The Jewel of KwaZulu-Natal

It seems like the perfect kind of day to discuss Durban.
Durban is a city in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa (29°53′S 31°03′E). It is also known by the Zulu word eThekwini, (the meaning of which is unclear, but most likely is "lagoon" from the word itheku, or "at the harbour", although other shadier theories have been put forward). Since 2000, a number of towns, including Durban, have been part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality.
Durban is being marketed as "South Africa's Playground". It has a population of about 3.1 million people with diverse cultures including a large Indian community making Durban the second largest city in South Africa.
While Johannesburg has embraced its new Afro-centric nature, and Cape Town has held on to its Euro-centric culture, Durban has emerged as an Ethno-centric city—a polyglot of Eastern, Western and African cultures, each of which give Durban a distinctly unique flavour.
Durban is primarily a "holiday city"/beach resort, but at the same time is Africa's busiest container port and has a substantial industrial sector. The port is one of the world's largest natural deep water ports.
The long continuous stretch of hotels that line the city's beachfront is known as Durban's Golden Mile.
Places of interest:
-The Golden Mile
-Roma Revolving Restaurant, similar to London's Post Office Tower (although smaller in scale), is a prominent building from the port with, as the name suggests, a rotating circular restaurant room that provides 360 degree views of the city, but it is sadly dated.
-The International Convention Centre (ICC)
-The port and waterfront, Beachfront, City Hall, Durban Horse Race Course, Berea, Umhlanga Rocks.
-The BAT centre
-The new aquarium, Durban's Aquarium - uShaka Marine World, one of the largest Aquariums in the world.
-Sahara Stadium Kingsmead is a major test match and one-day cricket venue.
-Kings Park Stadium(Now known as ABSA Stadium) is host to the Internationally renowned Sharks Rugby Team. Known for its post match entertainment.
-Outside of the city centre is the Valley of a Thousand Hills a dramatic geographical rock formation created by the Mngeni River and its tributaries.

*Feel free to daydream about sandy beaches and warm skies.

Pretoria: The Jacaranda City

Ah Pretoria, home of the Blue Bulls and the Bulls.

Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive (administrative) capital; the other two being Cape Town and Bloemfontein, respectively the legislative and judicial capitals. It is contained in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, and therefore sometimes incorrectly referred to as Tshwane — this contentious issue is still being decided as of January 2006; see the discussion further down in this article.
The city has a population of approximately one million (or two million if the whole of the Tshwane metropolitan area is included). The main languages spoken in Pretoria include Tswana, Ndebele, Afrikaans, and English,
Pretoria is one of South Africa's leading academic cities, and it is home to both the largest residential university in the country (the University of Pretoria) and the largest distance education university (the University of South Africa, more commonly known by its initials, UNISA). The South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is also located in this city.
Interesting facts
-Pretoria's main street, Church Street, is the longest urban street in South Africa and one of the longest straight streets in the world.
-Many of the city's streets are lined with Jacaranda trees that blossom mauve (purplish blue) in spring, giving rise to the city's nickname "Jacaranda City".
-The Cullinan Diamond (the largest gem diamond ever found) was discovered in the town of Cullinan near Pretoria at the Premier Mine on January 26, 1905.
-Pretoria has the second largest number of embassies in the world after Washington, D.C..
-Pax Praetoriana was named after Pretoria.

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Het Suikergoed van het oog

All those words roughly translate into "Eye Candy" in Dutch, or so Babelfish tells me.


1. Carter Oosterhouse


2. Ty Pennington


3. Paul McElligott

They're all carpenters so one would assume they're good with their hands. Whatever that means. Or something, I don't know, it's a little early for me.

The Angry Cyber Traveller

I have noticed that I haven't really been posting any pictures of late so I am starting a new weekly ritual of sharing with you pictures of places I would like to visit or that vaguely amuse me. As some of you know or may have noticed, I have an inexplicable love-affair with South Africa so I have chosen a lovely overhead vista of Cape Town as the first in the series. She's lovely, isn't she? No one really knows where the love comes from, not even the AG herself but alas, what are you gonna do? Here are some interesting tidbits for you:

Cape Town (Afrikaans Kaapstad), city in southwestern South Africa, the legislative capital of the country and the capital of Western Cape province. Cape Town is one of three national capitals, along with Pretoria (the executive capital) and Bloemfontein (the judicial capital). It is situated at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, about 50 km (about 30 mi) north of the Cape of Good Hope. The city has a spectacular setting, cradled by the steep slopes of Table Mountain to the south, Devil’s Peak to the southeast, Lion’s Head to the southwest, and Signal Hill to the west. Table Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, lies to the northwest. The site of the first European settlement in South Africa (founded in 1652), Cape Town is today a major port, an industrial hub, and a center of culture and tourism. The city has a Mediterranean climate, with warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters.
"Cape Town," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2005http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Interesting word this is

You know what is a funny word? Spelunking. Now I just have to find relevance of it in my life so I can use it more frequently.

New setting

Hi y'all, greetings from Nicholl Paskell-Mede. I am here for a week trial and then if they want me I suppose I will start full-time in early March. So far, so good. It's a pretty laid-back environment here, despite the fact that it's a law firm but I think it depends on what kind of law they specialize in and in NPM's case, it's the exciting world of insurance law. Oooh indeed.
I am now at reception alone and I don't feel freaked out at all, it's really just another console and honestly, after SS, nothing can be that bad. Anyhoo, the phones aren't ringing so it's been relatively slow but at least I have the internet, which I am pretty psyched about because now I can write to you all often. And with feeling.

Snow: God's Idea of Tidying Up?

In the past I have tried not to complain too much about snow because it's pretty, makes MTL look clean and also gives me the traction I need to walk the treacherous side-streets. I don't know what it is but when there is a substantial snowfall I just get a warm and cuddly feeling and I suppose it reminds me of my childhood in Noyan where snow always meant snowball fights, ice skating on the lake in front of the house and warm beverages next to the fire.

Quite idyllic, actually.

P.S. I know some of you may be wondering when Guy Candy will resurface in 2006 and I wanted to let you know that there are plans to revive the weekly tradition but I am currently still researching the candidates. It's a tireless search but oh what I won't do for my dedicated Gnomers :P
What do you think of carpenters? There seems to be quite a large pool of Guy Candy worthy men in the profession. Keep your eyes open for updates.

My Office Space

... Looks a lot like my living room.

So I have been working from home the last couple of days and it's a w e s o m e. I must say, it really works for me, I like the independence and that fact that my bed is just upstairs for power naps. Unfortunately, I do believe the work will be finshed by tomorrow which means I will have to go back dowtown but for now I am basking in the freedom of the situation. Oh, ok - I admit it, I also relishing the napping hours.

Is Kiwi a Dave Chappelle or Seinfeld fan?

Do animals have a sense of humour?

Yeah, I was wondering that earlier today when I did something kinda stupid which made me chuckle to myself. I then began to wonder if Kiwi, who had witnessed the scene thought it was funny too and had an internal dialogue much like this: "God, she is such an idiot... Heh."

Does anyone have any information on this subject or do I have to get out more? I'm gonna go with the latter but I can't be the only one who has ever thought about it so there must be studies out there.

Thanks from the AG: Straight from the heart.

God, I hate Bryan Adams.

A n y h o o, I just wanted to take a moment to thank the kind Gnomers who came out for by birthday on Saturday night and for all who couldn't come or "forgot", y'all can chew on some glass.

Here are some thoughts on the evening:

-Steffo you were in fine form and I'm sorry he didn't call, we'll work on it and if it comes to it, I know people who know people, if you know what I mean.

-Scott you were all up in my grill but at least you got me Zoolander. Ahem. Gee, I wonder how it ends?

-The lovely Miss C, it was nice to see you again although I wasn't too psyched to learn I was going to die at seventy.

-Mr. Muddler, I was honoured that you came to my little get-together and if we haven't emotionally scarred you too much there's an open invitation to all of our sporiadic get-togethers, I think you're "good people". Not at all like your naughty sister.

Seriously though, thanks for all the birthday wishes - maybe twenty-nine won't be so bad afterall!

The date, time and place!

January 14th.
7pm - ish
The Old Orchard Pub on Monkland in NDG.

Be there or be square.

*All friendly Gnomers are cordially invited to drop by for a Happy Birthday pint. I'll probably eat something there so feel free to stay for dinner. The more the merrier!

AG's Path to Enlightenment

I have come to the conclusion that the path to true happiness in one's life is not nirvana or religious rhetoric but rather to live each and every day slightly drunk. Case in point, today I wasn't having such a great day, as Mondays tend to be, but in the afternoon my brother called me for an important "meeting" at the Old Orchard Pub and then the day wasn't so bad. I generally don't condone drinkng on a Monday afternoon but after today all I can really say is "Why the hell not?" I mean really, if raging alcoholism is the only way I can be interesting and oh-so-witty then why not devote the rest of my life to pints and pubs? I can honestly say that I am not that interesting sober.

Oh, and by they way, anyone who is up for it may join me in my debauchery this weekend to celebrate by twenty-nith year on this planet. All invited. Woo-woo!

* I just want to clarify that although I wrote that I wasn't interesting sober I didn't mean that I wasn't all that. Because I am. Plus a box of cracker Jacks. Anyhoo, I think I believe what I meant to say is that I'm more interesting when I'm slightly toasted which is, I know, totally unfair to all those who suck because they aren't me.

Singledom vs. Online Dating

I've mentioned it before but just to recap for those who don't read my blog regularly or don't know how to access the archives (either consult with the all-knowing Muddler or you know, go to right of this page and click), I have entered the world of online dating and despite the favourable responses I have recieved from it, I just don't feel totally comfortable. I don't know what it is exactly, on paper it seems like the perfect thing for me, as I am generally shy and reserved in person when meeting strangers but, to me at least, it seems kind of unnatural to shop around for potentials, you know what I mean? I feel guilty for not responding to people so I answer all emails and then find myself in the awkward situation of having to correspond with men I have no intention of dating.
Anyhoo, although I know I have to take more of a proactive role in my love-life it has been experience that for the most part when we look for love it's gone out for coffee so I say "Take your time man, I'll be here blogging". Besides, I don't date well, I'm too aloof. I grow on people like ivy or a fungus. A loveable fungus. To know me is to love me.
You know, on the topic of online dating can I just recommend the Onion personals as well as Lemontonic? I freely admit to not liking Lavalife, the site is too, I don't know, red. Plus, since they have that Instant Messenger thing it always takes my computer forever to load the page. I like sites that are simple to use and that I get interesting responses from so Lemontonic has been a good choice. I also thought that anyone who uses the Onion's personals has to have read The Onion so at least we've got a sence of humour in common to start from.

Peace out and remember this wise advice some guy on the street once gave me:
"He who is cold must remember to wear mittens."

Twenty-nine 'till I die.

As my twenty-ninth birthday is just around the corner I have come to the decision that it is the age I will publicly acknowledge for the next decade. I thought you Gnomers should know because any breach of information about my true age down the road will result in a vicious neckslap and a "shut your face". You know, FYI and everything.

Lamenting the loss of Muffin

Despite all my best efforts, Muffin will be leaving to work at another site. Here is a Haiku I wrote:

Ah, Muffin, away you shall go
Do not, do not get stuck in the snow.

Lies and Deception

Yeah, I was asked by my manager last night to do some overtime and as I am a dunce par excellence I agreed to it. This is the scenario, I woke up at came into work for 9am and then I worked it and did my thang. After work I went to my first class that lasted from 6-8:25 and then I walked back from the Hall building to start the job. When I agreed to the job I thought it was just straight on copying but as I browsed through the boxes I realized there were countless envelopes which were filled with reciepts. Apparently, there were people being audited and now I was copying their expenses for the last fifteen years. Ugh. Needless to say, a job that I was told would take me three hours maximum took me NINE hours. I was so tired and angry when I left at 3am this morning I felt like slapping the next person I saw but alas, it was not meant to be as the first person was a large security guard.

Much Ado About Something.

Yesterday on MPix they aired Twelf Night and Much Ado About Nothing and I have to say, although I have seen them both before, I watched them again and thorougly enjoyed them. If I were forced to choose between them both I guess I would have to say Twelf Night is the better film. Solely on the merits of Toby Stephens and his lovely eyebrows.

After the holidays...

...And I need to go back on vacation! Honestly.
I hope you all had a nice time over the holiday season and are looking forward to 2006! I know I am. Kind of. Well, not really but mostly because we're selling the condo and I need to find a new place to live in May. If there are any of you out there who know of places that are available, please contact me. I need all the help I can get.