New Hosting Plan

I have recently upgraded my hosting plan. I now have much more space and bandwidth available, allowing me do add more storage intensive content ( mostly photos).

I'm in the slow process of updating the site. So hopefully this domain will be more exciting soon.

Homemade Go Board

Last night I made my first Go board. Look at some pictures here.

On the front side is a 19x19 grid and on the back side a 13x13 and a 9x9 grid. I painstakingly ensured that down the width the grid lines are 22 mm apart and down the length they are 23.7 mm apart. I took the measurements from Sensei's site.

It also has small feet on both sides so that the playing surfaces don't scratch when the board moves on the table.

Holiday and new car.

I just returned from a very pleasant and relaxing 3 week holiday. We were mostly in the Cape Town area, but visited The Baths again over new year.

The most exciting part of the holiday was buying a new car. After the trip to The Baths we decided that it is time to upgrade from the 1.3 VW Golf Chico. The Chico has been described by some car sales executives as a "tin with a steering wheel". It does the job getting you from A to B, but the comforts and safety features is dearly missed.

After a bit of shopping we settled on the new Renault Clio III. For us it is quite an upgrade from the Chico. It is a huge pleasure driving the new car.

Here is some pictures (taken with my Samsung D500 cellphone) of the new car. The hot babe is my wife Adele.

Bodyboarding

My wife bought me a bodyboard for my birthday last month. It is a black Morey Mach 7-7. I also received a pair of Pod fins, a QuickSilver second skin as well as flipper and board leashes.

I tested the equipment the weekend that I got it, but there were basically no good waves. Since then we were either too busy, the weather was bad or there were no waves on the Strand beach. This Sunday, we finally went to the beach again for another try. After a quick thunder storm, the weather cleared up a bit. By midday, the sun was out and the wind was resting (for a change). The swell was about 3-4 feet, so it was a nice size for a beginner to try his luck.

I bravely tackled the cold water head on. I must have looked quite funny walking in the shallow waters with my new fins! Once in the not too shallow waters I dropped down on the board and almost froze solid, but one can't worry about the temperature too much. Got to have some fun!

Paddling out to the deeper waters where one can actually catch some waves, as they break, is quite exhausting. I still need a lot of practice. Getting past the white water is another aspect I need to work on, but until I perfected the art I need to develop a taste for salt water and burning eyes.

After a number of failed attempts to take a wave, I finally succeeded. I stayed mostly on the crest of the wave, in the white water. Non the less, the ride was exhilarating! At first it felt as if I missed the wave, it felt as if I was slowing down and then suddenly I was push forward while acceleration, followed by sustained speed for a while and then slowing down. Surfing on the white water provides for a very bumpy ride, the board vibrates like mad. It was quite a challenge not to loose balance and tip over.

After the ride was over, I just couldn't wait to do it again. The rest of the day I just enjoyed myself, while trying to learn the way of the waves. I must admit that I was jealous when I saw how easy the surfers paddle around to get in a good position to catch a wave. With their long thin board they have less water resistance than a bodyboarder have. On the other hand, I have fins, so maybe I just need to practice.

Rotary Group Study Exchange

I've been selected for Rotary International's Group Study Exchange (GSE) program next year. The GSE is a cultural and vocational exchange program between Rotary districts. I'm falling into District 9350, which includes the western part of South Africa, Namibia and Angola. The team I'm part of will visit District 9220, which includes Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Reunion, Mayotte, Comores and Djibouti.

The exchange is 4 weeks long and we will depart around the middle of April 2007. Until then there is still a lot of team and personal preparation involved. I'm furthermore busy learning more about Rotary and is visiting the Helderberg Club on a regular basis. The club has been very helpful and friendly towards me and the GSE effort!

I'm in the process of creating a website for our team. It is still under construction, but you can visit it here.