It’s the first day without internet and like a crack addict in search of a glass pipe; I fluster about in the streets, hopeful, that it will somehow miraculously materialize before me.
“One web request that’s all I need?!” I cry out desperately.
From the signs and the advertisements I see around: the internet is everywhere. I see the words “Free Internet”, “Wifi available”, “Get connected” sprawled across storefronts and brochures at every turn, and I have a reassurance that everything is going to be okay. I feel assured that I’ll find a place where I can tap in and get my fix, so to speak.
Imagine waking up to a world without the internet.
Getting connected is no longer a luxury, while it may have been the case, not more than some 10 years ago, these days it’s an absolute necessity. Without it, businesses would be dead in the water, students would be unable to get hold of information for research and blog junkies such as myself would be unable to connect to make a post.
“A world without the internet?” I can’t remember such a place, and I hope that I never find out what it was like again.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Internet Pirate
I've run into a bit of a dilemma with regards to the internet. It looks like I'm going to be without an internet connection at home for a little while, which will make my attempt to write a note everyday for a year, rather interesting. Up till now I've been fortunate, but I've thought about all the possible scenarios and realized that this was bound to happen at one stage or another.
So in the background, I've been devising a strategy so I could still achieve my goal, just in case I ran into a situation where I'm without an internet connection. The strategy is simple, I'll still carry on writing on a daily basis either in Microsoft Word, some other text editing tool or even in a journal that I carry around; hence fulfilling my goal of writing. The problem would just lie in the posting.
The posting of notes to the all-powerful "cloud" may no longer be a daily affair, but any opportunity that I do get to post, I will. I'll simply have to date my notes, so that they'll be in chronological order when published. I'll become a ruthless internet pirate, hijacking any chance to get online and offload. I'll have to beg, borrow maybe even steal bandwidth; from friends, family or even some random kid on the side of the street. Yes, I am determined to do this thing, yes, I am dedicated to this cause....yes, I am a little bit crazy!
So in the background, I've been devising a strategy so I could still achieve my goal, just in case I ran into a situation where I'm without an internet connection. The strategy is simple, I'll still carry on writing on a daily basis either in Microsoft Word, some other text editing tool or even in a journal that I carry around; hence fulfilling my goal of writing. The problem would just lie in the posting.
The posting of notes to the all-powerful "cloud" may no longer be a daily affair, but any opportunity that I do get to post, I will. I'll simply have to date my notes, so that they'll be in chronological order when published. I'll become a ruthless internet pirate, hijacking any chance to get online and offload. I'll have to beg, borrow maybe even steal bandwidth; from friends, family or even some random kid on the side of the street. Yes, I am determined to do this thing, yes, I am dedicated to this cause....yes, I am a little bit crazy!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Mobile Revolution
Although it's rather difficult on my Nokia 6300, isn't it fantastic that we live in an age where we can publish our thoughts from our cellular phones? As I sit here at Tank waiting for the others to arrive for sushi, I've taken a stab at writing my first note with predictive text and on an itsy bitsy screen. Welcome to the mobile revolution.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Irony
In life, there are always trade offs, at one point or another you have to make a decision that favours one thing over another. That’s just how life works.
I wanted to go to gym earlier, but got a call from Ernst seeing if I wanted to go for a surf instead. I figured that this would be a great option and rather than being stuck in doors; I could get my daily exercise whilst being one with nature. What a brilliant idea I thought.
Unfortunately, what seemed like a great idea, turned out rather poorly. Firstly, we forgot that after work, is peek traffic times; meaning that we ended up being stuck stationary on the highway leading out of town, for quite a lengthy period.
Secondly, after eventually reaching our spot, the ocean was completely blown out due to the heavy South Easterly gales. In hindsight, I guess we should have taken the hint when my hat had blown half way down the road; right before venturing off on our mission.
Feeling a little beaten, with our tails between our legs and not forgetting to mention also being extremely hungry; we seeked some solace and sustenance (quadruple, alliteration word score) at the KFC close by.
The irony of it all is that instead of being healthy and getting the initial exercise that we had initially intended, we ended up at perhaps the greasiest fast food joint imaginable.
I wanted to go to gym earlier, but got a call from Ernst seeing if I wanted to go for a surf instead. I figured that this would be a great option and rather than being stuck in doors; I could get my daily exercise whilst being one with nature. What a brilliant idea I thought.
Unfortunately, what seemed like a great idea, turned out rather poorly. Firstly, we forgot that after work, is peek traffic times; meaning that we ended up being stuck stationary on the highway leading out of town, for quite a lengthy period.
Secondly, after eventually reaching our spot, the ocean was completely blown out due to the heavy South Easterly gales. In hindsight, I guess we should have taken the hint when my hat had blown half way down the road; right before venturing off on our mission.
Feeling a little beaten, with our tails between our legs and not forgetting to mention also being extremely hungry; we seeked some solace and sustenance (quadruple, alliteration word score) at the KFC close by.
The irony of it all is that instead of being healthy and getting the initial exercise that we had initially intended, we ended up at perhaps the greasiest fast food joint imaginable.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Desk Jockey
As the day comes to a close, the only one still in the office; I'm desperately clutching at straws hoping that the repairing of some Windows updates will resolve the development bug that I've been faced with the entire day.
An application I'm developing, which was previously working without a glitch has all of a sudden developed some flaky, indeterminable errors and I've been trying my best to debug them without reprieve.
I've even tried all the suggestions from almighty Google, bar the one I'm trying now. Nothing is more scary than when Google runs out of answers. Hopefully it'll work and I'll be able to go home with a warm fuzzy feeling inside...
An application I'm developing, which was previously working without a glitch has all of a sudden developed some flaky, indeterminable errors and I've been trying my best to debug them without reprieve.
I've even tried all the suggestions from almighty Google, bar the one I'm trying now. Nothing is more scary than when Google runs out of answers. Hopefully it'll work and I'll be able to go home with a warm fuzzy feeling inside...
Monday, February 2, 2009
Guilty Pleasure
I have a confession: I’m a closet gossip magazine reader. It’s terrible I know, I hate to admit it, but I just can’t seem help myself. I have issues, issues of Heat Magazine that is.
It’s not that I go out deliberately to buy them, but when they’re lying around the house - you know - I read them. Ever since Candice temporarily moved in with us, I’ve found stacks of them strewn around the living room. I’ll tell myself I’m just going to page through one to satisfy my curiosity as to what “rubbish” is being printed in these things, but before you know it I’m engrossed and have read the whole stack from cover to cover.
By the end of satisfying my curiosity, I’m so with it; that I could tell you intimate details of Brangelina’s love life, Amy Winehouse’s rehabilitation or even Paris Hilton’s latest knickerless escapades. It’s disgusting, mindless filth; yet somehow the content just seems to grab and hold on.
What has become of me? *sigh* Have I become so desperate for entertainment that I’ve resorted to reading up on people I don’t know for pleasure. I guess at least I’m honest enough to admit that I am.
It’s not that I go out deliberately to buy them, but when they’re lying around the house - you know - I read them. Ever since Candice temporarily moved in with us, I’ve found stacks of them strewn around the living room. I’ll tell myself I’m just going to page through one to satisfy my curiosity as to what “rubbish” is being printed in these things, but before you know it I’m engrossed and have read the whole stack from cover to cover.
By the end of satisfying my curiosity, I’m so with it; that I could tell you intimate details of Brangelina’s love life, Amy Winehouse’s rehabilitation or even Paris Hilton’s latest knickerless escapades. It’s disgusting, mindless filth; yet somehow the content just seems to grab and hold on.
What has become of me? *sigh* Have I become so desperate for entertainment that I’ve resorted to reading up on people I don’t know for pleasure. I guess at least I’m honest enough to admit that I am.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Walking on Water
I’ve realized I’m not a very good surf teacher. It’s one of those things which are just very difficult to explain how to do. The best way to learn to surf is to just do it, I reckon.
Whenever I try to teach someone, I always resort to the same corny demonstration on the beach, which I’m sure you’ve all seen before. I’ll try to show them how to paddle and pop up with the surfboard on dry sand; but the feeling is so different in the water that it’s a complete waste of time.
The other problem I have is that, I usually become overwhelmed by the urge to paddle out and catch waves for myself. What this means is that the learner usually ends up in the shore break having to fend for him or herself.
Today, I learnt that to be a good surf teacher you have to be very selfless. We took some virgin surfers to Muizenberg. Muizenberg is a spot in Cape Town, traditionally for beginners, as the waves are smaller and easier to learn on.
Back in my day, there were no such things as surf schools. We learnt completely by trial and error. I remember when I first started a bunch of us equally clueless guys, who had heard about surfing from someone’s older brother; just began hitting the beach for entire days with our surfboards, in hope that we would finally figure out how to do it.
One guy would learn how to paddle, another would learn how to catch a wave and somehow via osmosis everyone would learn how to surf. The peer-pressure in a way kind of helped. No one wanted to be that guy who couldn’t pick up the next thing. “Benny’s a kook, Benny’s a kook” I would remember being ridiculed, if I were the one who failed to progress.
Learning together was fun, but that first time you stand up properly and move across the wave is like no other experience in the world. It’s indescribable, pure nirvana, you feel as though you’ve not just walked, but run across the water.
Luckily, these days there are tons of surf schools around to help get you to that point a lot quicker. We were fortunate enough to have someone who ran a surf school to help us out earlier.
The trick is to physically lead the novice into the water and help push them onto a wave. That way they are able to experience what it is actually like to catch a wave and get the feeling of how to move in the water. A great tip for next time, should I need to show someone else how to surf.
Whenever I try to teach someone, I always resort to the same corny demonstration on the beach, which I’m sure you’ve all seen before. I’ll try to show them how to paddle and pop up with the surfboard on dry sand; but the feeling is so different in the water that it’s a complete waste of time.
The other problem I have is that, I usually become overwhelmed by the urge to paddle out and catch waves for myself. What this means is that the learner usually ends up in the shore break having to fend for him or herself.
Today, I learnt that to be a good surf teacher you have to be very selfless. We took some virgin surfers to Muizenberg. Muizenberg is a spot in Cape Town, traditionally for beginners, as the waves are smaller and easier to learn on.
Back in my day, there were no such things as surf schools. We learnt completely by trial and error. I remember when I first started a bunch of us equally clueless guys, who had heard about surfing from someone’s older brother; just began hitting the beach for entire days with our surfboards, in hope that we would finally figure out how to do it.
One guy would learn how to paddle, another would learn how to catch a wave and somehow via osmosis everyone would learn how to surf. The peer-pressure in a way kind of helped. No one wanted to be that guy who couldn’t pick up the next thing. “Benny’s a kook, Benny’s a kook” I would remember being ridiculed, if I were the one who failed to progress.
Learning together was fun, but that first time you stand up properly and move across the wave is like no other experience in the world. It’s indescribable, pure nirvana, you feel as though you’ve not just walked, but run across the water.
Luckily, these days there are tons of surf schools around to help get you to that point a lot quicker. We were fortunate enough to have someone who ran a surf school to help us out earlier.
The trick is to physically lead the novice into the water and help push them onto a wave. That way they are able to experience what it is actually like to catch a wave and get the feeling of how to move in the water. A great tip for next time, should I need to show someone else how to surf.
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