This time I was (a little) more prepared. Armed with fresh backups, copies of all kinds of code snippets and a healthy dose of arabica coffee I pressed the automatic upgrade button. Less than 10 seconds later – Success!

No pain, no mess, no fuss. Awesome sauce!

I’ll be monitoring the situation, but if you do happen on a broken link or any other anomaly, please let me know.

One of the presentations by Microsoft’s Alexandre Michelin (Executive producer MSN EMEA) really grabbed my attention. He stated that, “Brands needs to reinvent themselves in this new digital world and find new ways to re-engage consumers in order to enhance brand loyalty, otherwise, consumers will desert them.” Which is particularly true and very challenging.

That aside, he played a video clip of Microsoft’s productivity future vision. A high-tech representation of how technology could transform the way we get things done at school, at work, and in the home over the next 5 to 10 years. That video was released back in 2009.

Productivity Future Vision (2009)

Fast forward to 2011 and Microsoft has just released the latest edition of this futuristic view, with a surprising addition. South Africa features with views of OR Tambo International airport, Johannesburg and melktert. Yes, you read correctly, melktert.

Melktert, for the uninitiated, is loosely translated as milk tart in Afrikaans, and is a traditional South African dessert. It is a sweet pastry crust containing a creamy filling made from milk, flour, sugar and eggs. The ratio of milk to egg is higher than in a traditional European custard tart or Chinese egg tart, resulting in a lighter texture and a stronger milk flavour.

Skip forward to time code 05:31 and behold high-tech melktert. Not exactly melktert made by small nanoprobes, but rather an interactive recipe with video and some cool infographics depicting the ingredients and method of cooking.

This is certainly not new. iPad apps such as Epicurious and Jamie’s recipes already offer some of these features. However, if we have this kind of technology at our disposal now, I get extremely excited about what the future may hold.

High-tech melktert Productivity future vision 2011

There was a definite false note on many occasions [time 00:30] and it seemed as she was forcing it. She also often sounded out of breath [time 01:39] – which could probably be explained by all the dancing and jumping [time 02:53].

On the other hand, the studio produced version of this song sounds so much better – No earplugs required.

While browsing the surrounds, I noticed something interesting and zoomed in. Et Voila – A plane over Russel Square gardens.

Naturally, during my trip I managed to pop over to Russel Square Gardens and it appears that this is quite a regular occurrence. With all the air traffic from Heathrow and London City airport there’s bound to be a picture of a plane captured by the Google earth satellites.

Cool either way. What do you think?

We know that South Africans are a proud nation, but according to a national health survey by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), we are also very much in denial when it comes to perceptions of how overweight, unfit and unhealthy we are.

61% of South Africans surveyed are overweight, obese or morbidly obese (29% are men and 56% are women). In a regional breakdown, the survey reveals that Cape Town is the worst affected with 72%, followed by Pretoria (68%), Johannesburg (59%) and Durban (52%). The survey also found that South Africans believe they are healthy, even when they are obese. Only 47% recognise that a lifestyle change is critical to weight loss.

I think we do all know that there is no such thing as a miracle diet. That said, you’d be hard pressed not to admit that you at least once dreamt about that miracle pill, shake (drinking and body sculpting machine), seaweed wrap or whatever “new and improved” technique you see on the shopping channel that could cut away the bulge once and for all.

It takes hard work, dedication, exercise, a healthy eating plan and the right kind of supplements – basically a lifestyle change to whip you in to shape.

There are those, such as cosmetic doctor Maureen Allem from the Skin & Body Renewal clinic, that claim one should add another component to the mix – a hormone called hCG (human chorionic gonadotrophin).

She says the latest research into weight loss has revealed that a low daily injected dose of a hCG, combined with a customised ultra-low calorie (500 – 600) diet, will result in the loss of abnormal, unhealthy fat, leaving essential fat and muscle intact. If the prescribed weight loss program is strictly adhered to, about 350 grams of fat can be lost each day which translates into 10 – 12 kilograms a month.

While it appears that the use of the hCG shots is still unproven (read LATimes, Mayo clinic and here), the low calorie intake seems to be the biggest contributor to the rapid weight-loss.

That said however, it seems that the Skin & Body Renewal clinic wants to put their money where their mouth is, or rather put their money where your fat was. They recently launched a competition called The Slender Challenge. They are looking for 20 overweight people to compete to see who can lose the most kilos in 12 weeks. Each one will be given a weight loss programme valued at R10 000.

The winner will receive a 3-D Body Renewal Package from Skin & Body Renewal, valued at R25 000, which is designed to reduce more inches and sculpt the body. Online spot prizes, valued at R25 000, will be awarded to blog followers throughout the competition.

The competition will run from July through to September 2011. Visit the Slender Challenge if you are interested in entering. Closing date is 6 June 2011

I’m interested to see how this pans out. Now where are my kettlebells?

Got this interesting result, taking a picture of the moon earlier tonight.

I didn’t realise that the moon would reflect in the camera lens, giving it an appearance that we may have two moons. It even looks like a sun and a moon.

Love the greenish glow of the reflection and the purple/pinkish tint in the actual moon.

The little blue dot in between the two is Pluto.

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In the process, I’ve had to kill some of my favourite (read: labour of love tinkering) widgets.

One of these used to show album art of the recently scrobbled songs on Last.fm. Took me ages to “perfect” the look and feel of the album covers, together with the placement on the site and corresponding links back to the track and artist info on Last.fm When I think about it, I wonder if anybody was really interested in what I was listening to? I guess the same could be said for people posting their top 5 artists/songs of the week on twitter/facebook or wherever.

Other than showing off to family members or providing some minor spectator value for the casual blog browser, I’m not sure the mere automated posting of recently played tracks actually influenced anyone enough to click and listen/buy/recommend the track/album/artist to others. Does a recommendation about a particular song or artist carry more weight in influencing others to take action?

I think the answer is yes. Personal recommendations and word-of-mouth referrals do carry a lot more weight. Perhaps instead of just automatically posting my recently played tracks, the focus should rather shift to genuine recommendations, research, interesting info that may be relevant to the audience.

Hmm… What do you think? Interested or not?

Hopefully most bits and bobs are up and running. I will however still be tinkering a bit with the theme until everything is satisfactory again.

** Update 10 hours later **
I finally managed to track down the problem.

If you’re using the Irresistible theme from WooThemes, the biggest issue when upgrading your WordPress core is that the idTabs jQuery script also needs to be updated. The old js file basically broke a tonne of my widgets, but after much tinkering (and referencing my regular backups) I got it all to work again.

Along with the fix to my tabs, I also managed to restore and restyle the fmTuner plugin . Now I can bore you a bit longer with my bad taste in music.

The upgrade to the WordPress core and SQL files went well, but alas, my theme did not like it so much. Save for me having to go through pages and pages of code to upgrade all the bits that broke and get the theme up and running, it might be time for a bit of a refresh.

Watch this space. You might see some interesting and not so interesting things happen in the next few hours/days.

Clearly my subconscious has been imprinted with scenes from movies, current news and other real-life experiences, all stirred together to create the ultimate action movie in my dream.

Picture this, you’re sitting peacefully at a sidewalk café, drinking your favourite coffee, engrossed in a riveting conversation with some friends and colleagues. Suddenly the sky turns grey. People look up at the sky. Enormous shadows fall across the city as a big elliptical shape forms under ominous and mesmerizing clouds, thunder and flames. It is as if the question of whether we’re alone in the universe has finally been answered.

People start panicking, screaming, running. The sphere isn’t hovering stationary in the air, it is descending, growing larger. It is falling out of the sky. Around you people are scrambling for cover, running in every direction, hoping, praying that they can escape the menacing thundering cloud of steel and fire. Buildings start to collapse around you as the weight of the object comes crashing down to earth.

Then, in a sick twist of fate an even stranger thundering noise fills the air. Drops of water start splashing against your face. You turn to your right, peer down the street, only to see a massive tidal wave forming. As you collect yourself, you start running through the streets, turning corners, jumping over cars and other obstacles, searching for a way out.

The tidal wave comes crashing down onto the burning sphere, dousing the flames. Just as strangely and suddenly as the wave appeared, so too does it dissipate. Everything goes quiet.

People start to come out of their hiding spots, shaken but unscathed. All gathering at the café where it all started. Everyone is searching for answers. Who? What? Why?

Amid the buzz of questions one of the Italian waiters at the café breaks through the chatter, indicating that the military was looking for volunteer pilots to go fight the ‘invasion’. Immediately you take up the call to arms and head over to the airfield where you’re greeted with a hive of activity. Jets being fueled, vehicles and people scrambling across the runways. Orange and red flares lighting up the night sky.

You head over to the command centre to report for duty and await your orders. The commander greets you and points to a very tall woman dressed in black leather, standing unrestrained and calm in an adjacent glass room. Apparently she is the leader of the invasion and you need to try and make contact. You need to find out the reason for the invasion and how to call off similar attacks.

It’s at this point that I woke up….

Now I don’t believe in dream interpretations and all that, so I’m not going to entertain the thought that there is some underlying terror/fear/influence/internal change/external pressure at play that is “screwing” with my mind. That said, it is just very interesting how the mind has the ability to take scenes and experiences and turn them into dreams.

On reflection, I think this dream was influenced in part by movies such as Independence Day, Inception, The day after tomorrow, 2012, Men in Black II and interestingly a recent episode of the TV Series Flashpoint (Season 3, Episode 10: Terror).

So what do you make of this? Have you had similar dreams?

PS: This post was written entirely on the iPad using the WordPress app. I may post some comments on this in the future.

It’s cloudy in Johannesburg, so not much to see with the Supermoon. There was a slight break in the clouds – this is what I could snap in those few seconds.

**Update: This post was originally drafted on 25 December 2010 – but as we started our baby readiness drills it was never finished. After the birth of our son, I’ve finally had a chance to finish it.**

As we count down the days to the birth of our son, I can’t help but feel slightly overwhelmed at the prospect of fatherhood.

I’m not necessarily referring to the act of changing nappies, feeding a baby or being worried about the pyjama drill. I’m looking forward to that experience and getting completely immersed in all those things and more.

As I look to my Creator as the perfect Father-figure, so too do I want to be the role model for my child. And that’s what sometimes scares me. Am I the role model (with my faults) that I want him to grow up to be like?

Recently two things prompted this thought. A “scary” analysis of my timesheets of 2010 revealed an average working day of 14 hours – 15 if you had to count one particular project into the equation.

No sane man can sustain this, and have a balanced family life. Hopefully 2011 will be much improved.

The second was prompted by a post 5 of the Best ‘Surprise Ending’ Songs Ever.
As the author mentions:

“Cat’s in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin…no matter how many times you listen to this, especially if you’re a parent, the onus is on you to not get choked up.

The chorus goes like this:
And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man on the moon.
“When you comin’ home ?”
“Son, I don’t know when.
We’ll get together then.
You know we’ll have a good time then.”

Even though these seem quite daunting, I found some comfort in reading Pastor Mark Driscoll’s free e-book Pastor Dad – where he looks at the ways that a father can raise his children well.

One ‘truism’ in this book stands out for me:

Every dad is a pastor. The important thing is that he is caring for his flock well.

Armed with 10 Practical Pastor Dad Tips, some good common sense, loads of love for my son and my wife and by God’s grace – I’ll be able to bring up my family in the best possible way.

Here’s a different take on my reflections of the past year.

Decision of the year:
Deciding to lead a Lifegroup at GodFirst Church Fourways. For some reason it was a nerve wrecking decision at first, but in the end it was such an extremely blessed experience. We laughed, we cried, we ate, we wrestled, we made great friends, but most importantly, we got to know more of God through doing life together.

Event of the year:
Finding out that we’re going to have a baby.

Person of the year:
Although Time magazine has named Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg Person of the Year, my vote for person of the year goes to my wife. For putting up with my 15-hour work days, for creating a wonderful home for us and for always supporting me in the changes we made this year in how we live our lives.

Sports moment of the year:
South Africa successfully hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup was undoubtedly the biggest event of the year.

Mother Nature’s moment of the year:
Mother nature certainly flexed a bit this past year, causing some devastating earthquakes around the world, most notably the ones in Haiti, Chile and New Zealand.

F-up of the year:
Neglecting my body half-way through the year, putting my back out and busting a knee – probably comes from 15-hour work days, overall bad diet and lifting of heavy boxes while getting rid of clutter….which is a story for another day.

Thanks to Miriam for the idea of this post.