Fan Walk, which took about 15 - 20 minutes to reach our destination.

I can only imagine how awesome it would have been to do the walk during the World Cup. Even last night there were 10's of thousands of fans flowing towards the pitch. Everyone in a joyful, jolly mood. Of course amongst the people you will always find your drunk teenagers/students jumping on each other, ~~acting like idiots~~ being jolly. Throw in a group of German students singing/shouting out Deutsche chants as well as a few English lines that went along the lines of "South Africa will beat USA" plus a few expletives that I couldn't make out.

The walk takes you past "Harley Davidson Cape Town's" showroom. OH - EM - JEE ! Those beasts are amazing. For the last few years, I have been dreaming of riding one of those machines across the country, with my wife on the back, the whole leather jacket and jeans vibe going as well. I really have to have one.. and I wish it could be soon, but I am prepared to wait till my mid-life crisis to get one. But I WILL have one of those stunning bikes one day. Maybe even one of these 2:

That back seat has loudspeakers on either side of the backrest. Loudspeakers. For your sound system. On the bike. Unfortunately Monica doesn't like the look of this one :(

This is the kind of style I see myself riding in my dreams. The classic HD style (IMO). |Monica likes this one... :D

SO after spending a 15 minute break drooling at the windows of the showroom, I was pulled away and we continued the walk up to the field. That's where the other's decided to stop and buy a boerie roll. And that's when I, unfortunately, broke the rules of being a vegetarian that doesn't eat red meat ( I eat fish, but not chicken). Okay, so I've only stopped eating red meat (health reasons + I like to know that an animal was happy before it was slaughtered and ends up in my mouth) for just over a month now, and I can honestly say that that boerewors was the best damn boerewors I've ever tasted in my life. I did say to myself right in the beginning of making the decision to stop eating red meat, that if I was ever put in a situation where I had no choice between eating meat or fish/veg, then I would not starve myself unnecessarily and I'd eat the meat. I'm pretty glad I put that in the rules.

After that pitstop, we continued our Walk of the Fans and got to our seats with very little effort. We sat with a great view of the pitch.

Our view of the match.

The game itself was great! SA kept most of the possession, made some good passes, even had a couple of decent attempts at goal. Unfortunately we weren't able to keep up the defense at about 86 minutes into the match, and the US managed to score a goal. It was on the other end of the field, so I couldn't REALLY see what happened, but it looked quite good from the short replays that they show on the screens. Which there are only 2 of in the whole stadium. These guys spent millions, if not billions of Rands building this stadium. SURELY they could have added a few more screens around so that no matter where you sit, you can have a good view of the replays, even look at more advertising, I dunno, I'm sure they could have done something. Two medium sized screens for so many people seems a bit skimp.

After last night's game, I can now say that I understand what a lot of foreign World Cup 2010 ~~football~~ soccer fans were complaining about regarding the noise of the vuvuzelas at a match. BUT, I think it was AWESOME. Wow, okay, other than the constant drone, but when 30 000 people start blowing the noise makers in time, in short bursts, the whole stadium just erupts into a magnificent throbbing, pulsing sensation, causing such a unique atmosphere. It did give me goosebumps, actually. It was that good.

A photo I took while the stadium was still being built.

So we lost the game, but it was still well worth the trip through to Town. And I will definitely be dragging as many friends as possible to the next one, because they need to experience it for themselves as well.

The walk back to the bus station was pain free, the fans were still jolly, I said goodbye to my future transport mobiles, and we got the shuttle bus back to the car at UCT. They also keep the trains running on all routes for a few hours after each match, but since they haven't finished repairing the line between Fish Hoek and Simon's Town, there was no point in that. But surely an option for the next event, hopefully.

.

The Social Network (Update)

2010-10-28T12:43:00.000+02:00

On Monday (25 October), I was lucky enough to join about 70 other bloggers at Cavendish's Ster Kinekor to watch The Social Network 11 days before it is actually released on the big screen here in South Africa. I won the tickets like THIS.

Monx and I rocked up quite early so that we could grab some dinner before the flick. We eventually settled on eating sushi at JB Rivers. The sushi wasn't great, but it also wasn't terrible. Just... meh. It's safe to say we won't eat there again. It was nothing like we are used to getting from Just Sushi at the Simon's Town Waterfront. (Allan honestly prepares the best Salmon Roses and Fashion Sandwiches this side of Japan.)

After the sushi, we took a slow stroll back towards the theater to claim our free tickets (courtesy of 2Oceansvibe). They also managed to sneak a Coke and popcorn voucher onto our ticket which was a pleasant surprise.

So there we are.. standing on the balcony (at the top section by the entrances to the theaters, looking down at the bottom section where you buy the tickets) and I spot Seth Rotherham standing in the queue to get his ticket! I've only ever seen him on the webcam, and listened to his voice on the radio, but have never seen him in the flesh before. I was mildly excited, to say the least... (not in a gay way, of course. It's an excitement equivalent to seeing Bob Skinstad at The Toad, that sort of vibe) Next thing, I see Seth looking over to us, and he gives a little wave of his hand, and I immediately (instinctively, excitedly) gave a cool, quick wave back at him, only to realise he was gesturing to the oke coming up the escalator! What a tit I felt like! Honestly! Thank the heavens that no one saw me other than Monx who thought it was histerical!

After I had calmed down, and my face was not so red anymore, we saw him again, walking by to fetch his complimentary popcorn and coke, and Monx kept insisting that I go up and say hello. I kept saying no, and that he doesn't want to be bothered by people, and I made other excuses. Of course I wanted to go say hello, but inside I didn't feel very confident. So Monx stands up all of a sudden, and says that SHE is going to go say hello. Which she did. And then she introduced me to him as well. We had a few words, then we bid our farewells, and Monx and I went into the cinema to find our seats (H 7 and 8 = 2nd row from the front, in the middle = could've been a lot worse). Seth is a very decent, nice oke.

The Social Network
aka The Facebook Movie

The movie was MUCH better than I was expecting it to be. In the last couple of weeks, I read quite a few bad reviews, and to be honest, I can't really see where they were coming from. I thought it was put together really well, portrayed a good story (I don't know how accurate the storyline was, but if it was accurate, it's flippen awesome). I definitely recommend it to anyone to watch. I have gone to the big screen to watch some VERY crap movies in my time, and this was certainly not one of them. The beginning was quite an earful to understand, quite quick and a lot to take in, but as it went on, it made more sense and you get a good sense of why Mr Zuckerberg did what he did.

So that was my evening of being semi-VIP and watching a movie almost 2 weeks before the rest of South Africa gets to watch it. I could get used to this.

Now I just need to cash in my 2 free tickets (also courtesy of 2OV) to go and watch The End of the Line sometime soon.

The End of the Line

2010-10-25T10:40:00.000+02:00

After watching "The Cove" which was about pods of dolphins being senselessly killed by Japanese fishermen, I am quite keen to watch this new movie about our ocean's fish, and the theory that they will no longer exist after the year 2048 (which isn't too far away).

Sushi would just not be the same without fresh Norwegian Salmon, or even some Tuna. I would only be able to handle so much avo maki before getting sick of it. And especially since I am newly vegetarian (sort of), the thought of not having fish in my diet is just not on.

And last week I just won myself a pair of tickets to go and watch it! All I had to do was email 2Oceansvibe Radio after they had an interview with Charles Clover, the producer of the movie, and they sent me the tickets. It was so easy!

Don't eat fish that are on the red list!

This is the SASSI fish guide regarding fish that are safe to eat, and fish that are endangered.
Use it...

And just to top off a great weekend, I got an email in response to THIS on Sunday. Basically, here is what it said:

Wow, this totally made me weekend! My friends may think it's lame, but deep down I know they are jealous! Some of them (that's you Trevor) even say that I won't meet Seth tonight.. can you believe that? I'm sure I will spot him, I mean, it's one cinema... chances are great!

And I know of one other person going tonight, Joy-Anne Goodenough, who writes for The Travel Portfolio Blog. Even though I haven't met her since a Flickr Meetup about 2 years ago (bar a brief sighting @ The Southern Right a year ago) at least Monica and I will not be alone...

Women in Waste

2010-10-22T14:27:00.001+02:00

I spotted this truck driving out of Simon's Town yesterday morning, and I had to take a pic of this to share. I'm sure these guys could have thought of a better slogan, implying that they support women or whatever... Now I'm just wondering what exactly these guys do. Click the picture to enlarge it and to see the slogan.

Is this a fantasy of some sorts? Like mud-wrestling?

Broke down on Baden Powell.. and survived!

2010-10-21T14:29:00.000+02:00

So there we were... it was 18h30, Monica and I were on our way to Stellenbosch to a Bachelor/Hen Party (my cousin, Jonny, is getting married on Saturday 21st), travelling not-so-speedily (80km/h) along Baden Powell Drive (aka the Beach Road towards Stellenbosch) and BANG! The car's engine stops working, I hear a weird flapping noise and I have to pull over to the side. "Not AGAAAIN!" (2 months ago I was driving my other car just minding my own business on my way to a Trevor's house, and all of a sudden: BANG! The CAM belt snaps! And we all know how bad THAT is, right?!)

At that particular point in time, we were roughly 20 minutes away from partying the night away. SO of course we were slightly upset. Good thing The Business has a Petrol Card from FNB, which gives you free roadside assistance (if they ever get to you that is). So first it was a quick call to my dad to come and rescue us with his presence, once again, and then it was a call to the AA to come and tow us away. Being the great orienteer, you might say, that I am, I was able to pin point our exact location on a road map, which was very useful for the AA technician in locating us.

Time of Accident: 18h30
Time till AA technician arrived on Scene from phone call to call-centre: 45mins
Time till tow truck picked the car up and towed us to the garage: about 1hr after technician was on the scene
In bed: 22h00

So Monx and I never got to pass out in the back of the van which was kitted out with mattresses and warm blankets and big fluffy pillows: we were planning on staying the night in Stellie's on the farm where my cousin-in-law (?) stays and leaving there at the crack of dawn (5am) to get back in time for work.
Next time, Kangoo, next time...

SO together with my dad and the guys from AA, Monica and I were rescued from the clutches of who-knows-what that comes out at night from Khayelitsha (just 1km down the road). I have nothing against Khayelitsha as a place, but there are just some places you don't want to be around at night time.. especially on a road a good 10km's from the nearest town. Just saying...

I do wish these cars would break down when my dad is driving them, though, because it's getting a bit annoying for me. I'm sure some people who didn't know any better, would think it was because of my driving that the cars break down, but that's just ridiculous.

Free Tickets to The Social Network???

2010-10-21T11:41:00.000+02:00

It's gotta be too good to be true, but there might be a chance!

All I've had to do to stand a chance of getting hold of a ticket was to email Seth Rotherham at 2Oceansvibe with a link to this blog. Pretty simple and probably unlikely, but I did manage to score a Sunglass Hut voucher AND a pair of Havaiana Flip Flops (which unfortunately never got a chance to embrace my feet due to being lost in the post) by simply phoning in to his radio show and letting them rip me off a bit...

Let's wait and see...

Oh, and it's tickets to a screening of the movie before anyone else get's to watch it! Not bad at all...

Pictures from today 2010-10-16

2010-10-16T16:02:00.000+02:00

A collage I made using Picasa. I would have loved to have been outside enjoying the beautiful weather we had today, but I know that tomorrow will also be a fantastic day, and thank goodness I am off! Monica and I are probably going to go for a Mountain Bike Ride up into Tokai Forest. We've been wanting to do it for so long now!

Clicking the picture will take you to Flickr where you can view it larger.

Quayside Waterfront 2010-10-16 (after work)

2010-10-16T10:50:00.000+02:00

Just a few pictures I took yesterday on my way to my car after closing the gallery yesterday. I'm so glad summer is on it's way, the mornings here are stunning, and it stays light now till around 7pm.

Trousers that look like they belonged to a child; washed up on the shore.

There is so much seaweed that gets washed up into a big pile almost on a daily basis. It is not the same seaweed each time, as the tide washes this away and deposits fresh matter here every day. In summer, it really stinks. Hope there's a way they can clear it up in the mornings...

A beautiful yacht being built at the False Bay Dockyard. I've noticed them building this here for a few months now, and it's looking amazing!

Clicking the images will take you to my flickr page.

Die Burger Fietstoer

2010-10-14T15:50:00.000+02:00

Wow.. I must be on a roll here! Just days after entering myself and fam into the Big Walk, I have now just entered Monica and I into "Die Burger Cycle Tour" which takes place on Sunday the 5th of December! It's a 98km race starting and ending in Stellenbosch. This race will really test our fitness as we get closer to the biggest event of all, The Cape Argus Cycle Race! And if we get a decent time in December's race, it will definitly improve our starting time for the Argus.

Monica and I both did our first Argus this year, and we only got off the start line at 09h30, and of course by the time you get to Cape Point, it's so windy that it makes it really hard to cycle. But for next year's race, we are already starting 2 hours earlier. Thank goodness for that.

Here is a rough map of the route for Die Burger Race:

View Larger Map

Oh ya, and before I forget, I'm also doing a 5km trail running race with Trevor and Monx! That's next week I think.. oh shucks!

Cape Times/Discovery Big Walk

2010-10-10T11:14:00.000+02:00

So it's almost time for the Big Walk again! It'll be on Sunday the 14th of November. I have entered the four of us (Monica, Rick, Heather and myself) again for another year of pain. I'm Just praying that the weather will not be ANYTHING like last year's... it was raining from start to finish, and we all ended up with some form of hypothermia!

We'll be doing the 30km race, the same one as last year. It start's from Simon's Town's Longbeach, and goes through Fish Hoek - Muizenberg - Retreat - Plumstead - Claremont and ends at Rhode's High School. You can see a map here.

Here are some photo's from last year's race:

Rick motoring along!

And the rain kept pouring...

Monica looking fresh as a daisy with 1km to go.

Monx and Rick looking good!

Finally finished and rewarded with a Coke.

In the Recovery Room at the End Point.

2010-10-09T10:53:00.000+02:00

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Hiking through Silvermine

2010-09-05T13:31:00.000+02:00

On Saturday, 4th September I went on a hike with my wife and friends (that's you Trevor and Jade). Weather was probably decent for a hike, maybe a touch on the cold side. We went up a short (1 hour each way) route to the reservoir in Silvermine Nature Reserve.

The overcast weather was decent for taking longer exposure shots. I've always wanted to do the long exposure waterfall shot, and I finally had my opportunity. Came out quite decent in my opinion.

Trevor and Jade eating their picnic lunch at the reservoir. :D

Monx dressed like we've ended up at the South Pole.

Monx looking fresh as a daisy after the walk up to the reservoir.

On our walk back to the car, we came across a sign post that Monx challenged me to jump over. And obviously I can't back down from a challenge.

I eventually got it right, but took a tumble, which Trevor was waiting for.

Trevor happy that I fell...

Jade and Monx doing the Japanese thing...

Whale Season is here!

2010-09-03T11:03:00.000+02:00

So on the morning of Saturday, 17th July, I had my first whale-sighting of the season. It was less than 100 meters off Glencairn Beach. Normally the whale season starts from around July/August and is one of the main tourist attractions for this region (which is when The Gallery starts picking up after a long winter).

The whales spotted in False Bay over this period will more than likely be the Southern Right, the Humpback or the Bryde, although I believe there are also 'killer whales" in our bay too! I hope to see some of them one day... I heard they enjoy spending time with dolphins (which we get plenty of in the bay as well!)

Southern Right - Humpback - Bryde

Killer whale playing with a dolphin...

The Bryde's Whale is actually here all year long, but furthur out in the bay, so its not noticed very often. I just found out that it was named after a Norwegian who set up the first whaling station in South Africa.... and it's also not pronounced like "bride" but "broo-da". Interesting, yes?

This morning, on our (Monica has got a part time job at Enkosi Africa, a curio shop near the gallery), we spotted a pair of whales lazing around PRACTICALLY on the Simon's Town's Longbeach. I know they get pretty close, but this was on the verge of beaching themselves.
** UPDATE** I have since posting this, that they come in close to rub the barnacles off their skin using the sand. That must be very exfoliating.

And obviously I was running late for work, so I couldn't hang around too long to get pics of them jumping around or waving at me with their tail... These 2 pics were all my tardiness could afford:

Not the most EXCITING pictures, but they ARE pretty close to the shore. Even though you can't see exactly how close they are to the shore because my lens wasn't wide enough, but that's Simon's Town Harbour in the background.

Attack of the Baboons!

2010-08-03T21:35:00.000+02:00

I live in the Deep South of Cape Town. Right near Cape Point Nature Reserve. And we have baboons (amongst other wildlife).

View I live here! in a larger map

In recent years, the baboons have been invading people's homes in search of food more and more frequently. Once they get into you house, they will usually end up trashing the place looking for whatever items of food they can find. And they seem to be getting more aggressive as time goes by.

This is a funny picture. Click here to see it larger.

One thing I've noticed over the 13 odd years I've been living on this side of the mountain, is that these creatures are certainly not as intimidated by humans and dogs as they used to be. In the past, one could simply shout, bang something or even pretend to throw a stone at the baboons, and they would run away in fear. Nowadays, if you try throw a stone at them, they will throw it right back at you! And I'm pretty sure those grunts they make when you are shouting and screaming like a lunatic, is laughter.

I, personally, don't really mind the baboons... as long as they aren't messing up MY house, of course. It's great living so close to natural environments like here on the South Peninsula. You certainly won't find a troop of baboons walking down the road in Esher, Surrey; tipping over rubbish bins looking for their next meal.

I took all these pictures this morning as I was leaving for work at around 9am.

Halle Berry doesn't change her clothes. Sies.

2010-07-30T09:59:00.000+02:00

So I spotted Halle Berry AGAIN this morning. She must have had a hectic time last night cause she seems to have started the day wearing the same clothes! Oh dear... one would have thought she'd brought quite a few changes of clothes with her to SA...

Here she is wearing some heavy Wellies, short denim shorts and a grey hoodie sweat-top.. just like in yesterdays pictures.

Berry gets teeth into SA role - Times LIVE

2010-07-29T18:36:00.000+02:00

Here are a few of my nicer pictures of Miss Berry:

Great article written HERE by Joy-Anne Goodenough :)

Article from Times Live: Berry gets teeth into SA role

Dark Tide

2010-07-28T09:52:00.000+02:00

I have just found out that Film Afrika will be shooting some footage for their new movie "Dark Tide". Here's what they ahve to say about it:

"Our story begins with a team of shark researchers out in the ocean tagging Great White Sharks (combination of stock footage and animatronics). Our team is lead by our hero, Kate (academy award winning actress)." I wonder who it is???

There's more:

"As they are finishing off, Tommy picks up something big on the sonar, and they go for one last shark. It is a monster and as soon as it is tagged, it turns and bumps the boat and Walter loses his footing and falls overboard. Suddenly, his bloodied corpse pops to the surface having being released by the huge shark." Original work, hey?

"One year later, Kate has left shark tagging and has set up a tourist business in Simon's Town [rad] (False Bay Yacht Club). We will also be using Bertha's restaurant as a location in our film."

If you're interested, they're shooting for 3 days between 26 July and 18 August (I'll post the exact dates when I find out; hopefully along with pictures of academy award actress: "Kate").

**update**

So the leading actress is none other than Halle Berry. And she supposedly only arrives in Simon's Town on the 5th of August. And they'll be filming at Berthas on the 18th.. so I hear. I'll definitely be bringing my camera to work from now on... in the hopes of getting some decent pictures of Halle.

Formula 1 2010 Calendar

2010-07-24T10:47:00.000+02:00

So, I've been following this year's season of Formula 1 quite closely. It probably had something to do with Michael Schumacher (German) racing for Mercedes (German) and with new teammate, Nico Rosberg (also German). And since the Formula 1 Racing Schedule is spread over a most of the year, I looked in Google Calendars for an F1 Calendar to add to my existing one. I couldn't find one in their database, so I went through the effort of logging in all the Practice Sessions, Qualifying times and Race times into a public calendar. I must add, that while doing all this, I was wondering why I was the first person in the world doing this, seeing that F1 is quite a popular sport worldwide. And we all know that if you think of a good idea, then someone else has already thought of it before you, and you can find it on the web. Anyways, here is my creation:

(You can click that little plus sign at the bottom right corner and add this to your calendar.. you have a Google account, right?)

After I entered the last race date and time (November 14th, Abu Dhabi), I decided to do a normal Google search (as opposed to just looking through their small set of calendars they have listed) for "F1 2010 Google Calendar" (mainly just to see whether Google noticed my efforts), and up comes 1.6 million results... "Hmmmm", I thought: "I wish I did this earlier". So I tried adding one of the resulting calendars to MY Google calendar to see how this guy did his entries. Well, it doesn't work. HA! And mine DOES work..

I didn't bother checking the other 1.6 million results, and decided to quit while I was ahead.

So, if you DO follow Formula 1, and you think you are quite clever and know your stuff... then sign up to SuperBru. It's a sport prediction site, but I only use it for the F1 part. It's quite well organised. If you do sign up.. then come look for me here.

Cyanide & Happiness

2010-07-23T10:08:00.000+02:00

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

I can't believe I have to wake up to this every morning!

2010-07-23T09:30:00.000+02:00

Navy traffic starts so early in the morning.. and I have to wake up to this so early.. does anyone feel my pain?

Taken with my Nikon D40

View larger image here (Flickr)

And yes, of course I'm kidding! I couldn't think of a better view right outside my bedroom window!

Old Spice Guy vs Mel Gibson video

2010-07-22T15:14:00.000+02:00

Contains quite a bit of swearing from Mel G... so not for the faint-hearted. Still flippen funny though! Haha!

PS. Check this Old Spice ad on YouTube first, if you don't know who he is...
And in case you haven't heard (which would be weird) that IS actually Mel Gibson's voice on the phone.. and he was talking to his wife! Can you believe it? Hectic! You can listen to the original clips here if you want.

Mid-winter's day in Simon's Town.

2010-07-22T14:56:00.000+02:00

Photo taken with Samsung Omnia i900

Click here to view larger (Flickr)

I love living in Simon's Town, because when the wind stops blowing, we are spoilt with beautiful, clear sky-afternoons like this. I recently tweeted that I can't remember a winter this cold before in Cape Town, and then look what nature throws back at me...

I've travelled to quite a few beautiful places in the world, and I can honestly say that Simon's Town/Cape Town is still the only place I can see myself settling.

View Cape Town in a larger map

Our wedding!

2010-07-22T08:59:00.000+02:00

Today; Monday 19th July 2010, is our 100th day of being married. Of course that's not a lot in the greater scheme of things, since we have many more years to follow. As you can tell, I'm feeling in a lovey dovey mood as I write this.. so some of you might just want to skip this post and DON'T click on the "Read more" link... :)

10 April, 2010... a date that I will not forget (because I am not allowed to). This is the day I made a commitment to the most special person in my life. I promised to love her and to be with her through any circumstance that life has in store for us. I will never leave her side for as long as I live. Her name is Monica Keely Auer... and I have her name tattooed over my chest (so no matter where she is on the planet, she will always be close to my heart).

I proposed to Monx while we were staying at The Wilderness (just outside Knysna). I had organised my message to be written in the sand on the beach that our guest house was overlooking, so that when we went for our early morning stroll, it would be the first thing she saw.

Of course she said yes, I even went down on one knee to show her the ring... how could she resist???

Just to make the getaway a little more exciting, I took her shark-cage diving at Gansbaai. It was truly an amazing experience.

So just under 2 years down the line, we were preparing for our big day. All the planning we had done was coming together for this one big event. We had guests arriving from all over the world like: USA, Alaska, England, Germany and of course from SA.

Monica's sister, Angela, was the creator of our beautiful wedding cake!

We had a bag-piper playing, cute flower girls, a surprise performance by Scott West ( a cowboy singer!) reception held on a boat, 100 guests, photo's on a beach, lilies, custom-labelled wine bottles, clam shells (inspiration from the Camino), ... the list goes on... all this packed into our wedding day. And I wouldn't change anything. Everything went perfectly and better than either of us could have imagined.

Eish...

2010-07-21T14:42:00.000+02:00

Not much happening today.. don't have anything else to post. So here is a comic from GoComics.

How many tape worms could live in my stomach?

2010-07-21T12:52:00.000+02:00

Created by Oatmeal

Staying sane on quiet days at work.

2010-07-20T14:01:00.000+02:00

Usually, when it's really quiet at work, it is difficult to keep your mind occupied on intelligent subjects. In these lapses, I tend to write weird and (sometimes) amusing emails to my friends... normally its just something funny I have found while scrolling around the internet.

Yesterday I decided to invite my friends, Trevor and Jade, over to my place for homemade burgers in the evening.

Clearly Trevor also gets bored at work sometimes... here is his reply to my invite: A good example of one of our "way-too-bored-to-do-anything-constructive" email conversations that usually consist of around 20 emails to each other:

Obviously by this time, I wasn't in the same frame of mind as I was when I wrote my first rant, I was now wide awake from laughing so much!

Oh, and the burgers were pretty good. Nothing beats homemade burgers... well, maybe a Spur Double Rib Burger, with Spur dressing on the chips and onion rings.. MMmmmm....

Happy Birthday!

2010-07-18T12:04:00.000+02:00

Nelson Mandela via last.fm

So today is Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela's 92nd birthday.Happy Birthday, Madiba! It just so happens to be my dad's 62nd birthday as well!

Both have played an important role: one in shaping the future of South Africa, and one in shaping the future of Uwe Ernst Auer.

Image of Manfred Ernst Auer

We all know plenty about our South African hero, Madiba, so there's no need to write more about him: except that I have the utmost respect for him, and that I truly admire the good that he has done for this MOST fantastic country of ours.

My dad on the other hand, does not have too many pages written about him. Here is a brief history of him.

Born: 18 July, 1948 in Sindelfingen (near Stuttgart), Germany.
Moved to South Africa when he was in his early 20's.
Married my mother, Heather Louise Smith (whose heart he stole from some Italian guy.. funny story that.) in 1972.
Did his apprenticeship as a hairdresser when he was 14, and went on to open his own hair studio (Manfred's Shoppe) near Greenmarket Square, Cape Town in the 70's...
Now he owns and runs Heather Auer Art & Sculpture in Simon's Town.

Everyone who knows my dad, can only have good things to say about him. He is definitely NOT your stereotypical German. He has a great sense of humour, and will make anyone laugh (even if its just at his funny accent).

Happy Birthday, Dad. Enjoy your time off in Arniston!

Jade gets a tattoo!

2010-07-17T16:34:00.000+02:00

So my friend Jade has been wanting to get a tattoo for a while.The original design she had created was a five-pointed star with the birthday of her grandmother (who played a very important role in her life) in the centre. She later changed the star to a cross (which looks much nicer in my opinion).

For Jade's birthday, her boyfriend Trevor said he'd pay for her to get the tattoo. After scoping out a few parlours, she settled on getting it done at Metal Machine Tattoo and Piercing Studio. They are one of the sponsors of 7th Son, a "rude, rock, reggae" band from Cape Town (who my brother, Miggs Auer, plays bass). Plus, that's where I got my tattoo done, by the same artist too: Derek Baker.

I think she's pretty chuffed with her choice of getting it done. I know I can't wait to get another tattoo! It IS addictive. Jade does say, though, that it is definitely much more sore than she thought it would be (as you can tell by the 2nd picture).

I'll post another picture of her tattoo once it has healed. At the moment it's pretty siff and slimy (blegh). Don't want pics like that on here, do we?

Let's give this another shot!

2010-07-17T14:43:00.000+02:00

OK, so definitely a while since I posted here.. but let's see how long I can keep it up this time!

Its been a good year for me so far.. I've gotten married to the most special person in my life, Monica, got a haircut (pictured above) for the first time in 3 years, been on a cruise ship (which included going to Venice, beautiful city!), experienced the Football (Soccer as we like to say) World Cup right on my doorstep and also started studying again... umm, thats most of the important things I reckon.

So ya, a lot of "first's" this year.. and some "only's" (like getting married... I have to say that, but I mean it...). Oh, and also my first blog post of the year (3 years?).. hopefully this isn't the only one...

*edit*
I almost forgot.. I also had corrective eye surgery earlier this year. That was a major change for me. No more glasses or contacts from now on! Fabulous!

Golf with the boys...

2007-03-30T22:41:00.000+02:00

A fun morning on Wednesday. A game on the 'mashy' involving Gianni, Dad, myself, Michael and Mark. And thats the order we came in . I won't publish the scores because they were quite shocking...

Oh, ales for breakfast! How English is that? I miss the England...

Hike through Cape Point

2007-03-29T10:24:00.000+02:00

These pics were taken on a hike through the Cape Point nature reserve. I was able to blow a lot of built up energy which was brilliant and coupled with the most beautiful nature scenes all around me it was a really good outing. It could only have been made better if my beautiful girlfriend was able to join us... I love you Monx!

Back from Nam

2007-03-24T17:58:00.000+02:00

Well, it was a blazingly hot weekend, with temperatures reaching over 40 degrees Celsius! My shoulders got roasted and after being home for only 1 day, they started peeling.

Myself, my father and my oldest brother Mark went to Namibia for a 4 day long trip on the Orange River. We slept under the stars (no tents).

All in all, it was very enjoyable.

Back to blogging... again!

2007-03-12T16:17:00.000+02:00

Its been over 2 years since I've been blogging. So I've decided to reopen an account seeing as my beloved girlfriend has jetted off to the UK to bring back some bacon...

Hmm... I suppose this'll just be used to record stuff like holidays and for friends and family to check what I'm up to (and anyone else out there that whom, for some reason or other, would be interested).

Cheers all!

Penguin Biltong

Wacky Wednesday

The Social Network (Update)

The End of the Line

Women in Waste

Broke down on Baden Powell.. and survived!

Free Tickets to The Social Network???

Pictures from today 2010-10-16

Quayside Waterfront 2010-10-16 (after work)

Die Burger Fietstoer

Cape Times/Discovery Big Walk

Hiking through Silvermine

Whale Season is here!

Attack of the Baboons!

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Our wedding!

Eish...

How many tape worms could live in my stomach?

Staying sane on quiet days at work.

Happy Birthday!

Jade gets a tattoo!

Let's give this another shot!

Golf with the boys...

Hike through Cape Point

Back from Nam

Back to blogging... again!